Login at Kodi Home

eroz · (This post was last modified: 2013-06-14, 00:26 by eroz.)

Just looking to get some confirmation if this would be a good mix. I'm looking at the zotac AD03 barebone,
CPU - AMD E-350 APU
Video - AMD Radeon™ HD 6310

I'm looking to add some Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1066 MT/s (PC3-8500) CL7 SODIMM 204-Pin and a Sandisk 32GB SATA3 SSD.

I need the blu-ray player for when the kids bring home a blu-ray/dvd from the library and want to watch it, otherwise my entire collection is on my unRaid server.

It would be connected to my receiver so I'm hoping it would be able to bitstream hd audio. I will be installing either win7 or win8 since I have both available.

**Dougie Fresh** · (This post was last modified: 2013-06-10, 16:48 by Dougie Fresh.)

This (among many reviews) will give you an idea of the type of features/performance you can expect: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd...iew,1.html

Summary: ok performance can be laggy for CPU constrained tasks, bitstreaming: yes, no Netflix HD or any other CPU rendered 1080p (720p ok)

I found it performed better with OpenELEC than Windows but then you lose HD bitstreaming (DTS/DD5.1 ok, just no DTS-MA/Dolby TrueHD)

eroz · 2013-06-10, 16:55

Hmmm.....I have ripped my blu-rays into 1080p mkv's. Sounds like I might hav some trouble in playing those. Which other zotac would be best? It looks like I would have to give up the optical drive and just use the PS3 for those playbacks.

**Dougie Fresh** · 2013-06-10, 18:02

XBMC will use the GPU for 1080p so it'll be fine. That's the part that actually works well with E-350. It's everything else that's slow to mediocre.

eroz · 2013-06-10, 19:09

(2013-06-10, 18:02)Dougie Fresh Wrote: XBMC will use the GPU for 1080p so it'll be fine. That's the part that actually works well with E-350. It's everything else that's slow to mediocre.

Oh ok. It will only be used for media playback via XBMC. I using windows since I have a 3-PC install disc and still have an extra install unused. And this way I can also have the same XBMC version that I have on another XBMC unit to sync/share the library/watch status. Thanks for the info!

eskro · 2013-06-11, 00:32

performance of windows + XBMC in a ZOTAC AD03 can lead to dissatisfaction...
specially if you plan on using heavier skins...

eroz · 2013-06-11, 00:53

(2013-06-11, 00:32)eskro Wrote: performance of windows + XBMC in a ZOTAC AD03 can lead to dissatisfaction...
specially if you plan on using heavier skins...

Hi eskro, would one of the other zotac's in your Group #6 be better? If so, which?

eskro · (This post was last modified: 2013-06-11, 16:45 by eskro.)

at this point, i suggest the ZOTAC ID83 for Window as seen Here

eroz · (This post was last modified: 2013-06-14, 01:54 by eroz.)

eskro Wrote:at this point, i suggest the ZOTAC ID83 for Window as seen Here

I've been going back and forth on this. I might just go with your Windows Build #5 and swap the case from the Antec ISK110 to the Antec ISK300, that would give me room later if I decide to add a slim blu-ray drive. What do you think?

eskro · 2013-06-14, 17:21

thats pretty good!
the ISK300-150 is a really good case!

eroz · 2013-06-22, 06:25

(2013-06-11, 08:33)eskro Wrote: at this point, i suggest the ZOTAC ID83 for Window as seen Here

(2013-06-14, 17:21)eskro Wrote: thats pretty good!
the ISK300-150 is a really good case!

Hi eskro, I finally got all the parts and it is all installed. Now I'm getting errors that the BIOS needs to be updated for the Richland APU. How do I update the BIOS? I do not have another APU to downgrade to, to run the update. Is there any other way?

eskro · 2013-06-22, 14:22

it says new bios is Richland ready, ask MSi if they can send you one already updated,

eroz · 2013-06-22, 17:14

(2013-06-22, 14:22)eskro Wrote: it says new bios is Richland ready, ask MSi if they can send you one already updated,

Sent their tech support an email. Hopefully they can just send me a bios chip already flashed to version 2.0 and then I can just swap it out. Richland requires Bios version 2.0 but the boards I guess are coming with bios v1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3. Bios v2.0 is an .exe file so you need to run it in windows/dos, it won't allow you to use the update feature inside bios, even though it works for the previous bios versions.

eskro · 2013-06-22, 23:16

how strange this is, lets wait and see what they say!

eroz · 2013-06-26, 15:03

Ok Finally heard back from MSI on Monday, said I had a few options but sending me the Bios chip was not one of them.

1) RMA to MSI and they will flash it for me.
2) Borrow a Trinity APU from a friend.
3) Take it back to the computer shop that I bought it from and have them flash it or exchange it for a board with a manufacture date after June 3, 2013.

None of those options was going to work for me. So I asked for a replacement board from Amazon, hoping I could get a newer board. New board had the same bios. I looked online about trying to update the bios anyway. Everywhere I looked mentioned if the bios update was in a bin format, it should be no problem. However, Bios v2.0 was an .exe file. So I saw a post on some computer forum about making a bootable usb for dos and copying the Bios .exe file and running it from dos. So I tried it and could not get the usb to boot. AS soon as I would turn on the computer it would flash the incompatible chip detected and press F1 to enter Bios.

I looked at Newegg's site and they claim on the product description that the board bios supports Richland. But I read some of the reviews and they claimed they needed the Trinity APU to update the bios. So I tried calling customer service and said they cannot gurantee if I order a board from them that the correct bios version would be installed. They told me to call MSI to verify. MSI said to check with the board seller, just getting send around in circles. . However; there was one review that said it was possible to update the Bios with the Richland APU within a "secret" bypass in Bios.

So I grabbed the bootable usb drive with the bios update and inserted it into the computer and turned it on. Got back into Bios, I couldn't find anything other that boot priority order. Tried setting it for the usb to boot first. I reboot the computer and it did not work got sent back to the warning screen. Went back into bios and kept looking around for something different. Finally I saw a + sign near the boot priority order, I click on that, a popup with the usb drive appears. I click on it and the computer reboots into dos. Finally!!!!!!! I was able to update the Bios to v2.0. Ran the update and then was able to install windows and XBMC.

tldr; was able to update bios with the Richland APU, did not need to borrow a Trinity to run the update.