[thestig]

A8 3870 and an M-ATX build (XBMC Live)

Eskro builds suggest Asrock boards, but don't know if that's personal preference, of if they're best bang/buck, compatibility, or reliability with the AMD APU's. Asus/Gigabyte any better worse? particularly interested in reliability..

Should I be looking at 2x2gb, or 2x4gb DDR3 for maximum skin and plugin streaming performance? Or is the difference negligible as compared to spending the difference (~$20) on a better SSD?

Eskrow and others mentioned that Gskill (while wildly popular) can be troublesome with the Amd Apu's, and I also know that one should avoid OCZ SSD's, but that's about all I know, so

with these targets, what would you do?

[MOBO] ~$100 mATX Hudson
[Mem] ~$25-50 ?
[HDD] ~$50 SSD (probably need more than 8gb but 16gb would be plenty)
[Cooler] ~$20-$40 Heatsink -case is same as APEVIA X-QPACK, has about 4" or so available for cooler height. Noise no issue, looking for lowest possible temps!

Thanks for any help :-)

[TeKo]

I have a Asrock in my desktopn very good boards.
I dont think there is a big difference just get the cheapest with the specs you need.


Get 2x2gb and a Patriot Torqx 2 32GB.

[aptalca]

amd/ati and linux is usually a no-no

however, there's been some new development on that front. openelec (a minimal linux build) runs on the amd apu (i believe the 350 one) with gpu accel., but I am not sure about xbmc live

[bluray]

A8 3870 and an M-ATX build (XBMC Live)

Thanks for any help :-)

You might want to throw in a Nvidia GT430 to make life easier for XBMC Live configuration. But when Linux come out with good stuff for AMD HD6550D, you can eBay GT430 because HD6550D is as good as a discrete HD6570 GPU. It has better performance then GT430.

[thestig]

Get 2x2gb and a Patriot Torqx 2 32GB.

Great. I was thinking that SSD looked good, with the massively faster writes. Thank you!

amd/ati and linux is usually a no-no

however, there's been some new development on that front. openelec (a minimal linux build) runs on the amd apu (i believe the 350 one) with gpu accel., but I am not sure about xbmc live

Oh god, no!
That would be kind of a deal breaker - I've tried openelec, maybe 6 weeks ago or so. I thought it was a great idea to make the box more of an appliance, but I found out that I much prefer being able to put other things in place on the system, when I get an idea that would automate something, etc. cronjobbing a script that builds XBMC from SVN once a week, or install shairport.

[bluray]

A8 3870 and an M-ATX build (XBMC Live)

Thanks for any help :-)

You selected a great APU because AMD A8-3870 is the best all-in-one CPU on the market. You might want to throw in a Nvidia GT430 to make life easier for XBMC Live configuration. But when Linux come out with good stuff for AMD HD6550D, you can eBay GT430 because HD6550D is as good as a discrete HD6570 GPU. It has better performance then GT430.

[thestig]

You selected a great APU because AMD A8-3870 is the best all-in-one CPU on the market. You might want to throw in a Nvidia GT430 to make life easier for XBMC Live configuration. But when Linux come out with good stuff for AMD HD6550D, you can eBay GT430 because HD6550D is as good as a discrete HD6570 GPU. It has better performance then GT430.

Bluray with the save! that's a great idea. Thanks!

[eskro]

HD6550D is as good as a discrete HD6570 GPU. It has better performance then GT430.

just note that the integrated HD6550D is 64-Bit. not 128-bit.

[ajcowell]

Are there still issues with running XBMCbuntu with the AMD A8? I'm about to pull the trigger on eskro's A8 build components, but as this will be a dedicated XBMCbuntu appliance connected to a NAS with 3TB of BluRays, I do want to make sure it's pretty stable. We're four months on from the last comment in this thread, has AMD support come along enough that a GT430 isn't required? Thanks!

[Beer40oz]

A8 3870 and an M-ATX build (XBMC Live)

Thanks for any help :-)

You might want to throw in a Nvidia GT430 to make life easier for XBMC Live configuration. But when Linux come out with good stuff for AMD HD6550D, you can eBay GT430 because HD6550D is as good as a discrete HD6570 GPU. It has better performance then GT430.

+1

Also asrock boards have been reliable to me. I own 4 of them and no DOA....

Also they have a lot of features.... like turning on you system from cold and stuff.... very easy to work with.

[eskro]

turning on you system from cold rocks!!

[Beer40oz]

Yes all I had to do is enable in bios and use my Ipazz qwerty keyboard..... its awesome..

[eskro]

gotta love iPazz 2.4GHz huh!

[XtuX]

Are there still issues with running XBMCbuntu with the AMD A8? I'm about to pull the trigger on eskro's A8 build components, but as this will be a dedicated XBMCbuntu appliance connected to a NAS with 3TB of BluRays, I do want to make sure it's pretty stable. We're four months on from the last comment in this thread, has AMD support come along enough that a GT430 isn't required? Thanks!

From my hands on experience. XBMCbuntu is working great, (besides the small issue I have explained in the other poste you made earlier ).
I have been running content from my 1TB IOMEGA nas drive for more than a week and it works without any problems, I have also attached a Win7 folder from my other pc and that too works without any problems at all. (so far!)

[eskro]

FTW XtuX !!