Looking to see if this hardware is enough
#1
I want to be able to use xbmc to play videos that i have and also view hulu and play roms.

PROCESSOR AMD Athlon™ II X2 P360, 2.3GHz, Dual Core 1MB
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz- 2 DIMMs
KEYBOARD Dell Wireless Trackball Keyboard
Inspiron 410 Inspiron Zino HD
HARD DRIVE 1TB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
VIDEO CARD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5450 MXM Discrete Graphics Card
MEDIA REMOTE Dell Media Remote
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo Drive (BD-ROM, DVD/CD Burner)
SOUND CARD THX® TruStudio PC™
WIRELESS Dell 1520 802.11 b/g/n wireless card

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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#2
that hardware is enough, but DELL ZINO's are pricey...

you can get better hardware for the money ($350)

thats my 2 cents,,,
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#3
What would be your recommendation for an HTPC under 600 dollars including a blu ray player and the 120.00 for windows 7
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#4
ok, before suggesting anything,
we need to know what will you do exactly with your HTPC....
So if you could answer these questions, it'll help!

1) You need to play 3D movies?
2) You need to Bitstream HD-Audio to your A/V receiver?
3) You need to play Heavy Graphics Intensive Games?
4) Which version of XBMC will you use? OpenELEC? XBMC Live? Windows?
5) Which Form Factor your Looking for? Size of a Mac Mini? VHS Player? A/V receiver?
6) You plan on using Heavy XBMC Skins like AEON MQ2?
7) You need a Blu-ray Optical Drive?
8) Where your from? USA? UK? CANADA? GERMANY?
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#5
eskro Wrote:ok, before suggesting anything,
we need to know what will you do exactly with your HTPC....
So if you could answer these questions, it'll help!

I would also like to run sabnzb on the same box

1) You need to play 3D movies?
2) You need to Bitstream HD-Audio to your A/V receiver?
3) You need to play Heavy Graphics Intensive Games?
4) Which version of XBMC will you use? OpenELEC? XBMC Live? Windows?
5) Which Form Factor your Looking for? Size of a Mac Mini? VHS Player? A/V receiver?
6) You plan on using Heavy XBMC Skins like AEON MQ2?
7) You need a Blu-ray Optical Drive?
8) Where your from? USA? UK? CANADA? GERMANY?


1) You need to play 3D movies? No

2) You need to Bitstream HD-Audio to your A/V receiver? No

3) You need to play Heavy Graphics Intensive Games? I may want to play WOW, but it all depends on the price

4) Which version of XBMC will you use? OpenELEC? XBMC Live? Windows? Windows

5) Which Form Factor your Looking for? Size of a Mac Mini? VHS Player? A/V receiver? Size of a mac mini would be nice but i am flexiable

6) You plan on using Heavy XBMC Skins like AEON MQ2? I would like to use the cooler skins but it depends on the price of the hardware needed

7) You need a Blu-ray Optical Drive? Yes

8) Where your from? USA
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#6
9) Do you need WiFi?
10) Do you need TV Recording capabilities?
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#7
eskro Wrote:9) Do you need WiFi?
10) Do you need TV Recording capabilities?

No to both
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#8
this is what i recommend for you:

Image
[mobo] GIGABYTE GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3 Micro-ATX ($60 + $0)
[cpu] AMD Athlon X2 3.0GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W ($60 + $0)
[gpu] MSI GeForce GT210 512MB DDR3 64-bit Low Profile ($39 + $0)
[case] SILVERSTONE ML03B Micro-ATX ($60 + $0)
[psu] Antec EarthWatts 380W ATX12V ($40 + $0)
[SSD] Corsair Nova 2.5" 32GB SATAII Trim Read:195MB/s Write:70MB/s ($79 + $0)
[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 CL7 ($55 + $0)
TOTAL: $393
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#9
Thanks for your help, since you said the original specs of the Zino were good and it was just the cost i am going to go with the zino since i can get a substantial discount through dell.

One last question, would you recommend the

PROCESSOR AMD Athlon™ II X2 P360, 2.3GHz, Dual Core 1MB
or should i spend the extra money for

AMD Phenom™ II X4 P960 Quad Core Processor, 1.8GHz, 2MB
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#10
you have to compare here...

i added 4GB (2x2GB) of DDR3 1333Mhz CL7 RAM!!

And the OS drive is an SSD!!
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#11
i think you might have me sold on this, what blu ray player, keyboard and remote would you recommend.
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#12
yeah, listen to eskro. even with a substantial discount, you are still likely paying a lot more than you could. you should really have an SSD in there.
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#13
SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-/+R 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model SH-B123L/RSBP LightScribe Support (Retail) $64.99 Free Shipping

Rii Mini Wireless Keyboard with Touchpad (RT-MWK01) $26.25 Free Shipping

Anyware GP-IR02BK Universal remote control - Infrared $19.00 Free Shipping
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