"Low-End" XBMC PC - Handles 1080p x264! Details and Hardware Specs Inside!
#1
Big Grin 
EDIT: Maybe this should be moved, or belongs in XBMC hardware?

I've followed the XBMP/XBMC project faithfully from the beginning knowing the potential for such development and watched as it blossomed into the great media front-end powerhouse it is today.

The overall low cost associated with the xbox hardware and its built in capabilities really made Team-XBMCs labors shine. Media playback devices, product after product, hit the market and seemed to pale in comparison to XBMC on every front. Being familiar with and understanding the limitations of the XBOX I saw XBMC's ceiling approach quickly as my requirement for HD video playback surfaced.

To solve my problem in the short term (keeping low cost in mind) I pre-ordered a Popcorn Hour a-100 and have been exclusively playing back x264 1080p with it. The PCH can playback most x264 content I have run across and has filled a void for me while waiting for my dive into XBMC on hardware other than XBOX. With my eye on XBMCs ports i sought to build/buy a 'cheap' pc capable of being handling all my media needs.

XBMC Live Beta2
System Specs:

Shuttle K48 Barebones
Core2Duo E6300 w/ stock Intel cooler
2GB Corsair Voyager USB Boot Drive
2GB PC4200 DDR2
Integrated Intel 945 Video
Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro USB Sound Card

It came as no surprise to see 720p wmv and x264 playback without issue, under XBMC Live. But i was almost shocked to see 1080p mkv and wmv's work as well! I am seeing a handful of dropped frames (10-50 over the course of 30 minutes) with SOME encodes, however in some cases, hard to distinguish any frame loss. I have noticed some horizontal tearing in some darker fast motion scenes, but im not sure if its an issue with the grapiics driver, interconnection, display setting. Its an issue that is small and one I can definately can live with.

Overall i am VERY happy with the performance i have pulled form this spec, and I am excited to learn i wont have to buy expensive video cards or high end processors to achieve HD x264 playback from XBMC. Hope this can help others looking for a reference hardware spec. It seems crazy, but it works!

Thanks to all Team-XBMC devs and all helping this great community of enlightened media front-end users =]



I would be glad to hear from users about things i could do to tweak my setup, I have considered overclocking the processor a bit to see if i get a reduced number of frames dropped in comparison to stock, however, as is each core only ever hits about 70%.

Aesthetically, I will be replacing the back fan of the K48 with a 120mm, potentially removing the TINY power supply fan, and am considering a taller heatsink (tight fit). USB boot drive and sound device are connected to the internal USB bus. Now to add IR!
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#2
one thing that I hope will improve in future is better multi-threading of h.264 decoding. (means both cores will be better utilized than today)
this work is done on FFMpeg side, so when they get it, so will we.
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#3
So how much noise does this thing make? Compared to eg. xbox console?
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#4
Well, I dont have a real sound meter so answering that question will mainly be from memory. I would definately say the xbox is quieter, but id attribute most of the noise coming from the TINY 30mm power supply fan in the shuttle.

Running XBMC live off of the internal USB stick works very well, as harddrive seeking noise was evident to me when i was playing around running from HDD.

The K48 also uses an 92mm rear fan, which is actually pretty quiet. I think by replacing it with a 120mm and ducting off the power supply in order to kill its dedicated fan should make this thing fairly silent. I had planned to use an OCZ Vanquisher heatsink, but without some modifications, it would not leave clearance for the sata dvdrom. I believe after i ditch the stock cooler it will be hard enough to tell its on, especially while music and/or video is playing.

Time to bring out the dremel!
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#5
I use the Coolmaster hyper 212 with two 120mm Case fans. and a 92mm psu fan. I literally cannot tell my systems is on. I do not use a shuttle case though I have a Coolmaster Centurion 5 Case.

JKing
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#6
Generally speaking, the minimum for smooth 1080p at "normal" bitrates is a 2Ghz C2D. Your E6300 is very close to that at 1.86Ghz.
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#7
Overclock the CPU, the frame drops will reduce.
Openelec Gotham, MCE remote(s), Intel i3 NUC, DVDs fed from unRAID cataloged by DVD Profiler. HD-DVD encoded with Handbrake to x.264. Yamaha receiver(s)
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"Low-End" XBMC PC - Handles 1080p x264! Details and Hardware Specs Inside!0