HELP! Mac Mini or New Build, Help deciding on which way to go.

[jcheers]

Hi all!

I'm looking into setting up an HTPC. I am interested in my build being quiet and low power. I am interested in a fan less all in one motherboard is this smart?

Any recommendations are well appreciated.

New to the forum and excited about using the knowledge that I have gained from other posts.


Thanks

[SsZERO]

I don't think there are any fanless options that can effectively handle HD video playback, though I could be wrong. Fanless + small enclosure typically means overheating issues. Most systems are quiet even with fans these days since motherboards have dynamic fan control based on load.

[MSIINOZ]

Plenty of graphics cards that are fanless, The only way to go fanless on the CPU is water cooling

So you basically only want to play movies with your HTPC?

Start choosing some parts and you can get a bit more of an idea from opinions & recommendations based on your choices

SsZERO & I have a great thread going discussing the Pros & cons of the FM1/APU systems, This may be something that would suit you?

http://www.htpcforums.com/index.php?showtopic=4258

[jcheers]

Thanks for the response SsZERO.

My apologies to all because I am unsure what happened to the rest of my post.

The other part was regarding the mac mini (late 2009) that I have. I was thinking of using this being that it runs quiet and is practically setup. I will soon be putting in an 120GB SSD and 4 more gb of memory taking it to 8. The only thing that I hate is that I would have to go USB for the Ceton Infinitv4.

The Mac Mini is also the cheaper of the two being that I don't have to start from scratch. I just don't want any bottlenecks.

Thanks again!

[SsZERO]

The only issues that you may run into with using a Mac is a general lack of support for HTPC software and peripherals. So unless it does everything you want out of the box...

[jcheers]

Thanks for the info MSIINOZ. I will definitely take a look at the thread.

SsZERO Im not sure what you mean by HTPC software.

[SsZERO]

For example, a media center type interface, PVR, codec support and support for accelerated video decoding using GPU. You can build an HTPC out of any OS but Windows is still the best way to go in my opinion.