Supported hardware

What is current recommended hardware requirements for XBMC

For end-users the recommended minimum requirement is a x86-based computer, with a 3D GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that at least supports Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0 (that features 24bpp or 32bpp for 3D hardware-acceleration support, which XBMC GUI need to run smoothly at an acceptable frame-rate). Graphic adapters that support DirectX version 9.0c or later usually meet all of those mentioned requirements, (Team-XBMC recommends NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later as NVIDIA are currently the manufacturer that offers good device-drivers for Linux (and NVIDIA GeForce 6150 or later supports OpenGL 2.0).

CPU

• x86 (Intel/AMD-based) processor computer capable of booting to CD-ROM.
  • Intel Pentium 4, Intel Pentium M, AMD Athlon XP/64, AMD Opteron, or newer CPU (that support SSE).
  • Fast modern dual-core processor is required to decode H.264 videos in FullHD (1080p).

Graphic card

• ATI/AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA (recommended) graphic controller which supports OpenGL 1.4 or later (2.0 recommended).
  • ATI Radeon R420 (X800) or newer supported, ATI Radeon R700 (HD 4000) or newer recommended.
  • Intel GMA 950 (945G) or newer supported, Intel GMA X4500HD (G45) or newer recommended.
  • NVIDIA GeForce 6-Series and newer supported, GeForce 8-Series and newer recommended.

Why is a OpenGL 2.0 compatible graphic-controller the recommended minimum for XBMC?

OpenGL 2.0 is not really the current minimum requirement to run XBMC, as in reality XBMC will today run with only OpenGL 1.4 + GLSL support (everything else has fall-backs to be runned in software on the CPU, slower than GPU hardware though), however to be sure to stay future-proof Team-XBMC have decided that the OpenGL 2.0 is the recommended minimum requirement.

Currently OpenGL 2.0 hardware is only needed for...

• Any deinterlacing that is not linear blending, (FFmpeg does linear blending in software on the CPU)
• Video video post-processing filtering (bicubic upscaling, etc.)
• Non-power of two textures for the GUI (using NPOT saves a lot of texture memory)
• Hardware accelerated YUV 2 RGB conversion (actually GLSL is needed for this, and a few GPU hardware implementations as low as OpenGL 1.4 does provide GLSL as an extension. OpenGL 2.0 guarantees availability of GLSL).

In the future OpenGL 2.0 might also be needed for...

• More video post-processing filters to improve visual quality perception.
• Hardware Accelerated Video Decoding (using the GPU hardware to assist with video decoding)

Audio

• GNU/Linux. Should work on any sound card that is supported under ALSA
• Windows. Should work with any DirectSound 8.0 capable sound card.

Remotes

XBMC has built in support for LIRC and IRSS but have native support for other remotes through XBMC's EventServer

Gamepads

XBMC uses SDL for it's gamepad / joystick input system and so any natively supported gamepad / joystick on the underlying system should work out of the box after it's added to keymap.