[olsonbri]

Any thoughts on choosing an ASRock H81M LGA 1150 with the i3-4130 Haswell?

In some ways it seems ill advised until chipset drivers are improved for the new Haswell based on what I see in threads here and elsewhere. But then, why buy an old ‘truck’ (i.e. Ivy Bridge) when the new truck (Haswell) costs about the same??

I plan to gather parts within the next 30 days for a new build. The only hardware I currently have is the Silverstone GD04 case.

This build will be for the main living room TV and needs to:

1. Run Windows 7 OS
2. Run XBMC and WMC (for Netflix app only)
3. Play LAN video content primarily from NAS (D-link 323)
4. Support DVD drive in the bay, not sure about blu-ray.
4. Support OTA TV card or HomerunHD in the near future.
5. Serve as a PVR if it’s possible (720p, don’t demand 1080p)
6. Possibly be used for light gaming in the next 2-? Years. ? Who knows what the kids will want.

Thanks much!

[deksawyer]

I have a build thread in this area of the forum and it's using an i3 4330 & Asus H87I-Plus. Openelec, XBMCbuntu & Win7 all worked very well. I only ditched the Linux installs because I couldn't get my MCE remote/keyboard working (but I plan on giving it another go).

So far, with the Win7 install, it looks and sounds amazing, and so much faster than my old 775 machine. It boots to desktop in less than 10 secs.

I'd say go for it!

D.

[olsonbri]

Thanks deksawyer. I looked at your build --nice! I guess the only way I'll find out how silent my build will be is to just build it and work from there.

[mrhyde1969]

I also have an haswel i5 build with aarock mb but I had all sorts of audio and video problems with win7. So I had to install a gpu to get xbmc working properly. There are well documented problems with intel chips and xbmc

[deksawyer]

I also have an haswel i5 build with aarock mb but I had all sorts of audio and video problems with win7. So I had to install a gpu to get xbmc working properly. There are well documented problems with intel chips and xbmc

Hi

could you give a quick list of what was wrong for you..?

cheers

D.

[milli]

One known issue is HD video macroblocking/artifacts with Intel HD graphics and hardware acceleration(DXVA). It has nothing to do with XBMC.Seems like the latest intel driver fixes the issue with ivybridge but sandybridge and haswell still have those issues.

[olsonbri]

Grrrr.......... So are there any builds considered to be 'the' most stable for xbmc in a similar budget that won't break the bank? I understand this wasn't my original question I don't mind the AMD but considered the heat/noise advantages of the intel.

Troubleshooting some issues is something I can deal with -but don't want a build that will inherently be unsatisfactory. It's been 10 years since I did a home-built PC, so I can get a little excited thinking about attaching a motherboard to a case again!

Currently the family is running 2 WDTV Lives in the house. Nice cheap sub $100 units --but the wife wants Nick Jr/Disney content for the kids. I don't want to buy a Ruku because I like the networking features with the WDTV. So then I stumbled onto xbmc on my laptop and I can see all my problems will be solved! (not to mention the massive plugin repos). I'll have to run the Windows xbmc build because the wife wants netflix, which has no Linux support. I tried the XIOS but the Netflix only really works with the Android OS, and the Android Netflix app stinks for conventional TV/remote habits. Back to what I wanted to do 5 years ago but didn't: Build an HTPC!!

Please help!!

[teeedubb]

There is pipelight for Linux which will allow you to watch Netflix in a browser. AFAIK Intel doesn't have macro blocking issues on Linux.

[olsonbri]

If I weren't so stubborn I'd buy a mac

[joelbaby]

could you give a quick list of what was wrong for you..?

From what I've seen Intel doesn't do "vector adaptive" de-interlacing when you watch live TV.
if you choose a different de-interlacing method when something is playing (eg DXVA Bob) it works fine (apparently).
Maybe mrhyde can elaborate further.

[nickr]

5. Serve as a PVR if it’s possible (720p, don’t demand 1080p)

A PVR records what the TV company sends. If HD that is likely to be 720p or 1080i, but more likely the latter. Not many broadcasters at all send 1080p. Make sure your setup has good deinterlacing capabilities.

[olsonbri]

Technology moves too fast. Just a month ago I was looking at every possible work-around to get Netflix on a linux build. Thanks for the heads up on pipelight. I should reconsider a Ubuntu install. I wonder if one can seamlessly switch from xbmc to pipelight/browser and back with a remote??

[nickr]

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=170965

[Skram0]

Any thoughts on choosing an ASRock H81M LGA 1150 with the i3-4130 Haswell?

I'm looking into the MSI H81M-E33 with a Pentium G3220. All I use it for is XBMC so the Pentium should be fine for me. I currently have an ASRock setup with a 2nd gen i3 using an ATI GPU. But my current board uses the Realtec audio chipset and I use the optical out, but XBMC has issues with Realtec optical. So I'm getting a new board & CPU with a Sound Blaster card w/optical. Going to re-purpose the old board for a NAS. It's amazing how many motherboards use the Realtec audio chipset. I'll also be upgrading to a 64GB SSD for the OS drive.

I figure why buy something that's old tech just because there's a driver issue with the new tech. Hopefully in a few months they'll fix the bugs, or I'll just put my ATI GPU back in service. Buy keeping my fingers crossed, the fix for the 23.976 issue is enticing.

[olsonbri]

Interesting. Realtek is everywhere. I'm curious, which soundblaster card are you looking at? I looked at your MSI board, and there doesn't appear to be any PCI slots, and it looks like the better value Soundblaster cards are PCI, with the PCIe costing significantly more. Would it be smarter to go with a board with PCI slot(s) so long as it will fit in my case?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6829102003