Building an NVIDIA ION-based HTPC for $600

[Rob Williams]

From our front-page news:

We posted just earlier about building your own Hackintosh, but how about building an HTPC on the cheap? When Intel first released their Atom processor, I'm willing to bet that they had absolutely no idea of what was to come. Sure, they could predict, but the actual reaction surely defied any of those. Atoms found their way into netbooks, nettops and other unique devices (like the EeeTop), and thanks to NVIDIA's ION, they're also found in an HTPC.

Technology is constantly moving and improving, but I still can't help but be struck by how much value there is in computers today. You don't have to spend a lot of money to build a sweet system, which is a stark contrast to years ago when spending $2,000 would get you a PC that could get you by, depending on what you want to do. With the advent of the HTPC, many have considered adding such a machine to their home, but who really wants to spent a lot of money to get it done? Not many, and luckily that excuse can't really be used today.

Our friends at Legit Reviews decided to take on the task of building an HTPC on the cheap, and it's a good one. It features an ASUS motherboard, a 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, a slot-loading Blu-ray player and a Travla mini-ITX chassis. Grand total? Just $577.09. Yes, for under $600, you could build your own HTPC capable of playing the latest Blu-ray movies.

As you'd expect, the machine handles HD video fine, but the CPU usages do go a bit high depending on the codec used, especially on YouTube HD videos. That's why NVIDIA's ION is a blessing - the video would stutter like no tomorrow if the acceleration was left entirely up to Atom. Perhaps the best part of HTPCs and this one in particular is the power consumption... 36W during a Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood run, and 33W with Blu-ray. Ahh, technology's great.

Oh, and for those looking for an alternative ION machine to build up, be sure to check out 2Tired2Tango's look at one of Asrock's offerings here.

After going to the Legit Reviews YouTube channel I fired up an HD video of a Yellow Garden Spider that I filmed this week and found that it was stutter free in standard definition video mode. I did take notice that the CPU usage was bouncing around 50% though, which just goes to show that the original Intel Atom 230 processor with just a single core and Hyper-Threading would have been running at 100% CPU load just to watch a video on YouTube.

Source: Legit Reviews​

 

[2Tired2Tango]

Our friends at Legit Reviews decided to take on the task of building an HTPC on the cheap, and it's a good one. It features an ASUS motherboard, a 250GB hard drive, 2GB of RAM, a slot-loading Blu-ray player and a Travla mini-ITX chassis. Grand total? Just $577.09. Yes, for under $600, you could build your own HTPC capable of playing the latest Blu-ray movies.

Suweeet System!

I'm especially impressed by that case... Gotta locate a supplier. If this case will fit the Zotac AM2 Mini-ITX board, this could be really good.

As you'd expect, the machine handles HD video fine, but the CPU usages do go a bit high depending on the codec used, especially on YouTube HD videos. That's why NVIDIA's ION is a blessing - the video would stutter like no tomorrow if the acceleration was left entirely up to Atom. Perhaps the best part of HTPCs and this one in particular is the power consumption... 36W during a Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood run, and 33W with Blu-ray. Ahh, technology's great.

The problem is that many of the codecs out there are poorly written, tending to be rather inefficient. They're written to work but not devloped to the point of highest efficiency... The Flash player is a good example, the problem isn't the content, it's the codec.

Strong suggestion... Media Player Classic Home Cinema .... In my own testing it's the most efficient and, of course, the little matter that it plays most formats right out of the box is a big plus.

For the stuttering mentioned in the article... disabling the CDRom AutoRun as I described in another thread can make all the difference.

Oh, and for those looking for an alternative ION machine to build up, be sure to check out 2Tired2Tango's look at one of Asrock's offerings here.

Awww Shucks

 

[Rob Williams]

I'm especially impressed by that case... Gotta locate a supplier. If this case will fit the Zotac AM2 Mini-ITX board, this could be really good.

Yup, it's a damn sweet build. I admit... I'd still have to splurge for an mATX form-factor though. If I'm going to build an HTPC, there's no way I'm doing it without packing in a TV tuner.

The problem is that many of the codecs out there are poorly written, tending to be rather inefficient.

Yes... that's where NVIDIA's ION saves the day. Without it, I don't think many people would be building Atom-based HTPCs with Intel's own graphics. Intel creates many amazing products - graphics isn't one of them (hopefully Larabee will change this).

The Flash player is a good example, the problem isn't the content, it's the codec.

Exactly. I had this discussion with someone a couple of days ago. Flash could have all the acceleration in the world, but Flash isn't the video codec.

Gah... I have seriously got to build an HTPC soon! I don't even need one, but I don't know how much longer I can resist the urge.

Tango, you wouldn't happen to know what the experience is like recording TV from a digital cable service like Rogers is like, do you? That's one of the reasons I'd want a TV tuner... I'd love to be able to record shows and watch them at a later date (I'm sure not paying $600 for a PVR from Rogers).

 

[2Tired2Tango]

Yup, it's a damn sweet build. I admit... I'd still have to splurge for an mATX form-factor though. If I'm going to build an HTPC, there's no way I'm doing it without packing in a TV tuner.

While I get your reasons for wanting to do that, my sense is that it's better to use the ION/ATOM box with the HDMI or even SVid inputs on a regular television. The only time running one of these on a monitor, as I and a few of my friends do, works out well is if you don't care about television.

Yes... that's where NVIDIA's ION saves the day. Without it, I don't think many people would be building Atom-based HTPCs with Intel's own graphics. Intel creates many amazing products - graphics isn't one of them (hopefully Larabee will change this).

Indeed, this is a competition I think is going to heat up. Now that we are seeing viable VSFF machines there's going to be quite the rush to develop them for HTPC uses and that's all about graphics.

Exactly. I had this discussion with someone a couple of days ago. Flash could have all the acceleration in the world, but Flash isn't the video codec.

Actually, I believe it is the codec, but not the renderer... there's so much tangled up software involved it's hard to tell, half the time.

Gah... I have seriously got to build an HTPC soon! I don't even need one, but I don't know how much longer I can resist the urge.

Then you should. Really... go for it. I'd love to see the writeup.

Tango, you wouldn't happen to know what the experience is like recording TV from a digital cable service like Rogers is like, do you? That's one of the reasons I'd want a TV tuner... I'd love to be able to record shows and watch them at a later date (I'm sure not paying $600 for a PVR from Rogers).

I've done very little with this... mostly just installing software for my guys... but it does work well enough. I believe the bundled software covers most bases, even the PVR thing... but keep in mind that off-air recordings are not compressed. You will need a tool like virtual dub and XVID to convert them. I've never played with it but apparently VDub also does frame capture so maybe you can combine the two through it.