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Old 8th Nov 2009, 08:16   #1
gingbeard
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Mini ITX
Im looking at building a mini-itx pc with a Atom 230 1.6GHz CPU and 1gig of ram. Will this be able to play .avi files ok? What are the advantages / disadvantages to mini-itx?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 08:25   #2
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yar, it will manage .avi, if you get some decent onboard graphics it will manage blu-ray even...
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 08:36   #3
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yar, it will manage .avi, if you get some decent onboard graphics it will manage blu-ray even...
"manage" makes it seem like it might struggle...
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 08:37   #4
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Nah it'll be fine, the cpu usage will be up around 60-80% but there is still a bit of leg room for web use or the like.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 09:19   #5
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Nah it'll be fine, the cpu usage will be up around 60-80% but there is still a bit of leg room for web use or the like.
yes, but it will have to be chrome, firefox with addons demolishes even mobile Core 2s
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 10:30   #6
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To be fair, when I have a .AVI running, That'll be all that needs to be running - no need to run a .AVI on the tv (using the VGA cable) aswell as running chrome/firefox...
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 11:09   #7
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yes, but it will have to be chrome, firefox with addons demolishes even mobile Core 2s
Is crome good then? Worth having?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 13:53   #8
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Is crome good then? Worth having?
Chrome's very simple, very stripped back, and not as modifiable as Firefox. I like it because it seems quite resilient and it's really simple.

With regard to the PC, it's difficult to give a definite answer unless all you will ever do with this thing is play .avi's. Is that it? What onboard graphics were you planning?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 14:11   #9
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yes, but it will have to be chrome, firefox with addons demolishes even mobile Core 2s
I don't find that at all. Sure, on my old laptop with a 1.8GHz Pentium M it struggles (thats the RAM (768MB holding it back I reckon) but my current one with a 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo, Firefox is fine.

To the OP - if you are thinking about the future, apart from getting a Via Nano, something with either or both of a dual core Atom or Ion might be worth thinking about.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 14:53   #10
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Chrome's very simple, very stripped back, and not as modifiable as Firefox. I like it because it seems quite resilient and it's really simple.

With regard to the PC, it's difficult to give a definite answer unless all you will ever do with this thing is play .avi's. Is that it? What onboard graphics were you planning?
Used primeraly as a torrent box. But used to play the DL'd torrents through a TV or monitor. Also to store Photos on. Nothing more other than perhaps facebook etc. No games, thats for sure
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 18:40   #11
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bump. Might be buying parts tomorrow morning
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 18:46   #12
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Then it depends on the video chipset. Something like an NVIDIA ION will play everything - even HD content - but I don't know about the performance of the other integrated ones.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 18:50   #13
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I'm running Firefox 3.5.5 with Noscript, Better Privacy, Adblock Plus, Greasemonkey and IE tab on a spare PC, Pentium 4 1.3 Ghz and 1GB crappy RIMM memory at the moment and no slowness or problems at all.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 18:51   #14
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Then it depends on the video chipset. Something like an NVIDIA ION will play everything - even HD content - but I don't know about the performance of the other integrated ones.
Video chipset? I was just going to use whatever the above listed Motherboard had in it?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 18:58   #15
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Video chipsets are becoming increasingly important because they're increasingly useful. Especially with Vista and 7, because their entire interfaces are accelerated and handled by the GPU. This takes a lot of load off of the CPU.

The next version of Flash player is said to be completely accelerated as well, which means Youtube and the like will be completely handled by the GPU. And trust me, even "low-end" dedicated cards can handle this kind of stuff just fine. As a result, Youtube and Hulu and HDTV video playback will be a piece of cake for a lot of PCs which have traditionally been too weak for (because their CPUs were too weak).

Most GPUs have been capable of doing all of this stuff for a long time, it's just now that we can finally use them for something other than gaming and 3-D work (and certain offline video playback applications).
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 19:03   #16
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OK guys. Here is my new question, that I wish to ask the masters of computer wizardry...

Basically, I have the choice between a second hand 2gb/360gb , nvidea graphics card (a decent one), coolmaster PSU DESKTOP from a work mate (£100), or a new MINI ITX PC that I will build myself with 1gb/360gb for £150. What should I do?

My reason for liking the mini-itx idea is that It would be used as a torrent box, and used as a tv, advantages being that is uses a lot less power. Advantages to the Desktop is that It'll do anything I ask of it.

HELP! lol
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 19:06   #17
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OK guys. Here is my new question, that I wish to ask the masters of computer wizardry...

Basically, I have the choice between a second hand 2gb/360gb , nvidea graphics card (a decent one), coolmaster PSU DESKTOP from a work mate (£100), or a new MINI ITX PC that I will build myself with 1gb/360gb for £150. What should I do?

My reason for liking the mini-itx idea is that It would be used as a torrent box, and used as a tv, advantages being that is uses a lot less power. Advantages to the Desktop is that It'll do anything I ask of it.

HELP! lol
What CPU does the second-hand machine have?
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 19:16   #18
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I believe its a Intel® Core™2 Quad
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 19:18   #19
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?? I'd definitely go with that. Unless you really care about saving a little on your energy bill.
The second-hand PC you just described is several times as powerful as the ITX build you were planning.

And considering it's cheaper than what you would build yourself, it's a no-brainer.
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Old 8th Nov 2009, 19:21   #20
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Yes, I suppose that you are right TheMusician. I will get the bigger, desktop PC and put my dream to loose my PC build virginity behind me... To pick up another day when I have more money to build me mini-itx ;p.

Thankyou.
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