Another HTPC

ishamy · 25 Jan 2012 at 22:10

Hi all I have an IDEQ 210M shuttle pc. Pretty low spec, P4 3.2with 2 gig of ddr 400 ram. On board graphics as well. Some need to modify it a bit.

I have a intel core 2duo e6600, want to fit an ati 6450 £30 from OC, so need a motherboard to fit the bill, cheap as possible, but want optical out to connect to the amp.

Any ideas?

Thanks

ishamy · 25 Jan 2012 at 23:57

Would a zotac 9300 board with onboard hdmi, 1gig ddr3 with my e6600 be able to cope with 1080?

Subliminal Aura · 26 Jan 2012 at 00:02

It's the graphics card that you should be most concerning yourself with.

For correctly encoded mp4/mkv a graphics card that supports DXVA will take the load off the cpu and decode the video. This is how the low end ION machines do it.

List of gfx cards supporting it here... ps Stick to Nvidia if you're doing this under linux

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_PureVideo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Video_Decoder

Subliminal Aura · 26 Jan 2012 at 00:04

ishamy said:
Would a zotac 9300 board with onboard hdmi, 1gig ddr3 with my e6600 be able to cope with 1080?

Actually.... YEP

ishamy · 26 Jan 2012 at 10:25

Cool working on getting this hopefully, can't wait to get it up and running. Been trying to get a HTPC sorted for a long time!

Subliminal Aura · 26 Jan 2012 at 10:28

ishamy said:
Cool working on getting this hopefully, can't wait to get it up and running. Been trying to get a HTPC sorted for a long time!

Good luck I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Get xbmc live on it as it seems like the perfect hardware for it.

I had a similar system a couple of years back, similar chipset with a low socket 775 celeron and it still worked with xbmc

ishamy · 26 Jan 2012 at 14:21

Thanks,

I've just noticed on the MM Asus AT3N7A-I ITX motherboard with Dual Core Atom 330, ION graphics, blue tooth, HDMI. Would this also suffice? Means everything is all on board the mobo.

jamesfreddie · 26 Jan 2012 at 16:01

ishamy said:
Thanks,

I've just noticed on the MM Asus AT3N7A-I ITX motherboard with Dual Core Atom 330, ION graphics, blue tooth, HDMI. Would this also suffice? Means everything is all on board the mobo.

I would say it would be OK as its dual core with HT.

Subliminal Aura · 26 Jan 2012 at 16:08

From cpu benchmark

Intel Atom 330 @ 1.60GHz 633

I had a single core celeron rated less than that which worked fine. My current htpc has a dual core celeron su2300 rated at 904 which is more than enough for htpc/server duties

Still say you're ok but there's better out there

ishamy · 26 Jan 2012 at 18:02

Hmmm yea, are the ion processors interchangeable?

Can I get better for £50ish trying to keep on a budget.

Hard to find a 775 board these days, and ion 2nd hand boards are around that.

Subliminal Aura · 26 Jan 2012 at 18:10

ishamy said:
Can I get better for £50ish trying to keep on a budget.

I'm in both threads if you look carefully dude

Seems like a good price tbh and I took an interest to it myself but really have no need for it

ishamy · 26 Jan 2012 at 22:37

Haha just noticed

well come up against another bump in the road. Took my old mobo out, and it only has screw holds for that mobo. And I can't figure out what it was as it is a strange one, p4vbm 800, measures 195mm along where the I/0 panel is and 305 long, back to front.

Is that micro atx? They look like they would be too big along the I/O panel.

First photo is of the motherboard, second shows 3 of the 6 scew holes.

IMG_9556 by M+M Morrison, on Flickr

IMG_9559 by M+M Morrison, on Flickr

jamesfreddie · 27 Jan 2012 at 17:52

ishamy said:
Haha just noticed well come up against another bump in the road. Took my old mobo out, and it only has screw holds for that mobo. And I can't figure out what it was as it is a strange one, p4vbm 800, measures 195mm along where the I/0 panel is and 305 long, back to front.

Is that micro atx? They look like they would be too big along the I/O panel
First photo is of the motherboard, second shows 3 of the 6 scew holes..

That is a custom board and will not fit in a standard case.