[raido]

I would like to build a low power HTPC and I'm looking for recommendations. My one uncompromising requirement is: it has to play HD 1080p movies in all formats regardless of video codec, container, audio, etc. etc. I especially would like the hardware specs to be able to handle HD flash and the new upcoming h265 standard. I don't want to use Atom/ION build for various reasons that I don't care to get into. I also would rather skip things like raspberry pi and Apple TV, they are interesting, but I found them to be too underpowered to handle some videos that I've thrown at them.

While researching components I stumbled onto this blog. The author made a 5.9 watt computer using an ivy bridge processor and an intel motherboard (with heavy modifications). Naturally I can't do all the mods he did, however, before the mods he mentioned that is computer idled at 16.9 watts with the screen on. He mentioned that MSI and Intel motherboards were more efficient. Based on this I was thinking the following would work....

Intel Celeron G1610 Ivy Bridge 2.6GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
MSI Z77IA-E53 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

The MSI MB supports 1080p output. Is there anything else I should look for? Can anyone recommend a better build? Thanks.

EDIT:
Just found this article. It uses a DQ77KB motherboard (like the fluffy build). Only 19 watts on H.264 playback. Probably a better board.

[jammyb]

Intel Celeron NUC. Check my sig.

[raido]

Intel Celeron NUC. Check my sig.

Wow! A very good suggestion. I did not know Intel was releasing these. It's almost perfect. Sadly, my 1TB hard drive won't fit into it, but I guess things are moving toward msata. I probably should upgrade and put my 1TB drive in an external enclosure. It looks like the Haswell versions of these are due to be released in Q3 this year. I followed the links in your sig and I saw that you have one. How is the idle power consumption on these? How much power is consumed under load? How much of the processor is used when performing 1080p x264 playback?

[jammyb]

All in the main thread bud.