You need a separate WiDi receiver for your laptop to transmit to. Approx $140 (I think that is what I paid)

It only works in 720p, not 1080p!

Latency is about 400ms! You think PS3 has input problems, wait till you game over WiDi!!!!

WiDi has been the biggest (PC wise) waste of money of 2012 for me, avoid at all costs unless you are only watching a movie, and even then only when using the WiDi audio source as video is out of sync with live audio from a sound card.

The Big win for Big Picture for me is the new split screen 2 player mode for Portal 2 and Left for Dead 2. Grab a gamepad and Coop that game with a single copy. Good fun for those with friends who aren’t big gamers (or without their own PC or steam account) but want to join in when they visit.

The only thing I am thinking is why cant there just be some wireless streaming device that can go from my PC to my TV. like a long hdmi cable (which wouldn’t work for me because my TV and PC are on different levels of the house) without the actual cable.

Will look into what WiDi is…

pinothyj:
Also, ATI has not existed since late 2010…

A lot of gear sites still use the old titles for some reason, I assume this is because “AMD” still isn’t typically put in front of Radeon titles either so people need some differentiation. I copied the card’s name from the site’s listings so people could find it easily.

Semantics, anyway, people know exactly what it is.

Mmm…

I’ve got a build thread for anyone interested: http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=129977

A short on specs:
i5-3550
ASRock Z77-Extreme4
2x4GB G-skill 1600mhz DDR3
1x Hitachi 2TB 7200rpm (primary games storage, other media is connected via NAS)
Gigabyte GTX 580 SOC 1.5GB (if it can be done, it can be over-done :P)
Silverstone LC-20B ATX media case (fits nicely in the TV cabinet)
2x Logitech F710 wireless controllers (XInput/Xbox compatible)
Loaded with Noctua low noise fans

gunta:
did you consider an fm1 system? I built one for my better half and it’s actually pretty beasty without having to have a dedicated graphics card

They’re actually fairly good.
I built a HTPC system around the AMD A8-3870K APU in a MiniITX case and paired it up with a Passively cooled Radeon 6670 in Hybrid Crossfire with the IGP. It’s actually surprising how well it games!

Ended up undervolting the processor which lowered the heat dramatically so I could overclock both the GPU’s which places it’s performance above the Radeon 7770′s.

Next up is AMD’s Trinity, it might change the landscape more in AMD’s favor if they keep power consumption in check.

I wouldn’t be using a solid state drive, simply because of the cost, and there’s room in that case for three or four 120mm fans as I understand it, and you can get quite fans easily enough. Also, you mentioned Linux compatibility, and AMD linux drivers are pretty dodgy, and long have been. Not sure about their status at the moment though. But I take your point about power consumption.

bennyburner

I really like the Aussie PC building articles written. Would love to see a PC build-off series for people new to the scene, between a few of you guys, for a typical budget (say, $1000-$1200).

I’ll bring it up with the boss :) I like the idea!

gunta:
did you consider an fm1 system? I built one for my better half and it’s actually pretty beasty without having to have a dedicated graphics card

I actually built one for my wifes’ friends and while it was impressive (love the idea of proper onboard GPU) I had ridiculous driver issues. It also completely failed after a week and I had to RMA it, so it wasn’t a great first experience.

James Pinnell: the i series are phenomenal and it future proofs it incase you decide to get a better GPU later on.

For the purpose of the article and the $600 budget, I’d go the extra gpu power over cpu. It’d be interesting to see how they compare though!
Both build’s are kickass for the cost. If I was actually buying the parts, adding your i3 to my build only increases total cost by about $60 and I reckon I’d save up a bit more cash to get it.

I really like the Aussie PC building articles written. Would love to see a PC build-off series for people new to the scene, between a few of you guys, for a typical budget (say, $1000-$1200).

spkypwnsuall:
Love the idea and suggestions of this article; Maybe more build guides in the future?

For sure! I had a lot of fun with this one too, glad you enjoyed it :)

ytnim: I think the point of the article as it pointed out at the top is that most people don’t have their PC anywhere close to their big TV and running cables all throughout the house just isn’t an option for some (most?) households.

More on-topic, I like this build, people could even possibly just use the basic specs for a small budget PC (needs a monitor, speakers, etc) but still a good reasonable start for them.

Spot on. This was put together for people who have larger houses or just want to have a HTPC style setup for gaming.

bennyburner,

Great build! One of my earlier drafts used that same mobo, and I considered a slower PC but the i series are phenomenal and it future proofs it incase you decide to get a better GPU later on.

caitsith01:
I think the real question is – who wants to sacrifice one of the main benefits of PC gaming by using a controller?

Cool to see what can be achieved for $600 though.

I play games like the Witcher 2, Arkham City and Sleeping Dogs with a controller on PC, so I figured a box like this would be great for these sort of games.

Cool to see what can be achieved for $600 though.

bennyburner: (all prices from PCCG)

Sorry, used Umart prices where they were cheaper, mostly identical to PCCG though :)

CPU: Intel Pentium G630 $64.00
MOBO: ASRock H61M-ITX $79.00
RAM: G.Skill F3-10600CL9D-4GB $22.00
GPU: VTX3D Radeon HD7850 2GB $215.00
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 120GB $89.00
PSU: Antec VP450P $52.00
CASE: BitFenix Prodigy Mini-ITX Case White $86.50
TOTAL $607.50

(had to drop RAM down to 4gb to get it back to budget, should be fine with one steam game/movie open at a time, my old PC could do it with win7 64bit, this one can too!)

partybear:
15m hdmi cable off ebay and a wireless xbox control receiver total less then $30.

I think the point of the article as it pointed out at the top is that most people don’t have their PC anywhere close to their big TV and running cables all throughout the house just isn’t an option for some (most?) households.

More on-topic, I like this build, people could even possibly just use the basic specs for a small budget PC (needs a monitor, speakers, etc) but still a good reasonable start for them.

That being said, if you’ve got your PC already, and want to just rig it up to the TV (presuming its in the same room, or the distance isn’t too far), might be worth looking into WHDI tech, for a 3rd of the price. Just my suggestion, after reading about it from the Big Picture page, and its probably not for everyone.