Reddit reviews Intel Desktop/HTPC (Intel Dual Core i3, 8GB DDR3, 500GB SSD, WIFI and Bluetooth, Windows 10 Pro)

Have you considered an NUC? They are completely silent (with SSD) and ridiculously small.

I would look into a INTEL NUC. Great form factor, plus it runs full blown Win 8.1, or Linux if you want. These usually just come with the processor and connectivity(Wi-Fi chip/ethernet) and you will have to add your own RAM and SSD, but they are pretty cool boxes.

Here is just one example:
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/dp/B0093LINVK

I am extremely happy with my Intel NUC, I think I paid close to $350 for the 4GB stick and the 32GB SSD, I like that it has gigabit, dual HMDI outputs and 3 USB ports. They have USB 3.0 Variants, my exact one is here.
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/dp/B0093LINVK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1396551721&sr=8-5&keywords=intel+nuc

I have OpenELEC (intel build) on it and it screams. I love the size, the low power usage and essentially noiseless operation. If you need a wireless card, they have cheap N ones for about $20-25 that are easy to install and they already have the antennae wired throughout the shell. I use the logitech solar keyboard to control it, nice and thin and dont have to worry about batteries or wires.

I am using a Synology NAS with 4x4TB drives with NFS for media access. Its also nice because it can run their video station software which can be downloaded on a Roku and iPad/iPhone (not sure about android). Nice for me because I have multiple TV's but dont necessarily want a HTPC at everyone of them.

I used a raspberry pi for a little and it was just too slow, I used a mac mini but that seemed like overkill considering the cost of the hardware. I am ultimately extremely happy with the NUC and likely could have built an even cheaper one but was hoping to have internals that would last a while.

Intel NUCs are great for this: http://smile.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/dp/B0093LINVK?sa-no-redirect=1

There are different models and pricepoints (with i5's and i7's) so look around, great form factor for a dedicated streaming box.

why not this?
http://amzn.com/B0093LINVK

i've read a lot of people use this with attached storage drives and have no issues transcoding etc...

> Intel NUC
Very cool idea. This one: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/dp/B0093LINVK looks like case, motherboard, processor and power supply. Just need HD and RAM, right?

Or this one: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Intel-Booksize-Barebone-System/dp/B00D19J53A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1381150476&sr=1-1&keywords=Gigabyte+Brix
Does USB 3.0, too.

You won't get the job done with a microcontroller. Try looking into Intel NUCs: http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/dp/B0093LINVK

You know... For $300-$400 or so you can pick up an Intel Next Unit of Computing Kit, RAM and an SSD. The damn things are 4 inches x 4 inches by 1.5 inches... Pretty small.

You could continue to use your RT for a lot of stuff, and RDP into the intel box for other stuff.

I'm not saying this will work for you, I'm just pointing out a possibility. I've been thinking about getting something like this myself. Its small enough so I could easily carry it around if I needed to, yet it would be powerful enough to do all sorts of good stuff. With the two, you'd have the best of both worlds.

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/product-reviews/B0093LINVK/

Did you look into an Intel NUC? You don't need an entire rackmountable server just to run ESXi. A couple hundred for the NUC and a bit more for however much RAM you'd like (up to 16gb). They're very low power, as well.

Something along the lines of,
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Computing-Gigabit-i3-3217U-DC3217IYE/dp/B0093LINVK

Agreed. The raspberry pi doesn't seem to handle 1080P too well. I will probably be purchasing something like the Intel NUC to replace a Roku running Plex.

What about a NUC? Will they want something in that form factor?