2008-12-10, 11:36
I would definitely recommend an nvidia 8x00/9x00-based uATX board at this point. Using the vdpau-patched mplayer my cpu is 97% idle playing Apples 1080p demo trailers. That impressed me a lot, I must say. I know XBMC can't use vdpau yet, but perhaps someday it will. And now that HDMI audio finally works with nvidia, it wins hands down. I have both an AMD 780G and Intel G45 board at home and they can't compete when it comes to image quality and stability.
My setup:
Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI
AMD 4850e with Hiper HFC-20820-C1 cooler
1G RAM
picoPSU-90
No chassi, it's on the floor under a cupboard.
No hdd, it pxe-boots
USB dvd-rw taped to the back of my LCD TV
Consumes about 30W from 220V
/Magnus H
My setup:
Asus M3N78-EMH HDMI
AMD 4850e with Hiper HFC-20820-C1 cooler
1G RAM
picoPSU-90
No chassi, it's on the floor under a cupboard.
No hdd, it pxe-boots
USB dvd-rw taped to the back of my LCD TV
Consumes about 30W from 220V
/Magnus H