Keeping cool in the cupboard
#16
BacklitVillain Wrote:The only reason I fancy a self build over an Atom/Ion is incase I want to do anything else with it in the future, so i just want to spend my money wisely, kind of a 'right first time' approach.

I do fancy going down the Atom/Ion route for the bedroom though, although i have a laptop knocking about somewhere with a smashed screen that i might just butcher.

Well, the way I'd look at it (although this doesn't use up your dud lappie) would be to buy the Atom/ION and set it up in your cabinet for now, and then when you know what you want to do bigger/better, or when you want XBMC in the bedroom, relegate the ION then and take advantage of the inevitably lower cost of components.

I'm just thinking that your principle concern has to be the heat generated, followed by the noise, and Atom/ION covers that perfectly. Since you don't know what else you want to do with it, anything else is a bonus. If you get a dual-core HT Atom you can run bundles of background tasks. If you want to use a web browser or something on your TV I'd personally not bother. Been there, tried it. It was rubbish. Games are few and far between on Linux (since you suggested going that route) and you'd be better with a console for that kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. I'd buy the ION myself and move it to the bedroom later. Of course I regard my XBMC as an appliance - it does nothing but play videos (even my music is dealt with elsewhere). Anything other than an ION (or AppleTV if you're desperate for Component) will result in a significantly bigger machine, but maybe that's not a concern in your case.
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#17
You make a lot of sense sir. That might be a good option.

So which atom/ion is generally considered the best?
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#18
defiler Wrote:I'd buy the ION myself and move it to the bedroom later.

To be honest, I'm so impressed with the Zotac ND01 I bought for my bedroom that I am seriously considering replacing the i3 in the living room. Really impressed with the little machine. CPU load during 1080p playback is 3-5% for each core ... lol.
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#19
BacklitVillain Wrote:You make a lot of sense sir. That might be a good option.

So which atom/ion is generally considered the best?

"Best" is fairly arbitrary, but for me noise is my largest concern - and you can't get quieter than a fanless system. For that, I think the Shuttle XS35GT plus SSD is king right now. In addition to silent, it's also very low power and heat. If you can tolerate a little noise there are a number of options with pretty quiet fans, though I'll have to defer to others for specific recommendations. You'll probably pay about $50 premium for the fanless option, which imho is well worth it.
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Keeping cool in the cupboard0