best of the VIA-CPU boards

[cyprus_dude]

After spending even more time reading the posts on this board i have managed to answer nearly all my questions, i have just one left.

is it possible to get UI2 (not UI2+) working on an epia board without buying it from fiire?

i have read that the SP series (SP1300/800) is much better supported then any of the later cn700's (and actually that they lack capabilities that the SP series has) so would UI2 be possible with openchrome or recompiling provided VIA drivers on this graphics engine? is this possible on the CLE266 engine?

anyone? this is _almost_ the last question i have,

many thanks!

[totallymaxed]

After spending even more time reading the posts on this board i have managed to answer nearly all my questions, i have just one left.

is it possible to get UI2 (not UI2+) working on an epia board without buying it from fiire?

i have read that the SP series (SP1300/800) is much better supported then any of the later cn700's (and actually that they lack capabilities that the SP series has) so would UI2 be possible with openchrome or recompiling provided VIA drivers on this graphics engine? is this possible on the CLE266 engine?

anyone? this is _almost_ the last question i have,

many thanks!

I personally would not go for CN400 based board now as there are much better boards based on the C7 processor partnered with either the CN700 or CX700 graphics chips.

The EPIA EX10000EG is a nice MB as it has pretty much everything you'd want on the MB and its fanless (see the EX15000 if you don't need fanless but want more processor performance) http://www.icp-epia.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=186

The same site above also has a range of MSi and Biostar Via MB's... they are cheaper but often need daughter boards for some IO. Depends on you needs and what you intend to connect the MD to etc.

Now the bad news... as of today none of the Via based MB's will run UI2 using the Via Unichrome Pro drivers (or Openchrome for that matter)... they will almost run UI2 with Overlay but there are some screen redraw issues. Fiire's products come with pre-compiled Unichrome Pro II drivers that have been modified to work with UI2 and support bother Overlay and Transparency versions.

[blackoper]

I'm going to buy one of these boards. Tough to beat the price
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001

at the very least I can build an all-in-one touchscreen orbiter with it. 20 watt power usage max and 2 watt idle power is just spiffy

[totallymaxed]

I'm going to buy one of these boards. Tough to beat the price
http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cfm?itemno=A4842001

at the very least I can build an all-in-one touchscreen orbiter with it. 20 watt power usage max and 2 watt idle power is just spiffy

That is an incredibly good price! But the downside is its fanned and it only has VGA out & 10/100 networking. But I guess at that price you could live with those little limitations ;-)

Andrew

[blackoper]

I'm not planning on using it as a md for video. I already have two overpowered systems that can be converted to those duties (mythtv clients right now) and a massive main server. I'm really looking for some low power boards that can be used to run touchscreen interfaces around the house and do the bluetooth detection. Two or three of these may just fit the bill.

[totallymaxed]

I'm not planning on using it as a md for video. I already have two overpowered systems that can be converted to those duties (mythtv clients right now) and a massive main server. I'm really looking for some low power boards that can be used to run touchscreen interfaces around the house and do the bluetooth detection. Two or three of these may just fit the bill.

Yep can't argue with that. At that price they look great for that application... although a fanless board would be better for close integration with a touchscreen. But thats a small trade off really.

[Matthew]

What's a good fanless PCI card that delivers 1080p HDMI (to my Samsung HLS5097WX TV), that works with LMCE, and is the cheapest that meets those specs? With that card, what is the cheapest fanless motherboard in which I could put it?

[cyprus_dude]

to the best of my knowledge there is no pci card that provides HDMI...

pci-e yes, but then you need an intel based board with a pci-e slot, (those are NOT cheap!)

if you want a cheap board with a cheap card to do that, you're out of luck.

however i do know that it is possible to get a jetaway board with a DVI daughterboard.. thats as close as you get i believe.

[Matthew]

Looks like PCI-e HDMI cards start at $80. PCI-e motherboards start at $90, complete PCI-e PCs  start at $153. So $233 buys a competitor to the $400 FiireStation, but it does HDMI. Unless those cheapest parts are too crappy to waste a 50" DLP HDMI TV on.

[cyprus_dude]

sorry, for some reason i thought you wanted a mini-itx motherboard, (those arn't cheap)

you can get a micro-atx based board (Abit AN-M2HD nForce 520) with integrated HDMI and nvidia graphics, even cheaper! just need ram/processor and you're done..

[totallymaxed]

Looks like PCI-e HDMI cards start at $80. PCI-e motherboards start at $90, complete PCI-e PCs  start at $153. So $233 buys a competitor to the $400 FiireStation, but it does HDMI. Unless those cheapest parts are too crappy to waste a 50" DLP HDMI TV on.

Well not exactly... the Fiirestation is a 1" deep fanless unit that mounts on the back of a flatscreen TV and uses about 9 watts of power. The machines your compairing it too are in no way comparable.

[table9]

Fanless is $899, wall mount is $499.  Still not a good comparison though.

[Matthew]

Looks like PCI-e HDMI cards start at $80. PCI-e motherboards start at $90, complete PCI-e PCs  start at $153. So $233 buys a competitor to the $400 FiireStation, but it does HDMI. Unless those cheapest parts are too crappy to waste a 50" DLP HDMI TV on.

Well not exactly... the Fiirestation is a 1" deep fanless unit that mounts on the back of a flatscreen TV and uses about 9 watts of power. The machines your compairing it too are in no way comparable.

What's the difference, except that the Firestation is silent instead of quiet, and uses 9W power? (9W, even if driving a HDMI TV? How is that possible?)

[totallymaxed]

Looks like PCI-e HDMI cards start at $80. PCI-e motherboards start at $90, complete PCI-e PCs  start at $153. So $233 buys a competitor to the $400 FiireStation, but it does HDMI. Unless those cheapest parts are too crappy to waste a 50" DLP HDMI TV on.

Well not exactly... the Fiirestation is a 1" deep fanless unit that mounts on the back of a flatscreen TV and uses about 9 watts of power. The machines your compairing it too are in no way comparable.

What's the difference, except that the Firestation is silent instead of quiet, and uses 9W power? (9W, even if driving a HDMI TV? How is that possible?)

Well it comes down to form factor (ie packaging) and energy usage. The Via based MD's are just way ahead of anything else at the moment in terms of low energy consumption. Hooking them up using HDMI does not inherently use more power... the range we see is between 9-14W dependent on resolution and type of content being played back.