Ok I'm afraid I also could use some help.
As almost everybody here, I'm planning to build a new htpc (and to spend some money on something I don't really need)
At the moment I'm using the following setup with a Silverstone µATX case:
AMD Athlon X2 250e + GeForce GT 430
Performance wise the system is fine. I'm using OpenELEC and everything runs perfectly smooth. However, the case is rather large and overall the system is quite loud.
Therefore I'm planning to move to the Mini-ITX form factor (
http://geizhals.at/eu/733439).
Even after reading this thread I'm not quite sure whether I should go for the i3 2105 or the a6 3500.
I'm going to use it as a dedicated htpc (no gaming, no encoding and no webserver or something). I'm only interested in XBMC (+PVR in the future) running perfectly smooth with the best audio/video quality I can get and the least hassle when setting it up.
Based on your comments I guess the a6 would be fine in terms of performance. But I'm planning to stick to OpenELEC. Eskro's sticky thread says that A6 will work with "tinkering here and there". Will the i3 work with OpenELEC? Maybe even out of the box?
And are there any differences in video quality between the A6 and the i3? I think I read something about problems with Intel drivers but I don't really recall the details.