IWill tiny barebone for HTPC socket 478 and 754 for $157 geeks.com

[nairi]

I was searching around actually for a 1u server case to build a socket 478 HTPC in, but this thing looks awsome, it already has DVI so I can connect it to my TV and have 1080i, only other mother board that i've heard of that has DVI is ASUS and MSI that are from $80-$100. This even has a PCI expansion slot that i'm going to put an ATI HDTV wonder into. hook up a USB wireless adapter put in ur processor, HD, memory, DVD drive and ur set.

socket 478

socket 754

 

[Ready]

180 watt ps on the socket 754?

 

[Slick5150]

It says:
# Expansion Slot:
# One AGP 8X slot available
# One Mini-PCI slot

I don't think you're going to fit an HDTV card into a mini-PCI slot

 

[Kelvrick]

Looks decent if you have an ati aiw card.

Wonder if that optical out actually outputs 5.1 or just 2 channels.

 

[nairi]

yeah ,I just saw that, but the socket 478 has a PCI slot, and no AGP

 

[IlllI]

the one review i was able to find noted that if you wanted to use a decent agp card, then you could only use a 2.5 in hard drive. the drive is located directly behind the agp, so there is limited room.

 

[nairi]

I just noticed that the socket 754 doesn't have DVI out either. So for the AMD guys, ur out of luck. I plan on putting a mobile celeron or my P4 in this thing, so if u have intel then this might be a good deal

 

[EagleEye]

Hmm, I have an old 2.53 533mhz p4 and ATI 9700 pro (sadly, not AIW). Wonder if this would make a good, cheap HTPC...

 

[Yurkinator]

Originally posted by: EagleEye
Hmm, I have an old 2.53 533mhz p4 and ATI 9700 pro (sadly, not AIW). Wonder if this would make a good, cheap HTPC...

The socket 478 one does not have an agp slot, it has a pci slot. Anyone know where to find a slimline optical drive that would work with these?

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: Yurkinator

Originally posted by: EagleEye
Hmm, I have an old 2.53 533mhz p4 and ATI 9700 pro (sadly, not AIW). Wonder if this would make a good, cheap HTPC...

The socket 478 one does not have an agp slot, it has a pci slot. Anyone know where to find a slimline optical drive that would work with these?

Geeks has one

Any slimline optical drive would work, though you should get a DVD-ROM drive (at least) if you plan to use this as an HTPC.

 

[nairi]

u can get a nice dvd burner here for $89 link

and u can get a cheap DVD drive for $25 link

 

[mboy]

So this would be decent to use to hook up to a front PJ and use powerstrip to output 854x480 to do a 1:1 Pixel map on my Projector via it's built in DVI?

No gaming, only straight up HTPC, so this DVI is good enough?

 

[brucekatz]

How do you cool these tiny things? Graphic cards are hot, it only has one case fan...

 

[Gibson486]

this thing has been on sale since Christams...infact, Geeks.com made it clearence for their new years deal....and they added $10....some clearence that was.

 

[nairi]

well the socket 478 version has video built in, and i'm planning on using a mobile celeron which doesn't get hot at all. DVI output to a projector sounds like a good idea, besides with the built in video u really can't do any graphic intensive gaming.

 

[nairi]

found some pics of the inside, looks like it comes with an array of heatpipe cooler.

pic

pic

pic

pic

pic

 

[AndrewR]

Bummer on the hard drive issue -- notebook drives are just too expensive (reference normal drives and vid card problem mentioned above). Seems like a good system if none of the quirks get you on the configuration. Damn, thought I was going to replace my main system with this one!

 

[nairi]

actually u can fit a regular hard drive in there, it goes on the other side of the motherboard where the PCI or AGP slot is. THis is straight from the website:

"Drive Bays:
One 3.5" drive bay for IDE HDD Or Two 2.5" drive bay for IDE HDDs
One internal drive bay for slim line optical drive"

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: nairi
actually u can fit a regular hard drive in there, it goes on the other side of the motherboard where the PCI or AGP slot is. THis is straight from the website:

"Drive Bays:
One 3.5" drive bay for IDE HDD Or Two 2.5" drive bay for IDE HDDs
One internal drive bay for slim line optical drive"

Look at what someone said about regular sized hard drives and larger AGP cards though, above. In any event, I need something with two hard drive bays, and I don't want to be limited to slim line optical drives. I'm cheap that way.