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2013-11-26, 15:48
(This post was last modified: 2013-11-26, 18:26 by LTParis.)
I am building out a OpenElec/XBMC install that would serve as a central XBMC box for playback, SABnzbs suite, and streaming to other XBMC devices on the network. I am trying to keep things lower cost unless performance takes more of a hit.
As a side note my Zotac 9300 w/ 2GB build has been doing this function for 3.5 years, so technically both should work just fine.
So first option is to keep it low cost with a ASUS E45M1-M PRO AMD E-450 board and processor. At $119 it's a pretty low cost entry and 5 SATA ports is not too shabby.
The second option would be ASRock Z87E-ITX LGA 1150 Intel Z87 and a i3 3240 processor. At $258 it's significantly more.
Would I really see that much of a bump in performance? This is straight 2D performance, and would be married up to 4-5 drives and a SSD for the OpenElec/XBMC install.
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First of all you are pairing a socket 1150 MB with a 1155 CPU so that won't work. For 2D performance I'd suggest a Haswell Pentium (i.e. G3220) or step back to an Ivy Bridge CPU and go with a G1610 + H77 MB. No reason to go with a Z series chipset since you are not going to overclock.
Another option to consider is a Celeron 847, 1007, or 1037 motherboard. Any of those would be better for XBMC than an E450 while not costing a lot more $$$.
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The reason I did not look at the H77 boards is the max SATA ports I could find was 4. Maybe I should look at an expansion card if I went H77.
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"streaming to other device"
If you intend to transcode, the i3 will do well, I doubt the E-450 will. I have a Foxconn with AMD E-450 APU &
AMD Radeon HD 6320 running OpenELEC. Performance is excellent for playback.
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2013-11-26, 17:35
(This post was last modified: 2013-11-26, 18:23 by LTParis.)
I should have been more clear, in this case a stream is just a simple file share call against the main XBMC box. So no transcoding needed.
Update: I found a Giada N70E-DR Intel Celeron 1037U combo board/CPU that does 6 SATA for $179. Seems like a bargain.
So that puts the following boards in contention:
ASRock Z87E-ITX LGA 1150 Intel Z87 + G3220 Haswell 3.0GHz - $188
Giada N70E-DR Intel Celeron 1037U combo board/CPU - $179
ASUS E45M1-M PRO AMD E-450 APU AMD Hudson M1 - $119
I don't plan to do a add-on video card so I want to make sure that any of these setups can do 1080p 2D (which they should) and simultaneously file serve to 1-2 other XBMC devices.
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2013-11-26, 17:46
(This post was last modified: 2013-11-26, 17:51 by whitebelly.)
If no transcode then I would think there would be little problem with E-450 so long as you don't have a lot of streams at once. It is dual core & OpenELEC creates little demand.
The i3 would give you added flexibility/capability for future applications. In my case, that was not a factor.
The Celeron 847 is very popular and I would think would serve you best on the value front.
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2013-11-26, 21:22
(This post was last modified: 2013-11-26, 21:25 by LTParis.)
After some debate I decided to go with E-450. This is really a two purpose device and won't take much, simple playback and file server. I think I got some good deals:
Asus E45M1-M Pro Motherboard/Processor - $119.99
Kingston HyperX 4GB DIMM - $39.74
Lian Li PC-Q25B Case (really liked the build quality). - $79.99 (Newegg $30 instant discount and $20 promo credit)
Corsair CX430 80+ Power Supply - $48.42
Antec TrueQuiet Pro 120mm Fan - $13.99
$302.13
I also picked up a 4TB WD Red drive since my Barracuda 3TB died. Going to be fun trying to restore from that.
OpenElec/XBMC will be on a Samsung SSD 840 that is in my current case, and another 1.5TB drive put into the new box.
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That is what I get for switching up systems at the last minute. Thanks for catching that board. I might be able to live with just 4x SATA for now.
