Mini-ITX (1 Viewer)

[Barbarossa]

Has anyone got experience of using a Mini-ITX board for an HTPC?

The latest spec Via EPIA-SP boards look interesting - 1.3GHz, Onboard graphics with hardware MPEG 2 & MPEG4 decoding - and onboard sound for about £140!

Has anyone got any experience of these systems?

 

[Callifo]

The Via boards are no good for MP, the onboard video doesnt meet the requirements (cant do VMR9 rendering properly so it wont display video).

 

[CHli]

There are Mini-ITX with x86 CPU too...

 

[Rooster]

Hi there... i'm running mp rc2 on a epia mini-itx m1000 board and its running quite smooth... got video and all, and the tiny footprint makes it ideal for custom cases. I had it running from within an (gutted) old akai dvd player.

 

[Barbarossa]

The most recent Via boards have a new graphics chip - but I can't find any info on the VMR9 compatibility.

 

[samuel337]

Also note that you'll need a specific version of the Cyberlink or InterVideo decoders to utilise the MPEG2 decoders. There is no official support from VIA for that on Windows; they've released a special Linux MPlayer, but from what I've heard, that's pretty outdated now.

Even the most recent VIA ones don't have DX9 compatibility - can't find the page currently, but I've been doing a bit of research as they look very interesting, especially the fanless ones. They've got a DX9 chip in the works though (S3 Chrome9) but it hasn't made its way onto the EPIA boards yet... I'd buy one immediately if they did. Please prove me wrong someone

CORRECTION: They don't have full DX9 support, but they do have partial support; not sure which bits though.

Sam

 

[global_dev]

Hi there... i'm running mp rc2 on a epia mini-itx m1000 board and its running quite smooth... got video and all, and the tiny footprint makes it ideal for custom cases. I had it running from within an (gutted) old akai dvd player.

can you provide info on what you did to make video run? I could get it to run very slowly but not watchable. Thanks, I am looking to do this before i go out and purchase a new video card.

 

[mzemina]

Take a look at Commell LV-677 mini motherboard (http://www.commell.com.tw/product/SBC/LV-677.HTM). I have seen it together with a NVIDIA 7600GT in a mini-client HeatSync case made by A-Tech Fabrication. Not cheap ($499.00 USD - base price!) but it is VERY well made. http://www.atechfabrication.com/products/mini_client_2500.htm

 

[Bram]

Damn, that looks realy nice! If yhe case would have a small LCD display.

Do I understand correctly that only the case costs $499,-??

 

[zag2me]

i wouldnt bother with via chips, they are far to underpowered.

1.3ghz via is not the same as a 1.3ghz intel