[mbarnes18]

I'm reading through a very long and detailed build post on another site where everyone is praising the Intel Clarkdale i3 processor with integrated GPU along with a mobo with HDMI out. Getting rid of the GPU.

I've been reading through some of the suggestions on this board and everyone seems to be endorsing a dedicated GPU. Is there a reason for this? What are the advantages of a dedicated GPU over an integrated GPU?

My build would be XBMC on Ubuntu for streaming locally stored 1080p video, music, photos... etc.

As of now I'm planning to buy

[CPU] Intel Core i3-540 Clarkdale
[MOBO] ASUS P7H55-M PRO LGA 1156 Intel H55 HDMI Micro ATX
[Memory] G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM
[PSU] Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W
[CASE] nMEDIAPC 5000B Micro ATX
[HDD] SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD204UI 2TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

with the possible addition of a SSD for the OS

Does this seem reasonable? Will Ubuntu and XBMC run well on it?

[poofyhairguy]

Reason to avoid Intel GPUs:

1. The Linux drivers are terrible. Not borderline, not decent, they are outright terrible. If you want to use Linux to its max, its Nvidia or bust.
2. Out of the big 3 (AMD, Intel, Nvidia), Intel has the least robust decoding.
3. Intel's GPU division is happy to have performance of AMD/Nvidia's last gen models. They are constantly a step behind in Windowsland.

With all that said, an i3 has enough power to do anything so if you want to avoid a dedicated GPU you can. Just note that 24p might not work 100%.

[poofyhairguy]

Side note: Your build looks sweet except for the Samsung HD. I kinda consider myself a mini-expert on consumer 2TB HDs (as I have owned everyone in the market almost) and out of them the Samsung F4s were by far the worst. In fact they were so bad they got removed from my Unraid server.

The BEST HDs for inside a HTPC are WD Greens (much cooler than others).

[mbarnes18]

Thanks for the help poofyhairguy.

I've been speccing this for the last two weeks and I'd like to pull the trigger tomorrow. I think this setup is near my final answer. This is my first computer build and first real HTPC. I've been running a macbook pro connected to LCD TV for a year and a half and It has matured from VLC to Plex to Boxee and now to XBMC. I'm thinking this will run XBMC Live with streaming from free internet sites and maybe some game emulation. I want it to be flexible enough to install Win7 for games if I decide I want that.

[CPU] AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core

[MOBO] GIGABYTE GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX

[GPU] ASUS ENGT430/DI/1GD3(LP) GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready

[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)

[CASE] nMEDIAPC Black Aluminum / Acrylic / Steel HTPC 5000B Micro ATX

[PSU] Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D Green 380W

[SSD] Kingston SSDNow V100 Series SV100S2N/64GZ 2.5" 64GB SATA II

[HDD] Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARS 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

[REMOTE] Rosewill WMC Remote control/Rcvr RRC-127 for Win 7

[CABLE] Link Depot 6 ft. HDMI TO HDMI

Being my first HTPC I don't know where this is going to take me. I like the idea of Linux and XBMC. But I might want to try some PVR of OTA TV, some gaming, or a NAS storage. I'm trying to give myself room to grow this beast into whatever it decides it wants to me.

Newegg shopping cart total is $668.90 with $25 worth of mail in rebates. Thoughts/suggestions?

[poofyhairguy]

That build is awesome. I like it as is.

[DaGround]

point for windows.. use it as a gamestation, otherwise the cpu is total overkill.

switch the 430 to 460 or 560ti.. 430 isnt good for anything. to much for just video decoding way to weak for decent 1080p games.

Asus EN210 SILENT 26€ passive with hdmi
Palit XpertVision GeForce GTX 460 126€
Palit XpertVision GeForce GTX 560 Ti 199€


remote: harmony 600/650/One i wont buy any other remotes again