Posted: 4/16/2011 8:59:22 AM EDT
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This is what I have decided on for now, thanks to avs forum Case: SILVERSTONE Black Aluminum MILO Series ML03B Micro ATX Media Center http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163174 Mobo: ASUS E35M1-M PRO AMD Zacate E350 AMD Hudson M1 Micro ATX Motherboard/CPU Combo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131697 SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227550 RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311 I dont know if I should run W7 media center edition or WHS "vail" (yet to be released). What does arfcom think of my future creation? Keyboard: Logitech diNovo Mini Black Bluetooth Wireless Mini Keyboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126039 |
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I dont know that much about the zacate processors, but I am thinking that it is going to be underpowered. You need to play 1080p video flawlessly. I would look at the core i3 or i5 sandy bridge chipsets. They are supposed to have support for 1080p right on the cpu. I3 and i5 are very power efficient.
General recommendations: 4GB ram, no less Windows 7 x64bit home premium (or better) this will come with W7 media center, that is what you want to run, best HTPC interface in the industry. Video card that can handle 1080p decoding on the fly, HDMI output. Forget about WHS vail, that is a home server, not a HTPC. totally different product, totally different uses. my current build is a AMD phenom 955 quad core gigabyte atx mobo HDMI out radeon 4650 vid card 4GB DDR2 800 w7 x64bit 36GB raptor boot/OS drive 1.5TB data drive for recorded TV storage. shows I can record 394 hours of analog content or 164 hours of HD. Reality is a mix somewhere in the middle. tuners (six total) hauppauge hvr 2250 dual digital tuner card hooked up to roof top over the air HD antenna hauppauge hvr 2250 dual digital tuner card hooked up to cable (digital clear QAM+analog cable recording) hauppaugr PVR 500 dual analog tuner card hooked up to cable for analog cable recording I use media browser to play all of my ripped DVD's/Blu-rays that are stored on my home server over the gigabit network. netflix app is built into media center. If you dont have a netflix subscription, get it, it kicks a$$. There is always something to stream for the whole family. Kid is currently working through 300 episodes of rocky and bullwinkle. IR blaster and remote for windows xp media center (works great on W7 mediacenter) htpc in basement back room, right below the TV on the first floor. Only thing that goes to the LCD upstairs in the USB for the IR blaster and the HDMI cable from the video card to the TV. everything works almost flawlessly. I would say 95% WAF (wife acceptance factor) Wife and kids do not even realize it is a computer. They just grab the remote and go. We record 24/7 on the size tuners and always have a huge library of content to watch. We watch maybe 10% of what we record. go to www.thegreenbutton.com and do your research. It is the arfcom of media center. |
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There are 2 CPUs you should strongly consider.
i3-2100 i5-2400 They are both relatively inexpensive and very powerful. Zacate is OK but not the greatest. HD 4650 is a good video card, they also just came out with a new 6xxx series for HTPC that looks pretty good. The HD5450 passive is pretty excellent too, if you aren't doing any gaming. 8GB of RAM is probably overkill, but RAM is cheap so you might be fine with that. I would go with 2 hard drives. A 64GB SSD for boot, and a 2TB Western Digital Green hard drive With the right components, you can make you HTPC very quiet, which is a good thing for something close to your TV. I like www.silentpcreview.com for quiet system stuff. Also www.avsforum.com has a whole section on HTPCs. |
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I got the idea for the mobo from this thead at avs forum http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1313541 If you look at some reviews of it, http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/asus_e35m1-m_pro_micro_atx/1 or http://www.eteknix.com/motherboards/asus-e35m1-m-pro-amd-fusion-micro-atx-motherboard-review-727/, this AMD CPU beforms better than an i3. I am an AMD guy anyways. |
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Quoted:
I dont know that much about the zacate processors, but I am thinking that it is going to be underpowered. You need to play 1080p video flawlessly. I would look at the core i3 or i5 sandy bridge chipsets. They are supposed to have support for 1080p right on the cpu. I3 and i5 are very power efficient. With the right video hardware, the right drivers, the right codec, and the right video players, even 1080P is pretty easy - my Atom-based NT330i can do it quite well, with XBMC. However, as soon as any of the links in that chain changes (say, you want a different video player, etc.), then you are depending on the CPU for decoding, and you're right - that's a lot bigger task than might be expected, and a "real" CPU is called for. Plus if you want to game, or even do anything with flash... a real CPU is called for. If you look at some reviews of it, http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/asus_e35m1-m_pro_micro_atx/1 or http://www.eteknix.com/motherboards/asus-e35m1-m-pro-amd-fusion-micro-atx-motherboard-review-727/, this AMD CPU beforms better than an i3. I am an AMD guy anyways.
I only skimmed the reviews, but didn't see any floating-point benchmarks that showed it being better than an i3. In fact, depending on the arithmetic test, it was barely under or barely over an Atom 510... and that really is not saying much. If you're an AMD guy, then AMD has lots of good dual, triple, and quad-core chips that will work - for reasonable prices. To get your sound to your TV/receiver without headaches, either get a mobo with HDMI, or an HDMI video card which has onboard sound hardware. Trying to fiddle with pass-through cables and getting drivers to work together can be a pain. |