ASRock ION 330

[imagn]

I just got the ACER REVO from Newegg for US $199. Comes with XP Home and set it up as a GBPVR client. Works like a champ so far playing hidef video. Nice small form factor and low power/heat. Hardware to mount it to back of LCD or TV is extra which I have not checked on yet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883103228

I'm using an MCE remote with it.

SteveTyrakowski, can you tell me how you got an MCE remote to run in windows XP home, i would like to get this working too on an XP home desktop i have. also what codecs are you using for HD playback, are these HDTV US broadcast files?

[Satori]

Would this 330 be enough for a small HTPC (ATSC 1080i) with a PCIe dual tuner card, 4GB of memory, and a good graphics card? Could it handle recording 2 programs with Comskip while paying a recording from the HDD? I am guessing not, but just asking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813135247

[imagn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813135247[/URL]

This does not have an ION video card, and thats where the nettops get most of their video power from. An atom processor would not do well on its own for video.

You should probably stick to a AMD or Intel dual core of some kind. you might want to look at the micro axt boards with ATI or Nvidia onboard video

[Satori]

I was thinking you would use a graphics card for that like a 4650. With that could it handle the rest?

[mvallevand]

I was thinking you would use a graphics card for that like a 4650. With that could it handle the rest?

To me an Atom in a uATX form factor with external video makes little sense. The CPU is the weakest link in ION solutions, but at least you get the smaller form factor of mini-ITX

Martin

[ilovejedd]

To me an Atom in a uATX form factor with external video makes little sense. The CPU is the weakest link in ION solutions, but at least you get the smaller form factor of mini-ITX

+1. If you can go MicroATX, you're better off getting something like the ASUS M3A78-EM, $70 ($60 after MIR) or GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H, $80 paired with an AMD Athlon II X2 240, $60 or a ZOTAC GF9300-A-E, $110 ($90 after MIR) paired with an Intel Celeron E3200, $53. Heck, even a BIOSTAR G31D-M7, $40 + Celeron E3200 would be considerably better. You wouldn't even need a separate video card for any of the above alternatives mentioned (unless, of course, your display doesn't have any supported inputs) as the CPU is more than capable of decoding 720p/1080i MPEG-2.

[egoo33]

Hello, if you all could please excuse my noobish questions and help me out i would greatly appreciate all of you comments and support. I have been looking at either getting the asrock ion 330 with the dvd drive or the Acer Aspire Revo with the atom 230. I was wondering if there was a significant advantage while using a dual core Atom, i know the atom still chokes up on flash (single and dual core). I know the future flash update will address this issue but seeing that the acer is $150 cheaper i wondered if the dual core atom was worth the price.

Also, regardless of which one i get i plan on running the latest ubuntu on it along with xbmc. i know with windows 7 you need to configure DXVA or purchase CORE AVC to get 1080p acceleration but by using unbuntu will i be able to forgo all of the gpu configuring and be able to watch hd rips with out additional tweaks?

I thank you all for your time and once again please forgive my noobish questions

[mvallevand]

Configuring XBMC for my Asrock ION for VDPAU and HDMI out wasn't a walk in the park either. I'm glad to have the faster CPU, in fact I run the overclock in BIOS but if your only goal is to play hardware accelerated video and focus on network media, the Acer is okay.

Martin

[pBS]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6883103234
beefed up version of the earlier Revos....$329.99
nice thing is, it comes with Win7

i notice there is room for a mini pcie capture card inside..
same on asrocks?

[mvallevand]

My Asrock doesn't have one. Other than WLAN and WiFI for laptops I really haven't seen a lot of mini PCIe cards. Edit I stand corrected, goggle finds lots of them.

Martin