[mythtv-users] Myth experiences with Zotac ION + ATOM mobo
Glen Dragon
gdragon at jetcom.org
Wed May 27 03:33:32 UTC 2009
Since i figured that others might be interested, i figured that i'd post my
experiences in the past week with the 1st of the Nvidia Ion boards to come
out. For those that don't know the Zotac IONITX is a mobo with a nvidia ion
chipset that mates a 9400 graphics core with a intel atom processor.
I managed to grab one of these boards last week right after the reviews came
out.. newegg had them (since sold out)
There are 4 different boards with various combinations of single/dual core,
and internal DC-DC power vs ATX.
I got the IONITX-C. board.. The board i got has the DC power regulator,
and the single core atom N230. *
I would highly recommend this board.*
This board is what us myth folks have been looking for since we started this
hobby.
I'm using it as a diskless frontend connected to a 40" LCD, playing off of a
network master server/backend.
Using VDPAU..
- Can play ATSC OTA recordings both 720p & 1080i, and hdpvr *h.264
720p*recordings.
- CPU utilization while playing is* 5-10%*
- Can playback at 1.4x - looks pretty good. logs show some dropped
frames, but still watchable depending on source.
- Power draw at the plug is *21 W.* Power draw did no vary from idle to
watching recordings
- Board is stable. uptime is a 5 days. -- Replaced my main watching FE
machine.
- Netboot works out of the box
- Runs 64 bit executables
- Small - fits behind TV, out of sight.
- Fanless. Totally silent. You need a blinky light to know that it's on.
- (Still playing with de-interlacers) Running 180.51 drivers.. need to
upgrade to 180.60
- Sensors does not find temp sensors.. GFX core as reported by nvidia
tools runs from 59-67 deg C.
- GUI menus very usable, w/ blootube wide
- Audio over optical spdif works, Analog audio too.
- Audio over HDMI is allegedly supposed to work.. (i'm not using -- don't
have a spare hdmi cable to test)
- VGA & DVI both tested, hdmi untested (no reason to think it shouldn't
work)
- Boots in a reasonable amount of time.
- DC Supply is ideal. I cannot fathom a use for the ATX connector.. (yes,
i saw the other thread.. )
Negatives:
- Takes 2-3 minutes to prescale theme images first time. w/ blootube
wide
- Needed to disable generating pixmaps from bookmark, as atom processor
isn't very good at that, and make user interface seem to lockup.
- Unable to rmmod alsa-realtek module, always in use, never gets freed.
<- Kernel bug?
- No firewire for cable box control/capture -- not really an ideal
backend anyways.
- No speedstep scaling.. not supported by atom N230. Not needed.. see
21W !!!!
Some might consider the dual core atom ... I don't think you need it. My
understanding is that it may require a fan for the dual core, and certainly
draw more power. The Atom processor is really not used for much.
I used this case:
http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure?sc=8&category=87Perfect
application for it.
My pics: Gallery<http://www.jetcom.org/gallery/v/dragon/dragon-house/computer/ion/>
Questions welcome.. I will probably pick up a few more of these boards for
other locations in my house in the near future.
-- dragonian
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