[Kieron]

Here in the UK the GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H is actually more expensive than the zotac board mentioned before... is it worth just going for the latter instead? Only supplier for the gigabyte here in UK is $162...!

[Kieron]

Ok start with a small MB:
GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9400 HDMI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128363

Nice CPU with 64 bit support, so you can do over 3GB or RAM if you feel.
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115206

Good RAM
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231098

A nice case with a good enough PSU. This is really personal pref, but here are some:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811147098
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811129039
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811108106

HTPC Specific cases:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...icro%20ATX

And then a harddrive of choice, go with green for power efficiency and silence.

My suggestions, minus the HD, will run you anywhere from $350-400 shipped.

What are the +'s of going with the E7400 over the E5400? It's a chunk more expensive and will only mean I'll have to slightly compromise of other things. On one thread I'm being suggested the latter.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/c...cat/Core-2

Cheers

[ion_man]

What are the +'s of going with the E7400 over the E5400? It's a chunk more expensive and will only mean I'll have to slightly compromise of other things. On one thread I'm being suggested the latter.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Components/c...cat/Core-2

Cheers

The E7400 is faster than the E5400. Unless you want to use your HTPC for transcoding and playing recent games, you won't need the extra speed.

[ion_man]

Here in the UK the GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H is actually more expensive than the zotac board mentioned before... is it worth just going for the latter instead? Only supplier for the gigabyte here in UK is $162...!

The Zotac GF9300-ITX doesn't support wake-on-usb at the moment, there is a new revision (Rev.3) that is imminent, but AFAIK dealers are currently still selling the older revision.

I'm waiting for the Zotac GF9300-ITX Rev.3, as that's the board that suits me best.
(as it's miniITX rather than microATX format)

[Kieron]

Wake-on-USB..? What's that? Does that mean I won't be able to turn it on via IR remote... please dont tell me that!?!

Kieron

[ion_man]

Wake-on-USB..? What's that? Does that mean I won't be able to turn it on via IR remote... please dont tell me that!?!

Kieron

Correct, you won't be able to with the current revision of the Zotac GF9300 board.
The new revision is imminent though.

[Kieron]

Don't mean to stupid but what does 'the new revision is imminent' mean? So the latest version you can? If so how do you tell/where do you buy?

Kieron

[iainmacleod]

The E7400 is faster than the E5400. Unless you want to use your HTPC for transcoding and playing recent games, you won't need the extra speed.

Well if you think that is a suitable process I would suggest getting a lower end MB, cause there is no need to pay for a FSB speed you are not using.

From a quick search, there is not much out there for doing that though - the slower FSB are cheaper, but larger. Generally older.

If you do go for a lower CPU, then you may want to get a GPU. With a high end CPU you dont have to rely on vdpau.

Don't mean to stupid but what does 'the new revision is imminent' mean? So the latest version you can? If so how do you tell/where do you buy?

Kieron

I think what he means, by imminent, is it has not been released yet - you should research and see if you can find a release schedule.

[ion_man]

Don't mean to stupid but what does 'the new revision is imminent' mean? So the latest version you can? If so how do you tell/where do you buy?

Kieron

Hope this helps:
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3611

[ion_man]

Well if you think that is a suitable process I would suggest getting a lower end MB, cause there is no need to pay for a FSB speed you are not using.

From a quick search, there is not much out there for doing that though - the slower FSB are cheaper, but larger. Generally older.

If you do go for a lower CPU, then you may want to get a GPU. With a high end CPU you dont have to rely on vdpau.

An E5200/E5300/E5400 with a Nvidia 9300/9400 board makes a lot of sense, no one says you have to make use of the highest FSB supported by the board, those boards offer a lot more than just a specific FSB speed.
And you will be hard pressed to find a decent board that supports only 800Mhz FSB these days anyway.

The E5xxx cpus are more efficient and cheaper than the E7xxx, so why pay for something you don't need?


Even with a high-end cpu it makes sense to use VDPAU as the GPU is a lot more efficient at decoding HD video than the CPU (and besides any current Nvidia GPU supports VDPAU these days so you would have to look specifically for an old GeForce 6 or 7, but why would you want that?)

On the other hand a separate graphics card doesn't make sense for pure HTPC use at it uses more power, generates more heat (and noise if actively cooled) and the extra power is not needed for HTPC use.

If you are a hard core gamer and want to use your HTPC for the latest Windows games, that's a different story then.

To sum it up, I think the article I mentioned is spot on with regards to the current most suitable components for a good Linux HTPC for XBMC or also for MythTV.
Any more powerful cpu would be a waste (unless you need it for transcoding) and any cheaper boards would have other limitations you wouldn't want.

[Kieron]

An E5200/E5300/E5400 with a Nvidia 9300/9400 board makes a lot of sense, no one says you have to make use of the highest FSB supported by the board, those boards offer a lot more than just a specific FSB speed.
And you will be hard pressed to find a decent board that supports only 800Mhz FSB these days anyway.

The E5xxx cpus are more efficient and cheaper than the E7xxx, so why pay for something you don't need?


Even with a high-end cpu it makes sense to use VDPAU as the GPU is a lot more efficient at decoding HD video than the CPU (and besides any current Nvidia GPU supports VDPAU these days so you would have to look specifically for an old GeForce 6 or 7, but why would you want that?)

On the other hand a separate graphics card doesn't make sense for pure HTPC use at it uses more power, generates more heat (and noise if actively cooled) and the extra power is not needed for HTPC use.

If you are a hard core gamer and want to use your HTPC for the latest Windows games, that's a different story then.

To sum it up, I think the article I mentioned is spot on with regards to the current most suitable components for a good Linux HTPC for XBMC or also for MythTV.
Any more powerful cpu would be a waste (unless you need it for transcoding) and any cheaper boards would have other limitations you wouldn't want.

I love you! Spot on, exactly what I wanted to hear haha

So what would you recommend in regards to motherboard and CPU - please bear in mind I'm a brit so newegg etc. don't ship here, I'll get it from ebay UK or ebuyer I think.

Mobo needs to support wake on usb, vital for my Logitech Harmony setup.

Cheers mate
Kieron

[ion_man]

So what would you recommend in regards to motherboard and CPU - please bear in mind I'm a brit so newegg etc. don't ship here,

It depends, as you are on a tight budget I would go for one of the AMD boards recommended in that article on Linuxtech.net (boards for AMD cpus cost quite a bit less than Intel boards), the Asus AMD board seems the best one.

I have no direct personal experience with any of the 5 boards listed in that article, but my understanding is that wake-on-usb works on all of them apart from the Zotac (and the new revision of the Zotac, which will be available soon, will have wake-on-usb too).

With that get a AMD Athlon II X2 240 as suggested by the article, which is equivalent (or actually even slightly better according to some magazine reviews I read) than the Intel E5300.

For anything else look at the example build on Linuxtech.net again, it's all in there, including links to some UK retailers (not just newegg).

I'll get it from ebay UK or ebuyer I think.

I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars or pounds or euros for computer parts on ebay, the risk of getting dodgy gear is way too high!
Buy from a reputable retailer, where you can be sure that they will replace any defective parts without problems (Amazon is probably the safest of all, but not always the cheapest for computer parts).

[Kieron]

Yeah I'd only do it if I got the manafactuer warranty with it. I usually buy from eBuyer, who are exceptional with returns.

Thanks for the suggestions I'm going to go ahead and buy soon. Might try and wait it out for the Zotac!

Kieron

[ion_man]

Yeah I'd only do it if I got the manafactuer warranty with it. I usually buy from eBuyer, who are exceptional with returns.

Thanks for the suggestions I'm going to go ahead and buy soon. Might try and wait it out for the Zotac!

Kieron

I'm waiting for the new Zotac revision too, but the wait is proving to be quite hard , Especially because it's hard to find out which revision a retailer has, it's not normally written in the description, so I have to always ring up my local dealers and ask them every couple of weeks or so.

[Kieron]

Argh... don't Zotac themselves have any information on this? I mean, them being the manufacturers and all, they should have some idea when it will be hitting stores.