[Antioch]

I've been using XBMC on my Xbox for ages and now that I've *finally* bought an HDTV I'd like to start watching all my HD content on the big screen instead of my 24" monitor. To do so I will need to ditch the old Xbox and build a more competent HTPC.

I've been watching the XBMC-VDPAU branch for the last few weeks with interest and have decided that it's probably best to build a machine geared to support it - these would be nVidia integrated graphics motherboards. There are two choices: AMD and Intel.

The AMD motherboards only have 8200/8300 integrated chipsets, while the Intel boards have the latest 9300/9400 chipsets. Does this make that much of a difference? Motd2k has reported that there are issues with the older 8x00 series and that it is best to avoid them for the time being. Yes, people have reported getting it to work, but at the same time wouldn't it be a better investment to spend the $20 extra and get updated HDMI protocol and a newer audio chipset?

Once you pick a platform you then have to pick a CPU. In this domain I am completely unsure. Yes, AMDs chips generally report a lower maximum wattage, directly leading to cooler temperatures, but you could just as easily underclock an Intel chip and get the same performance/heat ratio.

Also, I'm not sure just how much "punch" you need for XBMC. I imagine modern processors will have enough power to deal with all of the graphical effects (hell my 700MHz P3 Xbox can do it), but I am also considering eventually plugging a TV tuner into my HTPC and creating a VDR. Wouldn't this require a bit more punch than a Celeron or equivalent AMD processor could deliver?

On a side note: I have seen some people say that for HTPCs it is a good idea to get 4GB of RAM if possible. Is this true? Will you see a performance benefit? Again, upgrading from 2GB DDR2 to 4GB DDR2 is fairly cheap, but you pay a heat/power price going with extra RAM.

I'd like to ask for thoughts and opinions, hear what other people have experienced with their builds.

Thank for the help!

[Haggy]

Hi!

Well i just finished building my htpc a few weeks ago and started using xbmc-vdpau since then. My machine is built upon an ASUS M3N78-EM mainboard using a geforce 8300 chipset, AMD X2 4850e running at max. 2.5 GHz and 2 x 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM. HDD is a WD3200BEVT notebook drive and power i get from a picoPSU which delivers 120 watts top.

As you can see i had to use cool and power-saving equipment mainly because of the housing (which was once an old but beautiful dvd player), but also to not stress my monthly bill too much.

As for the 8300: It is perfectly fine doing hardware decoding of any HD/SD video i've thrown at it using mplayer. In xbmc i'm experiencing some problems, but those will vanish i'm sure. The cpu is also plenty enough for everything. i even run it undervolted and @1GHz most of the time, but here comes the first caveat: Running any AMD X2 at such low speed will also affect your available memory bandwith for the IGP as the memory controller is built into the cpu. The result is not being able to use VDPAU @1GHz because there's not enough bandwith to deliver the data to the IGP. Running at least at 1.8 Ghz is enough though.

You don't need 4GB of RAM, 2 GB will also be plenty enough, but beware to use 2 modules aka. Dual Channel if using an IGP. Many folks in here are experiencing problems using only one module as also memory bandwith is too low for anything fancy on AMD. So you may use 2 x 1GB, but memory virtually costs nothing and also take into count that the IGP uses 512 MB of it as video ram.

I think on Intel before Core i7 it doesn't matter if you run dual or single channel. The reason i bought an AMD was simply because of the new 9xxx mainboards seemed too expensive in comparison to 8xxx and don't have any advantages for my use. Also, i've been on Intel for years and justed wanted to try out what AMD has to offer - not to mention that the whole machine was way cheaper than using Intel components.

For the soundchip: if you're going to use hdmi or digital out it doesn't matter at all what is built upon the board as long as it is supported by ALSA. My ALC1200 on the asus board runs perfectly and has everything to offer i need.

Just my 2 cents.

[nul7]

Just for reference, from the VDPAU thread:

Just for the record, I'd like to mention that I checked a version out of the SVN and compiled it yesterday on my ancient 600mHz PIII with an 8400GS 512 PCI card (passively cooled and manufactured by Sparkle) slapped into it and a stripped-down Ubuntu install started with Ubuntu server (for some reason the Althon machine I was previously using as my projector computer won't POST with the PCI card in, and the only other semi-modern spare PC I have is way too loud for the job, when it's turned on it sounds like an SUV engine...but dear god, on the PIII even ./configure took something like an hour to run).

So far it's handled <b>every</b> video I've thrown at it, it shrugs off 720p x264/mkv files and runs the 1080i Aliens MPEG2/ts rip I have lying around, although for the latter it gets a bit slow right after skipping around but it smooths out afterwards and would be seamless if just watching a movie from start to finish.

Or in other words, VDPAU on an 8400GS has let me run a hi-def projector and content on a computer whose components are mostly from 1999! This is very awesome, countless thanks to the devs.

Based on that, anything that you can actually buy now-a-days would work as long as you got a proper graphics card.

This is probably more than enough:

Computer: http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems....A643200912
$114.99
Athlon 64 3200
1 GB PC3200
80 GB HD

Graphics Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814141077
$52.99
BIOSTAR V9502GT51
GeForce 9500 GT
512MB
Passive Cooling

Not exactly a powerhouse, but for less than $200 it should make a pretty good HTPC thanks to XBMC and motd2k.

EDIT: Just to throw it out there, I have no clue what PS comes with that computer, so you may have to spend a little more to upgrade. They have the option to upgrade to a no-name "650 watt" for $24.99. Probably over-spec'ed, but it should put out enough juice for the card.

[Haggy]

Computer: http://www.ascendtech.us/customkititems....A643200912
$114.99
Athlon 64 3200
1 GB PC3200
80 GB HD

Graphics Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6814141077
$52.99
BIOSTAR V9502GT51
GeForce 9500 GT
512MB
Passive Cooling

Not exactly a powerhouse, but for less than $200 it should make a pretty good HTPC thanks to XBMC and motd2k.

EDIT: Just to throw it out there, I have no clue what PS comes with that computer, so you may have to spend a little more to upgrade. They have the option to upgrade to a no-name "650 watt" for $24.99. Probably over-spec'ed, but it should put out enough juice for the card.

That page doesn't load here - sure it has a PCI Express slot to stick that GPU in? If so it surely will do fine, but i'd look out for something smaller, cooler and most of all less noisier hardware for the living room. That PSU also way oversized and noisy as hell for sure. I ditched EVERY PSU with a fan it in favor of the picoPSU and i did not spend much more money on the whole rig. (250 euros - so about 300$)

[olympia]

That page doesn't load here - sure it has a PCI Express slot to stick that GPU in? If so it surely will do fine, but i'd look out for something smaller, cooler and most of all less noisier hardware for the living room. That PSU also way oversized and noisy as hell for sure. I ditched EVERY PSU with a fan it in favor of the picoPSU and i did not spend much more money on the whole rig. (250 euros - so about 300$)

/OT

My only concern regarding picoPSU is how to mount it nicely for all the cases designed for full size PSU. (anyhow, there will be a big hole in the back of the case unit)

/OT end

[Antioch]

Haggy, what you say is true.

Would you mind taking a few pictures of your case? Case is the only thing I really need to decide on and the slim ones are rather expensive.

[Haggy]

/OT

My only concern regarding picoPSU is how to mount it nicely for all the cases designed for full size PSU. (anyhow, there will be a big hole in the back of the case unit)

/OT end

Well - you can use that big hole for an air tunnel so you always get cool air pulled in without another fan. The picoPSU itself is not bigger than a regular atx power supply plug - so no need to mount anything, you just plug it in.

[Haggy]

Haggy, what you say is true.

Would you mind taking a few pictures of your case? Case is the only thing I really need to decide on and the slim ones are rather expensive.

Sure - i have tons of pictures here. Will upload them as soon as that bloody cardreader comes back to life again. However, i do not have a 'regular' pc housing as i find them all being too ugly for the living room i built my htpc into that case:

[motd2k]

You must be good with the old dremel!

[Haggy]

Dremel is for sissies - i prefer

[xnappo]

Here is my setup:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=287...tcount=141

It is running perfectly with VDPAU. You could go down to a $30 single core 2.2GHz processor without any problems (I have underclocked that low). I figured I would spend the extra $30 in case I wanted to do encoding at some point...

xnappo

[Antioch]

Haggy, that looks like a great 'case.' I'd love to see some internal shots - maybe even a build log if you made one. Have you hooked up the built-in LCD to XBMC or your kernel yet? What about the case buttons?

Thanks

[nul7]

That page doesn't load here - sure it has a PCI Express slot to stick that GPU in? If so it surely will do fine, but i'd look out for something smaller, cooler and most of all less noisier hardware for the living room. That PSU also way oversized and noisy as hell for sure. I ditched EVERY PSU with a fan it in favor of the picoPSU and i did not spend much more money on the whole rig. (250 euros - so about 300$)

The motherboard is an FIC C51G. Not the greatest piece of hardware, but it will get the job done. It has one PCI-E X16, one PCI-E X1, 2 PCI slots and is μATX (9.6" x 9.6"). I'm not sure why it won't load for you, but they probably only ship to the U.S. anyway. My question is, how can you comment on the size, cooling, or noise of the hardware when you don't even know what it is? lol Not that I disagree, but my point was that even the cheapest hardware you can buy will work. This particular combo is a good start for anyone who wants the cheapest solution that works. For a decent motherboard, processor, ram and HD, it doesn't get much cheaper than $115, let alone for a complete desktop. For anyone who wants a little more (or should that be less? lol) out of it, they can use an old DVD player as a case and spend a little extra on a picoPSU like you did and still spend around $200 + shipping.

[Antioch]

The motherboard is an FIC C51G. Not the greatest piece of hardware, but it will get the job done. It has one PCI-E X16, one PCI-E X1, 2 PCI slots and is μATX (9.6" x 9.6"). I'm not sure why it won't load for you, but they probably only ship to the U.S. anyway. My question is, how can you comment on the size, cooling, or noise of the hardware when you don't even know what it is? lol Not that I disagree, but my point was that even the cheapest hardware you can buy will work. This particular combo is a good start for anyone who wants the cheapest solution that works. For a decent motherboard, processor, ram and HD, it doesn't get much cheaper than $115, let alone for a complete desktop. For anyone who wants a little more (or should that be less? lol) out of it, they can use an old DVD player as a case and spend a little extra on a picoPSU like you did and still spend around $200 + shipping.

Supposing you can find a properly sized case. I'd love to get a picoPSU and a 10"x10" case to slide a uATX board into, just not sure I can find an easy way to do it.

It is a much more affordable alternative to shelling out ~$200 for those slimline cases that are far too wide because the stupid designer decided to put a "mini PSU" in (which are too loud and inefficient to find a home in an HTPC that you'd spend so much for on only the case).

[Haggy]

Hi!

Haggy, that looks like a great 'case.' I'd love to see some internal shots - maybe even a build log if you made one. Have you hooked up the built-in LCD to XBMC or your kernel yet? What about the case buttons?

Thanks

Yeah i do have internal shots while building. i even have a build log but it's not quite finished and: it's in german because my second favorite forum is guess what: silenthardware.de :-) I'll cut it down and translate for you guys, but it may take some time.

Unfortunately the built-in display doesn't work - and i think it will never do. I removed it and now i'm looking for a reasonable cheap VFD that fits in there, but those are like 100$ and i don't really need it.

As for the case buttons i slaughtered an old USB gamepad to remove the electronics and soldered the case buttons directly onto that, but that is also not finished yet - as is the ir receiver for my harmony.

you see i still have plenty of plans for that box and i think it'll never be finished, but that's the very reason i built it :-)