[XMBC_FREAK]

I agree with you..you don't need a monster pc for XBMC.

Maybe the old school in me stops me from buying a 7 core pc just to play a couple movies most older dvds are 480 and maybe 720, I would buy one though as a workstation anyday.

[remops]

I guess I'm the old school guy also. I have been using my xbox for a few years and have nothing bad to say about it, but now that I have the nice big hdtv I would like to build my own 1080p machine. To make a long story short will you sell one of your gateway pc's.

I started looking last week for a small form factor like the hp/compact you used or a dell optiplex or this gateway. The gateways look better in my opinion.

[patm95]

That's freaking awesome. Got to be some sort of record.....

[nhjay]

This write up is exactly what I was looking for, TY!

I have a similar machine, though its the next model up, a hp d530 which replaced the Compaq d510. It is a P4 2.66Ghz with 1GB RAM, an 80GB HDD and an nVidia FX 5200 video card. Going to follow your lead and do the same with this box.

[NickUK]

You've got to look at such devices as the AppleTV they're only very simple 1 Core machines and they can play 720p streaming without a single issue, I personally have for a Media Center a Quad Core with 4GB RAM which is a total waste.

It runs OpenELEC I don't see it using anymore than 15% across any core at 2.5Ghz which is about 50-80% CPU on a P4 with 3.2Ghz and it's running at 1920x1080 on a projector, I agree having a Quad for a Media Center is the biggest waste of resources as quite a few people have Dual Core with on-board graphics cards as their home machines.

But what a great idea though for a cheap end Media Center

[nhjay]

Out of curiosity, where do you have the d510, if you're still using, placed? I was going to place mine in my TV cabinet but these things produce an incredible amount of heat, such is the nature of the P4 of course.