Fiire Engine REVIEW/SPECS!!

[ddamron]

I received my Fiire Engine about 10 mins ago...
also the fiire chief and 5 dongles... just plugged it in, it's setting itself up...

The Fiire Chief is NICE!  xp auto-installed the remote receiver and I was up and running in seconds...

Fiire Station is generating orbiters now... TTYL, time to PLAY

[radmofo]

Well....Is that stuff worth the money? Do you have a set top box?

[ddamron]

The Fiir Engine - I don't think it's worth it... however, they did a good job of installation... a couple things worth mentioning:


1.  The DVDRW Drive has a spring loaded cover, designed to allow the drive to open, and close, hiding the actual front of the drive.  When I received mine, the "cover" was "pushed" in too far, past the little plastic stops.  Simple solution, remove the front panel, and carefully puch the cover back into place.

(below, I am QUOTING my invoice)

2.  The second NIC was not seated - could have happened during shipping... np, just re-seat it.

2a.  It uses a M2NPV-VM motherboard, and they double charged me for it... I can get it locally for about $95.00, they charged me $223.85


3.  The Fiire Chief: DEFINATELY WORTH EVERY PENNY.

4.  The Processor: AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 AM2 - again, overcharged.. I paid $243.47 - I can get locally a Athlon64 X2 5600+ with 2x1MB cache for only 134.95

5.  Memory - came with 1G (2x DDR 667Mhz 512M PC5300) charged me $46.29.  Price is comparable to local...

6.  Hitachi 160G EIDE - charged 135.05 - Locally - 320G Barracuda (also EIDE) is only 84.95

7.  Keyboard and mouse - whatever... (standard cheap stuff)

8.  Lite-On High Speed 20X DVD+/1RW Dual Layer - charged: 85.17 locally: $42.95 (hehe, same model number...)
EDIT:  DVD Burner Model number is LH-20A1P


9.  Can't beleive they actually charged me $2.70 for the ONBOARD INTEGRATED NVIDEA GEFORCE!!!!

10.  DA-SPDIF SPDIF Optical Out $36.01 - hmm.. isn't that included with the montherboard?

11.  Realtek 8139 10/100Mbit PCI Ethernet... charged me $18.91  In their documentation, they claim "NETWORK:  Dual ethernet ports.  Gigabit Speed"  Last I heard, 100Mb isn't Gbit...

12.  Power DVD 7 License Key and Disc - $10.86  I guess this is how they license the codecs... (?)

13.  System Assembly and Packaging:  $88.50   wtf?  at these prices???

Overal, the system DOES work well..  however, you should be able to build the same comparible system for half the price. 

One note, they HAVE put a lot of effort into the configuration, DOCUMENTATION, and setup ease.. that HAS to be paid for..

I'm still waiting on my Fiire Stations, will let you know on those too..
ordered a 2.2" and a 1"...

Overall impressions on the Fiire Engine:
Performance: 8.5/10
Price: 1/10

Overall impressions on the Fiire Chief:
Performance: 10/10
Price 9.5/10 (really, look at the functionality!)

Dan

[ddamron]

oh yeah, and to answer your question:  No, I don't have a set top box I have a PVR cable card, and a few DVB-S cards... eventually I'll get my Starchoice HD set tops integrated but that's another day...

[Matthew]

I can't wait to see your teardown and price comparison for the FiireStation. Especially which fanless mobo, and which fanless videocard they use to output 1080i. Also whether there's a fanless upgrade to output 1080p HDMI (I have a Samsung HLS5087WX). And of course a review of how the video looks with their HW.

[ddamron]

As soon as they come, I will do a complete review.  Their stuck in customs right now... I received 1 of 3 boxes..

[Jeff]

I will be watching this thread...  I did a quick look on newegg - and it looks like I can put one together with similar stuff (same board, faster processor, same amount of ram, twice the HD space, and a media center case for under $500. Not including the remote. 

I am really interested in the fiire stations more then the engine - I can't wait to see what you find in there!!!

[Matthew]

What do you think of the $233 competition I (theoretically) found for the $400 FiireStation that has a PCI-e HDMI card?

[ddamron]

Can't say yet, haven't received the stations..  I know the 1" is supposed to be fanless.. and the custom case is pretty sweet..

From what I've seen, Polywell did a good job at researching what works and what doesn't.  My core/hybrid runs VERY nice.. even though it's over priced.. (now that I know what's inside)..

will keep this thread going once I receive the rest.. TTYL

Dan

[totallymaxed]

I can't wait to see your teardown and price comparison for the FiireStation. Especially which fanless mobo, and which fanless videocard they use to output 1080i. Also whether there's a fanless upgrade to output 1080p HDMI (I have a Samsung HLS5087WX). And of course a review of how the video looks with their HW.

The Fiireengine is a standard Via OEM product... see this for review and some video of setting of the DS700 http://www.geek.com/via-goes-vesa-mounted/?rfp=dta

The board itself is a nano-itx ( http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/eden-n/ )form factor and sits inside the four VESA mounting screw holes that go right through the Chassis. There is no 'video card' it has an on-board CX700M graphics chip. The Chassis is basically a big heatsink and the unit does run quite hot.

We source them direct from Via and we are working on the drivers for UI2 support now. More news on this as soon as we have finished testing.

[tkmedia]

http://www.computergate.com/products/item.cfm?prodcd=B7VM7700&promocode=&ts=related

Is this a barebones 1"" fiire station?

not small enough ??

how about

http://www.computergate.com/products/item.cfm?prodcd=B7VPX1G

For our kitchens?

Whats next? it just might work out well in the think tank, just be careful when flushing.

[totallymaxed]

http://www.computergate.com/products/item.cfm?prodcd=B7VM7700&promocode=&ts=related

Is this a barebones 1"" fiire station?

not small enough ??

how about

http://www.computergate.com/products/item.cfm?prodcd=B7VPX1G

For our kitchens?

Whats next? it just might work out well in the think tank, just be careful when flushing.

The VM7700 has a slower processor and integrated WiFi but uses the same chassis as the Fiirestation. The MB inside the Fiirestation and the DS700 & VM7700 fits inside the 4 VESA mounting screw holes. The case is only the size it is to make it easier to locate the various i/o sockets and also to act as a heatsink

The EPIA-PX10000G is again slower than the Fiirestation but would definitely make an excellent platform from a size perspective.

[diamondcobra]

awesome post - thanks for the info, been looking for it for a while - waiting for the vmpc teardown info!

[Matthew]

The VM7700 has a slower processor and integrated WiFi but uses the same chassis as the Fiirestation. The MB inside the Fiirestation and the DS700 & VM7700 fits inside the 4 VESA mounting screw holes. The case is only the size it is to make it easier to locate the various i/o sockets and also to act as a heatsink

The EPIA-PX10000G is again slower than the Fiirestation but would definitely make an excellent platform from a size perspective.

Any of those FiireStation or other VIA PCs upgradable to HDMI output with a cheap video card?

[totallymaxed]

The VM7700 has a slower processor and integrated WiFi but uses the same chassis as the Fiirestation. The MB inside the Fiirestation and the DS700 & VM7700 fits inside the 4 VESA mounting screw holes. The case is only the size it is to make it easier to locate the various i/o sockets and also to act as a heatsink

The EPIA-PX10000G is again slower than the Fiirestation but would definitely make an excellent platform from a size perspective.

Any of those FiireStation or other VIA PCs upgradable to HDMI output with a cheap video card?

No... they are too small for a video card. But the Fiirestation and DS700 have DVI out so you can use a DVI -> HDMI cable which works great and there is no loss of picture quality nut you do have to route the audio out differently as DVI has no audio pins on the connector.