furymaster Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Hi, I'm currently researching if it is in any way useful to build my own HTPC. It should run XBMC and play full HD 1080p movies - if possible wireless (yes, I know there are issues, but I do have compressed MKVs, so the bitrate is not as high as uncompressed ISOs). There is an interesting board - if only I would know that the hardware is capable of the thing I like it to do... ZOTAC NM10-ITX WiFi http://pdde.zotac.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=7&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=209&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 It is equipped with an Atom D510 and WLAN 300 Mbit. Add some memory, a power supply and a case - done. Shall I give it a try? Quote Link to comment
theone Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 Zotac is coming out soon with a new mini-itx series that will include Atom D525 and ION2 processor: http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=546%3Azotac-updates-ion-itx-platforms&catid=1&Itemid=268 maybe it is worth waiting for... Quote Link to comment
cj0r Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I'm more excited for the Zacate based AMD boards. ION's were a dud along with the "Next Gen" ones so I don't have high hopes for them delivering on the ION 2... however the Zacate's are doing great in benchmarks etc. pulling similar performance to a HD 5450 if not higher. I currently use this card in my HTPC and it works great, however I don't want TV on it so I can't attest to its abilities with that (especially 1080i). Quote Link to comment
Venares Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 If you plan to use XBMC stick to NVidia. Anything else will make you want to kill small furry animals. Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I personally would go with a GF9300-G-E type board and a lower end C2D before an Atom (Actually, I did), assuming you want to stick with onboard and using Nvideo graphics. I also feel the Atom is a dud that trades a little extra power savings for a huge performance loss. Peter Quote Link to comment
Chris Pollard Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 I just built a HTPC using this board :- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131635&Tpk=AT3IONT-I%20DELUXE Works pretty well. 1080p re-encodes play fine over wireless, BD Images are a no go however (over wireless!) The remote works in XBMC, but there are some redundant buttons. Bluetooth too which is handy, means my mum can send photos direct from her phone to the pictures directory in XMBC and they appear on the telly Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 That's actually a pretty nice board. I have read the Atom2 has a limited connection to the ION chipset which actually cripples the video capability (like the connection is only a PCIe x1) compared to the first gen Atom. It looks like the bluetooth is a dongle plugged into the USB port. Peter Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 The video connection bandwidth is more than enough for Multimedia playback including full BluRay movies. The only time it would ever come into question is if you're trying to run a graphic intensive video game, but of course if you're trying to game on an Atom you have larger issues. Quote Link to comment
dgaschk Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I'm considering this because it has more horsepower. It has a 1.2Ghz Celeron. Does this outperform Atom even though it kind slow? Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I believe the low power Celerons provide more processing power, however I have not verified that with reviews. The Atom's leave a bit to be desired for CPU-bound tasks, however they do well enough when paired with a nice GPU and GPU-Accelerated software. If were to buy a new small system for XBMC/HTPC and money wasn't an issue, I'd try to pickup a newer Intel CULV based one. Quote Link to comment
furymaster Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 I just built a HTPC using this board :- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131635&Tpk=AT3IONT-I%20DELUXE Works pretty well. 1080p re-encodes play fine over wireless, BD Images are a no go however (over wireless!) The remote works in XBMC, but there are some redundant buttons. Bluetooth too which is handy, means my mum can send photos direct from her phone to the pictures directory in XMBC and they appear on the telly Chris, what operating system are you using on that build? Quote Link to comment
sacretagent Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 just as info i am running openelec xbmc now on my htpc (Asus p5q-em with a core2 duo and 2 gb ram) and it works a dream no more buffering messages and 1080p straight from an iso file on my unraid without issues i am using gigabit wired though ..... not a real believer in wireless for anything else then laptops or ipad's before was running xbmc on w7 64 bit on same hardware and had the buffering from time to time and the 1080p iso's was hit or miss... only bad thing i find about openelec is that there is no VNC or similar support ... sometimes i like to tinker at the box while the wife watches normal cable tv and then i can do what i want now i need to fight with the wife to get the tv for me so i can tinker at the box looking now for a mini itx board with a celeron and 4 gb ram to build a dedicated htpc and then the kid can have the computer which is acting as htpc now Quote Link to comment
Chris Pollard Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Chris, what operating system are you using on that build? Windows 7, Needed to be non tech friendly and Linux isn't. Quote Link to comment
Chris Pollard Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Heres a CPU comparison thingy :- http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/91?vs=71 Overall performance was not a consideration for me, Just needed to be able to play BluRay's and other HD content and it can perfectly well. The last HTPC I built (using old parts) had an AMD Athlon X2 250 mounted on my old Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H with onboard Radeon 2100 which also worked well. That one was running XP and I put it in a big Silverstone LC20 case. The case was crap considering the price, badly made and badly designed. Quote Link to comment
kizer Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I'm running the Dual Core AsRock ION "First Generation" OverClocked to 2.0 on Linux and it seems to play anything I throw at it. It uses the Nvidia Chipset and seems to be very well supported on XBMC.org's website. The only time I've seen it studder during the fly over of the space station in the beginning watching a 1080P BlueRay rip of Avatar as a MKV. Not sure if it was the bit rate, unRAID keeping up or something else. I haven't tried running directly on the ION directly, but will sometime. Of course my experience could be anything since I just bought a BlueRay drive and began trying to rip BlueRays. I've heard several complaints about the ION2. Most where it couldn't keep up with the first generation chipset. Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I missed it, but the OP posted Atom board is not a ION, but using the Intel NM10 video built into the Atom. Good for web browsing and reading emails but I doubt it will work for HD video playback and I would not recommend purchasing it. Peter Quote Link to comment
thejtiggidy Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I am extremely happy with my Sandybridge i7 2600k and MSI H67MA-ED55. The Sandybridge IGP's playback is flawless and reencoding is excellent. It also runs extremely cool and average core temps are around 20C... I have a Antec Fusion 430 with a Scythe Ninja Mini passively cooled by two Noiseblocker M12-S2's at 50% in the case fan locations and they are dead silent. It's probably a bit overkill for my purposes but I always like to err on side of over powered so I never wonder "if I had". Besides, it is cool, quiet and resonably priced. Abolutely LOVE it; aside from Intel's Cougar point recall... oh well no big deal. Quote Link to comment
Chris Pollard Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I am extremely happy with my Sandybridge i7 2600k It's probably a bit overkill Slight understatement for a HTPC. Quote Link to comment
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