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KaMoS

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I have a N40L (w/ HD5450) running win8 and XBMC. I'm thinking of replacing it with this:

CFi 6719 Black mini-itx case
Asus AM1i-A - all-in-one AM1 motherboard - mini-ITX
Amd socket Kabini AM1 sempron 3850 with GPU (built-in HD8280 graphics)
Kingston ValueRam KVR13N9S8/4 , 4Gb ddr3-1333

Total Cost: R1976

I just want a little more power and I think the CFI case looks nicer amongst my entertainment system.

What do you guys think? Worth the spend?
 
KaMoS said:
I have a N40L (w/ HD5450) running win8 and XBMC. I'm thinking of replacing it with this:

CFi 6719 Black mini-itx case
Asus AM1i-A - all-in-one AM1 motherboard - mini-ITX
Amd socket Kabini AM1 sempron 3850 with GPU (built-in HD8280 graphics)
Kingston ValueRam KVR13N9S8/4 , 4Gb ddr3-1333

Total Cost: R1976

I just want a little more power and I think the CFI case looks nicer amongst my entertainment system.

What do you guys think? Worth the spend?
Click to expand...

You know that only allows to have 1x HDD? or are you planning on keeping the N40L to house the HDD's and installing XBMC on the new AMD build?
 
KaMoS said:
I have a N40L (w/ HD5450) running win8 and XBMC. I'm thinking of replacing it with this:

CFi 6719 Black mini-itx case
Asus AM1i-A - all-in-one AM1 motherboard - mini-ITX
Amd socket Kabini AM1 sempron 3850 with GPU (built-in HD8280 graphics)
Kingston ValueRam KVR13N9S8/4 , 4Gb ddr3-1333

Total Cost: R1976

I just want a little more power and I think the CFI case looks nicer amongst my entertainment system.

What do you guys think? Worth the spend?
Click to expand...

You have a link where you buying it from?
 
Reason for replacing? ie. Why do you want more "power"
 
Last edited:
psion said:
Reason for replacing? ie. Why do you want more "power"
Click to expand...

We stream a lot of media, the N40L can't handle both HD streaming (online), Processing of DL's and local streaming at the same time.
 
KaMoS said:
We stream a lot of media, the N40L can't handle both HD streaming (online), Processing of DL's and local streaming at the same time.
Click to expand...

A lot of the resources might be taken up by win8? Perhaps you could try the standalone copy op XBMC from www.openelec.tv
requiring less resources to be taken up by the OS

Works perfectly fine for me downloading, playing on the TV while someone else streams off of it over the network without any jitters.

So maybe you could save your self some cash if you don't need the bloat of windows.
 
I've used openelec before and I need windows. My wife likes browsing and doing work on the me pc.
 
The Chromium web browser has been compiled for openelec, but any other functions of windows would be a no go then.
 
I am thinking of buying a very similar system and am also interested to hear what experiences people have had with the AM1 Platform.

From what I have read some people have had driver issues but it sounds like its okay if you stick to windows 8 or Ubuntu 14.something. Not sure of the exact version number.
 
Okay, so I will be the guinea pig. I just collected my system with the following components:

CPU:AMD Athlon 5350 Kabini Quad-Core 2.05GHz with Integrated Radeon™ R3 Graphics
Motherboard: ASUS – AM1I-A
RAM: 4Gb DDR3 1600
Case: Huntkey H702 with 60w notebook powersupply.

I quickly installed Openelec onto a USB3 flash stick and so far no problems. It boots up in about 15 seconds and the menu's seem really quick. I will play more this weekend and report back.
 
I am happy to report that my system is running well and is almost silent. I would definitely recommend a AM1 system for HTPC.
 
Fleming said:
Okay, so I will be the guinea pig. I just collected my system with the following components:

CPU:AMD Athlon 5350 Kabini Quad-Core 2.05GHz with Integrated Radeon™ R3 Graphics
Motherboard: ASUS – AM1I-A
RAM: 4Gb DDR3 1600
Case: Huntkey H702 with 60w notebook powersupply.

I quickly installed Openelec onto a USB3 flash stick and so far no problems. It boots up in about 15 seconds and the menu's seem really quick. I will play more this weekend and report back.
Click to expand...

What did you pay and where did you get it from?
 
plbartie said:
What did you pay and where did you get it from?
Click to expand...

I paid the following:

CPU:AMD Athlon 5350 - R1095
Motherboard: ASUS – AM1I-A - R550
RAM: 4Gb DDR3 1600 - R625
Case: Huntkey H702 - R595
Total: R2865
The hard drive I already had.

I bought it from a Local shop in PE (Anstek). I could have saved a bit of money if I bought it online, especially on the CPU but after adding shipping costs there wasnt much difference, maybe R150. Also Anstek assembled and tested the system for me prior to collection. If a component was faulty they would have had to deal with it rather than me sending stuff back to a online supplier. The small bit extra was worth it for me.

Regarding the case, I was also considering the CFI one mentioned by the OP but chose the Huntkey over it due to the powersupply with no moving parts. The only fan in my system is the CPU cooler. The only reason I would rather choose the CFI is if you need a optical drive., otherwise this case is a winner for its price.
 
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