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+-- Forum: Off-Topic (/forumdisplay.php?fid=34)
+--- Forum: Hardware for XBMC (/forumdisplay.php?fid=112)
+--- Thread: Which Ion based system should I buy? (/showthread.php?tid=51625)
- >>X<< - 2009-06-08 15:13
Starstream Wrote:Alright I just tested out that one you linked to >>X<< its the one with the birds.
It dropped 11 frames at the start when playing from my network server.
It dropped 2 frames at the start when playing from USB stick.
No frames were dropped during the remainder of playback only at the very start, there is sort of a green artifacts briefly at the start I'm guessing something to do with VDPAU or the driver built into XBMC Live 9.04.1
ok thanks M8 don't think dropping frames at the beginning is really anything to worry about, or at least not the same as dropping frames because it can't cope with it
- sion28 - 2009-06-09 21:05
Starstream Wrote:sion28 I can see some on ebay for about $450.
Most of the units in Europe are from similar smaller channels most of the main online stores I know of do not stock this unit might be a while before the big stores begin selling it.
Are you searching ebay.com, or ebay.co.uk? I'm in the USA, and ebay.com does not return any results when I search for "asrock ion330"...
I guess we in the USA just have to wait... $450 seems a little steep anyway, considering you could build a similar mini-itx system for less...
- pre1014 - 2009-06-10 00:26
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3509&p=2
Bottom of that page it says that the system *may* have issues playing movies from an optical drive. Apparently all review units for the Revo (and others) are shipped with content ripped to HD, which works perfectly.
...although these reviews aren't using XBMC on linux - like you would need to have hardware acceleration on the platform. So of course there are countless differences.
http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/28/acer-aspirerevo-review/
That review says the machine plays all HW accelerated content. But, the system struggles with flash video. Again, even my 700mhz xbox plays flash video fine, so this is probably the os/software (windows + flash) limiting it intead of the hardware.
IF someone wants to use the machine for more than XBMC...or doesn't want to use XBMC linux on it....then it is limited....I personally wouldn't spend a couple hundred dollars on a machine for ONLY xbmc (even though I LOVE it). I'm just putting it out there so people know. In some cases in those reviews the system gets VERY close to maxing out. The original poster also wants a torrent client. It is possible that the addition of a torrent client running in the background may cause it to NOT be able to handle a 1080p video (specifically if it is off of optical media, which it appears the OP is interested in). None of this I can say for certain until someone actually does it though (speculation, if you will).
- >>X<< - 2009-06-10 01:02
They're using Cyberlink which is using hardware acceleration if you didn't want to use linux you can just launch an external player from xbmc using CoreAVC and Cuda
Like I said before if your after more than a media player then don't get an Ion based unit although at the press event they had the a 330 running 1080p, encoding a 720p movie and running a powerpoint presentation all at the same time
I'm sure anyone looking at these pretty much knows their limitations at least on this forum
Cant say I think much of those sites "anandtech" said a few months back even an Ion with dual core atom wouldn't be able to play 1080p and single core just about play 720p so I guess they where wrong on that front
Fan update - inframan - 2009-06-10 09:12
inframan Wrote:I just got one of these the fan noise is not super loud but it it oscillates which for me is just annoying. I tried speedfan to switch it off when not really needed but didn't get it to work. Probably the mother board is too new.
Does yours oscillate too, just wondering if mine is from a faulty batch.
Kudos to the guys at Asrock. Saturday I sent a tech support request querying the oscillating fan noise, yesterday they sent me a beta bios that stepped up the fan to constant. Overall noise level is slightly up but now constant rather then oscillating (I think it must have been turning over very slowly before.)
I haven't taken the cover off to check but I *think* there are two fans in there. A case fan which is the one the BIOS settings (Auto, silent etc) refer to which is actually quite quiet and a chipset fan which I think was the one which caused me issues.)
Anyway felt they should get credit for the quick response.
- medicineuk - 2009-06-10 11:25
inframan Wrote:Kudos to the guys at Asrock. Saturday I sent a tech support request querying the oscillating fan noise, yesterday they sent me a beta bios that stepped up the fan to constant. Overall noise level is slightly up but now constant rather then oscillating (I think it must have been turning over very slowly before.)
I haven't taken the cover off to check but I *think* there are two fans in there. A case fan which is the one the BIOS settings (Auto, silent etc) refer to which is actually quite quiet and a chipset fan which I think was the one which caused me issues.)
Anyway felt they should get credit for the quick response.
Care to share the updated Bios
I'm thinking about adding a new fan to the machine and seeing if that makes it any quieter I have a feeling that it won't make much difference but might as well give it a shot. I can hardly hear mine at the moment but I'm getting a bit obsessed with completely drowning out the sound although
It seems the case fan is the only one making any real noise if you stop the case fan the machine is silent.
- >>X<< - 2009-06-10 14:20
inframan Wrote:Kudos to the guys at Asrock. Saturday I sent a tech support request querying the oscillating fan noise, yesterday they sent me a beta bios that stepped up the fan to constant. Overall noise level is slightly up but now constant rather then oscillating (I think it must have been turning over very slowly before.)
I haven't taken the cover off to check but I *think* there are two fans in there. A case fan which is the one the BIOS settings (Auto, silent etc) refer to which is actually quite quiet and a chipset fan which I think was the one which caused me issues.)
Anyway felt they should get credit for the quick response.
Their tech support are very good I sent them a couple of questions and got prompt replies
- medicineuk - 2009-06-11 16:20
>>X<< Wrote:Their tech support are very good I sent them a couple of questions and got prompt replies
There tech support is bloody brilliant I have e-mailed them twice and both times they have sent me over me BIOS beta's to try out. The one they sent me over today had two new fan options so that the fan rotates slower to reduce noise.
I have a quick question does anyone know if the 50mm fan has 3 or 4 wires? Just looking at new fans figured I might as well get one as there cheap. With the new BIOS though the system is pretty quite, GPUCore is running at about 69c not sure if that's to hot intel's site seems to suggest that any thing up to 85c is ok http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLG9Y
- Starstream - 2009-06-11 20:51
medicineuk Wrote:There tech support is bloody brilliant I have e-mailed them twice and both times they have sent me over me BIOS beta's to try out. The one they sent me over today had two new fan options so that the fan rotates slower to reduce noise.
I have a quick question does anyone know if the 50mm fan has 3 or 4 wires? Just looking at new fans figured I might as well get one as there cheap. With the new BIOS though the system is pretty quite, GPUCore is running at about 69c not sure if that's to hot intel's site seems to suggest that any thing up to 85c is ok http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLG9Y
Update:
I opened up mine again to double check the fans
exhaust fan is 50mm (20mm depth - most 50mm fans have 10mm depth) uses motherboard 3 pin fan connector
tiny chipset fan under DVD/HD cage is 30mm (10mm depth) and uses motherboard 3 pin fan connector
- inframan - 2009-06-13 18:55
>>Care to share the updated Bios
They put it up now 1.30
http://www.asrock.com/Nettop/download.asp?Model=ION%20330#bios