[phiqtion]

Finally finished my HTPC:

Lanbox LITE w/ window
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811133044
Antec EarthWatts EA380
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...&Tpk=ea380
Thermaltake Blue Orb II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...20orb%20II


Asus P5N7A-VM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131348
C2D E7300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...&Tpk=e7300
G.skill DDR2 800 2gb 2x1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231098




WD 640gb GREEN
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6822136298


Ubuntu 8.04/Windows XP + XBMC


Killa Sampla plays flawlessly @ 2.66ghz

*Overscan issues* on Samsung 32" LCD *Fixed* Overscan easily on Nvidia control panel (XP)
*No HDMI audio* ON Linux ONLY

CPU currently idles @ core0 36 core1 43 degrees (Hot Weather in Puerto Rico)
45 max on killa sampla (with Ksensors)
NO dropped frames 1080p content on XP

win7 rc flawless hdmi audio

[BLKMGK]

Looks good, that P/S and HDD ought to help you save some juice too!

[spozen]

Hows the noise with that fan of yours, are you using speedstep? Im interested in a fan that runs real silent on a E7300 not using speedstep which means it will run in the same speed all the time.

And please post how many frame drops you get when playing the killa sample i get 60 frames dropped at stock speed, with arons patch on intrepid.

About power saving, what's EPU-4 Engine is this hardware or software based?

[fasteddy]

That's a decently small box, which is great for a set-top box, but don't you find all that lighting a little distracting?

[phiqtion]

Hows the noise with that fan of yours, are you using speedstep? Im interested in a fan that runs real silent on a E7300 not using speedstep which means it will run in the same speed all the time.

And please post how many frame drops you get when playing the killa sample i get 60 frames dropped at stock speed, with arons patch on intrepid.

About power saving, what's EPU-4 Engine is this hardware or software based?

speedstep is currently off, fan is considerably quiet as i only hear it when everything in the room is shut down. as for the killa sample im losing 13 frames at the start but then playback gets really smooth. all 1080p & 720p content plays really really smooth.

cpu load on killa sample raises up to 83%,
on 1080p & 720p content never exceeds 23%

[BLKMGK]

Dropped frames at the start is perfectly normal and almost never consistant so no worries there...

[spozen]

Just found out there is something called Q-fan control on this board which lowers the fans speed which leads to lower noise. Pretty cool, just too bad the temps gets high in my setup. Core 0 goes up to 66 with q-fan on. Normal temp is 55. (Yes this is full load)

Since i only torture my CPU while running 1080p material, and i don't watch 1080p material more than 3 hours a day this can't be a big issue or what do you think?

[BLKMGK]

It has thermal protections if worse comes to worse. I would maybe want it a little cooler but I don't think I'd be losing sleep over it. Core temps tend to read noticeably higher than CPU temps anyway for some reason - at least on Windows <shrug>

[spozen]

Edit:


Have you guys tried prime95?? I just figured out that i can't run at 3.1GHz atleast not with the memory running in 800MHz. This is the perfect app for finding the most stable config.