Think I've found the HTPC I've been looking for...

[PC-Engine]

ASUS DiGiMatrix Barebone Digital Entertainment PC. Newegg is selling it for only $320. All I need is CPU/RAM/HDD. It already comes with a CD-R/RW/DVD drive. 8)

Oh btw does anybody know if the P4s at 90nm run cooler than 130nm version at the same clock speed? :?

Reason why I as is because the maximum recommended cpu for this PC is a P4 2.4GHz. If the 90nm P4 runs cooler then I can probably get away with a 2.6GHz P4. Any thoughts?

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mobile/display/asus-digimatrix.html

 

[Mariner]

ASUS DiGiMatrix Barebone Digital Entertainment PC. Newegg is selling it for only $320. All I need is CPU/RAM/HDD. It already comes with a CD-R/RW/DVD drive. 8)

Oh btw does anybody know if the P4s at 90nm run cooler than 130nm version at the same clock speed? :?

Reason why I as is because the maximum recommended cpu for this PC is a P4 2.4GHz. If the 90nm P4 runs cooler then I can probably get away with a 2.6GHz P4. Any thoughts?

Hmmm. Don't really like the look of that case to be honest.

Here's some useful information about the heat of CPUs:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article31-page1.html

It would be really nice if Intel finally released Pentium M for sale in the desktop market as these would be absolutely ideal for decent performance married to cool/quiet designs.

It may be interesting to see how cool the lower-end or even underclocked 90nm Athlon64s are.

 

[PC-Engine]

Cool thanks. I like this case because everthing is integrated and prebuilt and it's fairly cheap too considering it comes witha slim drive, card reader, and remote control. Of course I could've gotton a brushed aluminum Ahanix or Silverstone case and go all out but I think this will do for now.

 

[Sxotty]

I have a thought, too bad they didn't release one that would work with AMD chips since they are much cooler


BTW will it play DVDs/CDs/MP3s w/o you turning on the machine? If not I think it is worthless from the perspective of a HTPC

 

[zurich]

It got terrible reviews..

 

[MasterBaiter]

The most recent stepping (e) of the .90 P4 chips are apparently running quite a bit cooler, but I also understant that they have almost hyperactive throttling issues. :?

Have you considered trying out a Dothan mobile chipset instead?

 

[PC-Engine]

BTW will it play DVDs/CDs/MP3s w/o you turning on the machine? If not I think it is worthless from the perspective of a HTPC

Yes.

In conclusion to our ASUS DIGIMatrix multimedia center review I would like to say that this system allows listening to the radio and playing DVD and VCD discs without even loading the operation system. To make it happen you should use a special small utility aka Audio DJ, which is stored in the flash-memory together with the mainboard BIOS. However, note that this utility has very limited functionality and highly ascetic interface. That is why we will not go into details describing it today. In fact, the only evident advantage of this Audio DJ tool compared with Home Theatre described above (besides the ability to work without starting the OS) is its ability to play mp3 files directly from a CD-disc.

Have you considered trying out a Dothan mobile chipset instead?

No, but the board that comes with that PC only accepts soc 478 and Dothan is soc 479 IIRC.

 

[mito]

What exactly are you planning?

Don't you have a computer already?

Your system can become an HTPC if you wish.
Also, the HTPC device you're looking after doesn't have the necessary power for real sound. I mean if you wish to hook them to real speakers and a subwoofer.....

 

[PC-Engine]

What exactly are you planning?

Don't you have a computer already?

Your system can become an HTPC if you wish.
Also, the HTPC device you're looking after doesn't have the necessary power for real sound. I mean if you wish to hook them to real speakers and a subwoofer.....

Well I already have 3 minitower PCs, but they're all old. The fastest one is a PIII 600MHz. I want a new PC that's really small, but not styled like those micro Shuttle boxes. I want it to blend in with my other electronics. It will be mainly hooked up to an LCD display for computer use. I was originally going to go with an aluminum Ahanix or Silverstone case, remote, flourescent dot display, HDTV tuner card, etc., but I changed my mind and wanted something that was simple and fast to build. This is for my room not for the living room. I already have a HT setup for the living room with Yamaha receiver, DVD player, speakers, etc.