Shuttle XH61 LGA 1155 Mini ITX Barebone System w/ HDMI + Intel Pentium G620 2.6GHz LGA 1155 Dual Core Desktop Processor $185 + Free Shipping

Quote from hightop32 : probably about time you upgrade to an hdmi avr.... just sayin'

I appreciate what you're saying - but I gotta buy a receiver for our new basement setup, and Im not buying another one for our existing family room setup - so I'm stuck with no hdmi on that one for awhile.

Tempting, as I have been wanting to put together a compact HTPC for quite some time. However, I really need something that has a pci-e expansion slot so a halfway decent GPU could be added for some gaming. But I realize it is what it is.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6856173042

Zotac ZBOXNANO-ID61-U Intel HM65 1 x 204Pin Intel HD Graphics Integrated by CPU Black Mini / Booksize Barebone System

seems to be a more decent system at basically the same price. The CPU is, although not particularly strong (Intel Celeron 867, scored at 1241), more than enough for a HTPC. With its support for usb3, eSATA, card readers, display port, STAT6.0, it looks like a more modern and useful system for me.

Would this frys RAM work in this box?

Crucial Ballistix 8GB Memory (2x4GB) 1866MHz DDR3 240-Pin UDIMM Memory

http://slickdeals.net/f/5126458-C...ept-6-2012

the onboard graphics are so terrible. you can't even watch movies at passable frame rates. do not get this expecting to use it as an htpc.

Quote from clindman : the onboard graphics are so terrible. you can't even watch movies at passable frame rates. do not get this expecting to use it as an htpc.

Not true..The newest intel HD graphics run videos fine. Just update the driver first and use VLC Player. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html

Quote from clindman : the onboard graphics are so terrible. you can't even watch movies at passable frame rates. do not get this expecting to use it as an htpc.

LOL...the integrated graphics will decode every major format in hardware at full frame rates.

Even if the G620 did all the decode, you'd have no problems decoding a full 1080p blu-ray movie.

You might have been right 6 or 7 years ago though...

Quote from sklar : LOL...the integrated graphics will decode every major format in hardware at full frame rates. Even if the G620 did all the decode, you'd have no problems decoding a full 1080p blu-ray movie. You might have been right 6 or 7 years ago though...

I agree. My htpc has a g530 and XBMC plays anything that I throw at it, even 10+GB mkv rips, no video card at all.

Quote from ben.bob : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6856173042 Zotac ZBOXNANO-ID61-U Intel HM65 1 x 204Pin Intel HD Graphics Integrated by CPU Black Mini / Booksize Barebone System seems to be a more decent system at basically the same price.

Not really. It's not even half as fast as the one in the OP. But it is a heck of a lot smaller.

Quote from clindman : the onboard graphics are so terrible. you can't even watch movies at passable frame rates. do not get this expecting to use it as an htpc.

To anyone considering this, know this character has no clue. Disregard his/her post.

Quote from sklar : You sound doubful my friend, let me enlighten you. The integrated video in the celeron doesn't have clear video support, but the integrated video in the i3 and up do. There may be one or two models of i series that don't...I haven't scrutinized all 87 models and every once in a while they clip something off of a cpu to prove one point or other. http://www.intel.com/content/www/...neral.html "Picture-perfect Intel Clear Video HD Technology vastly improves video playback, delivering cleaner, sharper images, more natural, accurate, and vivid colors, and a clear and stable video picture. Intel Clear Video HD Technology on the new 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor lets you view images as they were meant to be seen. Loud and clear and big as life. How it works Intel Clear Video HD Technology integrates a wide range of image-processing technologies, including: Advanced video technologies that remove jitter and create crisper visuals Total color control, along with adaptive contrast and skin-tone enhancements that create vivid, rich colors on the display Intelligent color space mapping that helps ensure that colors are presented the way they were meant to be seen when you are watching video, browsing the Web, or using your PC applications"

I understand where you're going with that, but I wonder if the Intel marketing meets reality. I would have to see reviews from a credible source before I believed any of that. We know how different technologies (edge enhancement, picture sharpening, noise reduction, etc) that are supposed to improve picture quality according to the marketing, usually do the opposite in reality. I myself usually prefer to turn off such helpful technology and it usually results in a better picture.

When I'm trying to sell you something, I can say it's the best, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the truth! Take a look around.

Quote from uberw00tness : I agree. My htpc has a g530 and XBMC plays anything that I throw at it, even 10+GB mkv rips, no video card at all.

I'll 2nd that, I built a budget HTPC for my friend a few months back with a intel G530 and it plays everything, I was pretty surprised at how well it works.

Quote from timta2 : I understand where you're going with that, but I wonder if the Intel marketing meets reality. I would have to see reviews from a credible source before I believed any of that. We know how different technologies (edge enhancement, picture sharpening, noise reduction, etc) that are supposed to improve picture quality according to the marketing, usually do the opposite in reality. I myself usually prefer to turn off such helpful technology and it usually results in a better picture. When I'm trying to sell you something, I can say it's the best, but that doesn't necessarily have to be the truth! Take a look around.

I do tend to look at things rather than buy into Intel's marketing machine. Probably because I used to run Intel's marketing machine about ten years ago

However, the videophiles over at avsforum wouldn't take a leak on the celeron version of the intel integrated graphics if it caught fire, and prefer the clear video versions of the i series, or an add in card.

There's also this. Not comprehensive, but its the first link presented when googling "Intel clear video review", and thats all I felt like looking at right now to prove a point.

http://www.tomshardware.com/revie...839-5.html

"Aside from saturating the image, UVD 3 still looks worse than Intel's Clear Video HD (CVT) and the fourth generation of PureVideo (VPDAU4). You can specifically see this around the blades of the helicopter to the far-right of the image. There is no aliasing around the edges, and the workers on the truck are less blurred, which means Intel's and Nvidia's motion compensation algorithms are coping with the camera panning motion more accurately."

So among hardware decoders, if you read the voluminous comments you might find the intel product beats out either the ati or nvidia products...sometimes both.

Of course, software rendering with the right combination of tools generally gives better results, and the celeron is up to the task of quite a bit of post processing.

Intel pulled clearvideo out of the cheap celerons for a reason...its valuable to people who want good image quality, done in hardware. If you want that, you have to pay more.

I'd go with this celly and a $10-20 video card like a 6450 instead of paying $100+ for an i3, but you can't put one in this box. No slot, weak power supply.

My htpc has the g620 and a 6670 in it. Plenty of power for transcoding and all the other things you might ask of an htpc besides video playback. Even runs my kids minecraft server without ever noticing any slowdowns. Box was $199 from Lenovo's outlet and I got the card for $20, stuck an $11 antec high current gamer 400w supply in it, although I could have gotten away with the stock 280w. Far better than this deal, IMO.

Quote from m715 : I'll 2nd that, I built a budget HTPC for my friend a few months back with a intel G530 and it plays everything, I was pretty surprised at how well it works.

I agree, but I do wish newegg had offered the opportunity to "upgrade" the g620 processor to different SB for the difference in price. I need a new HTPC but would need a SB with HD3000 to play 3D iso.

One thing for people to keep in mind though, SB does have the "24p" bug. So, if you play videos that are encoded at 23.976fps it will drop frames. Some people say its noticeable, others say not so much, but it is something to keep in mind.