Search found 309 matches

by dougz
Sat Nov 05, 2011 5:51 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: building a SFF system for Linux
Replies: 56
Views: 32761

Re: building a SFF system for Linux

"Budget mini-itx/htpc build with low power Sandy Bridge" http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/314407-31-budget-mini-htpc-build-power-sandy-bridge You probably don't need the H67 chipset. This would mean more mobo choices and/or cheaper mobo. A 35 watt dual-core Sandy Bridge Pentium might be adequate. C...
by dougz
Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:10 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: building a SFF system for Linux
Replies: 56
Views: 32761

Re: building a SFF system for Linux

Thanks for the input, Doug. I could probably use Parallel or Boot Camp for a short period, but I'm going to need a dedicated box sooner or later. If I go with Sandy Bridge, do you have any recommendation on a particular mini-ATX board for it? I don't need WiFi, or much fancy...just want a solid boa...
by dougz
Sat Nov 05, 2011 3:22 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: building a SFF system for Linux
Replies: 56
Views: 32761

Re: building a SFF system for Linux

Any opinions on this? http://www.zotacusa.com/zbox-intel-atom-d525-all-in-one-zbox-id41-plus-u.html I'm a Linux user with a Celeron 2.2 GHz single core and an Atom 1.6 GHz single core. If it were me, I would buy a Sandy Bridge i3 or and AMD Llano, at minimum. Atoms are dated designs with poor perfo...
by dougz
Sat Nov 20, 2010 1:25 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Re: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

This article on Phoronix might be the info you're looking for: HD Video Playback With A $20 CPU & $30 GPU On Linux AFAICT it works only for H264, not sure about WebM status, hopefully being on a rolling distro you'll be able to get it as soon as it comes. Newegg had a sale on an MSI N84000GS 512 MB...
by dougz
Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:45 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Re: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

Thanks for all of the pointers. I'm going to upgrade with the E3400 and a budget Nvidia card. The Nvidia won't provide hardware acceleration for everything, but it'll beat the Intel 3100 and allow me to attach a DVI monitor later. (Currently VGA-only.) One "gotcha" about Nvidia and Linux is Ubuntu a...
by dougz
Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:05 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Re: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

Newegg shows both Celerons as having VT support, which is a plus. The Pentium that Newegg sells does not (although there is a version with it). Nah, all current Pentiums should have VT-x support. The older SSPECs of some Pentium E5x00 models didn't have it but anything that's shipping now probably ...
by dougz
Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:05 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Re: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

Thanks for the advice! I researched the CPUs suggested above and was surprised at how much improvement I could get in a budget upgrade, at least according to http://www.cpubenchmark.net. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/midlow_range_cpus.html Celeron 450 @ 2.2 GHz -- 641 http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_r...
by dougz
Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:27 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Re: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

I appreciate the replies in all of the posts, above. They give me some avenues for research. Additional suggestions welcomed. :D What "cheap video solutions" were you thinking about? Roku? Apple TV? I just meant a discrete graphics card. Depending on what you are looking for, $40-$80 can get you a ...
by dougz
Tue Nov 09, 2010 2:32 pm
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Re: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

Does this motherboard have a VGA slot, or a PCIx 16 slot? Mobo has a VGA out socket, no DVI, HDMI, etc. Expansion is via: one PCI Express X16 one PCI Express X1 two PCI no ISA Do you know what resolution the H.264 video is? 1920x1080? Nope, looking to view Hulu programming, movie trailers (Quicktim...
by dougz
Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:50 am
Forum: System Advice / Troubleshooting
Topic: Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?
Replies: 14
Views: 6095

Cheap upgrade for H.264/VP8 under Linux?

Objective: Cheapest upgrade to watch H.264 and WebM/VP8 videos under Linux. System: Dell 530, Celeron 450 (single-core @ 2.2 GHz), socket 775, 2x1GB DDR2, GMA3100, 1024x768 CRT (capable of higher - don't know limit) running Debian Squeeze and Arch Linux. VLC is preferred media app. Used as daily des...
by dougz
Fri Jul 10, 2009 2:05 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: ASRock NetTop ION 330
Replies: 21
Views: 59195

Since then, I saw a posting that claimed that there is a BIOS update that reduced the noise. I haven't had time to look into that claim. If it really did reduce the fan noise and get rid of the oscillating noise then I would buy it again. How loud is it ? Well that’s a hard one to pin down as som...
by dougz
Fri Jul 10, 2009 1:51 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: ASRock NetTop ION 330
Replies: 21
Views: 59195

Not that reliable. Their testing methodology has been declining for the last few months -- check out the masses on the forums decrying crap procedures, comparisons, and setups. I'm a regular, and I have to agree that it's grown much worse. Ok, ok, how about "relatively reliable"? ;-) Whatever edito...
by dougz
Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:47 am
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: ASRock NetTop ION 330
Replies: 21
Views: 59195

ASRock NetTop ION 330

Phoronix, a reliable Linux-oriented site, reviews the ASRock NetTop ION 330. Along with the dual-core Intel Atom 330 processor and GeForce 9400M ION GPU, the ASRock NetTop ION 330 ships with 2GB of DDR2 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA 2.0 hard drive, and a DVD Super-Multi Drive. This system is similar to...
by dougz
Sun Jul 05, 2009 5:10 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: New Atom + Poulsbo motherboard arrived -no moving parts
Replies: 9
Views: 7216

Specs & prices

|Romeo| wrote:It's actually a Toradex Robin (84x55mm).
As is usually the case, miniaturization is not cheap -- http://www.toradex.com/En/Products/Robin_Z530_Z510
by dougz
Sat Jul 04, 2009 9:27 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: New Atom + Poulsbo motherboard arrived -no moving parts
Replies: 9
Views: 7216

Blue_Sky wrote:What is it? I've been waiting for something exactly like that to come out for my file server.
My guess would be Portwell NANO-8044 or Portwell NANO-8045.

http://www.portwell.com/products/detail ... =NANO-8044
http://www.portwell.com/products/detail ... =NANO-8045
by dougz
Thu Jun 11, 2009 2:22 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Ion Breeze 3770 -- NVIDIA ION Linux Performance
Replies: 5
Views: 6879

I dont get why anyone would pay $399 for that. I agree. The only reason for mentioning the box was to point to an article on Linux performance on a (unfortunately single-core) ION platform. ION seemed like a really good idea until the performance specs came out. It turns out that the SPCR posters w...
by dougz
Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:00 am
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Ion Breeze 3770 -- NVIDIA ION Linux Performance
Replies: 5
Views: 6879

Ion Breeze 3770 -- NVIDIA ION Linux Performance

For those interested in Linux performance with Ion, here's some specs and a review of a US$399 box. It's a shame that it is a Zotac single-core MB since the same company has a dual-core 945 box. Specs -- The Nvidia Ion is here! The Ion platform takes the energy efficient Intel Atom processor and add...
by dougz
Sat Jun 06, 2009 5:34 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Zotac ION boards now on Newegg
Replies: 7
Views: 5593

How does it handle FLV video? ie: Youtube and Hulu? Here's Anandtech's Anand Lal Shimpi on Flash performance -- Watching Flash Video on the Ion You should never have to worry about your system specs when it comes to watching Flash video. Sites like YouTube and Hulu exist simply because of the large...
by dougz
Wed Jun 03, 2009 5:25 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: zotac ion atom mini-itx motherboard review
Replies: 6
Views: 5292

I think the big unanswered question is Flash performance. I agree that a TV tuner is unnecessary, but being able to utilize Hulu and other streaming sites is a required feature. Matter of taste. I find very little of interest on Hulu. OTA TV with ATSC would be of interest to me. Netflix "Watch Inst...
by dougz
Fri Mar 13, 2009 5:59 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Lowest power I can get away with for h264 1080p
Replies: 12
Views: 8158

Besides the price and the idle current issues, there is no slot for a TV tuner. (E.g., Mythbuntu frontend/backend box.) True, but there are plenty of USB tuners. Therefore, a Sempron or Celeron solution, using either onboard video or a (relatively) cheaper PCIe video card seems to be the better opt...
by dougz
Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:45 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Lowest power I can get away with for h264 1080p
Replies: 12
Views: 8158

An intel atom330 board plus this 8400GS PCI card , is sufficient for XBMC-VDPAU in linux. Wow - the PCI version is a LOT more expensive than the PCIe 8400GS. Besides the price and the idle current issues, there is no slot for a TV tuner. (E.g., Mythbuntu frontend/backend box.) Therefore, a Sempron ...
by dougz
Thu Mar 12, 2009 5:43 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Everex's TC2502 gPC
Replies: 27
Views: 29630

Re: XP drivers for VGA

I installed windows xp (the home version) I want to play the sims 2 on this computer but DirectX won't work because the drivers aren't installed for the video card. So my question is there any drivers that I can install so this video card will work with XP? -Thanks In advance, happyasabunny :) You ...
by dougz
Thu Mar 12, 2009 2:04 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: Everex's TC2502 gPC
Replies: 27
Views: 29630

Re: XP drivers for VGA

I installed windows xp (the home version) I want to play the sims 2 on this computer but DirectX won't work because the drivers aren't installed for the video card. So my question is there any drivers that I can install so this video card will work with XP? -Thanks In advance, happyasabunny :) You ...
by dougz
Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:57 pm
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Anandtech: NVIDIA's Ion Platform (Atom+GeForce 9400M)
Replies: 47
Views: 32999

Re: Anandtech on ION & Blu-ray

The article has been pulled. Anand got a note from Nvidia saying the test data wasn't correct and want to test it for themselves. Anand being a good boy took the article offline. In the comment thread, Anand says RE: Will we ever see the original article again? by Anand Lal Shimpi, 2 hours ago I wo...
by dougz
Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:43 am
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: new macs!
Replies: 109
Views: 125557

Much as I like the Ion for inexpensive multimedia apps, the Mini easily exceeds it in many other areas. The Ion would be great for a refresh of the underpowered Apple TV box. Turns out that the ION platform is unusable for Blu-ray with a single-core Atom. A dual-core will work. Anand Lal Shimpi has...
by dougz
Tue Mar 10, 2009 3:36 am
Forum: CPUs and Motherboards
Topic: Anandtech: NVIDIA's Ion Platform (Atom+GeForce 9400M)
Replies: 47
Views: 32999

Anandtech on ION & Blu-ray

The problem is that while the Ion’s hardware decode engine can handle the video decode just fine, there’s a lot the CPU still has to do. When playing a standard Blu-ray disc there’s a lot of decryption that the CPU must do in addition to simply streaming the data to the GPU. On a modern day p...
by dougz
Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:36 am
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: new macs!
Replies: 109
Views: 125557

Mac mini for people with too much money. Atom Ion clone for everyone else. Please read "Who buys a Mac mini?" at http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?p=3235 From what I’ve seen there are two segments that buy Mac minis. First, there are customers from the installed base of Mac owners, who want an inexpe...
by dougz
Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:46 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: new macs!
Replies: 109
Views: 125557

There's still something about using a Hackintosh as a primary machine everyday. It may have come a long way but I'd still not trust a Hackintosh as my main machine I rely on. That's just me though. Me, too. Although I'd like to try running Mac OS X on my Acer Aspire ONE (HD, not flash). It's been d...
by dougz
Thu Mar 05, 2009 5:57 pm
Forum: Quiet Prebuilt, SFF and Barebones Systems
Topic: new macs!
Replies: 109
Views: 125557

The "tax" is really for Mac OS X & customer sa

I know that many people would choose iMacs, Mac Minis, MacBooks, etc. for their hardware specs. Several posters in this thread have said how happy they are with their hardware. For a substantial minority, however, the draw is the OS. I think there would be very few that would argue that Vista is rem...