[fvtalon]

I've been reading alot on here and there's some great info but I'm unsure of a few things and what would be best for my situation. Right now I have a network attached HDD and a file share off my desktop because the external is full. My primary XBMC client is an ATV2 w/ harmony 650 remote, I've got a laptop I hook up to the other TV occasionally too.

What I'd like to do is go to a real HTPC and Unraid. The ATV2 works but it hangs up too much. For the HTPC I don't need an optical or HDD in it and I'd like it mostly just for XBMC so I was thinking openelec or XBMCbuntu. Basically I like the ATV2, it acts just like the satelite box or dvd player, on and off from remote, control with remote, just not enough grunt. As for NAS for now I will go to another external drive to hold me over til I can do an unraid box. Also I'd like to setup SAB with the usual addons.

The real question I guess is what level of build do I need?

Seems to me the atom/e350/revo type build will work fine for my HTPC needs but what machine should do the SAB stuff? Do I need more like an A6-3500 to do both? Or should the server have more power and be a dual core or better rather than just a basic sempron and leave the HTPC just to XBMC?

Also can I get the "no OS" XBMCs to work totally off the remote (wake, sleep)? I know it's alot of questions, thanks for any input.

[aptalca]

Have unraid do all the sab stuff. Since the server is going to be on all the time, let it deal with those. Even a sempron will handle those plugins easily. You only need a faster processor for transcoding.

My unraid server is using an unlocked sempron 145 (dual-core) and am running sab, couchpotato, sickbeard, mysql, crashplan, virtualbox with xp (500MB ram) and airvideo. It handles all with no problems at all.

For xbmc, I just built a A6-3500 mini-itx in a tiny realan i5 case. Very smooth and silent. With the remote I put it to sleep and wake.

[Dougie Fresh]

If UnRAID supports it, also look at the Celeron G530/G540 for a server CPU. It can usually be found around $40-45.

[aptalca]

With unraid, you need to make sure you get a mobo that is supported. That is one of the most important things. Up until recently, the sempron was the cheapest low power option, so every guide had sempron in the build along with an AMD board. So people like me kept buying semprons and AMD boards because they were well tested by a lot of people on the forums.

Check on the unraid forums for latest intel recommendations. Unraid works fine with intel, but make sure the board is well supported.

I am sure the guides in the near future will have more and more intel cpus due to their high performance/low power ratio combined with their prices coming down