Ongoing Singleseat to multiseat setup (1 Viewer)

[wijnand]

So.. an update..

As said, I ordered an Asrock ION 330HT but cant be so positive about it. After installing W7 the system felt not really quick and smooth. What I also noticed was the noise from the two system fans. So I modded the fans with those Zalman resistors to let them run at a lower speed. ( in BIOS I already put the system at silent mode..)
Then I decided to install XPsp3, since this is already succesfull running in my livingroom. Installed all updated drivers and CoreAVC for HD playback and RC4. Now the system feels faster, but HD video isn't this smooth as expected.
Again in Bios, I put the shared memory on a fixed 512Mb instead of auto mode. Now this changed the playback a bit. Still some glitches and stutters now and then. What cauld be wrong? it seems that this system can handle "just" HD but nothing more. If something happens on the background, playback stutters.
Then I got a bit angry and put the system in BIOS from 1600Mhz to a max of 2100Mhz. (overclock mode). Now wher'e talking!
Guess what! The system is now fast and smooth, even HD is running fine. The temperatures are now +7 degrees resulting in a 58 degrees total on CPU and 75 on the GPU. But still the noise is still too much for me.

At this moment I have mixed feelings about this machine. Or I have to mod the system more to cool the CPU and the GPU so the fans can be even more silent, or I quit this project and look for something more powerfull..

To be continued...

 

[wijnand]

Update..

I decided to place the Asrock atom in the bedroom en go for something powerfull in the livingroom. Since I have a smaller HD ready TV in the bedroom, I view no HD TV content there. The signals of my sat receivers (digital everywhere, canal digitaal) are even on non HD channels much better than the TV cable signal. The atom seems to be designed just "on the edge" to play HD TV content. MP needs a bit more power unfortunality.. All ripped HD movies play fine though.
The new plan is to make a MP client for handling HD content;

Jou Jey NU-0528i Mini ITX case
Sony Optiarc AD-7670S Black
Intel Desktop Board DH57JG
Intel Core i3 550
Scythe Big Shuriken Silent Cooler
Corsair CMV4GX3M2A1333C9
Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT

This littele fellow should be more than powerfull to do the job. I could even go for the cheaper Core i 530, but I love to have a bit overhead.. This config costs at the moment of writing about 550 euro's. I'll wait a bit to order the parts, first I go on holliday