2011-09-29, 18:02
My revo died due to water damage and I have been unable to revive it. I've made do by plugging my OG xbox (6-7 year xbmc user here...) back in and streaming content from my netbook...but the thing is noisy and the quality is bad.
Considered a replacement revo, but I can't get one for the price I paid anymore and it had some struggles--video content all played perfect with ion, but the atom chip is weak and especially on linux, even flash performance was bad.
Looking to go pretty low budget on a full htpc with the option to expand a bit later (if I want a capture card/discrete graphics/more storage/blu-ray). Want it quiet and low-power usage.
Here is what I am looking at:
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 380 - $39.99
Case: Silverstone ML03B - $59.99
CPU: Probably a A4-3400 for $69.99 but I could be convinced to go for a A6 or A8 (although here it jumps to 100W) if there is compelling reason or the price is right.
Mobo: Need help here--need hdmi video/audio and internal headers that match the case. I want something on the cheap end that is solid with no active cooling. Wifi is not required (but a mini-pci-e slot is a nice bonus in case I need it later). Maybe this gigabyte for $89.99 with a $14 combo discount on an A4-3400?
Total: ~246.
I can figure out ram to match, and I may just start out with the laptop hdd salvaged from my revo (or some other hdd I have laying around). I'm not a huge hoarder so space isn't an issue.
I am pretty confident that this should be able to handle any sort of video I throw at it in xbmc. What about amazon and netflix streaming?
How do these amd llano setups work with linux? I preferred my revo's linux setup to win7 but I would consider it (and will probably dual boot for access to occasional netflix and blu-ray if they don't have linux playback figured out when I decide to add a drive).
Finally, I want it to be able to play a few games...namely DDR and rock band knockoffs. Stepmania should run fine (it ran fine on the revo or even on my old p3 laptop), but I am concerned about FoFiX. It uses a little 3d which killed my revo but not cutting edge by any means. My Conroe E6750 with a radeon x1950pro seems overpowered for it so I am hoping this setup will run it without discrete graphics.
Considered a replacement revo, but I can't get one for the price I paid anymore and it had some struggles--video content all played perfect with ion, but the atom chip is weak and especially on linux, even flash performance was bad.
Looking to go pretty low budget on a full htpc with the option to expand a bit later (if I want a capture card/discrete graphics/more storage/blu-ray). Want it quiet and low-power usage.
Here is what I am looking at:
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 380 - $39.99
Case: Silverstone ML03B - $59.99
CPU: Probably a A4-3400 for $69.99 but I could be convinced to go for a A6 or A8 (although here it jumps to 100W) if there is compelling reason or the price is right.
Mobo: Need help here--need hdmi video/audio and internal headers that match the case. I want something on the cheap end that is solid with no active cooling. Wifi is not required (but a mini-pci-e slot is a nice bonus in case I need it later). Maybe this gigabyte for $89.99 with a $14 combo discount on an A4-3400?
Total: ~246.
I can figure out ram to match, and I may just start out with the laptop hdd salvaged from my revo (or some other hdd I have laying around). I'm not a huge hoarder so space isn't an issue.
I am pretty confident that this should be able to handle any sort of video I throw at it in xbmc. What about amazon and netflix streaming?
How do these amd llano setups work with linux? I preferred my revo's linux setup to win7 but I would consider it (and will probably dual boot for access to occasional netflix and blu-ray if they don't have linux playback figured out when I decide to add a drive).
Finally, I want it to be able to play a few games...namely DDR and rock band knockoffs. Stepmania should run fine (it ran fine on the revo or even on my old p3 laptop), but I am concerned about FoFiX. It uses a little 3d which killed my revo but not cutting edge by any means. My Conroe E6750 with a radeon x1950pro seems overpowered for it so I am hoping this setup will run it without discrete graphics.
