Kodi Community Forum

Hi boys and girls!

After a few weeks of trawling through the posts here I thought I’d post up my HTPC hardware that I’m looking at, and get some thoughts from the guru's.

I was initially going to go with a pre-built ION solution, (I followed the ION330 all last year) but most systems were all somehow lacking in my requirements for a good Xbox1 replacement eg no optical drives, some had no optical audio out, too pricey etc etc

So I decided to go for a HTPC. I initially baulked at the idea due to laziness ie researching parts, prices etc plus I haven't followed the PC hardware game for a while. After reading some threads, the HTPC idea grew on me. I can also buy the parts over a few weeks, saving me the initial outlay of $$$

I’ve pretty much blatantly copied 'bmcclure937's' hardware as a base so thought I’d get some opinions.
Much like bmcclure937's, it’s a system based around the GT430 video card. I’ll also need optical audio out from the mobo.

My basic requirements are to be to run XBMC Live, region free DVD playback, be able to play any file I throw at it, run HD skins fine.. I won't really be using it for gaming.
I might look at getting a BD drive further down the track, esp. if the PS3 never gets hacked to be region free.

It will connect to my Sony Bravia 46" via HDMI and the audio will be through my old Teac amp via optical.
Other items in my setup include an Xbox1 running XBMC, PS3, Xbox 360.

The prices are approx using Aussie online stores. Unfortunately newegg doesn’t ship down under
Tho international purchases are not out of the question, esp. with the Aussie dollar doing so well atm Delivery from the UK is usually quicker than the US, but I'm not fussed either way.

I'm pretty much future-proofing myself a little bit, but am very negotiable in hardware choices, even the case. Oh, and budget is about $350-$450

[CPU] AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFGMBOX
[MOBO] Asus M4A88TD-M Motherboard - AM3, 880G, 4DDR3, PCIE, RAID, VGA, GBLAN, HDMI, SATA3, mATX

[RAM] G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH (2x2GB) DDR3
[GPU] ASUS ENGT430/DI/1GD3(LP) GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
[CASE][PSU] Antec New Solution NSK2480 Black/Silver 0.8mm cold-rolled steel MicroATX Desktop Computer Case 380W Power Supply

I've got a space 2.5" HDD laying around which I'll use for now.
I'll also look at a remote once I've bought the guts of the machine.

I personally love that build. Honestly, the X4 CPU is overkill unless you plan to use it for ripping and encoding tasks as well. Otherwise, a single core (as darkscout suggests) or an Athlon X2 would be adequate.

The interface runs extremely smoothly and XBMC works like a wonder on my hardware build! Best of luck. I am glad my thread could help out others too

Hmm, *rubs chin*.
Thanks for the feedback.

I might grab the GPU this week and then compare prices with an X2 system in the meantime. IIRC from your thread, they'd end up costing about the same??

Are you asking if the X2 and X4 cost the same? No, the X2 would be around $50/$60 while the X4 was about $100.

I simply did this to have enough power if the event comes up where I want to rip my movies using the HTPC. This will also ensure that no updates or add-ons cannot be handled by my CPU!

*EDIT*: basically, I would rather spend the extra little bit of $$ right now in order to make my system more viable into the future!

No looking back now, I grabbed the Asus GT 430 last night Over the next few weeks I'll slowly acquire the other parts.

Still undecided about X2 or X4... but still leaning towards X4

bmcclure937 said correct...

go for X4 if you need to Rip/convert/encode/transcode/mux/demux movies...
basically if u need to do any video work...

if not, you can go for the X2....

eskro Wrote:bmcclure937 said correct...

go for X4 if you need to Rip/convert/encode/transcode/mux/demux movies...
basically if u need to do any video work...

if not, you can go for the X2....

Thanks mate. If I go for the X2 I'll just go for the parts you mentioned in your thread ie
[mobo] ASRock 880GM-LE AM3 Micro-ATX
[cpu] Athlon X2 3.0GHz AM3 65W

Any recommendations on the RAM?

list me your desired parts exactly plz

eskro Wrote:list me your desired parts exactly plz

:confused2:

The X4 parts I had listed were in post 1.

[CPU] AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz $110AU
[MOBO] ASUS M4A785-M AMicro ATX AMD Motherboard $100 AU
[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) $75AU
[GPU] ASUS GeForce GT 430 $100AU
[CASE][PSU] Antec New Solution NSK2480 380W Power Supply $139AU + P&P

I was just going to do a (local) price comparison with your system I mentioned in the last post ie X2 system and then decide what to buy. I won't be doing any ripping etc atm, but I may further down the track. If the price difference is negligible I'll got the X4 route

you'll pay ~ $40 USD more for the quad....

your build is great

Thanks!

The Ram and Mobo don't appear on too many online stores here, but still available.

Is there any reason why most builds on these boards go for AMD CPU's rather than Intel? XBMC prefers AMD?

Not really... its just that AMD builds cost less...

Does the GT430 have bitstreaming support?

I've read on AVS that the 460 was the way to go for full HD audio options, but around here I see that doesn't appear to be the case...