Zotac ION (NVIDIA 9400 graphics / Atom CPU) Mini-ITX motherboard now shipping

@kortina

this won't work ,if you choose the zotac with external power supply.
you would need the zotac with regular atx-power-connector.
(which isn't available, afaik)

by the way:
zotacs external power connector is a piece of crap.
it consumes 17watt by itself (not plugged into the mobo):

quoting myself from another thread:

Quote:the psu is one of the least things, i thought about, while planning a htpc.

but now, with this 17 watts, i have to send it back to the store.
i'm using my xbox about 2 hours a day.
the rest of the day it stays off (power still plugged in)
it needs nearly 165 watts per day.

the ion-board would take 450 watts.

no way. it makes me sad, but this is definitly a "NO-GO" for me.
and still, i can't believe that it was never mentioned before.

by the way: the asrock ionstar needs 1 watt, when it is OFF.

This might need a new thread... I couldnt start one:

It would really useful if a "Preferred Hardware" list was created.

Just something simple with some basic pro's and cons.

I have been reading these forums for a while now, and also using XBMC on a few different platforms, but still would find it hard to recommend a setup for users based on different needs.


EG:

Platform = XBOX

Pros:
Cheap
Fast boot times
Easy remote support
Lower power (x watts when OFF, y when in use)

Cons:
Noisy (xDB)
No High Definition


Platform = Zotac itx-nVidia9400
Pros:
XBMC Live support
VPADU support
Quiet
Low power

Cons:
no remote on
excessive power consumption when off


It is very difficult for new users to select HTPC hardware to run XBMC on.

I know that people should have a choice, I know that the beauty of open source and linux allows for flexability. But users (even experienced ones) are drowning in choice.

XBOX was so easy, but is getting dated.

I still cant decide on a Zotac or an ASUS ION...

snoxbox Wrote:Wake On Lan and Wake on USB are completely different. Wake on Lan does work.

dumb question, but how do you get WOL to work on the board? I've turned on wake on MAC in the bios, but when i send magic packets to the board it won't turn on from a shut-of state. My desktop computer can turn on from a powered off state when i send it a packet, and Ive verified the MAC address used with the sticker on the connector....do i need to change any other bios settings to get it to work or does it only work in a suspended state?

BIOS update for our boards posted today....now features gpu overclock!!!

http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=co...Itemid=506

Evanrich Wrote:dumb question, but how do you get WOL to work on the board? I've turned on wake on MAC in the bios, but when i send magic packets to the board it won't turn on from a shut-of state. My desktop computer can turn on from a powered off state when i send it a packet, and Ive verified the MAC address used with the sticker on the connector....do i need to change any other bios settings to get it to work or does it only work in a suspended state?

You need to enable it at the operating system level too, not only in the BIOS. In windows from device manager, in "properties" of the interface, "power administration" tab, you must enable "allow this device to wake up the computer" (or something like that). In linux, you must run (at every season, this setting is not persistent after power off/power on) the command "ethtool -s eth0 wol g". That is assuming eth0 is the interface you want to awake the computer from. Of course, the user running the script must have enough privileges (i.e., root). I suggest you add the command to one of the start up scripts. If you still have doubts, google "ethtool wol" and there is lots of information about this.

gpu(!) overclock (but let me think... who needs it?)

damn. how can i update my bios when i'm using linux?

donabi Wrote:gpu(!) overclock (but let me think... who needs it?)

Agreed, cpu overclock would be more useful. Does the Zotac IONITX have cpu overclock features in the BIOS?

ion_man Wrote:Agreed, cpu overclock would be more useful. Does the Zotac IONITX have cpu overclock features in the BIOS?

Yes it does. But u can´t set the CPU voltage, only the chipset voltage.
But u can change CPU and RAM speed apart.