Author Topic: HTPC BUILDING  (Read 3098 times)

radumx

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HTPC BUILDING
« on: July 28, 2009, 01:08:34 pm »
Hi!,
Anyone know if is compatible with linuxmce (the touchscreen) Silverstone GD02S-MT?
I wish to build a mediacenter pc with:
cases: Silverstone GD02S-MT
motherboard: zotac 9300 itx
CPU: E5200
4GB RAM
80GB SSD for OS
1TB Storage

suggestions are welcome

geekyhawkes

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Re: HTPC BUILDING
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2009, 01:51:35 pm »
radumx;

welcome, please dont take this the wrong way but i wouldnt expect too many replies from a post like the one above.  The wiki here contains lots of information about MCE hardware and I would at least mention if you have looked there before posting such brief details and asking for advice. 

What do you want to use your machine for (full HA or just media, multi room or one etc).

To help you on your way though, Silverstone cases are lovely, I have one for my hybrid machine and the quality shouts at you. I wouldnt think 80gb SSD is large enough for the OS, you might get away with MCE and KDE installed, but currently the PVR functions are stored on your system drive (without tweaking), and as such 80GB is very tight. 

If you expect people to answer your posts more fully take the time to contruct them more fully.

MCE is complicated but will reward you, if you invest the time.

commsbyte

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Re: HTPC BUILDING
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2009, 04:34:21 pm »
I was just reviewing some motherboards and CPU, as one of the common questions asked is about power consumption for a core/hybrid.

When comparing the dual atom 1.6Ghz to a dual core Athlon 64 LE-1640 with (GA-MA78G motherboard)
it appears that the Athlon 64 outperforms the Atom while being almost identical on power consumption.

It becomes interesting when comparing Intel Duo 2 Quad. Sure most of you are gonna say Quad core and more than 2Gb RAM is overkill for LMCE core/hybrid. However, when you take into account that a Quad core can optimize CPU power consumption when combined with the right motherboard/chipset you can achieve double the performance again at the same power consumption levels.
It has been said that running LMCE hybrid only requires marginal more power draw when compared to running separate core/MD.

Therefore one aspects that interests me is the possibility of consolidation. Low power requirements and enough RAM/CPU to run virtual machines as well.

One such system that caught my attention was the Aleutia D2. On inspection this is a Core 2 Q8200 SKT775 CPU and using Zotac GeForce 9300 ITX motherboard which is capable of HD playback as a core/hybrid. Its typical average power consumption of just 40-45 watts, and a maximum power draw of 65 watts. http://www.aleutia.com/products/d2

So I guess I am interested to know is :
1. Has anyone built linuxmce 8.10 on the Zotac 9300 and can confirm any issues with NIC's sound etc,
2. Confirm HD playback capability
3. Anyone got any data regarding backing up the power consumption with the Zotac board with any core 2 duo or quad cpu.
4. Interested to know what power supply you have used, as the Aleutia D2 must be using a pretty efficient PSU to achieve 40 watts. (I know its an internal AC brick of some sort).