Atom or S775

bluebox · 1 Mar 2010 at 00:02

I'm looking to put together a small PC to primarily stream from my Windows Home Server to my AV Receiver and TV. I also want it to be able to run Live messenger for video calls when I'm away from home.
I'm already a fan of the Atom - My Windows Home Server is running one - but I'm not sure if it's up to the job of running Live Messenger on Windows 7 particularly for video calls. The alternative I would look at is to use an old Core 2 Celeron I have probably on an Intel Fly Creek board and stick with ITX.

Does anyone know if an Atom is up to the job?

Culinia · 1 Mar 2010 at 01:49

bluebox said:
running Live Messenger on Windows 7 particularly for video calls.

Does anyone know if an Atom is up to the job?

What atom we talking about?

The netbook N270 work well on Windows 7 from reviews I've read in the past so I'm sure that the 330 dual-core nettop alternatives will work fine, not sure about the lower 1.33 'Z' series ones though, they seem a bit crap in my opinion...

bluebox · 1 Mar 2010 at 21:45

Would go for at least a 330 on an Ion board if that's a viable option.
I'm running Windows 7 Starter on my netbook and it's ok but this is going to be driving a 1080p TV and running Windows 7 Ultimate. Once I get a decent internet connection, I want the PC to be able to show decent quality video on messenger.

cavonia · 3 Mar 2010 at 09:14

I would go S775. Definitely a better overall choice.

bluebox · 3 Mar 2010 at 21:49

OK I've been thinking about this some more. I'm looking for something that most of the time will just be streaming ripped DVDs, music and photos from my Windows Home Server via a wired ethernet connection. If I'm away from home then I'd like to be able to chat to my family on messenger with a webcam.
This PC will be living under the TV in a almost sealed cabinet so the lower the power and hence cooling requirement the better as it will have to put up with the heat output from a Sky+HD box and an AV receiver which are on pretty much constantly.
Everything seems to be pointing to an Atom with Ion since if it can support full HD video then surely it can support messenger video at a useable framerate but if someone can confirm it then that would be great.