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Gigabyte BRIX for HTPC?

10K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  Sly Bob 
#1 ·
Looking at the Gigabyte BRIX to put together for a HTPC. Looks like it might well be a great system with a 64gig flash drive and 8 gigs of ram. I'd plug in an external drive for storage of recorded OTA programming and I'd run Windows Media Center 'cause I have it already, at least to start.

Thinking though to wait for the Haswell systems that should be out soon and undecided if an i5 would make a difference for a HTPC over an i3. Just want something that's not going to sit there when I change channels and I know picture quality will be great with either. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I just want a snappy system.

Thoughts?
 
#5 ·
I have a Intel based HTPC, and it's easy to disable overscan. It's true, you don't want any overscan on your TV or any overscan enabled from your HTPC video out. I've got my HTPC running at a perfect 1:1 pixel ratio, and it didn't even require any adjustment on the Intel video drivers. I'm pretty sure overscan defaulted to off (I'm using Windows 8). My TV was already set to a 1:1 pixel ratio due to using it with my previous HTPC.

AMD still has much better video card drives and game support, but these things aren't very important for HTPCs.

There are two main features that set Intel chips head and shoulders above AMD chips for HTPC use:

- The performance is excellent (e.g. excellent single threaded performance, transcoding performance with QuickSyncis substantially better than even dedicated GPU based transcoding)
- The total power consumption is substantially lower than what you get from AMD parts, and those AMD parts are usually ~20% slower.

The only "win" for AMD parts these days is that they're often less expensive than the Intel chips.
 
#7 ·
undecided if an i5 would make a difference for a HTPC over an i3.
Either will do the job. Even the Celeron system (at about $200) should be fine for an HTPC. Not sure if the Sandy Bridge video bug affects these units. The main difference will be in application performance. If you don't mind waiting for the application(s) to take a little longer to respond, the slower CPUs will be fine. If running a dedicated application, like MCE, it shouldn't make a lot of difference. The i5 will make for a better responding system overall. The other difference is price, Gigabyte is asking for a hefty premium for the i5 system, much more than their difference in cost.
 
#9 ·
IHMO if you can't adjust overscan your OTA viewing may be a little strange. Your TV may be able to adjust its overscan but 1:1 pixel matching isn't the best choice for WMC.

WMC has calibration videos that should show you how to adjust your set. Try connecting your existing PC via HDMI and see if you like the results.
 
#10 ·
Intel has similar units that are almost identical in specs. You might want to check those out as well. FWIW, video and audio performance are more important than CPU for HTPC. I have a 1.6GHz Atom board with nVidia ION graphics and it does a great job with XBMC under Win7 or Win8. It is even better with a lightweight distro like OpenELEC.
 
#11 ·
Got a HDhomerun in the mail today and set up WMC on an old single core AMD desktop machine that I built YEARS ago. Actually doesn't work too bad butit's far from perfect. This is going to work out well. I think I'll wait for Haswell before I pull the trigger on a new system.

Have to search the forums and try to figure out how to control everything with a remote, preferably my Logitech remote.
 
#13 ·
As much as I want AMD to succeed, their chips are just so far behind Intel's processor technology that it's difficult to recommend AMD - even in the areas where they were traditionally better (i.e. HTPCs).

For HTPCs it was QuickSync that really put the nail in the coffin for AMD. That, combined with Intel's integrated video closing the gap with AMD, and it's ability to be much more power efficient made my last HTPC processor purchase a Intel one. Not to mention that Intel chips designs have much better single threaded performance.

Lots of people still buy AMD for HTPCs, probably because they're going based on old/outdated information that suggested that AMD was best for HTPCs. Part of me wants to just shut up and let more people buy AMD chips for this purpose. Someone needs to keep them in business.

But, I cannot recommend them in good conscious anymore, and I certainly wouldn't buy any of their CPU products myself. They may make sense for certain builds if you're extremely cash strapped, but that's about it.
 
#14 ·
Back to the original topic, the BRIX seems quite expensive (it comes bare bones and only supports mSATA internally). IMHO unless you need it's tiny form factor I'd rather use a Mac Mini and shove Windows 7 on it.

PS you don't want 1:1 pixel mapping either for OTA, you want about 5% overscan. WMC has a setup video that'll show you exactly how much overscan you want assuming you can fine tune from 0 to 15% as the ATI drivers allow.
 
#15 ·
you don't want 1:1 pixel mapping either for OTA, you want about 5% overscan.
Why? Are the pixels at the edge not good enough for you? :)

In all seriousness overscan was initially created because of noise that existed around the edge of broadcast images for NTSC signals. This is completely unnecessary for ATSC signals.

To quote Wikipedia:

Today's TV sets can be based on newer fixed-pixel technologies like liquid crystal displays (LCDs). For 1080i/p overscan is undesirable,[3] as it reduces picture quality and 1:1 pixel mapping is preferred.[4]
And this: http://www.engadget.com/topics/hd/2010/05/27/hd-101-overscan-and-why-all-tvs-do-it/

Also, I'm amused that you call the BRIX expensive and then suggest a Mac Mini.
 
#16 ·
How do you quote a post here????

What computer do I have now? I have a system with an single core AMD Athlon XP 2800 that I have had since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. It has 4 gigs of ram and a fanless Nvidia GeForce 6600 video card.

Running Windows 7 and experimenting with Windows Media Center and surprisingly things don't run too bad. As you'd expect things lag and stutter a bit once in a while, but for testing to see what I'll install when I get the Brix it's not bad.

I REALLY need a new computer though, maybe I'll by TWO brix. :D
 
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