Media Centre PC

[paradisiac]

I know this isnt from OCUK but wondered if it would be suitable as a media centre pc for basically watching freeviewHD (with additional card) and films (poss blue-ray)

Chassis Key Features:

# MB Capable: Mini ITX

# Dimensions(w/h/d): 280*282*95mm

# Drive Bays: 1*5.25 external, 1*3.5 external (short), 1*3.5 internal

# Front Ports: 2*USB2.0, 1*Mic,1*Headphone

# Fans: Side: 80mm fan


Specifications

Series: RS
Front Panel Color: Black+Light Silver
Enclosure Color: Black
Brackets: w/o
Front Ports: 2*USB2.0+Audio+Mic
Material: 0.6T GI
Dimensions(D*W*H mm): 95*280*282mm

Motherboard Key Features

# Integrated Intel Atom CPU Dual core Atom 330
# Socket 775, Intel® Dimondville processors, direct soldering on board
# 533 MHz (FSB)
# DDR2 533/667 MHz x 1 DIMM, Max. 2GB
# 1* PCI
# 2* SATA II
# 5.1 channel HDA, Realtek® ALC662
# 10/100M LAN, Realtek® RTL8100C
# 6 USB 2.0 ports

Specifications

Processor
Integrated Intel Atom CPU Dual core Atom 330

Chipset
Intel® 945GC + ICH7

Front Side Bus
533 MHz (FSB)

Memory
DDR2 533/667 MHz x 1 DIMM, Max. 2GB

VGA on Die
Integrated Intel® GMA 950
Built-in a High performance 3D Engine
Microsoft DirectX 9.0 H/W compliant
Max share memory 224MB

Expansion Slots
1* PCI
IDE: N/A
Serial ATA(SATA)/RAID: 2* SATA II

Audio
5.1 channel HDA by Realtek® ALC662

LAN
10/100M LAN by Realtek® RTL8100C

Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x Line-In/Line-Out (Front L/R)/Mic-in
1 x D-sub
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x RJ45 LAN
1 x Print port
1 x Serial Port
4 x USB 2.0

Internal I/O Connectors
1 x ATX 24-pin power connector
1 x 4-pin System fan connector
1 x TPM header (for 45CS/45CSX)
1 x IrDA header
1 x Buzzer

BIOS Features
4MB flash EEPROM w/ LAN boot PnP, ACPI, WfM, DMI 2.0

Standards/Manageability
PCI 2.3, USB2.0, DMI 2.5

Form Factor
Mini-ITX (170mm x 170mm)

PSU Key Features:

# Application：RS Series
# 80mm Fan
# Comply with Intel TFX12V 1.3
# Low acoustics noise
# High Efficiency
# High reliability
# Short circuit protection
# Over voltage protection
# Over current protection
# Active PFC to meet EN61000-3-2

Specifications

AC Input Voltage: 230Vac / 2.0A
DC Output Voltage: +3.3V +5V +12V -12V +5Vsb
Maximum Load: 3A 6A 8.5A 0.2A 1.2A
Minimum Load: 0.5A 0.5A 3A 0.1A 0.05A

Connectors

20+4 pin x 1
SATA Power Connector x 2
4 pin x 1

cheers

 

[Cycrow]

ud prolly struggle abit with HD, especially 1080p HD movies and blu-ray.

ud be better of getting the ION version, theres several different models, and they are usually ATOM 330's as well, so pretty simlar spec to that one, just with a better GPU and hardware acceleration for watching HD

 

[paradisiac]

will the ION pc take dvd drives though? all the ones our supplier does look like they are a little bit bigger than a portable HDD.

Key Features:

# CPU: Intel Atom dual core 330 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz Front Side Bus ( FSB )

# Memory: 1 x SO-DIMM, Supports DDR2 667/800MHz, Max. capacity: 4GB

# Chipset: nVIDIA MCP7A-ION chipset

# VGA: Integrated nVidia ION, DX10, Full HD support HDMI 1080p, PureVideo HD technology for GPU H/W decoding Blu-ray/HD DVD H.264 video without CPU usage

# Codec: Realtek ALC888S ( supports 2 digital audio), Supports high-performance 7.1 Channel by S/PDIF Out, Optical S/PDIF-In/Out (mini audio jack connector, Coaxial & Optical combo), Internal speaker

# Card Reader: Genesis GL826, Supports SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC, USB2.0 interface

# EC: ITE IT8512E, ACPI 3.0 compliant

# LAN Controller: Atheros AR8131M, Supports GbE LAN

# Wireless LAN: IEEE 802.11 b/g/Mini-PCI-E

# SATA: 2.5" HDD

# Dimensions: 190(W) x 135(D) x 20(H) mm

# AC Adapter: 19V, 3.42A, 65W

# I/O Ports: 6 x USB 2.0, 1 x DVI-I, 1 x HDMI, 1 x RJ45, 1 x Headphone, 1 x Mic-In (support S/PDIF-In), 1 X Line-out(support SPDIF-Out), 1 x SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC card slot, 1 x DC-in

# LED indicator: Power on/off, Suspend, HDD LED, Light Bar

# BIOS: AMI, support PnP, ACPI 3.0

# OS: Supports Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7

# Dimension: 190mm x 135mm x 25mm

# Weight: 450g ± 10%

 

[paradisiac]

ok think i have found a case that will take a dvd drive

but there is little info on it, are all/most itx systems 2.5" hdds?

 

[Cycrow]

thats just one complete unit thou.

the Atom 330 ION's are just mini itx boards, and can be built into any case

are you planning on building it yourself, or just getting a pre built system ?
if pre-built, you can check if they have any ION's in a bigger case with dvd drive

 

[paradisiac]

would ideally like to build myself as its usually cheaper, just hard to find any info. OCUK have a nice big case, without a psu, but they dont sell psu's, so i dont know if ANY mini itx psu will fit the case or not, and who sells them.......

 

[Cycrow]

i assume you want it from your living room or something to watch tv, and movies and such on ?

unfortuatlly OCUK dont do much in the way of HTPC stuff, there are quite a few nices cases out there thou, it depends how big you would like it really.

it also depends on the kind of budget you on as well.

you've mainly got 2 choise, either go for a proper HTPC case, and theres quite a varied selection.
Or just get a standard mini-itx type case, again, quite a varied selection of these.

the HTPC ones generally look nicer, and fit in with your living room equipment, but tend to cost quite abit more. Your average HTPC case goes for about £150, some with PSUs, some without.

the standard mini-itx cases are usually a lot cheaper, and some of them are pretty small as well.

unforutatlly cant link them, or list places to get them, as it'll break the no competitors rules, and will just have to use google instead.

if they dont come with PSU's, then i would suggest getting a picopsu, these are pretty tiny psus and will fit in pretty much any case. And they come with an external brick, simlar to laptop power.


also, if you looking at the ion motherboard, then the Asus ION Deluxe comes with its own psu you can use in any case, its also fanless so will be silent, and has built in wireless if needed

 

[paradisiac]

cheers for that. basically with freeviewhd coming out here soon, i was hoping on ditching my freeview hdd recorder, blue-ray dvd play and dvd recorder and just have one unit that does all of it.
its looking cheaper to just get an old style desktop case and building a 775 or am2+ system.