[frogsmasha]

Hello! I've considered getting a Zotac box with a SSD during my first venture into getting a HTPC and found that while it's definitely capable of XBMC I had found that the Aeon skin can run a little sluggish. I know some development is underway for creating a more CPU friendly skin of Aeon, but future skin creation left me with a little doubt as far as Zotac being able to keep fluid transitions throughout my entire XBMC experience. I currently have a WD LIVE TV, and it's quite blah in comparison to XBMC that I use to have running on my original Xbox.

I will be running a QNAP 219p+ NAS on the network for my media. I will only utilize the XBMC Live OS instead of running Windows 7 as I only want to use this box for XBMC. I also have a Harmony Remote and was wondering if this build I had drawn up was overkill.

CASE - nMEDIAPC HTPC 5000B http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811204035
MOBO - ASUS M4A785-M AM3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131595
GPU - SPARKLE GeForce GT 430 1GB 128-bit DDR3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814187121
PSU - Antec Green EA-380D Green 380W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817371033
CPU - AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103687
SSD OS - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820227550
RAM - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231166

Subtotal: $519.93
This is what I currently have thought about doing but I'm not sure if this is overkill. I don't want any PVR capabilities and I wont be using any kind of bluray player on this unit. I would also need to get one of those IR sensor hooked up this via USB to make my Harmony remote work. Thank you for reading.

[eskro]

what about this?

[ZOTAC] ZBOXHD-ND22-U CULV 1.2Ghz ($270 + $9)
[SSD] Kingston SSDNow V Series 30GB 2.5" SATAII ($75 + $0 - $20)
[RAM] Patriot 2x2GB 204-Pin DDR3 1066 CL7 ($44 + $10 - $15)
TOTAL: $373 After Mail-in-Rebate

This will run skins smoothly since its using the DualCore CELERON 1.2GHz CPU!
It performs better then any ATOM based ZOTAC box!
uses DDR3 memory too!

if your still afraid of ZOTAC box's not running XBMC at your liking,
see this thread here i created about nice xbmc microATX custom builds
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=92375

and if you prefer tiny form factor,
see this thread here i created about a nice little xbmc mini-ITX custom build
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid...+Beat+HTPC!!

so just remember this though,
if you go with a custom build like i suggested,
you do gain the options to add an internal BluRay Optical Drive
and a GT430 video card later on if ever needed ...
While with the ZOTAC ND22, these 2 options are impossible...

hope this helps & happy shopping

[frogsmasha]

I'm open to the idea of using a zotac box but wasn't sure if it would be adequate for certain skins, but if you think this box would work like a champ than I'm all for it. It's been awhile since building a PC and wanted to make sure that any hardware I do get is up the job at hand.

[eskro]

i still suggest you read carefully my post here first --> http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=711334&postcount=2

the ZOTAC ND-22 is fine,
but if you do have the ability to custom build the htpc yourself,
you'll gain great advantages...

specially in the price/performance ratio department...
a microATX build rocks for that!!

[darkscout]

Live, No Blue Ray,

Try these:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...r=15039265
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Public...r=14740405

I have a 1.8gHz celeron that got a 525 on the CPU benchmarks. I'm trying out aeon right now. Is a bit jittery compared to night. CPU is floating around 80-90%, so if you get a CPU that is around 1000 you should be fine.

[frogsmasha]

I never plan on gaming on this machine. Only PC game I play is through Steam (Team Fortress 2) and I don't want to dual boot a machine in order to only play TF2. I'll also never use the player with Blurays as I would rather rip to .mkv and host on my NAS, so if by chance down the road I could always add a Bluray player into my home PC if I had such interest in having it.

So being that is that I guess I'll go and get this Zotac Celeron setup :> I just need to wait for my NAS to get done so now I can sit on this idea while I wait to get my NAS situation complete

[eskro]

I guess I'll go and get this Zotac Celeron setup

If the ZOTAC meets your needs, great choice

[frogsmasha]

How big of a difference is this Zotac box compared to the Zotac 11HD? Oh and will the ND22 be 100% smooth during menus and scrolling and such?

[frogsmasha]

found a post about the differences. :>

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=87687

[eskro]

keep ZOTAC ND-22