[leinad]

Hai Guys,

Bought myself a new HTPC yesterday and i've got second thoughts if the hardware will meet the requirements (see questions below)...

First of the specs:

Asrock Vision HT 321B

CPU - Intel® Core i5-3210M Mobile Ivy Bridge Processor
Chipset - Mobile Intel® HM77 Express chipset
Memory - 8GB DDR3-1600MHz (2x4GB)
Video - Intel® HD Graphics 4000
SSD - 120GB (for the OS and programs)
HDD - 750GB (Local DATA)
mSATA - Not in use...
ODD - BD Combo
I/O Voor - 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x MIC, 1 x Hoofdtelefoon, 4-in-1 kaartlezer (SD3.0/MMC/MS/MS PRO)
I/O Achter - 1 x HDMI 1.4a, 1 x DVI-I, 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x S/PDIF, 1 x eSATA2, 2 x USB 3.0
LAN - Gigabit LAN
Geluid - 7.1 CH HD Audio met THX TruStudio™
WiFi - 2T2R 802.11 a/b/g/n (5GHz/2.4GHz Dual-Band toegang)
Bluetooth - Bluetooth 4.0/3.0 HS class II
Voeding - 90W/19V Adapter
Afmeting - 200mm(W) x 70mm(H) x 200mm(L)
Volume (liters) - 2.8L
Certificaten - CE / FCC / CB / BSMI / WHQL/ ErP/EuP Ready

I have been reading a lot about Nvidia support in linux, but with intel it's different. It is not so open standard as Nvidia and on the website of Asrock i read a lot of intel support for windows 7 64.

Link Asrock Vision HT specs

The problem is, i would rather use linux for my HTPC than Windows 7, because Windows is in my opinion always a little unstable. However if i would choose linux, i can't use some of intel's extra's, like:

Chipset - Supports Intel® Rapid Start Technology and Smart Connect Technology
**Intel® Rapid Start Technology and Smart Connect Technology are only supported under Windows® 7 OS or later versions

VGA - Supports Intel® HD Graphics Built-in Visuals : Intel® Quick Sync Video 2.0, Intel® InTru™ 3D, Intel® Clear Video HD Technology, Intel® Insider™.
*Due to chipset limitation, the Blu-ray playback of Intel® HD Graphics is only supported under Windows® Vista™ and Windows® 7.
** Intel® InTru™ 3D is only supported under Windows® 7 and Windows® 7 x64.

So my questions are these:

1. Can i better use linux or is it better to use windows 7 (better support for intel)?

2. Wich OS is better suited for XBMC, Sickbeard, Trackt, etc. If i would choose windows 7, are there limitations compared to linux?

3. Is the VGA Intel 4000, strong enough for 1080P, Bluray, etc or is it better to reconsider an upgrade: Asrock Vision 3D 252B (cause of the NVIDIA® GeForce GT540M Graphics (with 1GB GDDR3 VRAM))?

4. Are the XBMC live builds suitable for Asrock Vision HT or 3D? Or would i have to do all the programinstalls en configs myself?

It would have been wise to ask these questions before i bought the HTPC, but i'm a new to linux and this forum so i didn't had the insights...
In the worse case scenrario i can return my HTPC next week, for a new one.. So any advise would be very welcome!

Greatzz Daniël

[danrogers1982]

I really really wanted to use linux on my htpc build, but i got caught up in the bitstreaming hd audio business and i must say, its impressive. dont regret it a bit. pm me if you want some intel on win7

[Arkitket]

The problem is, i would rather use linux for my HTPC than Windows 7, because Windows is in my opinion always a little unstable.

While I use Linux consistently, and have used it for many many years, this made me chuckle. In terms of stability, Windows 7 is up near the top. With that being said, XBMCLive and OpenELEC are very capable distro's. Your limitations (while small) will come from using Linux though, not from using Windows 7.

The iGPU is more than capable for 1080p, a discrete GPU would only be needed in the event you wanted to do some gaming on the machine as well.

[witalik]

My windows 7 build with Sandy i3 is pretty stable for me and its very user friendly when it comes to programs en codecs for things to work out of the box.

[leinad]

@Arkitket en witalik,

Thanks for the reply's! I'll go for Windows 7 then and give it a try :-)

[charlie0440]

I really really wanted to use linux on my htpc build, but i got caught up in the bitstreaming hd audio business and i must say, its impressive. dont regret it a bit. pm me if you want some intel on win7

You can bitstream hd audio on the Intel igpu with linux, it just requires a patch. Hd 4000 is more then enough for 1080p. Or just buy a nvidia gpu which is cheaper then a copy of windows such as a gt430

[leinad]

Hey guys,

Some feedback, cause i have been trying an original version of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and must say that it works really good so far!

So thanks for the advise :-)

Grtz Daniël

[Dougie Fresh]

As far as HD4000 performance, from the various charts and articles I've read, it falls between the GT520 and GT440 or between the AMD HD540 and AMD HD5570 discrete GPUs.

Since any of them can do 1080p video with ease though, it's merely academic.

[bluray]

@Arkitket en witalik,

Thanks for the reply's! I'll go for Windows 7 then and give it a try :-)

Great choice....and your massive Intel® Core i5-3210M deserves Windows 7. You should be able to playback all blu-ray movies 1080P video and bitstreaming HD audio with your HD4000+Windows 7+XBMC with ease......

For Intel iGPU, you need to do as below to insure smooth playback.......

-Update Intel latest driver from here- Automatically identify and find drivers
-Disable DXVA2 and select Software as Render method and disable everything else in XBMC system/video/playback
-Disable "Use fullscreen window rather than true fullscreen" in XBMC system/system/vdeo output


If you are interesting in bitstreaming HD audio,you can follow the instructions in the SETUP section of this thread to configure XBMC- Windows How to Bitstreaming using XBMC.........

[Dougie Fresh]

Once you bitstream, you'll never go back. It's awesome.

[bluray]

Once you bitstream, you'll never go back. It's awesome.

+1.....

[Pasoa2021]

Why bitstream over anything else? How do I get this setup with linux XBMCbuntu?

[Headcase_Fargon]

The problem is, i would rather use linux for my HTPC than Windows 7, because Windows is in my opinion always a little unstable.

While I use Linux consistently, and have used it for many many years, this made me chuckle. In terms of stability, Windows 7 is up near the top. With that being said, XBMCLive and OpenELEC are very capable distro's. Your limitations (while small) will come from using Linux though, not from using Windows 7.

As someone who has run XBMC on both, my experiences have been contrary to yours. I was constantly rebooting both Windows 7 boxes, dealt with XBMC crashing, losing focus, etc. This was on fresh installs of Windows 7 with nothing but XBMC running on them. I switched one to OpenELEC a few weeks ago and haven't had to reboot it once.

The only reason the living room HTPC is still running Windows is Netflix. Really wish they'd release a new player that didn't rely on Silverlight.