HTPCs: Is it worth waiting for Ion 2?

Art

Art

Art

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I'm looking to build a small, low-power HTPC that won't be used for much more than DVDs, music, a bit of TV and maybe in the future Blu-Ray. At the moment most people seem to reckon the Ion system is the best bet, and I've been looking at something like the Zotac IONITX-A for a motherboard (well, for a system really, seeing as almost everything is on-board).

While I was hunting about though I spotted the Zotac Z-Box Atom D510/Ion 2 nettop up for release in about a week, and wondered if it would be worth it. As far as I know Ion 2 isn't actually much better than the original aside from power efficiency, and the new Atoms aren't a huge improvement either.

Am I wrong? Is it actually worth holding out for an Ion2/Pineview system, or will an Ion/Diamondville do the job just as well?

Any hints/tips about HTPCs in general would also be appreciated, I've not ventured out of ATX territory before.
 
I've got an Asus Ion board and it does everything you've listed without any issues so I don't see any particular reason to wait for Ion2.
 
How does the mobo power work on those boards? Looks like the standard ATX connector is missing, instead replaced with a 4 pin molex?
 
randal24 said:
How does the mobo power work on those boards? Looks like the standard ATX connector is missing, instead replaced with a 4 pin molex?
Click to expand...

If you look on the backplate around where the wireless aerial is, there's a laptop-style power supply plug. That molex is for a splitter for powering HDDs/ODDs.

Jokester: Any regrets over Ion? Is it the Asus board OCUK stock at the moment? I was thinking about that one but I like the idea of integrated power/wifi.

EDIT: D'oh, ninja'd
 
/slaps forehead + sticks kettle on. Cheers for clearing that up for me chaps. :)

Very handy, I'm mighty tempted with one of those to upgrade my FreeNas/HTPC box now as I could lose the internal PSU which would tidy things up nicely.
 
Art said:
Jokester: Any regrets over Ion? Is it the Asus board OCUK stock at the moment? I was thinking about that one but I like the idea of integrated power/wifi.
Click to expand...
Yeah it's that Asus board. Loving it, use it as my Blu-ray player and for playing music in my lounge. Using it to browse the web at the moment.

I've removed the fan off mine and replaced it with a 120mm Noctua mounted in the top of my Silverstone PT09B-120, can't hear it at all now.
 
Ah, sounds great then. The fan switch was something else I was considering, as well as meddling with the SATA power splitter to see if I can get one plug outside the case to go with the eSATA port.

From your advice and the fact I've just found a nice B-grade deal I might give Ion 2 a miss then. Thanks!
 
Just as well, I'm finding those Zotac A-U and A-B boards a bit of a mare to source.

Something OcUK may be getting in at some point perchance?
 
OcUK used to have some of the Zotac boards in stock but I see they've dropped them again. Might be worth a webnote to see if they have any intention to get them back in again.
 
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