Building a HTPC w/ AMD Proc, ATI 4000/5000 series, Soft+Driver compat

Ellipsys · 2010-07-01 03:01:55

Evening everyone. I'm about to build a HTPC and I would very much like to run a Linux-based OS upon it. Arch is a favorite, tricking it out with MythTV and other media frontends/backends, but I'm also considering the "prefabs" like Boxee, XBMC and the like, as this box is going to be used by family who aren't geeks or gurus, so no CLI mpd - I need an easy to use "appliance" GUI at least as an option. At least to start, I'm not going to attempt DVR functionality as I'm dealing with Comcast Premium Digital Cable and I'm not sure if Linux is up to being able to record from such, at current. My goals for the box is primarily to be used as a media server in MythTV/Boxee/XBMC fashion. It will be able to connect (wirelessly, hopefully) with my network and play media from my Arch-based NAS, as well as download its own stuff over BitTorrent (Miro may be a good client which allows simple downloading and playback, if there isn't something like this in the "prefab"), and watch content online at YouTube, Hulu, Megavideo or other streaming site. Eventually, I'd like to be able to buy a couple of "media extenders" that it can push content through to other TVs in the house and/or use PS3/X360. Hardware I'm thinking of the following..

HTPC case from LianLi, SilverStone etc...
ATX Power supply, Corsair HX series.
AMD AM3 Phenom II X4 or X6 (Black Ed, or otherwise)
Motherboard with 890GX/880GX and SB850, new models. - Likely with an integrated ATI 4290, USB3.0/SATA6.
4GB DDR3, maybe more?
Considering a Seagate Momentus XT hybrid SSD/HDD, or a simple WD Black. Most of my media isn't
MAYBE a discrete ATI 5000 series card, like a 5555, 5670, or 5770.
Wireless 802.11N latest-generation. I'm open for suggestions here, as I always find it hard to find good wireless that works well on Linux. Should I go with a USB option, or something else? Wireless needs to work well as media will be streamed from and to this box
MAYBE a touch-screen USB Video miniMonitor, like those sold by MIMO . I'm told that by now many of them work on Linux through DisplayLink tech, but if anyone can confirm this that would be great.

My questions mostly concern the viability of the AMD/ATI platform for media usage. I've been told that I should completely abandon ATI graphics cards, or get a Core i5/i7 processor instead, because only Nvidia graphics can accelerate video decoding/encoding via hardware? Is this correct? I was under the impression with the use of Catalyst 10.6 drivers at least, if not ati or radeonhd, there is hardware video decoding? I also know for instance, that using Catalyst drivers under windows, the ATI graphics cards can actually act as soundcards for 7.1 audio output, via HDMI. The 4000 series can't do full on bitstreaming though, and only the 5000 series is capable thereof. Is this feature present in the Linux drivers as well? How about the Open Source drivers? How are they at current for media/video acceleration? I'd like to support ATI's Linux and open-source friendly policies by buying their cards, which also happen to be the most powerful and cost-effective options at current, but only if they actually work! Would the above processor, RAM, and graphics options be sufficient, using either Catalyst or open source drivers, to play HD Media -From 1080p BluRay Rips, MKV's, OGM and more, to conventional Xvid and DivX codecs. Anything special I should note when selecting a remote control? Is there anything else I should know about creating an Arch based media center, with the latest MythTV, Boxee, XBMC or other packages?

Thank you! I Just had 2 bloody DVD players die on me tonight and I'm sick to death of limited "appliances".

txus · 2010-07-01 07:04:38

That's no HTPC, that's a neat workstation! xD (hint: you don't need neither that beasty processor, or the discrete card, for an HTPC.)

ATI is catching up to nvidia these days, but is not there yet. Still, as I also have an ATI card (mobility 4570), and more or less for the same reason, I can say that I'm liking it very much.

The Catalyst drivers are performing very well right now, and you can feel they are getting better and better in each release. They also have h264 and vc1 hardware decoding, which works very good in mplayer (doesn't in vlc because it just shows green, and I don't know about other players). Check the wiki and the Catalyst thread!

The radeon driver is catching up in features, and right now has support for up to opengl 2.0, power management more or less works (there are still some things to polish), and 2D-wise perform really, really good. Still, no hardware video decode, not excellent power management (I have a laptop), and a few opengl annoyances (probably caused by not supporting 2.1, but I don't really know), caused me to get back to catalyst, which I'm very, very happy with.

Everything I said applies to me! I know there are people that don't get such good results with ATI, so read around before you actually buy anything.

Maybe nvidia is better for a HTPC, but if you really want to buy ati, maybe you won't get as good results as with nvidia, but it can definitely work.

I know I didn't answer many of your questions, but this is my 2 cents

seiichiro0185 · 2010-07-01 07:50:08

In my opinion this machine is pretty much overkill for a HTPC. I have a Dual-Core Atom with nvidia ION Graphics which runs every HDTV-Video up to 1080p without a problem and is pretty much silent at doing that. Also Power consumption is at about 30W.

I don't know how good the video aceleration in catalyst is right now, but I did hear about a lot of trouble with getting them to run (no personal experience, just what I hear on the net). In any case I think you shouldn't need a discrete graphics-card, It won't decode the video better than the integrated one (at least if it's similar to what nvidia does) but add a lot of power consumption and heat (and cooling needs).

The CPU should be able to handle HD, even without the Card assisting it. At least my 4x 3GHz Phenom II does play all 1080p I tried so far. RAM should be plenty enough with 4GB.

The LIRC project should have a list of remotecontrols it supports, there are also nice solutions for switching the thing on via remote (and which support pretty much any IR-Remote). Also some RF-based systems are working, e.g. there are ATI All in Wonder Remotes that work fine (you can get them via ebay for example)

I would really consider to get an nvidia based setup, since you won't really get this thing silent (which at least for me is a must for a HTPC)

just my 2 cents

Arch Linux

#1 2010-07-01 03:01:55

Building a HTPC w/ AMD Proc, ATI 4000/5000 series, Soft+Driver compat

#2 2010-07-01 07:04:38

Re: Building a HTPC w/ AMD Proc, ATI 4000/5000 series, Soft+Driver compat

#3 2010-07-01 07:50:08

Re: Building a HTPC w/ AMD Proc, ATI 4000/5000 series, Soft+Driver compat

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