HTPC Spec

oxygene

oxygene

oxygene

Soldato
Joined
20 Aug 2004
Posts
3,115
Location
Bournemouth
Ok I've looked over a lot of threads for these systems and whats left out is the kind of spec needed. I see people getting 4gb ram, quad cores and major gfx cards!

Say I would be storing all the content on another pc and streaming via ethernet. Or at least having one item at a time on said machine. What would be a sensible cpu ram and gfx card to play 720p and 1080p video? I know it depends on encoding, so lets assume Xvid / avi for anything below 720p, and mkv for 720p mkv and blu ray drive / disk for 1080p?
 
You don't need anything powerful with the correct GPU/IGP as the decoding will be offloaded to this.
So all you need at the minimum is an ION machine (Atom+nVidia 9300). Acer and ASRock but very cheap dual core ION systems which will play everything. If you go the DIY ION route or C2D+9300 board you'll be spending a lot more. Do note that nVidia GPU's decoding is far more compatible than ATi.
 
hmm curious. Didnt realise they'd managed to offload decoding to a gpu now. last i looked in to this it was all cpu still. atm I have a few spare systems and parts lying around the place. an 800mhz via mini-itx, which wont play anything i reckon. an amd xp 3200 with crappy ram and old parts. and an amd phenom 1st generation (4x 1.8ghz) but no mobo or anything to combine it with. Problem is the only system spare i have capable of playing anything is the amd 3200, but its not exactly powerful for vids and the case is huge....
 
the acer revo looks good, £290 will get you a dual core atom with an ion gpu, 4gb of ram and a 500gb hdd in a case small enough to go on a vesa mount behind your TV! Definitely what ill be getting when i have some more pennies
 
oxygene said:
hmm curious. Didnt realise they'd managed to offload decoding to a gpu now. last i looked in to this it was all cpu still. atm I have a few spare systems and parts lying around the place. an 800mhz via mini-itx, which wont play anything i reckon. an amd xp 3200 with crappy ram and old parts. and an amd phenom 1st generation (4x 1.8ghz) but no mobo or anything to combine it with. Problem is the only system spare i have capable of playing anything is the amd 3200, but its not exactly powerful for vids and the case is huge....
Click to expand...

Get yourself to Members Market and then get a nice SFF HTPC with the proceeds.
 
oxygene said:
hmm curious. Didnt realise they'd managed to offload decoding to a gpu now. last i looked in to this it was all cpu still. atm I have a few spare systems and parts lying around the place. an 800mhz via mini-itx, which wont play anything i reckon. an amd xp 3200 with crappy ram and old parts. and an amd phenom 1st generation (4x 1.8ghz) but no mobo or anything to combine it with. Problem is the only system spare i have capable of playing anything is the amd 3200, but its not exactly powerful for vids and the case is huge....
Click to expand...

either of those machines will be fine with a modern gpu to do the decoding.. 1080p and all
 
my HTPC current spec:

Intel Dual-Core E2200 Conroe LGA775 2.2GHz - Passive cooled via Scythe Mini Ninja
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX DDR2 PC2-8500 (1066FSB)
Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6
Sapphire ATI 4550HD 512Mb Fanless PCI-E via HDMI to TV
Hauppauge WinTV NOVA T 500
LG GGC-H20L Blu-Ray Reader & HD-DVD ROM
Coax SPDIF via motherboard header to Yamaha DSP-A1092 Dolby Digital Amp
1x 60Gb WD SATA drive for O/S
4x spanned 1TB Samsung SATA Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ for TV recording/media
Lian Li PC-C32B Case
2x 12cm Scythe low RPM fans
Tagan 480w PSU
Logitech DiNovo Edge
Windows Media Remote
Windows 7 Ultimate RTM 64bit
Arcsoft Total Theatre 3 for Blu-Ray-to-Media Center Integration
Slysoft AnyDVD HD to kill any Blu-Ray encryption rubbish
Shark007.net codecs

handles everything i throw at it, Blu-ray.. 1080 5.1 mkv etc etc
 
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