clemdaddy Wrote:nice thread. I've been following this for a while. Based on the recommendations here, I bought the kingston kvr1333d3s9/1g.

All the parts finally arrived last night:

AT5IONT-I (not the deluxe version)
x2 kingston kvr1333d3s9/1g
Silverstone sugo sg05 (nice 120mm fan in front)
Seagate 7200rpm 500 gig sata drive

Windows 7 32-bit installation went flawlessly. I downloaded the chipset drivers from Asus. I then downloaded and installed the latest nvidia ion drivers. Everything went down hill from here. I got video corruption and a continuous pop-up (ever 10 seconds) telling me the video driver just recovered from an error. Every once in a while, the whole system will hang. If i uninstall the drivers, everything returns to normal (except with 800x600 resolution due to default display drivers)

I got the same results when i installed the video drivers from Asus and the video drivers that came on the CD with the mobo. I believe there are no bios updates.

I'm at the point i think i may have a defective board

anyone have a similar experience and have any suggestions?

thanks!

Flomaster Wrote:ditch Windows and run Linux Ubuntu or xbmcFREAK-Live

-=Jason=-

clemdaddy Wrote:I run Ubuntu from a virtualbox on windows. I must admit, Linux Ubuntu has come a long way - but (in my opinion) it is still pretty complicated. Took me a long time just to figure out how to map drives at startup (thats pretty embarrassing) ! I think i'll try exchanging my mobo (incase the one i have is defective) before I tackle experimenting with a new OS.

bradsnw Wrote:RAM - Corsair PC10666 RAM - 2GB, DDR3, 1333MHz, SODIMM Laptop Memory, Class 9
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=C13-6166

Flomaster Wrote:i took the plunge and learned a lot, im still very n00bish on linux, but I much prefer is over windows. yeah some things take some research to get working, but overall I am very happy using Linux on my HTPC

just sayin'

-=Jason=-

EDIT: I'd try Linux FIRST before you pay shipping back, plus restocking on a different Mobo.

whatnot Wrote:What makes N550 such a perfect CPU for HTPC use, what does it have over D525 for example? I googled the datasheets, but am not deep enough to see the differentiator.

PowerPritt Wrote:First.... It´s less the compatibility of the case to the boards. It´s the fact that the board has no mouning holes for standard coolers. You would not be able to mount any kind of other coolers out of the box. Ok, craftsmen could probably sew something to make them fit...but....

I´ll make some pics when I open the case again which will be most likely tomorrow. Meanwhile I can give you a description.
If you look at the boards heatsinks where the heatpipes are entering it, you will see that there are some nearly triangular holes. 2 besides each heat pipe one a bit bitter than the other. I took two 4mm heatpipes and swaged them a little into triangular shape (has to be done very carefully in order not to mess the pipes. Then I puzzeled them into the bigger of these holes. Took me nearly an hour of pressing and dangling back and forth but then they where in nearly full lenght. Since the are a bit under pressure there is good contact to the heat sink. I checkt if the heat pipes get hot, before I went further. The only thing to finish the things was connecting the heatpipes to the case cooling fins. Needed to extend them by other pipes since the where not long enough otherwise.
I told it is only possible with the big enclosure since the full hight is needed. I doubt, a mini ITX will be high enough.

Cheers.... Martin

PowerPritt Wrote:If you send me your email-adress I will send you some pics. dont know how to get them in here.

partimers Wrote:Did you checked the temps while playing 1080p content? What kind of case are you using?