Newegg deal: ZOTAC IONITX-B-E 1.6ghz ION miniITX

[larrydag]

Is this a good deal on an ION motherboard/CPU?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813500029

[Patrick]

That's a good buy. I paid $189 for the beefier Zotac AU cobmo in my box:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813500027

The AU version has dual core processors. I wanted a slightly more powerful system but I have heard good things about the single core versions.

[lobosolo]

what would be the benefit to using a dual core if this is just going to be used as front end ? i assume it will offload video with VDPAU and i wouldn't expect any transcoding to be done.... i was looking at getting one of these but i dont want to find out that i should have got the dual core.... is there something i am missing ?

[Patrick]

what would be the benefit to using a dual core if this is just going to be used as front end ? i assume it will offload video with VDPAU and i wouldn't expect any transcoding to be done.... i was looking at getting one of these but i dont want to find out that i should have got the dual core.... is there something i am missing ?

No particular reason. I just wanted a slightly beefier system in my price range. Single core+VDPAU should be fine. Just check the mythtv-users mailing list if you're not sure to see what other people say about it.

[larrydag]

what would be the benefit to using a dual core if this is just going to be used as front end ? i assume it will offload video with VDPAU and i wouldn't expect any transcoding to be done.... i was looking at getting one of these but i dont want to find out that i should have got the dual core.... is there something i am missing ?

Remember MythTV could be used for a myriad of things and not just video playback. You could use it for gaming, video, music, streaming, DVD's, home automation. As Pat said the single core might be enough but having something beefier could be advantageous for newer features.

[Patrick]

Another option is just pickup an Acer Revo. They're going for around $199:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... _-83103228

For me I like the idea of building your own. Another issue I have is that I refuse to let M$ have any of my money. The Acer comes with XP pre-installed. Yeah they're probably taking a loss on that but screw them.