Would you check my HPTC Build?

Mvwincke

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Hey Guys,

Basically what I'm trying to do is to set up a machine that allows me to dualboot windows and XBMC Live. Windows for the decoding, etc. of video and for basic internet use. And XBMC Live because it boots really quick and all it does is display my videos in a really nice way. I would hook it up to a Samsung fullhd tv with hdmi.

I was wondering if this is possible to get this working really slick. I suppose I would have trouble connecting to the internet on XBMC Live when using Wifi, which I intend to do. I read that they don't support wifi hardware.

Anyway, my hardware is currently this:

Case: Aerocool M40 (Looks like a decent case)
AeroCool M40 MATX Cube Case - Black at CircuitCity.com

Mobo: Asrock K10N78FullHD-Hsli 3.0 (The one on Newegg isn't the same one, only difference this has 6 Sata and Geforce 8200)
Newegg.com - ASRock K10N78M AM3/AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 705e (Because of it's power efficiency and it probably will do good encoding and stuff. Will heat be a problem if I don't take an e-version?)

GPU: XFX Geforce GT 220 (for the good hardware-acceleration with XBMC Live, the necessary HDMI-output and the low heat. I hope I'm not missing anything)
Newegg.com - XFX GT220XZNF2 GeForce GT 220 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

HDD: WD 1,5 TB Ecogreen (Good for HTPC) + SSD 32gb (For installing XBMC Live + Windows, will this work?)

PSU: Corsair 450VX-EU (Enough Power I guess)

For the rest some 2gb ddr2-800 ram, a spare dvd-rw and a wifi dongle/antenna.

Does this look like a good build? I'm pretty much a noob at this and I've been researching my ass of trying to get the HTPC of my dreams. I've been looking at the i3 530 option also but that would set me back a lot more where this would probably cost me about 500 dollars. If this can provide me a quiet cool HTPC with some moderate video encoding in windows and a fast XBMC Live boot, I'll go right ahead with the build. And if I could get wireless working in XBMC that would be just be super. Then I could use it to stream media via the network.

Any help is really appreciated and I would like to thank all the users of this forum for being a real help in the HTPC-discovering-world. :p A lot of usefull threads on here! :thumbsup:

Greetings
Martin
 
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A lot of people are telling me to get a motherboard with IGP like 780G or 785G. But wouldn't I be missing the hardware-acceleration in XBMC then? I presume it isn't possible to place a geforce gt 220 on a board with IGP from ATI, without some issues.

Does anybody know a good mobo/cpu/gpu solution to get the VDPAU acceleration in XBMC Live?

Thanks in advance
 
there are advantages to using a dedicated card and the gt220 is a really good choice for an HTPC. I think your build looks fine.
 
A lot of people are telling me to get a motherboard with IGP like 780G or 785G.

Because it's currently the best on-board solution, since they stopped making the 9400 IGP's

But wouldn't I be missing the hardware-acceleration in XBMC then?

Yes but they can still handle pretty much all your HTPC needs

I presume it isn't possible to place a geforce gt 220 on a board with IGP from ATI, without some issues.

Other than setting the default GPU, I can't see why there'd be any issues

You want XBMC and hardware acceleration, so you may as well skip IGP all together. Go with the GT 220 and if funds allow, a DDR3 mobo and memory to match.
 

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