[jimbo229]

So I spent the better part of today reading about HTPCs (both here and other sites) and I wanted to get some opinions from the gurus.

My current setup is a Dell Inspiron 1450 laptop with HDMI out to a 5.1 Surround Sound system with HDMI out to my 1080p TV. Usually I use my laptop connected to a 1TB external drive to play my TV shows or movies that I have downloaded (if I stream Netflix I just use my XBox). Most of my TV shows are SD right now, because the laptop seems to have a very hard time playing 1080p video (very choppy). I'm not sure if thats the graphics card unable to keep up, low processing power, or both. The only other thing the computer is used for is watching 720p flash video streams (GOMTV for the GSL).

I was originally thinking about getting an ASUS Atom mobo with the ION graphics, but it seems the general consensus on here is that the Zacates are better. So I wanted to ask some help picking out stuff specifically for my needs, so far I am leaning towards:

Mobo/CPU/GPU: ASUS E35M1-M PRO AMD Zacate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131697

RAM: Kingston 4GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820134718

HD: Corsair Nova 32GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820233122

For media storage I have two 1TB externals that I plan on opening up and turning into internals (maybe with a Raid0? I think the board supports that). For a case I am not sure if I want to buy one or make one out of Lexan, I think that could look pretty cool. And for an optical drive I think I am going to get a generic DVD drive for now, I use my PS3 for BluRays currently.

I suppose I have 3 big questions,
1) Would my choices be sufficient for what I need the HTPC for? I was thinking maybe going to 8gb of RAM just to be sure
2) It seems like most people use Windows 7 for their HTPCs, does this run ok on these tiny processors?
3) What kind of power supply should I be looking at for this build? I saw alot of links to the pico PSUs but if there is one thing I am very bad at, it is picking power supplys for my builds

Thanks for any replys!

[eskro]

ok, ZACATE motherboards perform better then ION ones..
this one is great for the price http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

so, all the hardware you listed will be able to play 1080P movies flawlessly and even Stream Hi-Def web content...

that Corsair SSD is the same i have and its really great!
works as expected and its fast! my system feels snappy!

Windows7 is what i use and inside XBMC,
just make sure to enable hardware acceleration (DXVA2)
this way you wont have jerky playback on those Hi-Def movies...

and yes, ZACATE can handle windows7 no problems...

2GB's of ram is also enough for a basic HTPC setup..
basic like using XBMC and web surfing...

PicoPSU's are 'external' ....
pretty handy in small form factor cases...
they are also silent which is great!
i would get at least 80W picoPSU but thats me....
just note that those PSU's come in 2 parts per say...
the PSU + its Power Block...

Pick yourself a mini-ITX case, then worry about the PSU

hope this helps!

[wicky]

I actually use that board in my server right now, and absolutely love it. You will not be let down Ram is fine, though I always point people towards the G.Skill ECO series as they run on much lower voltage, and are very cool...just another way to keep power and heat levels in check (it all adds up :p). SSD is fine, but the old Indilinx barefoot is a bit long in the tooth these days, and the generally you are better off looking at spending a bit more, and snag something like the Corsair F40 which is a 40gb drive utilizing the SandForce controller. It is much more powerful, leading to stronger read/write performance, more robust garbage collection, and among the lowest write amplification around (translates to longer life NAND modules). The $40 you would put towards an extra 4gb of ram wouldn't translate into any noticeable performance increase, where as that $40 going towards a better SSD will result in faster boot times, quicker installs, and so forth.

And to your questions directly:
1) Yes this will be sufficient, Zacate is faster than Atom and its cpu/gpu combo is ideally suited for a low power, strong performance HTPC capable of 1080p.
2) Windows 7 runs smooth as can be on Zacate, and XBMC on Zacate is best suited to windows 7. Linux is possible but there are additional steps and tweaks required to take advantage of gpu acceleration for your media, on windows 7 it is simply a process of clicking a button to enable it.
3) Ideally you would want to use a Pico PSU as these are highly efficient and very low profile. If you look here you can see the results of one of my recent builds, and the builds by several other members using the Zacate platform. Including power consumption and heat output figures. Since your external drives are powered with their own adapter they will only be drawing the ~500mw over USB which really wont effect your stability. 60w is really all you need :p

[jimbo229]

That you for the input! About the case, I think I will pick one after I explore building one a little bit, because I think building one could be awesome. I found this picoPSU (http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-120-102W-power-kit). If I put splitters/sata converters on the IDE cable would that be enough to power everything? Including the 2 extra HDDs and the optical?

[jimbo229]

It seems wicky beat me to linking that PSU haha. I think I might order this next weekend, I'm pumped!

[eskro]

well like wicky said, your external drives are powered with their own adapters right?

[jimbo229]

They are currently yes, but I was thinking about opening them up to get the HDs out and turn them into internal drives

[eskro]

well raid0 wont give you any file protection...
raid1 would at least mirror the files on the second drive..
so you'd have 1 drive in reality to store your files on,,,
as they other one would be its mirror...

im not too familiar with RAID systems yet but i know that
the one that seems the most recommended is the unRAID system...

[gnif]

If you want redundency use RAID5, or RAID10 if you have the cash.

RAID5 uses three disks, two for data that are in stripe mode (RAID0), and one extra disk that is a parity disk. You have to loose two disks before you will loose any data as you can rebuild either lost disk with the parity information.

Raid 10 is also written, RAID 1+0, which needs a minimum of four disks, two in stripe (RAID0), and two in clone (RAID1), the benefit to this setup is read performance since all disks can be read from for data, and you can loose a drive and have the system continue to operate until you can replace it. Server's often run RAID10 setups.

As for Unraid... I really do not see what the point of this product is, you can do everything it can do using LVM for free, including adding/removing volumes on the fly and it is already part of the linux kernel an used in commercial grade data arrays for servers and data-centers, so its stability is 2nd to none.

[eskro]

gnif, when u say LVM does everything unRAID does,
and its free, do you mean like it really does Everything unRAID does?

[jimbo229]

A backup raid setup would be good but I would have to adjust my budget I think for that, currently my two drives are about 75% capacity, but that is with some duplicate files just... I have an old core 2 duo computer with 6 SATA ports I could turn into an LVM/unRaid server and toss a 3rd drive in for a backup setup. Using LVM or unRaid means I do not need to buy a raid controller correct?

Only problem with my core 2 duo is that it is submerged in an oil bath... so not exactly easy to add/remove components haha

[eskro]

its definitely not recommended to use HARDWARE RAID...

Always go for SOFTWARE RAID...