Completed Mini ITX Media Center mk2 (1 Viewer)

[wickyman]

Hi, after some tinkering I managed to get my media center up and running and was so impressed with it, I had to build another one This 2nd version is using retail parts rather than what I had laying around, and its turned out quite well so far. Given the hardware limitations that exist with the components I used, it'll have some trouble dealing with high bitrate 1080p, but as the TV its connected to is 720p and most of the content it'll be viewing is standard TV recordings (recorded from another box), it doesnt really impact the usability of the media center at this time.

Specs:
Case - Apex MW-100 mini ITX
PSU - 60w DC-DC with external brick (included with case)
Mobo - Intel D945GCLF2
CPU - Embedded Intel Atom 330 (1.6 DC w/ HT)
Memory - 2gb Kingston DDR2 800 (low profile)
Hard Drive - PQI 32gb SSD (intel NAND)
Optical - LiteON slim SATA (DS-8A2S-A01)

OS - Windows XP Home SP3
Software - Media Portal 1.0
Remote/Receiver - Windows MCE 2005 receiver, Anyware GV-IR01WT remote

This media center acts as a streaming front end device to keep things simple. There is no TV tuner as I have a system that does my recording and I then edit out the ads and place them on my servers. All the media accessed through this device is stored on 2 separate servers, totaling ~20 TB worth of storage overall. The main server is a past project of mine, and is basically a data dump inside a lian li 343b, with 24 hard drives.

As this little media center has few moving parts it is very quiet. The only fan in the PC is the northbridge cooling fan on the motherboard, which is a 40mm fan. It is not noticeable when you are using the system and in sleep mode the fans are disabled, but I think I may end up swapping the cooling unit for a passive heatsink if only to have no moving parts. Honestly I cant even hear it with the box right next to me, so across the room it may as well be called dead silent.

On board video and audio are decent enough, but I would honestly much prefer to see Intel release an Atom based system with a better chipset and onboard features. Nvidia's Ion platform looks to be a real winner, as its Atom 330 + Geforce 9400M but so far it is absent from the market place. I am intersted in VIA's Nano platforms, but dont have my review sample yet to compare it to the Atom. My immediate thought would be that the Nano would be a better choice given that its more powerful and VX800 and CN896 are much better chipsets than 945GSE used on the D945GCLF2...but then again its hard to say a $80 atom combo is a bad deal when you'll pay twice that for the nano platforms.

Pictures:

===
total cost:
~$350 retail

 

[ppeterr]

Thats a very interresting build. I would like to see such in action. To see how good xp runs, on that atom,
and if its fast enough, for MP itself. Does such handle high bitrate streams good enough ?

60w power consumption is really low - also very interresting

Only thing really missing might be a hdmi connection...and/or optical audio (or does it have those?)

 

[wickyman]

I'll try to get a video of it in action for you guys, or at least some numbers. But basically, from power on to when I can use my remote to navigate it takes about a minute, and from sleep mode to when i can navigate with the remote it takes about 15 seconds. So all in all its pretty snappy all things considered. As for playback, the most demanding thing I've tried thus far is a 720p rip of the movie "300" at 5,500 kbps and it was perfectly playable and didnt seem to drop any frames to keep up. For the more day to day stuff that I record off tv myself it is perfectly fine as well.

It runs XP very smooth, in my own testing of the Atom processor in past reviews, these little chips are about as quick as your average Pentium 4 processor. In fact, with the aid of a PCI Geforce 6200 I was even playing Crysis on my test platform..though less than stellar performance The Atom processor, and specifically the dual core Atom 330, are wonderful little chips. In all honesty the only thing holding back the Atom is the horrible Intel 945 chipset. It alone consumes about 20w of power, this completely ruins the energy efficiency of the Atom 230 which is rated at 4w, and the Atom 330 (used here) at 8w. But power consumption of this project is incredibly low and tops in at about 40w under full load.

But the only output you get with the D945GCLF2 is what you see in the pictures, nothing more. If you used a larger case that accepted a low profile or full height expansion card, you could pair a board like this with a HD2400, 8400GS, 8500GT, or even a 9400 GT for about $60 and with one of those you would have the option of VGA, DVI, Component, or HDMI without killing power consumption or having to use a really large case.

But all things considered, it runs great, it is very quiet, and quite affordable. Probably the best budget offering out there to base a media portal box on, even if the output options are a bit weak. But like I said, Nvidia's ION platform is what people should really bank on

 

[Pengman]

Hey wickyman

Would you mind sharing what audio drivers you are using with this board? I have on just like it, but I can't get the sound working.

I appoligize for the slight hijack, but I discovered the board thanks to this thread and I hope you can help me.

//Pengman

 

[wickyman]

I am using the Realtek ALC drivers, version 5783 released 2/17/09. You can download them from the Intel website, here

And I dont mind the hijack, the whole point of posting this thread was to share my experience with what I thought would be the ideal budget platform for most users

 

[TommySharp]

I wonder if the newly announced mac minis with the GeForce 9400M might be a good choice now?

 

[wickyman]

well the new mac mini has a 2ghz core 2 duo with a 1066 mhz bus, 1gb of ram, nvidia 9400, and 120gb of HD space, along with the slot loading dvd, 802.11n and bluetooth. So I'd say its certainly a great platform for $600 (though you'll pay $800 for 320gb of storage and 2gb of ram), and you'll pay nearly $1,100 for the premium mac mini with the 2.26 ghz core 2 duo, 4gb of ram, and the 320gb HD...at that point you are spending far more than you should have too...

I still think that today, mini ITX is the way to go in order to get a small, affordable, variable performance and expandable media center. If you needed the kind of power the mac mini offers, you can still get it for cheaper without much sacrifice. Zotac has a new LGA 775 mini itx based on the GF9300 chipset, you can get it on newegg here for $145. Pop in a decent dual core chip like a E1200 celeron($46), E2200 pentium($70), E5200 pentium($75), or other 65w variants, 2gb of ram for $20, and a 160gb drive for $50 all the way up to 500gb for $100, and you have a highly competitive platform for not much at all. Of course you wont get the same case, but one like I used is only about $85 online including the 60w PSU, which you could upgrade to a 150w for $50 after market.

I'm not anti-apple, I have used them, many of my family and friends have them, and I'd consider one myself if I wasn't so set on getting the most for my money and something competitive with the apple mini can be had for cheaper using mini itx.

 

[Kossu]

Well yah beside the point that apple is a piece of shit.

Thinking of building a very similar build to yours as it looks awesome. It is really hard finding a case as it would be great having the option of adding a tv card... if it would fit of course.
It will undoubtly be based on the Atom 330 tho cos the motherboard+cpu combo is only about 80 euros, while as u said the new zotac + cpu is around 200 euros.

 

[hbryce]

I have done something similar - see the "Mini HTPC - Shuttle X27D" thread under ongoing HTPC projects. The Atom 330 running XP SP3 copes very well with all standard definition video and happily plays 720p downloaded test movies. It subjectively appears as fast as or faster than a Pentium 4 2.8GHz (admittedly with only 512Mbytes of RAM - my Shuttle has 2GB). The Shuttle implementation of an Atom 330 mini-ITX board also has a DVI output which drives my 720p TV very well. Incidentaly the Shuttle X27D case and Wickyman's case are virtually identical, apart from the front and the rear output panel.