CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

lostmandan · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:36 am Post subject: nVidia ION Platform

I just got one of these on my desk at work for testing and I think it is pretty promising for HTPC. I can't wait until they roll the next one with Atom 330 (Dual-core) CPUs. The system actually runs Call of Duty 4 and it is reasonably playable. Pretty amazing out of such a small unit.

The device I have came with the Dark Knight trailer and it plays in PowerDVD8 (nVidia PureVideo acceleration) without any issues. I would imagine that the system would handle most Bluray tasks, although I had read somewhere that it fell down a bit on some movies.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/934/1/

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

That looks really cool.

I'm going to build a mini-ITX box next week with the Zotac mini-ITX mobo with the built in Nvidia 9300 graphics. Really looking forward to it, should end up smaller than most "consumer" components, with 1TB hdd space and an HD DVD/BD drive, native HDMI output etc, etc...

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

This is what I've ordered: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=22510AC9172&vpn=MI-100BK&manufacture=Apex%20Computer

Slightly larger than some mini-ITX cases, but I thought it would be nice to have the option of having another hdd in there, plus the mobo comes with a built in wi-fi that has an add in board that I'm hoping will fit in the single expansion bay slot available on the back...plus a bigger ps...

jask · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 10187 Location: kamloops BC

Too funny, I was looking at the same case at NCIX,and they are charging another 10$ for it. thanks!

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

Mark_A_W · Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2009 8:12 am Post subject:

I'm interested how you guys go with this.

I'm thinking of replacing my aging Xbox Media Centre with a PC capable of playing Bluray MKVs running XBMC on XP, and one of these Ion doodars sounds perfect.

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

Just an update. I completed this build as planned and so far, all seems to be going well.

So far no need to add any extra cooling other than the stock HSF which came with the cpu. The stock HSF *just* fit under the PS in the Apex case.
The Apex case is a very sturdy little box, with lots of room if you wanted to pack it with drives. The only drawback is the lack of SATA connectors on the mobo. When I installed VISTA, I had ACPI(correct acronym ?) enabled in the bios so I can supposedly use the ESata port at some future date, but I have not tested it yet to see if it actually works.

Some have reported the fan control of the Zotac board doesn't work, but I found that mine did work and I was able to set the cpu HSF top speed lower than maximum, to a point where, with other components going, it was un-noticeable.

The only negative comment I would have for the case would be the front panel is a bit on the cheesy side with the high gloss finish, makes it look cheap IMHO. A matte finish would have been more to my particular liking. However, that being said, it fit well and the stealth door functioned really well. Also, the adjustable strike position of the eject button was a well thought out measure. I was able to align it exactly with the eject button of the HD DVD BD Rom drive.

One other note on the build. I had an issue with shutdowns when I first fired up my build, turned out the plastic wire retaining bracket for the stock cpu HSF pushed up against the gpu HS *just* enough to lift the gpu HS off of the chip. After I clipped off the offending piece of plastic and re-installed the gpu HS using some Arctic Silver thermal compound, there were no more shut downs.

PS: A note about the size of the Apex case. While volume wise, it was easily smaller than my other small HTPC using an Inwin Mountain Jade(IW-MTJADE.GLS300) case and mAtex version of the Nvidia 9300 ASUS board, it was not all that much smaller in depth, which I've found to be the really limiting factor when trying to blend these things in with conventional components. If I did this again, I would likely go for the slim BD drive and use a REALLY small case...or just use the mATX board and the slightly larger Inwin case again(which I thought was a VERY good case, both for size and cooling...).

Mark_A_W · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:35 pm Post subject:

Pics please Smile

And what was the total price?

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 11:13 pm Post subject:

Yes pic's please

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

As far as the original topic goes, how are you going to be testing this for theater applications? As a tangent, isn't the ION platform used in some Netbooks?

Elaine Benes · Joined: 25 Apr 2006 Posts: 1416

I have to apologize to the OP, I didn't mean to deflect the original thread away from that terrifically neat platform, it really looks ideal for a tiny HTPC.

As for my little Zotac box, sorry, I didn't take pictures, I built it for a friend, if he brings it back for anything, I'll snap a few.

The cost was fairly good.

$175. for the mobo, no shipping cost, but pst and gst.

The case was $58., the memory was $60. for 4GB, but with a $30. MIR, the processor was $148. and the 1TB Hitachi drive was $109.
There was no shipping charge for any of those items, and I ordered them from BC so there was only GST on top. All in all a fairly reasonable box with a LOT of potential. My buddy already had the LG HD DVD/BD combo drive.

I tried it on BD and HD DVD and .mkv's. It played them all back flawlessly. He gets sound from SPDIF, or HDMI, and hasn't tried the analogue outputs.

Again, sorry to the OP for taking this off topic. Please post if the tiny box this is about ever becomes readily available for sale in Canada...and if so, where one can buy it...There are slim BD rom drives on ebay for $80. or so...