Comments on: How to get a nice Home Theater PC for $595

By: Digital Society » Blog Archive » DDR2 memory prices doubled over last year

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:22:28 +0000

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By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:55:14 +0000

George: I am considering building this …
Anything that you would change since creating this HTPC?

By: George Ou

George Ou — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:05:18 +0000

The NVIDIA 7050 chipset motherboards don’t wake either, and it’s always ticked me off.

By: George Ou

George Ou — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:56:43 +0000

@Edward Kan Not this exact configuration, but I've built many systems like this using similar chipsets and CPUs. I can get idle power down to 38W input power from the wall socket (30W output power) using a low power 3.5" Hard Drive and a very small and efficient PSU. A lot of people make the mistake of using an "efficient" PSU but they use 600W power supplies which are way too large to power 30 watts of components efficiently.

By: Edward Kan

Edward Kan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:42:22 +0000

By the way, Zotac Ion platform won’t wake from standby correctly unless you hit the lottery and get the newest hardware version. Feh!!

By: Edward Kan

Edward Kan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:37:20 +0000

By the way – did you build this system, and how many watts does it run at idle? George, do you know if the G41 or G45 chipsets are better for HTPCs, and does any motherboard in particular with the G4x chipset use less wattage than another? Thanks again.

By: Edward Kan

Edward Kan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:35:44 +0000

Kudos George, you are the man. Keep it up, your writing is very insightful.

By: George Ou

George Ou — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:31:06 +0000

An AMD Tripple core does not have the kind of low power characteristic I’m looking for in an HTPC computer. I’m looking for something with very low power characteristics, but with decent performance. The AMD low power dual-core chips low enough idle power consumption, but their peak power is a little higher and their performance isn’t as good.

By: Nobody

Nobody — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:27:51 +0000

An AMD based HTPC will smoke that intel one with ease.AMD has an astounding chipset with the 790GX and the upcoming 785G. Pair that with a triple core AMD processor and BINGO, you have a more capable HTPC than what George Ou is suggesting.Sometimes I wonder why George is so heavily biased to intel…

By: Technology for Mortals » At $179, NVIDIA Ion solution loses all of its appeal

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:37:36 +0000

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