[mythtv-users] Foxconn NVIDIA ION system and 2G ram stick at newegg

[Dan Wilga]

On 8/20/10 5:57 PM, Greg Oliver wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 20, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Ozzy Lash<ozzy.lash at gmail.com>  wrote:
>    
>> The current shell shocker at newegg is a
>>
>> Foxconn NT-330I-A-B-NA-A NVIDIA ION Black Barebone Systems - Mini / Booksize
>> and
>> Rendition by Crucial 2GB 200-Pin DDR2 SO-DIMM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
>> Laptop Memory Model RM25664AC800
>>
>> for a total of $189.
>>
>> This sounds like it could be a good frontend system (need to add a
>> drive/usb stick/or netboot and a remote).  Seems similar to the Acer
>> Aspire Revo.  Anyone have any experience with these, good or bad?
>>      
> well, since the unit needs 4GB for the bios to allocate 512 to the
> gpu, I would vote bad...  Lack of esata, etc also...
>    
I'm going to re-post something in this thread that I just put into 
another one with a less relevant title:

While it's true that the Foxconn does require 4 Gb of RAM in order to 
allocate 512 Mb to video, it's open to debate whether or not VDPAU 
actually requires that much RAM when the system uses an IGP.

I am able to play 1080i .mkv or MP2 video using the VDPAU Slim profile 
on my Foxconn box. However, it does eventually lock up the system (as 
does pretty much any kind of video). According to one of nVidia's techs, 
the problem is most likely not the lack of RAM, though. See this thread 
if you're really interested:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=150725

and, specifically, this post:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=2247190&postcount=3

According to other posts I've read, if lack of video memory really was a 
problem, I'd be seeing error messages and poor quality upon playback, 
which I am not--just the eventual lockup, which is most likely 
unrelated. In all my Googling, I never came up with complaints from 
Windows users who said that VDPAU was locking up on this machine so 
that, at least, is encouraging. There might be something nVidia can 
adjust in their Linux driver.

I've contacted nVidia to see if they would like me to send them a 
pre-configured Foxconn box so that they can confirm the problem. We'll 
see how that goes.

-- 
Dan Wilga                                                        "Ook."