Prebuilt or DIY HTPC / SFF?

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GeX

GeX

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Hi all

In the process of overhauling my setup. Moved all my media onto a fileserveer, which is connected to the lounge via a 200mpbs powerline / homeplug.

My current 'HTPC' is a classic Xbox that is chipped and runs XBMC. It cannot play HD and I intend to replace my lovely old 37" Toshiba CRT shortly so need/want something nice to feed to a new TV.

In the past i've always built PCs up myself but realise that when it comes to really really small PCs that I might be better off buying prebuilt.

Can anyone offer me any advice.

Main function of this PC will be to play HD from the network. (optical drive isn't that important (can always cache them from the server)). I want to be able to watch 4OD/iPlayer/youtube/other streaming services on it. Don't care about games.

I do care about noise, and this system will either have an SSD or boot off a USB stick. It doesn't need vast amounts of space as it will stream everything from the fileserver. Ideally I'd have no fans, I do not want it on all the time either - so rapid wakeup from hiberation / s3 is important too. SPDIF and HDMI out is needed.

I'd quite like a dual TV tuner so I can record (may look at changing this for a satellite tuner at a later date)

I don't want a keyboard/mouse to control it, so IR and remote is required.

I have a budget of around £300 in my head.

What do you think? I've been looking at boxes like the Acer Revo. I don't know what kind of spec CPU i'm going to need for 1080p though.
 
Acer Revo or any other atom/ion system will play 1080p fine.. recommend 512mb gpu ram for smooth playback.

I know HD video from iplayer/youtube used to be a problem with atom/ion systems, but I think the lastest version of flash know supports hardware acceleration.

you would also need usb freeview/freesat tuner for the revo.

you could always build a cheap core2duo htpc using secondhand parts
 
The new AMD Zacate and Llano (when it's released) APUs look good for HTPC, and Asus do a Zacate board with what looks like a MASSIVE passive heatsink on it.

But if size isn't an issue then yes you can't really beat cobbling something together from old bits - tech may have moved on big time, but it's not like the Core 2 chips are suddenly rubbish.
 
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