- Jul 10, 2010
- 3
- 0
- 18,510
I am planning on cutting the Cable and I think the HTPC is the way to go.
I've read a bunch of questions and the options seem endless!
So, here's my project, hope you can help me.
Approximate purchase date: Starting in a few days
Budget range: $300-$400 usd for the mobo, cpu and case with PSU
System usage from most to least important:
1- play 1080p mkv and Blu-Ray (player and backed-up) movies from attached storage (USB, Firewire and network) with HD audio on XBMC
2- BitTorrent client on the background
3- HD Flash
4- Light browsing, RSS feeds, etc.
Parts not required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, wi-fi, external storage
Country of origin: Mexico
Preferred websites: None, as Newegg and Amazon won't ship to Mexico. I would most likely search for the parts locally or Ebay.
Parts preferences: Gigabyte and AMD, seem like a good match and are easy to find here, but I will take other brands into consideration.
I like this mobo: Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H
Overclocking: no
SLI or Crossfire: only in necessary
Monitor resolution: 32" Sony Bravia EX700 (1080p) and if there is any difference, a future upgrade to a 55 or 60 inch HDTV.
Additional comments:
- Silent or very, very quiet operation, if this means more RAM or a better CPU, then please note so.
- Nice, slim case, no leds or extra lights, plain is good. Micro-ATX for sure.
- I want to run XBMC on Ubuntu, but I am not familiar with drivers availability to take advantage of every output on the mobo, any experiences with Ubuntu?
- I would consider going the Hackintosh way, but drivers would be the main concern here.
- I would like to run the OS and XBMC on a USB flashdrive (in the near future on a SSD) and the media in external drives (USB, Firewire, network) and eventually on a NAS.
- I insist on the XBMC because it seems pretty demanding. My MacBook Pro (15 inch, 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo "Merom", 3GB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600), usually silent, turns on the fans all the time XBMC is running but quiets down when playing a movie. Go figure.
- Remote: something that works with XBMC, I haven't thought much about this.
- I've noticed on other post a "modular" PSU and seems to be external, am I right? if so, then yes please
I like the idea, less space and less heat.
- Although a budget set up, I need some future-proof. I like the Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H because it has USB 3 and 6 GB SATA, support for 16 GB of RAM and a very attractive price tag, all of which, seem to me (I might be wrong), make it a good investment to upgrade nicely in the future.
- Future addon: DVR, TV tuner (don't go into details for these, mentioned only for CPU specs and assume it's all HD)
Thank you
I've read a bunch of questions and the options seem endless!
So, here's my project, hope you can help me.
Approximate purchase date: Starting in a few days
Budget range: $300-$400 usd for the mobo, cpu and case with PSU
System usage from most to least important:
1- play 1080p mkv and Blu-Ray (player and backed-up) movies from attached storage (USB, Firewire and network) with HD audio on XBMC
2- BitTorrent client on the background
3- HD Flash
4- Light browsing, RSS feeds, etc.
Parts not required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, wi-fi, external storage
Country of origin: Mexico
Preferred websites: None, as Newegg and Amazon won't ship to Mexico. I would most likely search for the parts locally or Ebay.
Parts preferences: Gigabyte and AMD, seem like a good match and are easy to find here, but I will take other brands into consideration.
I like this mobo: Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H
Overclocking: no
SLI or Crossfire: only in necessary
Monitor resolution: 32" Sony Bravia EX700 (1080p) and if there is any difference, a future upgrade to a 55 or 60 inch HDTV.
Additional comments:
- Silent or very, very quiet operation, if this means more RAM or a better CPU, then please note so.
- Nice, slim case, no leds or extra lights, plain is good. Micro-ATX for sure.
- I want to run XBMC on Ubuntu, but I am not familiar with drivers availability to take advantage of every output on the mobo, any experiences with Ubuntu?
- I would consider going the Hackintosh way, but drivers would be the main concern here.
- I would like to run the OS and XBMC on a USB flashdrive (in the near future on a SSD) and the media in external drives (USB, Firewire, network) and eventually on a NAS.
- I insist on the XBMC because it seems pretty demanding. My MacBook Pro (15 inch, 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo "Merom", 3GB RAM, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600), usually silent, turns on the fans all the time XBMC is running but quiets down when playing a movie. Go figure.
- Remote: something that works with XBMC, I haven't thought much about this.
- I've noticed on other post a "modular" PSU and seems to be external, am I right? if so, then yes please
I like the idea, less space and less heat.- Although a budget set up, I need some future-proof. I like the Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H because it has USB 3 and 6 GB SATA, support for 16 GB of RAM and a very attractive price tag, all of which, seem to me (I might be wrong), make it a good investment to upgrade nicely in the future.
- Future addon: DVR, TV tuner (don't go into details for these, mentioned only for CPU specs and assume it's all HD)
Thank you
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