Hi - can anybody help me select some suitable components? What I'm aiming for is: 1. chassis form factor - that fits 20cm deep (bookshelf) x 15cm high x whatever long, sau 35cm or less 2. dual Freeview tuners (preferably on one card and with one aerial input) 3. large (but quiet) HD capacity 4. as near silent as possible 5. Gigabit Ethernet (& I don't need Wifi) 6. DVI and HDTV output (HDMI?) 7. Surround audio direct to my speakers (Gallo Nucleus & MPS 150 Sub) With a chassis that size, it seems I'm down to Mini-ITX Pentium-M or P4M motherboards (Epias, I understand, are just not up to it). Does anybody have an experience of these? It looks like my choice is: a) the i-Base board that has the Intel 915 chipset; or b) Commell LV-673NS, like TranquilPc apparently uses quite reliably; or c) something like this from DFI Can anyone see a reason to choose one of these over another? Also, can anyone tell me what the LVDS sockets are for? Is that where the LCD would plug into? I know there’s been some talk here about Dual Core stuff, so maybe I should also be considering the new i-Base board that has the Intel 945GM chipset? - is it out yet? I’m considering using a video card if the onboard video cannot work reliably with windows MCE and two DVB-T tuners. It would need to be on a riser, since I want to put it into the Beblu chassis see here. The cards I'm considering are nVidia 6600 series, low profile, passively cooled: a) Asus Aeolus PCX6600-DV128LP b) XFX GeForce 6600 128MB DDR TV DVI LP I’m also considering a Sound card, if I cannot make the motherboard’s onboard surround sound work with my speakers...If I can connect my surround speakers directly to your board, I might not need a sound card. My speakers are not connected to a special receiver/surround decoder, so I want to be able to connect them directly to whatever the outputs are in the motherboard, without having to worry that the satellites are being sent low frequencies that they cannot handle. Would that work with these type of motherboard? If not can anyone recommend a simple sound card solution? For tuners, I'm considering the following: a) Fusion HDTV DVB T-D Dual Digital – pensive and uses up an internal/external USB connection. What I like about it is that it has a power up function which could pass through a motherboard ATX power switch to allow it to wake the PC to record a TV programme, but I'm not sure how this can be connected on these mini-ITX motherboards b) An even better alternative might be Dual Mini-PCI DVB-T tuners from LifeView, but I cannot work out how if it’s two DVB-T tuners or one DVB-T and one Analog (no response from Lifeview), nor can I work out where the TV aerial cable plugs in? c) Another alternative is the Terratec Cinergy 2400i DT / MCE , but it’s PCIe, and tha would presumably rule out using a graphics card as well, plus I can’t see how where to get a riser card that would fit (they all seem to be the long slot variety, but cards is this the short slot type. Also, I heard there were driver/stability issues with this card – anyone know if that has been sorted out yet? As far as Hard drives go, do anyone you have experience of the Samsung Spinpoint drives? (I've heard reports that they are quieter and more reliable than the Seagate Barracuda drives?). Finally could anyone tell me what the quietest DVD writers you have come across are? Thanks in advance for your help!
(Low Voltage Differential Signaling) interface as standard. LVDS can be used to interface to certain flat panel displays, at signal rates as high as 655 Mbps.
It sounds like you are talking about having potentially 4 expansion cards in there. I don't think Mini-ITX will be the proper form factor. You may want to go MATX. The Antec Aria is a very popular case for this form factor. With the added benefit that you can go dual core and SLI. As for HDD, go Seagate. I think Samsung is a close second. For sound, as long as the motherboard has digital coax or optical out, and you have the proper inputs on your amp, then you shouldn't really need a separate sound card. I can't really say much about the rest of your questions. I hope I made sense. good luck.
Thanks for your feedback geek1017. I definitely want to see if I can stay Mini-ITX. Form factor is going to be important in our living room if my wife is to put up with MSWindows on the TV. If Hush, Tranquil & Beblu can do it, it must be possible. The newer Mini-ITX Boards have 3 PCI expansion slots in various combinations of PCI/PCIe/MiniPCI. If one can be a dual tuner, it should be possible to add a video card and a soundcard, as well, if I can find the right components. My amp is an amp, not a surround sound decoder, hence no digital input. But I think there are cables that come with these motherboards that allow you to plug 5 satellites and a base directly into the 3/6 coloured audio jack sockets. I'm just not sure how well it will work. Similarly, I may not need the video card if the onboard video + the hardware on the tuners works well together. Alternatively, if I go with the newer dual core option, maybe that will mean less need for a graphics card, but I don't know much about that. What's SLI? What sways your recommendation for Seagate vs Samsung?
For the Seagate, it's just that I've heard good things about the quiet running and good performance of their drives. Are we talking 3.5" or 2.5" drive? I think Seagate also just came out with an over 100GB 2.5" drive. SLI is running 2 video cards over PCIe 16X and getting insane performance for the latest games and such. Not really a big deal for an HTPC. Indeed, I was just looking at Logic Supply and there are P4m based mini-ITX that have as you say PCIe for gfx, PCI, and miniPCI. The only thing I've seen for miniPCI has been wireless cards. so yeah, video card and sound card are an option. I don't know if there are any tuners out for either miniPCI or PCIe, so that will make a choice between sound and TV. I think that a video card and TV tuner will be your best bet. Sound should be ok out of the onboard surround sound stuff. As long as you're not as much of an audiophile as some of the guys around here. I was only suggesting mATX in case you wanted to have more expansion or play games and such. Mini-ITX is certainly hitting its stride these days though. I'm hoping that my next build will be mini-ITX
I was thinking of 3.5" SATA II so this Samsung or this Seagate The Lifeview TV tuners are Mini-PCI (there are other manufacturers too, some based on the Philips chip) The terratec card is PCie (See the links in the first post)
Ok, we're working with different standards here. PCIe 1X is a small, black connector. Only one of the motherboards you linked to (iBase) supports it. And from the picture of the board, I don't know how it supports it because it is behind the PCI connector, which makes no sense to me. PCIe 16X is dedicated for Video Cards. You're not going to find anything else for this slot. I am amazed by that Lifeview card. I've never seen anything like it. Looking at the card though, I don't see any actual inputs. So I guess you'd have to make your own cable or something? I think you're better off sticking with PCI for TV. Now that I look at reviews and such, the Samsung drive seems to be the way to go. Seagate do have a 5 year warranty though. Where are you located btw? That has some impact on what I can recommend for hardware.
Based in the UK. yep, I was wondering how to fit anything into that PCIe 1X slot too - maybe there is some kind of ribbon connection or something - I emailed the i-Base in Taiwan who replied quickly but passed it on to the 'local distributor' who hasn't repsonded. I'm thinking it might be worth waiting for the Aopen i915GMt-FA, since it seems to be a more sensible layout - however no reply from them on a launch date either (Cebit in march maybe?) Similarly no response from Beblu on the chassis/case either - I'm wondering if they're still in business. All a bit depressingly quiet...if I don't get somewhere soon, I'll probaby end up with foregoing the form factor and go with a shuttle, or something. Do you have a view on the dual-core thing?
You were right. It's here Need a bit of a re-think on the chassis then. I havenst seen a Mini-ITX chassis that even comes close. Maybe even Micro-ITX based product like Aopen's MZ915-M?...
What about a custom case? Lots of people get good results with plexi or mdf. Brushed Alu like the Lian Li cases is nice as well. It's more work, but worth it for getting things exactly as you want them. And it's an excuse for a project log. It will be a long while before I can start on my miniITX project but I've got plans to build it into an NES box. I know it has been done before, but not very cleanly imho. Plus I've got a broken NES to work with anyway, why not?
here's how it's done - Helpful chap at i-base Europe, emailed me this picture and a user manual for the board...
