I planning on using it as a Media center "extender." It will only be used to playback recorded TV, movies, videos off the Media Center "Server" If you are interested in only a media extender solution and don't care much about future expansions offered by a full-blown PC, may I suggest the following...

lowpowercomputing/Tak - Thanks for your suggestions. I had already tried the BIOS recovery from bootable USB thumbdrive procedure with no luck. I didn't bother with the recovery from CDROM since the 4-pin Molex never received any power - the system power did not stay long enough for the drive to rec...

I'm convinced this board still has the bad memory settings in some kind of non-volatile memory that cannot be cleared with the CMOS reset procedure outlined by Intel (i.e. remove power supply and battery for 15-30 minutes). Why doesn't Intel support explicit CMOS reset like all other mobo makers, wh...

lowpowercomputing - When my memory worked, I had both slots populated. However, I now have a brick on my hands after I changed the memory settings in the BIOS. As for screen resolution: My resolution was automatically set to 1920x1080p when I first connected to my HDTV. When I switched to a Dell mon...

I think I bricked my mobo. In the BIOS I saw that the memory clock was incorrectly set to 766MHz (I think) in auto mode. So I changed it to the 800MHz to match my two memory sticks' speed. Bad mistake. Now the board won't POST. If I remove the memory sticks the board gives off 3 long beeps indicatin...

lowpowercomputing - I have not tried connecting to a PC monitor again using the DVI port. I could have a bad DVI cable or DVI port. I will borrow a cable from a friend over the weekend and try again. But HDMI (on DG45FC) to DVI (on PC monitor) worked, though. As far as memory goes, I am using two st...

As I mentioned the NB heatsink runs really hot to the touch. This is true even when idle. If you are concerned about the high temperature and plan on adding a NB fan, just be aware that there's only one fan header on this mobo for the case fan. If you use that for the NB fan, you will have to use a ...

I installed Vista and started to see the benefits of hardware acceleration promised by the X4500HD. I think the reason I didn't see any HA in XP was that the Intel driver did not support it. The current version of the driver for Vista is 15.9.9.1527 whereas for XP it is 14.34.5.4973. In Vista, 16mbp...

A couple more notes: While the CPU runs pretty cool even with minimal cooling from the stock fan (controlled to spin at ~1100rpm using Fanmate since it has only 3 pins), the NB heatsink is burning hot. But as long as the system is stable I'm not going to do anything about it for the time being. When...

I have this set up with a Celeron 440. A couple of quick notes: DDR2/553MHz memory doesnt work; the board gives 3 long beeps indicating some memory error. DDR2/800MHz works fine. DVI output does not work; HDMI does. With DVI connected to a computer monitor, I heard a single short beep but saw no vid...

Current 'Diamondville' Atoms, the 230 and N270, use HyperThreading to appear to the host OS as a pair of processors. Presumably, the 330 will use the same technique to appear as four cores. Is this for real, for a small chip??? Even mainstream dual cores don't have HT. Besides, unless you have some...

The problem is that there is nothing to tweak, the Bios doesn't allow to change any voltage (chipset or CPU), frequence or multiplier. Using CPUID can you check the idle frequency multiplier and vcore? Have you set the Windows power profile to use the low-power consumption setting (in Windows XP, i...

The blame game:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2328159,00.asp
http://softwareblogs.intel.com/2008/08/ ... imperfect/
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2 ... 153,00.asp

I'm taking a calculated risk wtih this mini-ITX board. I don't expect it to beat the 780G, but I don't expect it to have any issue with HDTV recordings, either. Blu-Ray capability is a nice-to-have feature but not a top priority on my list at the moment. My other mini-ITX altenratives are the J&W 78...

The last couple of posts have been very informative (and revealing) to someone like me who has been a long-time AMD user and has been out of touch with Intel CPU development since Intel abandoned the duallie enthusiast over five years ago. It sounds like Intel has AMD beat on the low-power consumpti...

soa: Thanks for pointing that out; I didn't realize the Celerons don't have EIST. However, from the specs the Celeron 440 has an operating voltage of 1.0V – 1.3375V, which I assumed to mean it has some kind of power management. Maybe it doesn't drop the multiplier, but doesn't having a voltage ran...

I ordered this board and a Celeron 440 to go with it. My decision to go with the 35W Celeron (a $50 bet) is to hedge against the possibility that undervolt and underclock are not possible in the BIOS or in software. I really wanted to squeeze this baby into a slim mini-ITX case powered by a 60W/80W ...

What I'd like to see: * if undervolting and underclocking are possible in BIOS. If not, whether software UV and UC are possible using CrystalCPUID * lowest stable idle voltage and power consumption * lowest possible clock, voltage and power consumption for smooth 1080i HDTV playback, and those figur...

If you are looking for mini-itx form factor GM45 based board be prepared to pay north of $300 for it. And it doesn't even come with a CPU. Here's a link: http://www.computers4sure.com/product.a ... &HKeyword=+

I hope it's not a mistake on their part as no one else has it in stock.

Edit:
Dell has changed their availability status from no stock to 3-5 weeks ETA. So the release date still looks like end of August/mid September.

AuraAllan wrote:Jetway (Europe) tells me that NC81 will be available in the middle/end of august.
Atleast in Europe.

Jetway USA also said it will be available by the end of August and will be sold by newegg.com.

Aopen has 3 new models of the mini-PC based on the GM45 chipset. The specs and Intel logo say the GPU is GMA X4500 but the product description says X4500HD. You be the judge of which it actually has: http://www.aopen.nl/Products.aspx?id=74

* the NB gets real hot That "NB" is no North Bridge. From the current product image and past pre-production images without the "NB" heatsink, you can see that the relatively tiny HS (compared to this giganto NB heatsink) covers both the NB and the SB chips! I'm not surprised it gets scorching hot. ...

My phantom broke around Feb 2008, less than a year after I bought it. It's been almost 6 months since I RMA'ed it and I'm still waiting for my Phantom 500 replacement, if I ever get it (or according to Antec, if they ever get one - what a joke). Keep my experience in mind when you read that Antec of...

From a horrible babel fish translation of this page on the J&W board, I get the gist that: * the NB gets real hot * the board could be a power hog -- it crashes when used with a 90W PSU when playing DVD or under load The poster used a 45W 4850e. The case used only accepts slim DVD drive so the power...

I should point out that the GM45, unlike its desktop cousin, the G45, does not have the x4500HD for vc1 and h.264 hardware acceleration. Just thought I'd mention it in case you are thinking of building a MoDT for low-power blu-ray playback. I'm sure if you have a fast enough processor you can still ...

I don't have high hopes for seeing the J&W board in the States. I never got a response from their supposed US distributor for inquiries on its availability. Maybe I'll ask someone on a business trip to Asia to pick one up for me. There's a good chance we will see the Jetway NC81 in North America sin...

Unlike the "vaporware" DG45FC, the J&W board is real and is shipping in Japan:

http://en.expreview.com/2008/07/25/firs ... -tomorrow/

Sources indicate this J&W mini-itx 780G board will be available next week in Asia and Germany.

If you get a hold of a board I'd appreciate a review. If anyone knows of a reseller in the US carrying it please post.

I have two Biostar 690G boxes located in different rooms. One box (a PVR) is connected to a 1080p HDTV via HDMI while the other (a media extender) is connected to an analog TV via composite RCA cable. The reason for this setup is that on the PVR I record HD programs only. I can play back HD recordin...