Arctic MC001-N HTPC (XBMC & OpenElec Compatible) Barebones - $99 Shipped

Hello,

I also used an Asrock 330ion for a year, but upgraded it to Celeron g530, and never looked back. As other wrote atom is good to play back 1080p content, but pretty much anything else is out of the picture. Now I run my htpc as nas, download client, plus raw converter for my dslr. Just recently upgraded to Celeron g1610, which is a bit cooler. My htpc runs on a 80w picopsu, and the sole fan in the box is an 8cm one, turned down to 1000rpm, making it almost fully silent during normal operation. Technically it is a full fledged pc now, but idle power consumption matches the old atom.

Quote from cgigate : i received today from aaawave.com $89, it is good deal and fair performance for a small PC with TV tuner. played all day in the weekend. the quality build is very bad; the TV tuner is almost useless, "0 TV channel found", very hot when run awhile.

The TV tuner is probably getting 0 channels because you still need a CableCARD and a special type of box to get the digital channels.
Regardless of the tuner, does it really run that hot? Is the build quality THAT bad? Could you elaborate please?
I'm thinking of biting on this one but your comment has steered me away.

Quote from thatbigmoose : The TV tuner is probably getting 0 channels because you still need a CableCARD and a special type of box to get the digital channels. Regardless of the tuner, does it really run that hot? Is the build quality THAT bad? Could you elaborate please? I'm thinking of biting on this one but your comment has steered me away.

Actually, it works great after three days burning.
Power consumption is 25w full loaded (2 x 4GB = 8gb ram , 250GB hard-drive).
what I said "bad quality build", inside and outside are very rough, motherboard is ECS , TV tuner/wi-fi actually are directly connected the internal 4-pin USB port.
the quality build cannot compare with Foxconn and Zotac made ( I also own Foxcom and Zotac e-350 based mini-PC)
generally, it is ok all purpose small PC .
the TV tuner is ATSC (OTA) tuner, no cable-card needed

Quote from cgigate : i received today from aaawave.com $89, it is good deal and fair performance for a small PC with TV tuner. played all day in the weekend. the quality build is very bad; the TV tuner is almost useless, "0 TV channel found", very hot when run awhile.

Hello cgigate, Are you running dedicated Openelec XBMC build or Ubuntu or windows?
With Openelec can we share the attached usb 3 drives to network.

thanks in advance

Quote from desifan : Hello cgigate, Are you running dedicated Openelec XBMC build or Ubuntu or windows? With Openelec can we share the attached usb 3 drives to network. thanks in advance

I run Openelec XBMC (SD card bootup), and also Windows 7 x64 (hard-drive boot-up)

here is some pictures for it in and out, also compares much smaller Foxconn NT-A3700 amd e-450 based PC
http://s11.beta.photobucket.com/u...tory/42237

Quote from cgigate : I run Openelec XBMC (SD card bootup), and also Windows 7 x64 (hard-drive boot-up) here is some pictures for it in and out, also compares much smaller Foxconn NT-A3700 amd e-450 based PC http://s11.beta.photobucket.com/u...tory/42237

Thanks for the pictures, i got mine yesterday, i am using beta version of openelec for arctic,booting from SD card, the screen fit is not up to my liking even after video calibration. Not sure when the official build will come out. Audio is hit or miss, but i think that is because of beta firmware i am running. Do have any recommendation for remote?

Quote from desifan : Thanks for the pictures, i got mine yesterday, i am using beta version of openelec for arctic,booting from SD card, the screen fit is not up to my liking even after video calibration. Not sure when the official build will come out. Audio is hit or miss, but i think that is because of beta firmware i am running. Do have any recommendation for remote?

I have couple windows media center remotes, all worked well with this PC,
i have this one RRS9002-86XXF (came from Hauppauge WinTV many years ago) , see the link i just Googled http://www.ascendtech.us/gateway-...286xx.aspx

Anyone else get an MC001-E (with DVD)?? I lucked out.

Mine finally arrived today. I ordered the MC001-N through eBay the first day of this post...but though they sent me a tracking number they apparently forgot to ship because it would never track.

Perhaps a good thing...as I sent them an eMail on Monday..and they sent me out an MC001 E model with both Tuner and a DVD.

I have assembled a lot of these mini PCs...and at this point I do not think it is significantly worse built. It is not all that attractive...and is bigger than most because of the passive cooling, but a silent barebones system with built in tuner for $99 is a great deal.