All new low profile GC need 300W minimum power requirement. But all new and existing PC that using small form factor casing have 160-220W PSU only.

Small form factor casing such as e-machine (acer) and slimline (hp) using Flex ATX PSU. So upgrade new GC fo this type of PC is just a dream.

Which one better for low power consumption HTPC? Intel i3 530 + H55 mobo + DDR3 or Zotaz Ion? Planning to upgrade/downgrade my pc (see signature). Because I often use my pc for movies (divx and mkv) and torrent, I think of changing to low power and low energy HTPC.

I know i3 has lots of advantage but the combo cost a lot more than I just downgrade to zotac board. As long as I can watch 1080p or possible blu ray disc is enough. Anyone has any experience using this board (zotac)?

read this and you have your answer

http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_...id=331&Itemid=1

I know about the review, that's why I attract to it. But how about real life user experience?

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Added on February 9, 2010, 10:40 pmJust check the price, Ion with N330 cost almost the same as i3+mobo.

This post has been edited by qwerty79: Feb 9 2010, 10:40 PM

Just a short feedback.

My HTPC that based on Gigabyte MA785G mobo with built in only GC and sound processor, the image quality actually surpassed my old Pioneer DVD player !

The only difference is that I am using HDMI cable for the Htpc, but using Composite connection to my LCD. But the difference is huge.

I cannot understand your word.

Hi guys,

I am using notebook-HDMI to my tv. How do I set or know if the output is set to 1080p.

Haha.. sorry, my mind was mixed up.

I am using HDMI cable to connect my htpc to my LCD. But using just the composite cable from the DVD player to the LCD while making comparison.

Your tv or avr would show 1080p 60hz.

OF coz PQ (picture quality) much better la comparing analog (yellow video RCA cable) vs HDMI all digital..

If you use component cable ( split the video signal to 3 RCA ) I think the PQ would be comparable to HDMI..

I saw those shops selling HDMI cables very expensive with gold connector (Monster brand), I was thinking like... this is digital signal, no matter what connector or cables you use at both ends, the digital signal would still be the SAME.. unlike analog signal used on interconnects and speaker cables..

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Added on February 10, 2010, 9:39 pmSet yr screen resolution to 1920 x 1080.

Try to play a 1080p at full screen... the movie should not be enlarge/zoom and take up all the screen at 100% video size..





This post has been edited by stan001: Feb 10 2010, 09:39 PM

Anyone here have try to use 300W low profile graphic card with 220W PSU? I quiet confused, because someone say it can running without any problem.

Tested with Component cable from the DVD player and HDMI from the htpc. The difference is still substantial.

It is very obvious when the movie's end credit appear, the clarity of the alphabets can be compared easily.

My tv doesn't show info on the source resolution. Is there a way to set it from my notebook? My notebook default screen is not Full HD but my tv is. How to set.

It "could" run without any problems .... depending on yr other items that take power from yr power supply like CPU, mobo, hard disk, fans, CDROM.. and also USB devices that draws power like USB harddisk and others..

Different systems hv different power requirements.. so not the same..

When problems happens, it could be stuff like system unstable, suddenly reboot or even hard disk corruption... or strange things not related to software bugs..

So you can try it first, if system always unstable and strange things happens, then perhaps you should upgrade to a higher rating power supply as all their sizes are the same...

I ALWAYS buy a much higher rating & quality power supply that I can afford b'cos Power Supply Unit will ALWAYS outlast your PC specs... PC specs ( CPU/GPU/MOBO/MEM) after 3-4 years or so.. becomes very "old technology" and runs very slow...

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Added on February 11, 2010, 10:22 amWhen you plug in HDMI to yr laptop, you should extend yr desktop to yr LCD TV... ( dual screen mode, not mirror cos resolution not same )

Goto 2nd screen with LCD display properties and slide the screen resolution to 1920x1080 ...

What the graphic card on yr laptop ??





This post has been edited by stan001: Feb 11 2010, 10:22 AM

Unfortunately my pc use Flex ATX PSU which I think very hard to find in malaysia market.
Almost all PSU in market is normal ATX.

Hi,need ur help. I got offer Nvidia GTX 260+ Batman Edition(2 month old) for rm500,is that gtx 260 can support true-hd&dts-hd for bmdv movie? i plan to connect my pc to avr(yamaha 663) to my 42inch plasma tv,currently i'm using wdtv 1 for mkv movies but it not support bmdv movies & got some problem with some of my mkv collection,hopefully i can play all my movie collection with this pc.Another choice is new ati 5670 that is cheaper around rm300.tq 4 ur opinion

Y dont u upgrade to wdtv live

I might be wrong on this one but if your main concern is bitstreaming Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, the ATI 5 series cards are a safer bet.
Hmm... I did a simple Google for u. Looks like the Nvidia GTX 260 is out of the question.
Edit : Wait, the article at anandtech is OLD. Almost 2 year old. Are we looking at the same card here? If it is, why buy a 2 year old graphics card?

Source : http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3334

This post has been edited by welwitchia: Feb 16 2010, 10:23 PM

TMT has new .170 beta patch for bitstream. Check it out.

Since my receiver doesn't support HDMI, would you recommend
HTPC --> TV via hdmi
Then sound via optical output of TV via fibre optic to receiver?

Anyone using plasma instead of LCD for HTPC setup?