[kapperz]

I'm looking to replace my Acer Revo 3610 which has been serving XBMC pretty well the last few years. I'm looking at these Zotac ZBOX computers and wondering if others have been using these. Ideally, I would like to go fanless, but from my research the Shuttle XS35V3 seems to not be compatible with XBMC. And the Fit-PC is too expensive.

The only requirement I had with my Revo 3610 is enough power to dual boot to XP so I can play MAME. That is why I got the dual-core Revo

I know Intel is the best as far as compatibility for XBMC. What about the Zotac ZBOX-ID82-U Intel HM65 or how about the Zotac ZBOX ZBOXNANO-AD12-U.

[rtino]

Why not buy the Arctic MC101?!

Google it and read the reviews... In my opinion it's the best pre-built HTPC machine currently on the market.
I ordered mine yesterday ;-)

[gd779]

Why not buy the Arctic MC101?!

Google it and read the reviews... In my opinion it's the best pre-built HTPC machine currently on the market.
I ordered mine yesterday ;-)

Personally, I've been staying away from the Arctic MC101 because it is AMD based, and I want to run Linux.

[jgrave]

I bought the Zotac ZBOX-ID81-U Intel HM65 and it runs great. I got a good deal on Newegg that included a free 64 GB SDD. It boots Win7 64bit in ~7 seconds and can play anything I throw at it with 4GB of ram I added. The included remote is fine for xbmc but I also bought a mini Bluetooth keyboard that paired immeditatey with the built in BT. I use it as a secondary XBMC installation in the bedroom. I have used it both by mapping a windows/samba share and uPNP.

[Dougie Fresh]

I bought the Zotac ZBOX-ID81-U Intel HM65 and it runs great. I got a good deal on Newegg that included a free 64 GB SDD. It boots Win7 64bit in ~7 seconds and can play anything I throw at it with 4GB of ram I added. The included remote is fine for xbmc but I also bought a mini Bluetooth keyboard that paired immeditatey with the built in BT. I use it as a secondary XBMC installation in the bedroom. I have used it both by mapping a windows/samba share and uPNP.

This is interesting. When I tried the Celeron 847 (1.1GHz, Intel HD GPU) with Windows 7/XBMC I either got good smooth video with macroblocking (DXVA on) or stuttering video and 100% CPU usage (DXVA off) with the XBMC internal renderer. Are you using an external renderer such as MPC-HC with XBMC instead of the internal renderer? I wouldn't think 0.1GHz would make the difference.

Anything that could be GPU accelerated was smooth and it used maybe 20W. Here's the thread: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=143433.

[kapperz]

Why not buy the Arctic MC101?!

Google it and read the reviews... In my opinion it's the best pre-built HTPC machine currently on the market.
I ordered mine yesterday ;-)

Personally, I've been staying away from the Arctic MC101 because it is AMD based, and I want to run Linux.

That is one thing I'm confused about. I run XBMCbuntu. Is AMD not good for Linux?

[gd779]

[quote='kapperz' pid='1243720' dateline='1353437719'

That is one thing I'm confused about. I run XBMCbuntu. Is AMD not good for Linux?
[/quote]

I have no personal experience in the HTPC space, so this is my understanding based my my research. However, AMD has a history of being problematic under Linux when it comes to graphics. Intel does a much better job of providing drivers, historically. Although a number of people are currently reporting success using the modern AMD chips under Linux, AMD just closed their largest center of Linux developers, so their future commitment to Linux doesn't look to bright to me either.

[B.V.]

AMD cpu's and Linux are not the problem, it's the AMD ATI GPU's that deliver Linux users headaches

[PobjoySpecial]

...

[cpmiller22]

I run a Zbox with win7, 32gb ssd, and an mce ir receiver. Everything runs great for me!

[kapperz]

Thanks Pobjoy, I'm going to wait and see about the ZBOX ID42

[B.V.]

Which zbox and receiver do you use?