HTPC - Hackintosh recs?

[volcs0]

I need to put together a low-cost media center PC. 1080p is not required... What I want is fast and smooth Plex operation. HDMI out is fine, but S-Video / Coax is also fine for now. Our TV is not HD. The MBP I had doing this job just crapped out, so I need a replacement. I have a Foxconn Dual-Core Atom machine running 10.5, but it is pretty slow. For instance, it cannot play hulu or youtube at full screen without being choppy. And besides, it only has VGA out.

How about some of the new Zotac Ion boxes? What about something like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-004-_-Product

A Mac Mini would be ideal, but I'd rather do something for $250 than $500 (or more).

Thanks.

 

[Ka0t1x]

If you have a Dual-Atom machine that is slow, that's not going to be a great improvement. Flash in OS X isn't the greatest with slow CPUs.

 

[volcs0]

If you have a Dual-Atom machine that is slow, that's not going to be a great improvement. Flash in OS X isn't the greatest with slow CPUs.

Is there something between this and a mini - something in the $300-$350 range?

Or for that money, am I better off getting a CD or C2D used mini?

 

[Ka0t1x]

I would take a look at the Hackintosh 10.5.5 thread. Some of those options should get you where you want...not sure about SFF though, as the correct chipset would be needed.

 

[Zaap]

How close would one of the new Apple TVs get to your goal? At $99 they're a very good deal.

Otherwise if you can get by without a small form factor, look into building a micro-ATX HTPC using a Gigabyte G31M-ES2L (or G41) board, which is very Hackintoshable. You can probably do a very capable HTPC in the $350-$400 range like this. For that same price range or a little bit more, you might be able to land a used Intel MacMini.

Personally, I've found the Atom in all of it's forms to be -at best- slightly too minimal for a great HTPC experience.

 

[volcs0]

How close would one of the new Apple TVs get to your goal? At $99 they're a very good deal.

Otherwise if you can get by without a small form factor, look into building a micro-ATX HTPC using a Gigabyte G31M-ES2L (or G41) board, which is very Hackintoshable. You can probably do a very capable HTPC in the $350-$400 range like this. For that same price range or a little bit more, you might be able to land a used Intel MacMini.

Personally, I've found the Atom in all of it's forms to be -at best- slightly too minimal for a great HTPC experience.

Thanks for the rec's. I worry about the new AppleTV since we enjoy the ability to do Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, in addition to loving the new Plex.

I've looked at getting a used Mini - that might do the trick. But I'd rather build my own box in the $300 range, if possible. I started looking at Newegg at cases, MoBos and CPUs. I also need to get a box that allows a "good enough" graphics card. My main hack is a beast - though about two years old now... Q6600, EP45-UD3P, 9800GTX. I wonder if I could take some of those parts to build the HTPC and then upgrade my main machine.

Anyways, thanks for the recs. I'll check out the materials you quoted.

 

[Zaap]

The 9800GTX will certainly limit you to a full-height case, and a fairly powerful PSU. Ditto the UD3P.

But a mATX board, plus a decent low-profile GPU with included brackets, IE: like this 9400GT would allow you to use a low-profile HTPC case that's about as svelte as a full desktop computer gets.

You could use the Q6600 with it as well, as long as any included slim-sized PSU is 300w or better. (Of course, forget over-clocking!)


Just as a basic gauge:
Without buying a new CPU, an HTPC consisting of the 9400GT, 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM, Gigabyte G31 motherboard, 500GB SATA hard drive, 22x SATA DVD-R, and a mATX HTPC case with 300w PSU just squeaks in at $300. The HTPC in my sig is roughly the same performance level, and it handles 1080p perfectly. (Definitely outperforms an older mini)

Add a CPU like the E6500 Dual Core Pentium (an excellent chip for this purpose) and it's $380.

 

[volcs0]

Thanks very much for the help.

That motherboard looks good - looks like the main difference between the G41 and G31 is in the graphics.

GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=GA-G41M-ES2L
$56.99

As far as CPU - there are a ton of LGA775:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Core%202%20Duo

Some examples:

Intel Pentium E6600 Wolfdale 3.06GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor BX80571E6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116347
$86.99

Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80571E6500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116093
$79.99

Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor BX80571E7500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115056
$123.99

Any preference? Where is there a diminishing return?

For a graphics card, that 9400 looks great, but right now, we are still SD. There is nothing i can do with HDMI yet. I do have a DVI to S-Video converter cable (Apple), but I'm not sure it would work with this card. If I find a low-profile card with S-Video, do you think Snow Leopard would put the video out through the S-Video? We will upgrade to HD, but needing a new receiver, cable box, DVR, etc. is a little out of range right now - maybe in a year or two. For now, we need composite or S-Video out.

Thanks again for the recommendations - I really appreciate the help.

 

[volcs0]

Do you think this card would work? Specifically, is it likely that the S-Video will work via Snow Leopard?

PNY 8400GS PCI Express Low Profile Graphics Card

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/def...B_FEATURED3#TS

Thanks again.

 

[Zaap]

CPU: If you look at a side-by-side comparison, you can see there's virtually no difference between the entry C2D and the DCP, except the C2D has 1MB more of L2 Cache. The E6500 or E6600 DCPs are really the same chip as the C2D, just labeled differently. All 3 chips come right off the same FAB, just the C2Ds get the increased Cache.

Either DCP is the better deal (the E6600 just has a higher clock, which may be worthwhile if you're not OC'ing the E6500).

S-video:
Eeesh. You may be in trouble here. To my knowledge, s-video (ditto composite and component) is really hit and miss with Hackintoshes. I'm fairly certain on most cards it won't work at all. I thought from your OP that you could make HDMI (and therefore DVI as well) work.

S-video is said to work with the ATI X1900XT cards, however, I don't know if those cards work with Snow Leopard or not, plus they're pretty old. I personally don't have a clue about ATI cards with a hackintosh, nor what other ATI models may work with S-video on a Hack.

To further complicate matters, to my knowledge the Apple DVI-to-svideo adapters are specific to certain models from Apple. It's very unlikely that will work with a standard video card DVI out.

In general, I find signal adapters to be very hit-and miss. IE: you can find cheap adapters for VGA to s-video/composite or DVI to s-video/composite... but it's very hit and miss what cards they'll actually work with, and if older TVs will accept the output or not.

Dedicated video converter boxes definitely work, but those are expensive ($100 to $200+) and generally not worth it just to basically downgrade a video signal.

Your best bet might be to get a used Intel MacMini after all, so long as it can use the Apple DVI-to s-video adapter. I think a Hackintosh HTPC solution is best suited only to newer TVs that can accept DVI/HDMI signals.

 

[Zaap]

We will upgrade to HD, but needing a new receiver, cable box, DVR, etc. is a little out of range right now - maybe in a year or two. For now, we need composite or S-Video out.

Just a general aside: I'm sure you already know, but upgrading your TV to a newer HDTV that can accept newer signals doesn't automatically predicate upgrading everything else to 'HD'. The reality for many people is that they still have a lot of SD stuff working with their newer HDTVs (especially TV signals) and they just upgrade piecemeal as budget permits.

One of the beauties of an HTPC is that it does get you Hulu, Netflix, upscaled DVDs, 1080p ripped .mkv etc. looking great on an HDTV 'for free', even if your cable or sat is still SD, same as it ever was.

Just sayin'!

 

[volcs0]

Just a general aside: I'm sure you already know, but upgrading your TV to a newer HDTV that can accept newer signals doesn't automatically predicate upgrading everything else to 'HD'. The reality for many people is that they still have a lot of SD stuff working with their newer HDTVs (especially TV signals) and they just upgrade piecemeal as budget permits.

One of the beauties of an HTPC is that it does get you Hulu, Netflix, upscaled DVDs, 1080p ripped .mkv etc. looking great on an HDTV 'for free', even if your cable or sat is still SD, same as it ever was.

Just sayin'!

Yes - I know. I'm an "early adopter" for almost everything - I've just lagged on the HD bandwagon. I understand that I could continue to use our Series2 TiVo. The XBox360 could go HDMI. But I would need an HDMI receiver - the Yamaha I have does not accept HDMI. So, that would be $275ish (eg. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...18631YBHRHP67S)
And then the TV. So, I guess this holiday season would be a good time to get one.

I hobbled my CD MBP back to life, just enough to run Plex and serve the video via DVI to S-Video. I will build an HTPCs in the coming months and upgrade the receiver and the TV... It's only money, right?