[W1nks]

I made a thread a few days ago about trying to decide what hardware I want. I think I have decided on this...

MI-008 Tower
Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3
Corsair TW3X4G1333C9 XMS3 4GB

I have a 1.5TB Western Digital Green drive that I am going to use for now until SSD prices go down a little more. I believe this motherboard/cpu/gpu combo should allow me to bitstream HD audio. I will be running Win 7 Pro 64bit with XBMC. I will then look at getting a HP IR Receiver off of eBay or somewhere to work with my Logitech remote. The Apex MI-100 is also an option for a case.

Does anyone see any problems with this build? Will I be able to bitstream HD audio? I'm hoping to be able to make a purchase in the next few hours so I can get it by Friday so a quick response would be awesome! Thanks for the help!

[eskro]

i dont see a problem there...
your case is pretty much the same as the MI-100...
i like the mirror finish better on the MI-100 tho...
but thats me,,,

now 2GB of Ram is enough for win7x64 and XBMC...
no real needs to go up to 4GB's of ram....

a single 2GB stick would be perfect too
as zacate boards dont support dual channel...

your cpu cooler will be right under the PSU of the case so,
monitor the temps, if they r too high, you'll need to add a fan in there...

[W1nks]

So the board should pass hd audio and full 1080p video both through HDMI? It looked like the other one you recommended. Thanks again.

[eskro]

yes, ZACATE + Win7 = Flawless HD-Audio Bitstreaming & 1080P playback

[W1nks]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but is the bitstreaming done through HDMI or do I need to use toslink it order to get it?

[eskro]

fine through HDMI

[AJP69]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but is the bitstreaming done through HDMI or do I need to use toslink it order to get it?

HDMI, toslink is unable to bitstream hd audio.