[MockY]

I have been running XBMC with MediaStream on a box made from spare parts for a while now. Its not a speed monster by any means (Athlon 64 3400+, 1GB ram, GeForce 6200) but it has not presented any issues when playing any type of media. I have thrown avi, mkv, and mpg at it with no issues, so I can't complain.

However, the GUI can certainly be snappier and when fast forwarding or rewinding a movie or TV episode, the video often lags and it takes some time before the picture is caught up with the sound. This is especially true with mkv files since I assume it requires a bit more power to run or "encode" those types of files.

This box has served me well (and still does) but I am now looking to upgrade since my "trial run" with XBMC was over long time ago. With that in mind, I have two options: I can either buy new regular desktop hardware, quadcore CPU, 4gb ram, and a fairly highend GPU, for a decent price but be sure that the hardware will be enough, or I can buy an ION platform. The latter is preferable due to it's smaller form factor and energy efficiency, but I am not really sure if it fits the bill.

What I want the new system to do is to NOT lag when fast forwarding or rewinding any type of media (a couple of seconds is acceptable but not more) and present a very snappy GUI. No lag at all.

I am looking primarily at this board coupled with 4GB of RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813500030
and wonder if that would be enough for what I'm looking for.

I am and will be running Ubuntu. All media is stored on a server within the LAN.

Any input is much appreciated.

[MockY]

Odd that no one knows the answer.
To shorten the question then:

Will the following board with 4GB of RAM run XBMC and MediaStream without any GUI lag and any video lag when playing mkv files?
Furthermore, will it be enough in order to remove the annoying video delay when fast forwarding and rewinding the video?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813500030

[davilla]

Odd that no one knows the answer.
To shorten the question then:

Will the following board with 4GB of RAM run XBMC and MediaStream without any GUI lag and any video lag when playing mkv files?
Furthermore, will it be enough in order to remove the annoying video delay when fast forwarding and rewinding the video?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813500030

No, get something with a 3GHz+ core2duo or better. MediaStream is a pig with respect to CPU and memory needs.

[MockY]

So if I use another skin, I would be alright?

However, that is besides the point though, since MediaStream is by far the best skin imo.
Well that's a shame since the small form factor is extremely attractive. These boards are made for this very purpose, so it's somewhat odd that I wont be able to use it (I assume that MediaStream is the very cause that I can't use it).

Regular desktop hardware it is then. So in terms of GPU, what is recommended, without going overboard?

[davilla]

So if I use another skin, I would be alright?

However, that is besides the point though, since MediaStream is by far the best skin imo.
Well that's a shame since the small form factor is extremely attractive. These boards are made for this very purpose, so it's somewhat odd that I wont be able to use it (I assume that MediaStream is the very cause that I can't use it).

Regular desktop hardware it is then. So in terms of GPU, what is recommended, without going overboard?

Your assumptions are based on not understand that skins like MediaStream are heavy CPU centric. Something has to move those images around and it does not happen magically. So compare an 1.6GHz dual core atom 330 CPU to your Athlon 64 3400+. Which is faster? If you already have lags that you can't tolerate, why would a slower CPU make this better?

You also stated "no GUI lag" and "no video lag", this restricts you to high performance CPUs which then restricts you to non-small form factors. The choice is yours.

As for video, Nvidia 8xxx/9xxx pci-e and use vdpau. There are several threads already about which nvidia card is "best".

[MockY]

Well, the frequency is lower on the Atom, but is has one more core, so I figured that would do count for something. You stated that I should get at least a 3GHz+ core2duo (Which indeed is pretty fast), but how low can I go with a quad core then? Getting up to those speeds on a quad core system you really have to spend money. Currently the same cost for such CPU is almost more than a HD TiVo 1TB (just to compare).

My priority is not the GUI performance (though that would be a bonus). I rather have a trouble free video playback.

Thanks for the insight. I will shop around some more then.

[davilla]

Well, the frequency is lower on the Atom, but is has one more core, so I figured that would do count for something. You stated that I should get at least a 3GHz+ core2duo (Which indeed is pretty fast), but how low can I go with a quad core then? Getting up to those speeds on a quad core system you really have to spend money. Currently the same cost for such CPU is almost more than a HD TiVo 1TB (just to compare).

My priority is not the GUI performance (though that would be a bonus). I rather have a trouble free video playback.

Thanks for the insight. I will shop around some more then.

another core will help but CPU speed will help more. ffmpeg is multi-threaded but CPU speed helps much more as ffmpeg multi-threaded will only help in limited cases, ie. vc1 is single threaded on ffmpeg.

I'd get a faster dual-core rather than a slower quad-core.

[MockY]

Ahh I see. Good to know.
Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

EDIT:
Since Intel is more expensive than AMD, would a dual core 3.0 Athlon suffice? Such as this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103681

[davilla]

Ahh I see. Good to know.
Thanks for the information. Much appreciated.

EDIT:
Since Intel is more expensive than AMD, would a dual core 3.0 Athlon suffice? Such as this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819103681

Spend the $$, Intel's offerings smoke AMD.