Zotac ION... Anyone else get one?

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Blazestorm

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Just received my Zotac Ion... the Dual-core w/ PSU included from Ewiz.com

They had it for $170, got the M350 Mini-itx case with some extras for $55, then grabbed 4GB of DDR2 off a member here for $25 so $250 total... got a 250GB drive for free from a friend as well. So $250 total

Anyways, installed windows7 and just installing drivers right now... I'm hoping to run XBMC and have it stream HD 1080p movies off my server to my HDTV
Just curious if anyone else has gotten one yet / played around with it... I'm curious to see if anyone ran into any problems or has any input.

I'll grab some pictures if anyone wants too -_-
 
How do you plan on decoding 1080p movies with the measly Atom? XBMC doesn't support hardware acceleration in Windows, so all your movies would need to be decoded by the CPU.

What is wrong with the built in 7 Media Center?

That + MediaBrowser is an amazing combo.
 
criccio said:
How do you plan on decoding 1080p movies with the measly Atom? XBMC doesn't support hardware acceleration in Windows, so all your movies would need to be decoded by the CPU.

What is wrong with the built in 7 Media Center?

That + MediaBrowser is an amazing combo.
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the build looks fine, it's a dual core atom so that should be enough. these are DESIGNED to be used for this kind of build. anyways OP, pics too would be great :D
 
The Ion platform has an Nvidia 9300 onboard as well, which is what does the hardware decoding for 1080p ;)

I really like XBMC and some of the themes, but I'll still look around... that and XBMC added support for hardware decoding through a plugin I believe.
 
WhiteFireDragon said:
the build looks fine, it's a dual core atom so that should be enough. these are DESIGNED to be used for this kind of build. anyways OP, pics too would be great :D
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He bought an ION system which is an Atom CPU + a 9400M GPU. Why use a HTPC Frontend that doesn't take advantage of the GPU at all?

7MC is included with the OS and has full hardware acceleration support.

His choice makes no sense.
 
Haha, maybe, I didn't do a whole lot of research (in terms of the plugin) if it works it works... otherwise I'll find another option...

So far it's running and silent...

I'd like to upgrade the wireless card and see if I can't do 1080p over the wifi (got a wireless N router) but we'll find out... otherwise I'll just run gigabit... but we wanna build another one of these in another room that doesn't have gigabit.
 
criccio... I actually got Windows7 MC working with hardware decoding... just used a simple matroska splitter, then downloaded MPC's video decoder and registered it... it handles both audio/video and had DXVA turned on... All my videos play perfect with low cpu usage.

Also got the media-browser plugin and it's a lot better than I expected, similar to Aeon / XBMC but without any of the hassles. :D ...So thanks for that info, I'll grab some pictures later, fits perfectly behind my TV and I just stick a little usb IR receiver on the TV stand.

Only problem I've had so far is audio over HDMI isn't working... Windows thinks it is, but don't get any audio through my TV, so I switched to a DVI Port with some RCA inputs for audio (it's 2.0 anyways)
 
This is precisely a build that I want, but the Atom doesn't handle Flash very well at all :(
 
Haha, glad I could help. Personally I use CoreAVC to do the hardware decoding as it uses CUDA which is much more compatible with some of the lvl 5.1 1080p encodes I have. Sometimes DXVA just won't work with them. Just a thought.

BTW, if you do end up wanting to test out different filters in 7MC, THIS tool is invaluable.
 
Hey, Blazestorm, could you test a couple things for me? What kind of performance does that build give on Hulu, Youtube, and streaming video from like CBS.com? If it is acceptable, I'll order some stuff immediately as that setup would be perfect for my wife, especially with the VESA mounting kit.

BTW, anyone know where to buy 6-8" DVI cables?
 
I've tried CoreAVC in the past and never had that great of luck with it, but MPC-HC always worked flawlessly... and so far every movie I've played has been perfect... I also found a little USB IR Reciever and Media Center remote from an older HP computer we had and it works perfect with Windows Media Center. I can even put the computer to sleep and wake it up with the remote, which I was afraid wasn't going to work... heard of some issues with waking up from sleep with USB and this motherboard.

Short DVI cables I'm not sure about, I just got a 6ft one with a lot of slack...

I turned off HT for heat reasons, but I was able to easily overclock it to 2.0ghz, (just a FSB bump) so I'll test it out in a little bit.

I found the VESA mounting might be meant for smaller LCD's like computer monitors, not larger TV's. I went to install it on my 37" Westinghouse and they were too small. Although I'm sure you could make an adapter if you wanted. Threading was too small that is. But I only paid like $5-6 for an extra HDD bracket, VESA mounting and Wallmounting... whole thing was $55 shipped from mini-box.com I think.

But I'll test hulu right now.
 
Yea, even at 2.0ghz with HT on it can't handle full-screen with 360 or 480p.

Without full-screen it can handle 480p just fine.

Another option for you is to get the Zotac 9300 Mini-itx with 775 socket... then you could stick in a faster dual-core processor w/ the stock intel cooler and still run a picoPSU. It would cost a bit more potentially but you could fit more power in the same space.

I was going for cheap / bare minimum. I never watch Hulu anyways... just 1080p movies :D

I just tested Youtube HD on some videos I've made and they play fine, very occasional judder but 100x better than hulu.CPU usage hoverin around 60-70%

Vimeo HD is fine if it's not full-screen...
 
Hey I have the same board purchased from ewiz.

I use it as my main work pc, not an htpc, but as my main rig LOL

Runs great, everyday I have phone software running, chat software, and Firefox with about at least 10 tabs open and it runs with no issues. Also running a Mini Skeleton w/90w PSU for the whole system. 320gb HDD and dvd burner.

DSC01553.jpg
 
Thank you, Blazestorm. I'll check what my price differences will be. The VESA space I'm wanting to use is the back of an HP 22" monitor, effectively creating one of those Mac thingies.
 
Marcam923 said:
Hey I have the same board purchased from ewiz.

I use it as my main work pc, not an htpc, but as my main rig LOL

Runs great, everyday I have phone software running, chat software, and Firefox with about at least 10 tabs open and it runs with no issues. Also running a Mini Skeleton w/90w PSU for the whole system. 320gb HDD and dvd burner.

DSC01553.jpg
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nice case, think you could post some more pics? really like the case
 
Kil4Thril said:
Thank you, Blazestorm. I'll check what my price differences will be. The VESA space I'm wanting to use is the back of an HP 22" monitor, effectively creating one of those Mac thingies.
Click to expand...

The board is about $120-130, then maybe an E5200 for $50-60, then you would still need a pico-psu (the 120 or 150watt ones are probably $60-70 with an AC Adapter) so maybe $275 on the high-end depending on how much you hunt for the motherboard, cpu, and PSU.
 
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