Hardware to MD instead of Eeebox

[mejborn]

Hi,

I had searched the forum to find out what hardware I should buy to my first MD. In the beginning I was sure it would be an Eeebox, but as I've read along it seems that it is not capable of full HD playback? Which motherboard, cpu and graphiccard is peferred in a MD (iam sure I can find a case on my own  ). Iam thinking of putting ~2GB memory in it, thats pretty much all there is to it?

I quess my biggiest question goes on which motherboard and CPU I should buy. I would be nice if the MD could handle full HD playback + sourround sound etc.

And finally (as inspiration) what are you running your MD on?

[mejborn]

I'am currently looking at the following:



MSI Media Live Boreboard

or


Asus M3N78-EM + AMD 5600

What are the pros and cons with theese motherboards or are there something else you would recommend?

[purps]

How about the Acer Revo? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-R3600-Desktop-Intel/dp/B00292BR1I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1244022095&sr=8-1

Search the forums for "revo" to see the various discussions about it. I think I am going to get one myself.

[totallymaxed]

Hi,

I had searched the forum to find out what hardware I should buy to my first MD. In the beginning I was sure it would be an Eeebox, but as I've read along it seems that it is not capable of full HD playback? Which motherboard, cpu and graphiccard is peferred in a MD (iam sure I can find a case on my own  ). Iam thinking of putting ~2GB memory in it, thats pretty much all there is to it?

I quess my biggiest question goes on which motherboard and CPU I should buy. I would be nice if the MD could handle full HD playback + sourround sound etc.

And finally (as inspiration) what are you running your MD on?

There are many threads on this subject...its a popular one :-)

But I would recommend looking at motherboards or pre-built machines that use nVidia 8000 series GPU's or greater. So something with an nVidia 9300 or 9400 would be a good choice. If your interested in a compact HD ready MD then the ATOM based ACER Revo is a very nice unit (although it is not quite Plug-n-Play under 0710 as it needs updated nVidia & alsa drivers).

All the best

Andrew

[mejborn]

Thank you very much, I would try to look at Revo as I guess it would be cheaper (also in power) than building a MD myself?

[totallymaxed]

Thank you very much, I would try to look at Revo as I guess it would be cheaper (also in power) than building a MD myself?

Yes the Revo is very good value and has low energy usage (although slightly higher usage than the Eee Box)....here in the UK the basic model (no Vista) with Linux installed on an 8GB flach card and 1Gb RAM is around £160UKP.

All the best

Andrew

[mejborn]

In Denmark (where I come from) the model with 160GB harddrive and 2GB memory costs around 290GBP, it's a bit more than what it costs in the UK but thats how it is to live in Denmark 

[posde]

In Denmark (where I come from) the model with 160GB harddrive and 2GB memory costs around 290GBP, it's a bit more than what it costs in the UK but thats how it is to live in Denmark 

For that model the price in the UK is very similar. Unfortunately, only the UK receives the 8GB/1GB Linux model.

[castlec]

I wish I could find a retailer in the US.  Acer isn't a very hot brand over here.  They haven't released the Revo here yet.  Even the UK price is a steal.  You guys usually get screwed on items like that.

I've got one of the Zotac IONITX boards on preorder but the revo doesn't cost a lot more for a complete box.

[colinjones]

Also, note that you wouldn't need 2GB of RAM for an MD anyway, 1GB is oodles, people even run on 512M.

[totallymaxed]

Also, note that you wouldn't need 2GB of RAM for an MD anyway, 1GB is oodles, people even run on 512M.

Hmmm...well thats not necessarily true. Remember these Ion based mobos can use upto 512MB or more for display memory. You may find that having 'only' 1GB of RAM will either hit perfomance or make it impossible to use 1080p. We'll confirm some guidelines on this shortly.

Andrew

[cirion]

In Denmark (where I come from) the model with 160GB harddrive and 2GB memory costs around 290GBP, it's a bit more than what it costs in the UK but thats how it is to live in Denmark 

Try living in Norway...

For the price of 1 revo's I can take a plane to London to buy one and still have money left...
For the price of 2 I can bring the GF and stay a night, and still get 2 revo's home

[posde]

[..]For the price of 2 I can bring the GF and stay a night, and still get 2 revo's home

and have a pregnant GF 

*SCNR*

[totallymaxed]

In Denmark (where I come from) the model with 160GB harddrive and 2GB memory costs around 290GBP, it's a bit more than what it costs in the UK but thats how it is to live in Denmark 

Try living in Norway...

For the price of 1 revo's I can take a plane to London to buy one and still have money left...
For the price of 2 I can bring the GF and stay a night, and still get 2 revo's home

God you guys have all the fun ;-)

Andrew

[Kap]

Hi,

I had searched the forum to find out what hardware I should buy to my first MD. In the beginning I was sure it would be an Eeebox, but as I've read along it seems that it is not capable of full HD playback? Which motherboard, cpu and graphiccard is peferred in a MD (iam sure I can find a case on my own  ). Iam thinking of putting ~2GB memory in it, thats pretty much all there is to it?

I quess my biggiest question goes on which motherboard and CPU I should buy. I would be nice if the MD could handle full HD playback + sourround sound etc.

And finally (as inspiration) what are you running your MD on?

I bought a MD for 170 euro delivered to my house.
It had a MB(Foxconn) + CPU Atom 330 + Intel GM950, case + powersupply, 2GB
Worked almost out of the box, I only had to change AMD to i386.