[Stildawn]

Hi All

Looking into building a cheap HTPC for XBMC to hopefully run Aeon Nox. Heres what I have put together:

AMD A4-4000 CPU: $60
Asus A55M-A Mobo: $90
2x2GB Ram: $60
500gb HDD: $70
Antec NSK2480: $140

Total NZD$420

Already have a 2tb external for media storage, and window xp.

My main question is, is the A4 powerful enough to handle XBMC's CPU and GPU requirements.

[calev]

Yeah thats a desktop class processor. Aeon nox really strugles mostly on stuff like android boxes, atom processors, and apple tv's. That one should be more than enough.

[solamnic]

Yeah thats a desktop class processor. Aeon nox really strugles mostly on stuff like android boxes, atom processors, and apple tv's. That one should be more than enough.

In my arctic mc001 that has atom... Aeon nox plays really well ( but i use an ssd) ..

[GortWillSaveUs]

You should try the Amber skin.

Aeon Nox is too cludgey for me.

[Stildawn]

So it will be sweet.

How about HD? Surround sound etc? No issues?

[solamnic]

No problem now even with openelec...

any specific reason to use a full atx case - mobo?

[Stildawn]

I just went with the cheapest mobo and HTPC case I could find, it doesn't need to do anything more than XBMC.

[solamnic]

Intel Celeron Nuc
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B7I8...d_i=507846

+ 2gb or 4gb of Ram

plus a small mssd

plus Openelec (since you need only XBMC)

Cheaper smaller better

[Stildawn]

They are more expensive in NZ, and that CPU sounds terrible.

[solamnic]

Enjoy your build then

(btw Celeron can handle in openelec everything in 2d - and works really fast on openelec)

[Stildawn]

Thanks for the suggestion though. They are not much more expensive (maybe 50 bucks or so, and thats including ram and ssd).

I do like the idea of Openelec on a SSD it would function pretty much like an tv unit box (fast to boot, only xbmc, simple)

Is there a internet browser for openelec? I was going to have the AMD build boot straight into xbmc, and just have IE a main menu item using advanced launcher. Can you do the same with openelec?

Are you sure the Celeron can handle everything on XBMC? Aeon Nox? Art work etc? HD video/surround sound? It is significantly less powerful than the A4

[wsume99]

I would suggest a desktop class Celeron like a G1610. Take a look at the conclusions from this review: AMD A10-6800K and A4-4000 Richland APU Review

Here is what they say about the A4-4000 ....

As for the lower end A4-4000, we found it to be a rather lack luster product. Clocked at just 3.0GHz with two cores and a 1MB L2 cache this thing leaves much to be desired. In every application and encoding test we ran it was put to death by the Celeron G1610. The latter was also much faster in games such as Far Cry 3 when using a discrete graphics card, and even when relying on the integrated GPU the A4-4000 wasn’t much faster at times.

Once again, the final nail in the coffin was power consumption. Here the A4-4000 consumed just as much power as the Core i5-3450 under load, and 53% more than the Celeron G1610. Considering the chip is just $5 less than the Celeron G1610, AMD isn't offering much of a bargain here.

Frankly, the A4-4000 is just too gutless and far too power hungry to even consider in our opinion. If you want to spend less than $50 on a CPU, the Celeron G1610 is a much faster and considerably more fuel efficient choice.

I have a G620 which is a little bit slower than the G1610 and it handles every skin I've ever tried. I tried Aeon nox once but I prefer Aeon MQ4 which runs perfectly. Keep in mind that XBMC benefits more from a stronger CPU than it does from a stronger GPU. The only benefit AMD has is a much better iGPU, which is a total waste in XBMC.

[Stildawn]

Is the GPU not used for HD video?

Does the Celeron have HD Surround Sound via HDMI?

[teeedubb]

HD audio support with Linux and amd GPUs has only recently been added to the open source driver (with the proprietary ones from amd STILL lacking this feature - which says a lot about how much amd cares about linux), so I'd do some research to see how well it works before taking the plunge.

I personally will never buy a amd gpu for use with Linux (or in general really, I try to put Linux on everything I can ) after being burned by their crappy drivers years ago.

Yes openelec has a browser, search for the opera add on. And yeah, celerons support HD audio.

[wsume99]

The only thing the A4-4000 has that the Celeron does not is 3D support. If you want 3D I'd recommend a G1610 with a nvidia GPU over the A4-4000.