Yet another hardware thread!

**loki131** · September 16th, 2010, 11:59 AM

Sorry guys but I need to tap some of your expertise! I've been looking for a net top that would give me the same capabilities as my tower (or close!) so that I can make use of my Blu Ray rips (make MKV). Anyway I was looking at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883220021
The processor is a dual core but I'm still not sure if its beefy enough and I've seen too many discussions on here about various ION chipsets to just grab one and hope for the best. So I put it to you guys is this a capable boxee machine? or should I just be waiting for the next generation of atom chips?

Thanks for your time!

**Rulo** · September 16th, 2010, 12:02 PM

That machine is pretty similar to the Acer Revo, The Judge (judgeschambers) has everything you need to know about that.
http://www.pauljroberts.com/acer-asp...ion-330-review
You can also look in his signature here in the forums.

**judgeschambers** · September 16th, 2010, 07:59 PM

Thanks Rulo,

Yes, that box is identical hardware to an Acer Revo 330. The revo is cheaper and has a wireless keyboard and mouse vs the wired version on the asus unit.

They work quite well. They do need the boatware removed and minimize the services so it plays video consistently well in boxee. I've had no issues for the most part. Though, they cannot play NetFlix in HD only SD. Outside of that, all is good.

The new atoms are nothing to write home about either. Neither are the ION-2 (total crud actually), so I'd not hold out for one of them. Heck you're better off getting one of the new Zotac mobo's with the SU4100 Intel chips and build a HTPC. Even though they are only 1.3 ghz, their cpu clock speed out paces any atom b 33%! Not for sale just yet though....sigh.
http://www.zotacusa.com/products/motherboards/intel/ion

But if you want a prebuilt unit, get the Asus or the Acer Revo 330. Then see my sig links for review and then Set UP. I have Youtube vid links on my site too.

**loki131** · September 17th, 2010, 02:18 PM

I had been going back and forth between buying and building and now it looks like I'm back to building! The Zotac looks good but if its going to be $200 is there any benefit other than size (and heat) for going with the Zotac over a Core i3 2.93GHz and ASRock H55M? Seems like you get significantly more power for another $8 unless I'm missing something (happens frequently!).

Thanks again for your input!

**Rulo** · September 17th, 2010, 02:54 PM

If you can go MicroATX I definitely recommend the stepping up to the Core or even AMD Athlons (cheaper option)

**judgeschambers** · September 17th, 2010, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by loki131

I had been going back and forth between buying and building and now it looks like I'm back to building! The Zotac looks good but if its going to be $200 is there any benefit other than size (and heat) for going with the Zotac over a Core i3 2.93GHz and ASRock H55M? Seems like you get significantly more power for another $8 unless I'm missing something (happens frequently!).

Thanks again for your input!

Yeah, that's smokin' for sure and it's micro ATX. But the Intel HD graphics? WTH is it? Don't know if that is compatible with Boxee and GPU acceleration.
But, the only drawback now is you need a Gforce 8XXX or 9XXX video card and Windows 7 and ram to wrap it up.

**Vandetta** · September 17th, 2010, 10:28 PM

I actually bought my keyboard before I built my computer:

http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/3822...-with-keyboard

It goes on sale every month or so for 30 dollars. My only complaint is that its not back-lit.

I wanted a barebones kit that could fit a 3.5 drive. I ended up with the ECS 120 kit and a 2tb drive from slickdeals for $100. At the time I thought getting 7200 rpm drive with 32mb memory was good but they seem to have 2tb drives on sale every other day now.

I'm kinda bummed out that they now have Core i5's now instead of atoms but I haven't seen a case that can fit a 3.5 drive and is relatively small. Plus the atom cpu has been able to play everything I throw at it so far so I'm not complaining.

Unrelated Side Note:
It seems every time I include a link in a post it requires moderator approval. I've made 3 posts like that on 3 diff threads, none of them getting approved. I just happened to take out the one link in this post and it allowed me to post. I went back and edited the post to add the link and it doesn't give me any warnings about moderator approval...

**judgeschambers** · September 18th, 2010, 04:25 AM

Originally Posted by Vandetta

Unrelated Side Note:
It seems every time I include a link in a post it requires moderator approval. I've made 3 posts like that on 3 diff threads, none of them getting approved. I just happened to take out the one link in this post and it allowed me to post. I went back and edited the post to add the link and it doesn't give me any warnings about moderator approval...

Your posts/links are showing.

**loki131** · September 21st, 2010, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by judgeschambers

Yeah, that's smokin' for sure and it's micro ATX. But the Intel HD graphics? WTH is it? Don't know if that is compatible with Boxee and GPU acceleration.
But, the only drawback now is you need a Gforce 8XXX or 9XXX video card and Windows 7 and ram to wrap it up.

Actually I was hoping you guys knew if the Intel HD graphics would work with boxee! However I have a buddy who wants me to build him a box and he requires component video so I will have to do a Gforce card and the small form factors are out. I will however test it without the card to see how the Intel HD graphics preform.

Thanks again for your input guys!