eTeknix » htpc

Xigmatek announce Gigas mATX Cube Case

Ryan Martin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:35:05 +0000

Xigmatek is celebrating a first with the Gigas Micro-ATX Cube, as it is their first Aluminum chassis. Even with its compact dimensions, the Gigas Cube manages to fit high-end Hardware, allowing you to build a potent HTPC or Gaming system. USB 3.0, space for up to 4 fans, along with a fan controller round up the list of features.

The shell of the cube chassis is constructed of Aluminum, which give the chassis that quality look and feel. Plenty of openings allow for ample ventilation and have been placed in the rear, side and front of the chassis, with the one in the front shaped like an X for Xigmatek. Two 5.25 inch drive bays in the front next to a perfectly placed I/O panel, which holds not only the power and reset buttons, but also the two USB 2.0 and a single USB 3.0 plug. The latter may be connected directly to the 20-pin header of modern motherboards. Naturally, two status LEDs and a pair of audio connectors can also be found on the I/O panel..

Upon removing the six screws holding the top cover in place, one may access the innovative interior layout, which is the absolute strength of the Gigas. The motherboard, be it of the Micro-ATX or ITX, is simply placed on the floor of the chassis as this panel also acts as the board tray. Expansion cards and ATX power supply are to be installed horizontally within the chassis, as this is the most efficient use of the limited space. Two large air vents on the left side of the chassis give access to fresh air for the PSU and graphic card so that even the longest (up to 35 cm) and fastest graphic cards keep cool under any circumstance. Two 120 mm fans, rotating at up to 1.000 RPM push cool air across the components, further reducing the overall temperature within the Gigas.

To pull hot air out of the case, the Gigas may hold an additional two 120 mm units in the rear of the chassis. These are to be installed above each other, which generates a healthy flow of air across the hard drive cage and the CPU cooler, Each of the two hard drive cages can hold up to three 3.5 inch hard drives, with an additional 2.5 inch SSD mounting on the underside of each unit, for a total of eight drives. A third cage, intended for two 5.25 inch drives can be found in the front of the chassis. For additional support of these parts, a metal beam has been installed within the chassis, while still allowing CPU coolers with an impressive height of 18.5 cm to be installed with the Gigas.

The Xigmatek Gigas will be available in black or silver variants at the end of March for a price of 109,90 Euro exclusively at Caseking.de.

Source: Press Release

Arctic Living Audio Relay Wireless Media Extender Review

Nick Lord — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:10:56 +0000

The modern home environment is awash with audio visual systems which independently shape the way we lead our lives. With over two million UK residents installing Wi-Fi in their homes in the last 18 months, ARCTIC has seen a gap in the market for a bespoke wireless multi room system.

The new Audio Relay, wireless media extender allows users to listen to music anywhere in in their home, utilising smart phone technology to control your personal jukebox. The system allows intuitive control over preselected music libraries which are stored on your home PC or DLNA server.

Independent multi room systems can come with a hefty price tag and integrated hard wired installations are still in the realms of the serious AV enthusiast.

ARCTIC have stripped back the confusion and refined the installation process to create a plug and play device that utilises your home Wi-Fi network to send media from your computer playlist to a chosen output location within your home. What makes this product even more exciting is the dedicated control application that will allow media browsing and song selection.

Looking at the product off the shelf, the packaging is simple and clean with a large graphic of the receiver on the top of the box.

The key features are identified in smart phone style graphics along the front flap of the box. This gives an initial suggestion of the devices compatibility and functionality. There is also a reference to the downloadable App controller and the URL for ARTCIS’s home site.

On the rear of the packaging there is a schematic diagram for the device setup accompanied by a product description and package contents breakdown. Additionally there is a photograph of the product which identifies the physical connections including analogue output, optical output, USB and Ethernet RJ45 input.

When you open the box you find the components neatly packed leaving little room to spare. The device is wrapped in a cushioned pouch for added protection, with the connection leads and USB power plug separated by a cardboard division.

Once unpacked it is hard to miss the high gloss black finish on the product. The device is a made from a thermosetting plastic that has been manufactured to a high quality finish. The relay is ergonomic in its design with the only features being the on/off button and the Arctic logo.

It is clear from initial inspection that ARCTIC has tried to make the device user friendly to simplify its installation and subsequent operation.

The shape of the unit has also been thought about with its discreet size and light weight at only 0.4 kg allowing multiple installation locations with minimal visual impact.

When installing the device for the first time, the quick start guide provides the option for both Ethernet and Wi-Fi installation. This allows you to install the device in the way that best suits your applications.

Following the simple setup guide I was able to connect within minutes to the Audio Relay and the device was shown on my computers network display in the explorer window. Once the device was recognised on the network it was simple to access connection settings by simply right clicking on the icon and clicking “view device webpage”. This opened a web user interface that allowed me to check for firmware updates, configure a connection mode and view Wi-Fi settings.

On closing the user interface streaming could begin straight away. To do this was as easy as the installation process, I simply had to open my media player and right click on the media I wanted to stream and select play to Arctic wireless speaker. This opened a second media player window ready to output my selected track.

The Audio Relay uses an IP address to stream the music to the correct device, this is like a unique reference number to ensure that the data is sent to the right place and is assigned automatically by your computer during the installation process.

The ARCTIC remote application for this product was released into the Android market in October last year, soon followed by the App store in early December. The device uses Wi-Fi standard 802.11b/g and is compatible with Windows Vista and above.

In addition to this a minimum system RAM of 1Gb is required and a standard 10/100Mbps Ethernet connection. The standard audio formats that are supported include MP3, AAC, WAV and WMA. This makes the device compatible with both downloaded media and ripped music from windows media applications.

The power is supplied through a USB power plug connector into the rear of the device. Running at 5 volts the relay only draws 600mA’s and is therefore relatively economical compared to various other receivers on the market. With the lower power that the system draws, its performance has not been compromised in the slightest, with impressive signal strength and clarity when tested on a standard wireless home router.

ARCTIC has been working hard to design a product that can hold its own in the multi room entertainment market. One feature that I feel really sets this device out above the others is the concurrent music playback which allows multiple users to play music in different rooms at the same time.

Using one central library, the media can be streamed through your router to the networked devices, allowing a true multi room experience. With the price of most multi room systems running into the high hundreds ARCTIC have entered the market with a competitively priced product. Retailing at $132.60 USD or €102 EUR from ARCTIC directly, this product could be seen as a cost effective solution for multi room applications when expensive hard wired alternatives are not an option.

It is most defiantly a serious contender in this market with plenty of room for expansion through its versatile use of home Wi-Fi networks. We look forward to seeing what ARCTIC are going to come up with next as home entertainment networks become more accessible to us all.

Cooler Master showing off a couple cases

Gaetan Longree — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 15:43:42 +0000

Cooler Master, the famed chassis and cooling solution manufacturer, has presented a couple of new products at CES, and even though it’s over, the news are still flowing due to the high number of new products being showed off.

The first new chassis they’re presenting is a HTPC case for the mini-ITX motherboards called the Elite 120. Build mostly from SECC steel, the front bezel is aluminium and features one 5.25″ bays. Front I/O port features one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, audio jacks and the most common power and restart button. Overall the Elite 120 measures 240 x 205.6 x 382.5 mm (WxHxD).

Internally you’ll find four 3.5″ and two 2.5″ bays. Only one 120mm fan is included for front intake, and it is unclear whether more can be added.

After the smaller size, there comes the big boy from Cooler Master and its High Air Flow series (HAF) for the enthusiasts with a new product called the HAF XM, designed to hit the price-features-quality sweetspot.

Made out of SECC steel and ABS plastic, it measures 252 x 530.5 x 571 mm (WxHxD) and weights about 11 kg. Categorized as an ATX full-tower, it supports Micro-ATX, standard ATX, and E-ATX motherboards but doesn’t support XL-ATX.

The front includes three 5.25″ bays while the front panel is equipped with two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, front panel HD audio, power and restart buttons. You’ll also find additional eight 3.5″ bays (two are hot-swap capable) or up to nine 2.5″ bays converted from 3.5″ ones.

Cooling remains up to the name of the series, with plenty of options and plenty of air flow. Included are one 200mm LED-lit front intake fan, one 200mm fan on the top and a 140mm fan for rear exhaust. Optionally, you can switch the front fan for one 140mm or two 120mm fans, add a second 200mm fan on the top or swap them for smaller 140/120mm fans, another 200mm fan can be added on the side-panel and two more 120mm fans can be place on the HDD cage.

Price and availability for both have yet to be announced.

Source: TPU 1/2

Zotac intros its next-generation Home Theatre PC motherboard

Gaetan Longree — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:26:47 +0000

Zotac has introduced today its latest product, the ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme, a next generation mini-ITX platform for Home Theatre PCs.

Combining the energy efficiency of Intel’s Atom D2799 CedarTrail processor with its dual cores and HyperThreading technology along with the world-class Nvidia GeForce GT 520 graphics processor, the D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme is equipped with all that is need for a fast and responsive computer with high quality graphics including hardware-accelerated Blu-ray 3D playback capabilities and HDMI 1.4a technology for the ultimate 3D high-definition experience.

“ZOTAC platforms have been quite popular among home theater PC users. The ZOTAC D2700-ITX WiFi Supreme succeeds our award-winning IONITX series with upgrades to smoothly playback stereoscopic 3D content, output lossless audio formats and embrace Microsoft DirectX 11 technology while maintaining the compact mini-ITX form factor,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

Expansion is found in abundance for the best versatility, the user is given two DDR3 DIMM slots, a PCI Express x16 (single-lane) expansion slot, two SATA 3 Gbps and two USB 3.0 ports.

Connectivity is covered with Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 networking technologies, ensuring lightning-fast network connectivity wired or wirelessly, taking media centre experience to the highest level.

Indepth specifications:

Price and availability haven’t been given.

Source

Three new Intel Atoms in the works

Ryan Martin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:40:02 +0000

Cedar Trail was launched just last week but already there are more models on the way. Cedar Trail Atom processors are designed for low power PCs and mobile Notebooks. The three new models are the N2650, N2850 and D2550. Two of the new models are being introduced as alternatives to the current N2600 and N2800 models, the N2650 gains an extra 0.1GHz across both cores while the N2850 gains 0.17GHz across the two cores over the N2800. The D2550 is the same as D2500 in terms of the CPU but the GPU gains 240MHz more on the GPU core bringing the speed up to 640MHz.

The full list of Cedar Trail Atom specifications can be seen below:

Source: MyDrivers

ASKTech introduces an entirely fanless mini-ITX HTPC chassis

Gaetan Longree — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:42:46 +0000

ASKTech, a Japanese company, recently introduced its latest ultra-compact fanless mini-ITX case; the NT-TX3000BK.

The case is designed to sit in your living room, while in the end, it’s the costumers choice, this chassis is the perfect HTPC. It measures 295 x 270 x 76 mm (WxDxH) and can hold a mini-ITX motherboard with Intel LGA775, 1155 or 1156. The case is limited to these sockets as well as CPUs with TDP under 65W due to the limitations of the power supply and the included heatsink.

This limitation comes partially from the cooler, dubbed ZENO for zero noise, it consists of a base with retention module from which two sets of heatpipes emerge and lead to the two sides of the case where the heat is passively dissipated. The body of this fanless chassis acts as an entire heatsink for the CPU.

To ease installation, the location of the base can be adjusted, same can be done for the contact of the heatpipes on the side of the case. This allows the user not to worry about the location of the CPU.

As for the second limitation, the 100W power supply is external to the case and can be used either directly on a 12V supply featured on some motherboard, or can be used with the additional PCB that sits inside the case and converts the power to 24+4 pin ATX connectors.

As for the included features, unfortunately no optical drives can be installed, although the case supports two 2.5″ drives, includes a low profile-PCI slot as well as two USB 2.0 inputs on the rear.

In addition, the NT-TX3000BK comes bundled with a Windows Media Centre-compliant remote control and its USB receiver.

Pricing and availability haven’t been mentioned.

For more information please refer to the official product page.

Source: Press Release

Silverstone Grandia Series GD06 HTPC Case Review

Chris Hadley — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 11:31:55 +0000

In recent years there has been a steady increase in the number of case forms that are available on the market andthis is driven by the end user trends. Throughout the years, HTPC and SFF (Small Form Factor) chassis have had a strong appearance on the market and Silverstone have always been a strong leader in the HTPC sector and a number of successful models have continued this success. As time has gone on and we come forward to where we are today, the market has become more diluted with the different shapes, sizes and styles of cases – ranging from the m-ATX options which pack as much as they can into as little space as possible right upto the E-ATX cases that have enough room to fit hypothetically more than one system into.

In the more recent years and with the digital age now more mainstream than ever, personal computers are used more and more for home entertainment centres. This has in itself opened up a whole new new sector to the HTPC market, in the past a HTPC was typically a low power machine that played video content with out any real demand placed on the system. The modern HTPC however demands more with the streamlining of high definition content. No longer will a budget all in one board with onboard graphics cut the mustard. Discrete graphics are being called for and this poses a problem with a majority of HTPC designs that can only occupy low profile expansion cards.

Today we get the chance to look at Silverstone’s new Alpha male in their Grandia HTPC line up, the GD06. As with the majority of the Grandia range the design has been fine tuned and refined to give the best performance and design, improving what the consumer needs & likes and taking out what they don’t – such as the small LCD panel on the front.

ASRock targets 10 million motherboard sales in 2012

Ryan Martin — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:31:14 +0000

ASRock is aiming to reach a milestone that only Gigabyte and ASUS have ever reached. The 10 million motherboards in a single year landmark. With shipments totalling around 1.9 million for Q4 of this year ASRock will reach a yearly total of 7.8 million motherboards for the year 2011 – a very impressive number. But, ASRock is around 13.3% short of its 9 million goal for 2011 so internally these are disappointing figures.

However, in terms of brand reputation and recognition ASRock has made huge inroads in 2011 by continuing to push its motherboards particularly those on the LGA 1155 socket. In 2012 we expect more of the same from ASRock, they have the launch of Ivy Bridge and Cedar trail to help speed things along. According to sources ASRock’s revenue is 90% from motherboards and 10% from HTPCs so you can almost certainly assume there will be large undivided focus on Intel’s Ivy Bridge launch later on in May 2012.

Source: DigiTimes

Eolize enhances its Mini-ITX case range

Ryan Martin — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:11:09 +0000

German brand EOLIZE announcing a new Mini-ITX Case. New EOLIZE SVD-NC12-02 Chassis comes from a upgraded SVD-NC11-02 Mini-ATX Case. EOLIZE improved the SVD-NC12-02 by adding a 120 mm axial fan and reworked flat front panel. It furthermore aims for private and corporate customers who are looking for solid and reliable NAS as well as Home Server chassis. It has much in common with a Barebone chassis and can be used as such but offers additional features such as Hot Swap Modules.

Both Hot Swap Modules are located behind the decently designed front door which are able to fit two either 3,5 inch (8,89 cm) or 2,5 inch (6,35 cm) drives such as HDD or SSD. One further 2,5 inch sized HDD/SSD may be mounted inside the SVD-NC12-02 Mini-ITX chassis. This drive can be used as a system drive to install an appropriate Operating System and additional Software. Additionally one 5,25 inch (13,3 cm) bay is located in the front giving enough space for a DVD, CD or Blu-ray drive as well as other commonly used bay accessory. SVD-NC12-02 Mini-ITX Chassis is furthermore equipped with an I/O panel in the front offering two USB 2.0 connectors, one Mic and one Audio-out connector.

To avoid heat accumulation appearing inside the Mini-ITX chassis one 120 mm and one 80 mm axial-fans were built-in. The 120 mm fan is located inside the front door to bring in fresh air from the outside as well as permanently cooling down the two Hard Drives mounted in the Hot Swap Modules. On the rear side one 80 mm axial-fan is mounted to exhaust the hot air created by various components inside the chassis. Hence creating a constant airflow avoiding any heat accumulation.

Similar to the formally announce EOLIZE SVD-NC11-2 Chassis, new SVD-NC12-02 Mini-ATX Chassis comes with a pre-mounted SFX Power Supply Unit rated with 300 Watts power output. To supply the hardware with required power it is equipped with one 24-pin ATX Connector, one 6-pin PCI-Express connector, two 4-pin P4 connectors, two 4-pin Molex and three SATA connectors.

All these features are allowing this chassis to be used for multiple purposes such as Barebone, NAS-, File- or even Home-Server for comfortable Data-Storage. EOLIZE SVD-NC12-02 Mini-ATX chassis is available for 99,00 EUR (incl. VAT/TAX) in the official EOLIZE Shop and can be purchased from other European Online Shops as of today.

Source: Press Release

Lenovo makes the World’s smallest desktop PC

Ryan Martin — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:19:58 +0000

Lenovo, today announced the IdeaCentre Q180 – a consumer desktop PC no larger than a paperback book, yet powerful enough to turn a digital TV into a multimedia hub for enjoying music, videos, games, web browsing and more.

“With the IdeaCentre Q180, we upped our game in the compact PC category,” said Nick Reynolds, executive director, Product Group Marketing, Lenovo. “Featuring the latest HD Graphics and Blu-ray 3D playback, the Q180 enables consumers to change the way they enjoy multimedia and the Web in their living room at an affordable price point.”

Compact Size, Complete Entertainment
Light weight and similar in size to a paperback novel — just 22 mm thick – the world’s smallest production PC still packs a punch and comes with the latest technology. Along with an Intel Atom dual core processor, up to 4GB DDR3 memory, 750GB HDD storage or 128GB SSD storage and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, the Q180 also comes equipped with a VESA Mount that allows flexible fitting anywhere in the home including the back of most HDTVs and monitors.

Home Movie and Theatre Companion
Featuring great multi-media support, the Q180 comes with Full HD 1080p output, including a Blu-ray drive1, 7.1 channel surround sound, Blu-ray 3D and DirectX11 support to help create an authentic movie ambiance and state-of-the-art home-theater experience right in the living room. It also features fast USB 3.0 file transfer support, VGA and HDMI out ports, and S/PDIF connectivity for your HDTV and sound system.

Compact Wireless Keyboard
The IdeaCentre Q180 also comes with a latest generation Lenovo wireless backlit handheld keyboard1, which can fit snuggly in the palm of your hand. From the comfort of a sofa, users can do just about anything via this multimedia control wirelessly, including adjusting surround sound settings, selecting HD movies or simply surfing the Web on the Q180.

Pricing and Availability
The IdeaCentre Q180 will be available November 22 on Lenovo.com starting at $349. For more information, visit this page.

Source: Press Release

New SG08 small form factor case from Silverstone

Ryan Martin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:30:05 +0000

To further increase the appeal of the groundbreaking Sugo SG07, SilverStone engineers crafted a follow-up version in the SG08. For the first time in a SilverStone product and likely also the first for Mini-ITX, a 1cm (0.4 inch) thick extruded aluminum was used to adorn the front panel of a chassis. Finished with fine brush surface and anodized, the SG08’s front panel rivals the best home theater equipment in quality and style. The award winning and proven features from the SG07 remain such as the Air Penetrator AP181 fan with dual speed switch, easily removable fan filter, positive pressure layout, and the included 80 PLUS Bronze certified 600W power supply. While compact in size at only 14.8 liters, the SG08 is still capable of accepting a healthy selection of full size components. Even the longest consumer graphics cards that are up to 12.2 inches can fit. This extraordinary capacity, along with the cooling power provided by the built-in AP181 fan, makes the SG08, along with SG07, the ultimate Mini-ITX chassis.

Special Features:

Thick 10mm aluminum front panel with premium styling
Class leading SFF chassis with 180mm fan and positive pressure cooling
Ample space for CPU cooling (117mm in height)
Elevated standoff for motherboard back side components
Support for two 2.5” SSD/hard drives and one 3.5” hard drive
Includes 80 PLUS Bronze certified 600W@50℃ PSU with single +12V rail
Adjustable VGA fan duct for improved cooling efficiency
Removable fan filters included for case fan, PSU, and VGA duct
Support graphics cards up to 12.2 inches and 400W

You can find further information about the SG08 here.

Source: Press Release

Xebec Tech HTPC Wireless Mini Keyboard with Touchpad Review

Andy Ruffell — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 07:03:50 +0000

Xebec are a brand that not many consumers may have heard of, but that’s not to say they don’t make brilliant products as we found out from looking at their Itouchpad back in September.

They are aiming to make products that are convenient to the market and this includes wireless keyboards for HTPC users.

The HTPC Wireless Mini keyboard breaks the boundaires in design by offering a tiny product that is portable and easily tucked away when not in use and from getting a first glance of this new gadget at Insomnia i43, we were eager to see if it was any good once we returned to the eTeknix headquarters.

From a first glance, you will instantly see a lot of similarities between it and the much loved Sony PSP and some may confuse the touchpad for a screen, which is what we initially thought.

Included is everything to get you going with the keyboard, two AAA batteries, Unifying receiver and a brief instruction guide including system requirements.

The main aspect of the keyboard is the way it’s designed and shaped to comfortably fit into the users hands with the ability for it to be controlled easily with your thumbs.

The keyboard followsa QWERTY style design and also has extra functions for some of the number and symbol buttons.

The top-left part of the keyboard has a d-pad style controller which also has extra functions for scrolling on your chosen page.

Application buttons are also situated nearby for easy control of the start button and other secondary functions.

The top-right part of the keyboard looks very similar but has slightly different functions, aimed more at multimedia including volume controls and the ability to play/pause, stop, rewind and fast forward/skip through your media.

These buttons also double up for starting up your internet browser and email applications.

The touchpad sits between these various buttons and provides a simple to use system that laptop users will be familiar with from the start and due to the size and shape of the keyboard, is easily within reach when holding the unit.

Flipping the keyboard over to the other side reveals a very slight rubber type material that provides extra grip and comfort and is ergonomically shaped to provide the best handling.

There are two buttons on the rear for controlling a left and right click motion and are conviently positioned for your index fingers, much like you’d find on a portable gamepad or PSP style device.

There is also a space provided to slot the unifying receiver into when not in use. This is especially handy when transporting the device for use on multiple HTPC devices, although we can’t see this situation arising very often.

Getting down to the nitty gritty, whilst the device is really comfortable and responsive to use, the unifying receiver can be a bit troublesome unless the device has a clear line of sight to it, though with the majority of HTPC users having front panel USB, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

A product like this can only be commented on once you’ve been using it for a few days, and after having an extensive use over the weekend, we found it to be extremely versatile in many ways. The fact that it’s lightweight and small, allows for it to be tucked away in the usual places, including down the side of your sofa.

It also gives a lot of unique features including the ability to use the trackpad and d-pad buttons depending on your preference. The QWERTY keyboard allows for a simple transition from a standard keyboard, to that of a smaller design which people will favour immediately.

As this product isn’t in retailers just yet, we can only comment on the recommended RRP of £26 + VAT GBP, which in our opinion is a little bit on the pricey side, compared to it’s bigger brother, the Itouchpad, but still provides a simple solution to a common problem, and with rival products from the likes of Logitech, coming in at over £100, it does seem to offer good value none the less.

If you are looking to give comfort and style to your home theatre setup, the Xebec HTPC wireless keyboard would be the perfect addition and will certainly leave your friends wondering where they can buy one from.

Gigabyte releases a new FM1 mini-ITX motherboard

Ryan Martin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:43:22 +0000

Gigabyte has announced its premium FM1 platform motherboard for the mini-ITX form factor. The GA A75-USB3 is the A75 chipset variant of the Llano platform (the other variant being the A55) and since the A75 is the more expensive chipset it comes with a lot more features which make this board a really good premium HTPC motherboard. Firstly you get the FM1 socket where you can seat up to a quad core 32nm Llano processor with discreet class integrated graphics which no other platform on the market can rival. In addition to that you get two full sized DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32GBs (yes 16GB modules are supported) of 1866MHz memory modules. Power delivery is controlled by a 3+1 Phase VRM which contains driver-MOSFETs. Power inputs from the motherboard are through the usual 24 pin ATX connector and a 4 pin CPU connector.

The AMD A75 chipset gives out four internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and one eSATA 6 Gb/s port on the rear panel. Display outputs include HDMI 1.4a and DVI. Audio is handled by a high-quality Realtek ALC889 HD audio codec which provides 5.1 Channel Audio. It also supports 7.1 channel audio via TOSLINK out or through the HDMI 1.4a output. There is a single Gigabit ethernet port powered by the Realtek RTL8111E PCIe chip. Two USB 2.0 are provided via the rear panel and another two via an internal header. Four USB 3.0 ports are provided on the rear panel by the A75 chipset. The only slightly disappointing feature is the use of a traditional BIOS over the much more user friendly UEFI BIOS, although you still have the feature of booting from 2TB drives or larger.

Source: TechPowerUp

Lian Li PC-C50B HTPC Chassis Review

Andy Ruffell — Mon, 16 May 2011 14:14:00 +0000

HTPC’s and home servers are becoming a popular fad at this present time and as more consumers are jumping on this band wagon, more companies are feeling the need to fill the market with new products. This is where market leader Lian Li step in with the PC-C50B case, designed perfectly for server and HTPC use no matter who you are and what your needs are. This was obviously all added with the addition of low powered components from AMD and Intel in the form of Fusion and Sandy Bridge.

Being an avid media fan myself, when we were offered the opportunity to look at a HTPC chassis from Lian Li, we jumped at the chance as we wanted to get a first hand look into how Lian Li have made this case differ from some of the rival products on the market from the likes of Silverstone and Thermaltake who are the main competitors in this market segment.

There are many products on the market from the above manufacturers as well as some less known brands to cater for this niche area but unlike others, the PC-C50B is a lightweight chassis with the latest functionality in mind, which is why it’s able to give sufficient room for full-size CPU coolers, graphics cards and power supplies. Harness all of this with some super current features, and you have the right recipe for a knockout case.

Does the PC-C50B live up to its specs and the hype though?

Specifications
[HR][/HR] Model: PC-C50
Case Type: Desktop / HTPC
Dimensions: (W) 445mm x (H) 167mm x (D) 325mm
Front bezel Material: Aluminum
Color: Black / Silver
Side Panel: None
Body Material: Aluminum
Net Weight: 3.2KG
5.25″ drive bay (External): 1
3.5″ drive bay (External): None
HDD bay: 3.5-inch HDD x3 (can be convert to 2.5-inch x 3) & 2.5-inch HDD (9.5mm thick) x3
Expansion Slot: 5
Motherboard: Micro ATX / Mini DTX / Mini ITX
System Fan (Front): None
System Fan (Top): None
System Fan (Rear): None
I/O Ports: USB3.0 x 3 / HD Audio / e-SATA / MS/SD Card Reader
Maximum Video Card Size: 250mm
System Fan (Side): 120mm Fan x 2
PSU Type: ATX ( PSU not included )

Zotac Introduces some HTPC Goodness for the AMD Market

Andy Ruffell — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 09:06:00 +0000

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Zotac. Having released scores of nettops, HTPCs and other computer related hardware you more than likely would have at some stage.

Today, the company added two more products to its portfolio; the M880G-ITX WiFi and the 880G-ITXWiFi.

Both are ITX form motherboards based on AMD chips with similar features mostly, but each board utilizes a different CPU technology.

The M880G comes equipped with a dual core 1.5Ghz AMD Turion II Neo K625 processor (designed for notebooks) whereas the 880G comes with an empty AM3 socket with support for Phenom II, Athlon II and Sempron desktop processors that come under the 95W TDP bracket.
As the name suggests the boards use AMD’s 880G chipset, which supports Radeon 4200 series integrated graphics.

Both boards will also feature two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 8Gb of RAM, as well as one PCIe X1 slot, HDMI & DVI outputs, 802.11n wireless, Gigabit LAN, Six USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports and S/PDIF output.

The Turion based board will come with 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports, while the AM3 model will be shipped with 4. Don’t worry if you’re still concerned with the prices of SATA 3.0 prices as the headers wil be fully backward compatible with SATA 2.0 harware, should you wish to hold on for a little longer for the prices to drop a little more.

Theres currently no official news as to when these will be on sale, nor the expected retail price and availability. We reckon though that given the type of board and it features that these would sell at around the £50 to £70 mark

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