Khaos
11 Jun 2003, 06:30 PM
Right, so I'd like to hear some thoughts on MicroATX configurations. Not on whether it's good or bad, but on how to get the most out of it. I don't have any experience working with MicroATX configurations and could use a little advice from those who have.
First, stated purpose: Home theater. Initially, I'm only interested in using it as a movie player (Retail DVD and downloaded movies).
It needs to have at least one external 5.25" drive bay (For a DVD-ROM) and at least two internal 3.5" drive bays. I've been leaning towards the ATC 620C-BX1 (http://www.coolermaster.com/case/products/atc620.htm) because it is not too cramped, but not too large to fit in the livingroom rack. It meets all of my needs as far as bays go, and it is attractive.
For the motherboard, the Chaintech 7NIF2 (http://www.chaintech.com.tw/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13&PISNo=15) looks to be the most attractive MicroATX model that I've come across. It is feature-filled for such a small package. It basically has everything I need at the moment; LAN, video with TV-out and audio. None of the onboard components are terribly impressive, but then, they don't need to be. For only $89 @ Newegg, it seems like a bargain to me. Has anyone used Nvidia's GF4 iteration of TV out? How was it? I know that TV out is still relatively low resolution, but keep in mind that most (If not ALL) movies are only encoded below 800x600, so this isn't too big of a deal.
Processor wise, I will probably stick my AGOIA 1600+ in it. Memory wise, I will just pick up slow RAM. I have no intention of overclocking this thing; there's simply no need. I want it to be silent if possible, or at least very quiet and unintrusive.
Now comes the fun part. Storage. I want to equip this system with enough storage to hold all of my movies, hence the need for extra drive bays. I'm thinking 2x250GB WD SE's, but perhaps there is a better option? RAID 0 is out of the question, because stability is key here. I was actually contemplating RAID 1, but that might be overkill. Afterall, these movies are all on CD's anyway. The point of storing them on a HDD is convenience and redundancy more than anything; however, it would be a real pain to lose them all to stripe corruption. Heat is another issue. I was thinking that I could keep the harddrives cool by installing one of them in the 3.5" bays and another one in the spare 5.25" external bay using simple extenders. Then some very low volume fans could keep a bit of air moving over them during operation. While I certainly don't have 500GB of movies (Currently 210GB to be precise), some room to grow would be nice, and I do plan on eventually equipping this system with a TV card so that it can be used as a TiVo (See thread in Digital Media forum for more information). It could also store and play MP3's and other files.
Speaking of which, while we're at it, we may as well have a discussion about the merits of certain TV cards. That's one area I know nothing about.
So anyway, all input is welcome; especially from those who have maybe built a home theater system or worked with MicroATX or TV out before.
First, stated purpose: Home theater. Initially, I'm only interested in using it as a movie player (Retail DVD and downloaded movies).
It needs to have at least one external 5.25" drive bay (For a DVD-ROM) and at least two internal 3.5" drive bays. I've been leaning towards the ATC 620C-BX1 (http://www.coolermaster.com/case/products/atc620.htm) because it is not too cramped, but not too large to fit in the livingroom rack. It meets all of my needs as far as bays go, and it is attractive.
For the motherboard, the Chaintech 7NIF2 (http://www.chaintech.com.tw/tw/eng/product_spec.asp?MPSNo=13&PISNo=15) looks to be the most attractive MicroATX model that I've come across. It is feature-filled for such a small package. It basically has everything I need at the moment; LAN, video with TV-out and audio. None of the onboard components are terribly impressive, but then, they don't need to be. For only $89 @ Newegg, it seems like a bargain to me. Has anyone used Nvidia's GF4 iteration of TV out? How was it? I know that TV out is still relatively low resolution, but keep in mind that most (If not ALL) movies are only encoded below 800x600, so this isn't too big of a deal.
Processor wise, I will probably stick my AGOIA 1600+ in it. Memory wise, I will just pick up slow RAM. I have no intention of overclocking this thing; there's simply no need. I want it to be silent if possible, or at least very quiet and unintrusive.
Now comes the fun part. Storage. I want to equip this system with enough storage to hold all of my movies, hence the need for extra drive bays. I'm thinking 2x250GB WD SE's, but perhaps there is a better option? RAID 0 is out of the question, because stability is key here. I was actually contemplating RAID 1, but that might be overkill. Afterall, these movies are all on CD's anyway. The point of storing them on a HDD is convenience and redundancy more than anything; however, it would be a real pain to lose them all to stripe corruption. Heat is another issue. I was thinking that I could keep the harddrives cool by installing one of them in the 3.5" bays and another one in the spare 5.25" external bay using simple extenders. Then some very low volume fans could keep a bit of air moving over them during operation. While I certainly don't have 500GB of movies (Currently 210GB to be precise), some room to grow would be nice, and I do plan on eventually equipping this system with a TV card so that it can be used as a TiVo (See thread in Digital Media forum for more information). It could also store and play MP3's and other files.
Speaking of which, while we're at it, we may as well have a discussion about the merits of certain TV cards. That's one area I know nothing about.
So anyway, all input is welcome; especially from those who have maybe built a home theater system or worked with MicroATX or TV out before.