[senz]

Hello.

If runining one of the latest Penryn CPUs on this setup is this powerful enough to run 1080p content within XBMC?

Does anyone tried it? If so, please post results etc.

I'm not an experienced Linux user I just know the basics, is the MP965-DR complicated to setup with Linux/Ubuntu and XBMC?




Maybe it's to early for an user like me to buy it, but it sure looks beautiful!
I'm just waiting for the day when I can but my XBOX in my bedroom instead

BR

/Dennis

[jmarshall]

I have a c2d 1800 running on said mini pc.

Other than a minor issue installing gutsy, ubuntu is simple to install and runs really great on it. I had to specify the resolution to use on the commandline of the bootdisk, but that may have been due to me using an extremely ancient 15" monitor (basically I told it to use vga 1024x768).

1080p performance is dominated by the bitrate - some of them are killers and even with the fastest CPU won't have suitable framerate, whereas others will play fine.

It doesn't have the best graphics card for XBMC (intel drivers need improvement) but that doesn't really matter too much for XBMC at this point anyway to be honest.

It's a nice little box.

d4rk may be able to comment further on the graphics side of things.

Cheers,
Jonathan

[d4rk]

Mine's the same configuration as jmarshall's and I didn't face any issues with partitioning, installation etc. Pike, who also has a similar pc, is currently having some issues with his X server, however the issue could be due to faulty hardware.

For the most part it's a smooth installation but with most Linux installations there's some possibility that you have tweak something or the other to get things working perfectly. Since you're a basic Linux user already, you shouldn't have too much trouble in any case.

If runining one of the latest Penryn CPUs on this setup is this powerful enough to run 1080p content within XBMC?

Does anyone tried it? If so, please post results etc.

Some of devs have done basic testing with 1080p material and like jmarshall mentioned, you can find content that will bring it to its knees. There are some other threads in the forum where people have benchmarked different types of video.

In terms of graphics, the 965GM theoretically is capable of OpenGL 1.5 (i.e. with support for GLSL shaders) however in Linux, there is only support for OpenGL 1.4 at the moment. There's a decent chance that in the near future that a 1.5 version of the driver with GLSL support will be released (given that there's a i965-glsl branch in the mesa source tree). The GPU is definitely fast though, even with a 1.4 driver, it can easily drive XBMC in its current state.

If you're buying this PC just for XBMC, then I'd say go for it only if its price isn't much to you. If 1.5/GLSL drivers don't materialize then the GPU will not be future proof as far as XBMC is concerned, since there will be increased usage of GLSL in the Linuxport as XBMC keeps improving.

[senz]

Thank's for the input!

The price doesn't consern me at all, but XBMC is the only reason I will buy a new HTPC, and it's main target is to replace my XBOX. So I think I'll wait until development team has announced some piece of hardware that they will support (though i'd love to see something similar to the AOpen solution)

Love the work done so far, I've followed this forum for about a year know. I don't ask as much (<<- as you can see), but this forum can keep me entertained for hours learning about the project!

Cheers!

/Dennis

[andyd]

Experience with 720p video and any other comments you may have with the minipc. I'm looking to go back to xbmc but I want mkv playback. Willing to spend around $750 to get that going. I hate using my ps3 / 360 for playback

[jmarshall]

720p isn't a problem unless it's a real killer sample. Apparently the tvout is working (or is easily workable) if you have Hardy. I've heard the quality of the s-video out is rubbish though. No idea about component. Obviously VGA and DVI/HDMI is fine.

Another option could be a mac mini, either with OSX or Ubuntu. The graphics in them isn't quite as good though (GMA x3100 vs GMA950), and they're fairly similar price-wise. One presumes there'll be a new one put out at some point in the not too distant future though (it's been a year or so in it's currently hardware configuration).

Cheers,
Jonathan

[Gamester17]

Currently XBMC video decoding (especially of H.264) really only depends on the CPU power. Like Jonathan said, playing 720p is no problem even on a 1,8Ghz Core2 Duo, however if you like to playback all 1080p H264 then you put an fast processor like Intel Core2 Duo 2,5Ghz Penryn-generation or faster in there (although 2,4Ghz of the previous generation Intel Core2 will probably 99% of all 1080p H264 videos out there, and a 2Ghz maybe 90-95% of all 1080p H264 videos).

[andyd]

So I shouldn't be concerned about the onboard graphics chip? That's my main concern. I was thinking of using a Shuttle case which would allow me to use other hardware but that would end up costing more than I would want to spend

[Gamester17]

The Intel X3100 graphic controller (GM965 chipset) in the AOpen MiniPC MP965 is good enough, (XBMC even runs smooth in 1080p on a Mac Mini which has the older Intel GMA950). Sure neiter are high-end but you should not notice any downsides to using it, ...many developers on Team-XBMC now either have a Mac Mini or the AOpen MiniPC MP965 (or in some cases one of each), though I think most people on Team-XBMC currently only own 720p displays themselves.

[Novin]

I've put together a setup (prices from dustinhome.se in SKR)

SO-DIMM 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHZ KINGSTON 5010105968 375,00 kr
AOPEN MINI PC MP965-DR SOCKET-P 5010114159 4 395,00 kr
SEAGATE MOMENTUS 7200.2 80GB 7200RPM 2.5# S-ATA 5010112291 495,00 kr
INTEL CORE 2 DUO T8300 2.4 GHZ 3MB 800MHZ SOCKET P 5010128926 2 295,00 kr

Total 7560 kr

Too bad you cannot change to a different graphics adapter. If you buy something new today you really want it to be able to play 1080p without a problem. But maybe this setup would be good enough?

[pike]

please see http://xbmc.org/pike/2008/08/30/intel-gr...g-weekend/

the intel drivers are a real bottleneck in 1080p

I can bet Gamester17 & d4rk & jmarshall has no experience with 1080p OUTPUT
I would strongly recommend you to buy a "proper" HTPC, where u can put in a Nvidia Gfx card, stronger cpu and bigger/slower fans + it's cheaper

only downsize is power usage (probably) and size (definetely)

[Gamester17]

I can bet Gamester17 & d4rk & jmarshall has no experience with 1080p OUTPUT

That is true in my case as I do not own a 1080p display (mine is only 720p).

Note though that Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) to be released on the last of October 2008 is scheduled to contain better much better Intel graphics device drivers (2.5) and also updated Mesa (7.1), X.Org (7.4), X Server (1.5.0), and Linux Kernel 2.6.27, ...hopefully together sorting out this issue with Intel graphics hardware currently has under Linux.

[pike]

I will believe that when I see it (that Intrepid will contain much better drivers)
and even if they are "much better", are they 200% better, so they will be at par with GM950 drivers on OSX ? I doubt that very much.

In my experience, Ubuntu are notoriously slow to include the latest drivers

[dannybullit]

The Intel X3100 graphic controller (GM965 chipset) in the AOpen MiniPC MP965 is good enough, (XBMC even runs smooth in 1080p on a Mac Mini which has the older Intel GMA950). Sure neiter are high-end but you should not notice any downsides to using it, ...many developers on Team-XBMC now either have a Mac Mini or the AOpen MiniPC MP965 (or in some cases one of each), though I think most people on Team-XBMC currently only own 720p displays themselves.

Hi,

Do you have info on how XBMC Live 8.10 works with AOpen MiniPC MP965?

I´m plannign to use Aopen i965GMt-LA in a HFX micro chassi. The motherboard is the same as found in the AOpen MiniPC MP965.

Br, Daniel