[DJ_Izumi]

So, I had about 15 friends over two weeks ago and they were impressed with my XBMC setups. One being an A6-3500 in an ATX case that serves as an HTPC in my bedroom, but also as a media server and server for sabnzbd, sickbeard, and couchpotato. The other being a Zotac AD02 in the living room that access all the content off the larger A6 box. People were asking if I could assemble something for them so I said I'd look into it. A lot of my friends are anime fans and that means 10bit h.264 support is needed and I figure that an A6-3500 should be powerful enough for nextgen h.265/HEVC. The goal to build a moderately sized HTPC that should be good enough for the next 5-7 years. No going 'Oh man, it doesn't play this newfangled format, now I need to download something else'.

I use Windows 7 on my boxes because I have no idea how to use linux and my roommate wanted emulations on the Zotac box. However Windows XBMC machines tend to only run great 98% of the time, with 2% of the time you going 'Great, I need to get the keyboard now. :/'. If I'm building something for some friends, the machines should work 100% of the time and that's why OpenELEC seems the best.

Case: Apex DM-317
CPU: AMD A6-3500 APU
Mobo: ASUS F1A55-M/CSM
RAM: 2x2GB of whatever the heck is on sale. It's not a gaming machine, RAM quality doesn't matter. Would OpenELEC even need 4GB or would 2GB suffice?
Remote: Mediagate Windows Vista MCE Infrared Remote Control
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 60GB

The hard drive is a bit of a wild card, some people would like streaming only others would like it to act as storage. So while one might take the SSD, another might have a 3TB installed in it instead. However I'm unsure what wireless card I should use. I know that chipset matters but the list of OpenELEC compatible wireless chipsets hasn't been well filled out. I'd just like it to be some kinda PCI Wireless N card that'll be sufficent for streaming content.

This isn't the smallest HTPC built on here and it'll be more the size of a VCR, however it'll keep costs fairly low, it's not too big, the case coudl take up to three 3.5" HDDs should the user want to or two and an optical drive. Hopefully 3x2.1ghz will be enough when HEVC comes around but worst case, hopefully A8-3850 upgrade will make it doable if an A6-3500 isn't enough when the time comes. So limited potential upgradability is desired.

All in all, the box should be idiot proof, useful, and never require the user to need more than an IR remote. Think this'll cut the mustard?[/align]

[lrusak]

Looks good, but a couple notes.

You may want to try and find an FM1 board with the A75 chipset instead of the A55 one because the A55 chipset seems dated.

You would use the Generic build for the A series apu, though AMD drivers can have issues sometimes. So if worse comes to worse you could always install windows on it or put in a nvidia GPU.

[DJ_Izumi]

You may want to try and find an FM1 board with the A75 chipset instead of the A55 one because the A55 chipset seems dated.

You would use the Generic build for the A series apu, though AMD drivers can have issues sometimes. So if worse comes to worse you could always install windows on it or put in a nvidia GPU.

From what I can determine, the A75 chipset doesn't offer anything that the A55 chipset doesn't that would be needed in a dedicated OpenELEC box.

As for the Nvidia GPU, I'd like to avoid it since that'd be an extra component in the machine and increase cost. Right now this build floats around $320 and I think that's the most that anyone would want to pay for a media machine. Especially when one considder other cheaper options like a Boxee.

I'll probably install OpenELEC on my box on a seperate USB drive, even if I'm using a different, larger A75 ATX mobo.

[krasv]

About the costs... you can get a celeron g530 cpu plus a gt430 low profile gpu for around the same price of your current build.

That being said, llano apus work quite fine with the latest openelec version, its not perfect as there are some minor limitations (like artefacts when watching upscaled sd content) but overall it its enjoyable.

[DJ_Izumi]

About the costs... you can get a celeron g530 cpu plus a gt430 low profile gpu for around the same price of your current build.

That being said, llano apus work quite fine with the latest openelec version, its not perfect as there are some minor limitations (like artefacts when watching upscaled sd content) but overall it its enjoyable.

I prefer the prospect of a Llano since it offers a capable CPU and GPU all in one affordable box and most of the FM1 mobos offer HDMI audio out. As for issues with artifacts with upscaled HD content, I'm not seeing it. I installed OpenELEC 2.0 (Beta 4) on a USB key on my Llano machine and I've had no issues with playback of various standard definition content. However my system isn't quite the system I'd be building, I'm using an Gigabyte A75-D3H which is an A75 ATX board rather than an A55 mATX board, there are some minor differences but I don't think they should make a major impact in compatibility.

Think I can get away with 2GB of RAM for OpenELEC? 1.75 for system and .25 for the GPU?

I guess I just need to make sure I buy a wireless adaptor that is confirmed to work with OpenELEC and that's it.

[charlie0440]

without a discrete gpu you won't be able to bitstream hd audio, due to the ATI drivers. Dont know if this is a requiremeny, if so add a GT430

[Solo0815]

How about an Xtreamer Ultra 2? -> http://www.xtreamer.net/2012/xtreamer-ultra2.html

[DJ_Izumi]

without a discrete gpu you won't be able to bitstream hd audio, due to the ATI drivers. Dont know if this is a requiremeny, if so add a GT430

It's not really a concern. When the 'worst case scenario' is 5.1 LPCM over HDMI, I'm not worried.

How about an Xtreamer Ultra 2? -> http://www.xtreamer.net/2012/xtreamer-ultra2.html

It's far too slow. My friends that are interested in XBMC boxes are largely anime fans as well. There needs to be enough power to decode 10bit h.264, so a desktop grade processor is needed. In addition to that, they're interested in boxes that'll decode everything. This includes HEVC/h.265, which isn't even out yet, and any Atom would flat out lack the power to decode this. (Frankly, as it is, the A6-3500 may not, it PROBABLY will, maybe it won't, but at least you can swap it out for something faster)