[stpfarms]

I am looking for a system that will play 1080p MKV X264 files through XBMC from RAR files on a NAS using a 1Gb switch. I will use Linux if I have to or Windows 7. I want to make sure what I buy or build will be powerful enough. Right now I love how the XBOX will play my XVID movies from Rar files.

Will the Moneual 301 Home Theater computer do the trick? Here are the specs:

Processor AMD 64 Athlon X2 4400 Processor
Motherboard MSI K9AGM2-FIH Socket AM2 AMD 690G Chipset
Graphic Onboard Radeon X1250 Graphic
PSU Zumax ZU-400W 12 ATX 12V Ver. 2.0
Memory Kingston PC2-4200 DDR2 2G (2 x 1G)
Audio 7.1 Channel software audio codec Realtek ALC833 Compliance with Azalia v1.0 spec

[ccMatrix]

I don't think your CPU is powerful enough to decode 1080p. Linux wouldn't help you either since you are running on a Radeon GPU.

[stpfarms]

What is the minimum CPU I should look at? Core 2 Duo I presume?

[natethomas]

With Intel, the minimum is usually about 2.6-3.0ghz. From what I understand, you can do something similar with AMD, but you have to up the speed a bit. I haven't got any first hand knowledge of this though.

[stpfarms]

What about this ASROCK 330 everyone is talking about?