[pbusardo]

I'm looking to build or purchase an HTPC or nettop. I'm currently using my main desktop, but want something dedicated for my theater that will replace my NMT.

It will run Windows, XBMC, Boxee, Firefox and nothing else.

I want to be able to play ALL my 720p and 1080p videos, photos, and music off my NAS. As well as feed 7.1 audio to my Onkyo via HDMI.

I really want a barebones system capable of handling my requirements WITHOUT stuttering or breaking the bank. I'd like to spend under $300, which may be a stretch.

I was looking at the Giada N20 on Newegg which is $309.99.

I look forward to your comments and suggestions. Thanks!!

[poofyhairguy]

The Giada N20 is not as popular around here, I would look at these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856101114

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856173004

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856173005

Or if barebones scares you:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856101099

I know that beats your budget by a little, but it is the current "IT" ION system with tons of threads about it here. Personally I would prefer the barebones so you can put a SSD in!

[MrDamnation]

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

I'm using this (ION/Atom combo) and am loving it. It runs 720p like candy (cant use 1080 since I don't have it on my TV), and even with 1GB RAM it's enough (I don't really know how much RAM is important to streaming video). If you're grabbing video off your NAS (which is an awesome idea BTW, and I'll set up once I get my own place), 160GB 2.5 SATA HDDs are like $40.

I had a gig of DDR2 ram lying around from updating my laptop, so all in all I paid ~$250 for it. I'm super satisfied and love that I can run my emulators on it as well, which the Boxee box can't (to the best of my knowledge).

[poofyhairguy]

That is a good solution too. Anything ION will work great.

[pbusardo]

I'll look through the links. Thanks a lot guys!

[longsh0t]

I purchased the Giada N20 to try out in the bedroom and I think I'm going to purchase 3 more for the kids. I was very interested in the integrated IR and remote. Most of the buttons on the MCE remote work with XBMC out of the box. The only ones that didn't work that I was really worried about were the ones for Subtitle on/off, Subtitle cycle, and toggle fullscreen. I just remapped the 1, 2 and 3 keys in the keyboard.xml and taught the IR commands to my Sony Remote with no need for eventghost.

I'm not sure why it's not popular but it makes a great secondary system IMO.