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Topic: Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room (Read 12945 times) previous topic - next topic
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Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #25 –
I would think they consume more power as well. I have a nForce 9300 in my current HTPC and it gets REALLY hot even when it's not doing anything. I have yet not been able to make proper power-tests of it. Although the Anandtech test seem to prove that it consumes less power than equal Atom-boards, but I think that might be due to inefficiency in the INTERNAL power supplys they used for those boards. Would be great with a direct comparison between your Intel-board and a Zotac.

It would be great if you could find that article...
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #26 –
Quote from: odyssey on
I would think they consume more power as well. I have a nForce 9300 in my current HTPC and it gets REALLY hot even when it's not doing anything. I have yet not been able to make proper power-tests of it. Although the Anandtech test seem to prove that it consumes less power than equal Atom-boards, but I think that might be due to inefficiency in the INTERNAL power supplys they used for those boards. Would be great with a direct comparison between your Intel-board and a Zotac.

It would be great if you could find that article...


The D945GSEJT board uses a lot less power than a normal Atom board, as it uses the mobile chipset.  The lowest power consumption I've seen in a ZOTAC review is 22W on idle, whereas the D945GSEJT would use something like 14-15W in the same configuration.  So I'm pretty sure the ZOTAC would use more power, but then it can do a lot more...

I think the review I was thinking of may be this one at X-Bit labs.  They say "It is also important to keep in mind that the temperature of Aton 230 on Zotac ION-ITX-C mainboard exceeded 80 °C threshold even in an open testbed. In this case it is logical to assume that when this mainboard is installed into compact system cases, it will need active cooling."  That seems to contradict some other sites and forums, however, where people say it will be OK without a fan as long as there's good ventilation.  This article says "Zotac cautions that extremely cramped cases might not offer enough airflow for passive cooling", for example.  My guess after reading all these sites is that it might be just about OK in a well ventilated case like my Compucase 8K01 but I'd want to test it to be sure!

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #27 –
Please report on your findings. I am also somewhat concerned,
My plans have been to build a completely solid system without any fans using the IONITX-C-U and an SSD in the m350 universal enclosure Mini ITX case, which is heavily perforated so should provide about equivalent ventilation as an open system.
But I am worried about the temperatures after I read the bitlab review.

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #28 –
I have the Zotac ION-A with the M350 case.
It gets warm to hot pretty quick. A fan is a must have on these or you will risk shortening its life mainly due to the chipset. Fan constantly works at full speed with no BIOS options to slow down the fan. So a pot is needed between the fan and MB. I have mine on mid speed and its pretty much slient whlist remaining within safe temperatures.

I'm running a minimal Ubuntu 8.04 installation.

Only running Foobar2000 on these is a bit excessive. It doesn't need the nForce chipset. XBMC or similar would be more suited for these. Mine idles on it 24/7 untill I decide to watch something on the tv.
Also running UPnP, Samba, Transmission and Simplify Media. Using a PS3 remote control to control it too.

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #29 –
Quote from: TREX6662k6 on
So a pot is needed between the fan and MB.

It's much easier and cost just 5 min of your time to switch pins from 12V to 5V instead.

BTW the Zotac uses the Nforce 9300 chipset which also to my experience get's extremely hot even when it shouldn't do anything at all. Because of this I wouldn't use such board for this purpose. It still only has Atom CPU's so you can use it for HD-movies and very light applications - Nothing really in between. I like the idea of having a laptop-chipset on the Mini-ITX board as it's supposed to run on low power, just enough to use foobar2000
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #30 –
Just for kicks





Perfect fit...
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #31 –
But it costs an arm and 3 legs. £139 £160 for the case, DVDRW & PicoPSU. My ION-A was £140.

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #32 –
It's not a cheap case, but still it's the prettiest Mini-ITX case available, and noting that it comes with built-in DVD-RW drive I don't think it's so bad.

Also the Zotac boads are twice as expensive compared to the Intel.

Note, how well it resembles the foobar icon
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #33 –
I've been digging around to find the best and most power-efficient x86 to run foobar2000. The D945GSEJT-board is indeed interesting, but the 945GSE chipset it uses are not as power efficient as it could be. One of my colleagues found this "fit-pc". Instead of using Atom N270, it uses Z530 and a more recent chipset. It uses 6-8W (load) and has about the same performance as the N270 but also support for H.264 acceleration, not to mention IR-remote.

This could build a very nice foobar2000-pc!
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P

Hardware to run fb2k as music player within the living room

Reply #35 –
I don't think it's too overpriced, if you consider that this is an all-in-one box. My alternative is a Mini-ITX+RAM+Box(+PSU, unless the board has DC-DC), which easily adds up to the same amount.

Also, I don't believe the audiophool-nonsense in the article. Onboard SPDIF should be fine. I'd be much more interested in a way to add a 3,5" HDD to it instead.
Can't wait for a HD-AAC encoder :P