Gigabyte AMD E-350D APU AMD A45 FCH Mini ITX Motherboard + CPU Combo (GA-E350N) $60 + Free Shipping (expired)

Quote from toolio20 : Indeed. Too bad the deal alerts for "itx" usually only pull up stuff like this. In fact, I wonder why people still waste time/money on gimp little systems like these. The new hotness. [newegg.com] No PS/360, no HTPC, no cable box, no clutter - just one of these, a DualShock3, my receiver and the biggest screen I can get my hands on

some people really don't like videogames (my ex-gf for example) and this would be perfect to browse net and watch any videos outside of netflix hd perhaps.

i actually am a bit more interested in migrating to a haswell or maybe trinity system setup in something like a m350 or antec isk110 http://images.anandtech.com/doci/...f%208).jpg. it's more like a book than a box (like those shuttle pc type cases seem)

however, i feel like i need to find a nicer more modern ultra low height heatsink and fan combo cause even thermalright's lowest profile are too high for the isk110 :/

COM x 1
LPT x 1

Who in the world is still using serial/parallel ports? With the limited the space available, this is what they decide is vital?

Quote from eibgrad : COM x 1 LPT x 1 Who in the world is still using serial/parallel ports? With the limited the space available, this is what they decide is vital?

"We're gonna make a mini-itx mobo, so small form factor is important."
"How about we include one of those giant LPT ports no one has used in 10 years?"

and so they did.

Quote from RyanL : There wasn't an option there at all or was it just greyed out or something? If there wasn't an option to enable HA then I doubt that you're running Silverlight version 5 (check what version you're using just to be sure). Yeah, keep us updated. Edit: I just checked out Silverlight. To get to the HA option just right click it while playing a video like I said and under the playback tab there is a checkbox for HA. Click the about tab while you're in there to see what version you're running too. You may need to go to the actual Silverlight website to get the download because I'm not sure or not if it's an actual windows update (something that might be patched from time to time but not actually updated to the next version until you do it manually - similar to directx or something).

Okay, I just tried it with Silverlight Version 5 with HA enabled. The good news is that it doesn't stutter like crazy. The bad news is that the audio does not sync with the video. I'm not sure if it matters but I'm using an SSD on this rig.

Quote from sensia : As a file server E-350 is great with Ubuntu. As a htpc, not so much. Even with all the updated drivers, HD youtube is unwatchable. Netflix is fubar in linux, so no comments on that. About this board, I could not decide. Price is right, but it was almost 2 year old technology. I would rather slap G530 in a htpc even though it would probably cost twice.

Actually on Amazon you can get mini ATX board ($46) and G530 ($44) for about $90 which is 50% more.

Quote from eibgrad : Who in the world is still using serial/parallel ports?

Mrs. Piggy is still using Kermit over a serial port.

Quote from exhurt : Okay, I just tried it with Silverlight Version 5 with HA enabled. The good news is that it doesn't stutter like crazy. The bad news is that the audio does not sync with the video. I'm not sure if it matters but I'm using an SSD on this rig.

Yes. This is exactly why Netflix on the Zino was unwatchable. Sometimes it would catch up after 5-10 minutes, other times it would never sync up. If you manage to find a link to Silverlight 3 and are able to install/use it without upgrading, you'd find that Netflix/HW accelleration worked perfectly 2.5 years ago.

Quote from JiNaMoN : so you've really had no trouble playing like 10gb .mkv files over a network? it can handle anything in 1080p? wanted to buy one to build a HTPC for my dad for his 50th using it but really don't want it to have trouble playing any kinds of formats heh. is it just safer going a dual core SB celeron? you still need a gpu with this?

Playing 1080p files over the network? Which device does the actual decoding and rendering?
This thing will do 1080p high bitrate mkv, but not much headroom there at all.
I'd go with SB celeron.

I would advise against this processor unless it's only as a light duty server. IMO, the following deal is much better, and is surprisingly still alive (it also comes with 8gb of good ram): http://slickdeals.net/f/5189692-M...ebate-Free

Quote from my.ads0 : Yes. This is exactly why Netflix on the Zino was unwatchable. Sometimes it would catch up after 5-10 minutes, other times it would never sync up. If you manage to find a link to Silverlight 3 and are able to install/use it without upgrading, you'd find that Netflix/HW accelleration worked perfectly 2.5 years ago.

I was really hoping HA would completely fix the issue but it doesn't. I'm going to install all the remaining Windows updates and see if that helps at all.

Quote from anywho : I would advise against this processor unless it's only as a light duty server. IMO, the following deal is much better, and is surprisingly still alive (it also comes with 8gb of good ram): http://slickdeals.net/f/5189692-M...ebate-Free

I agree...it uses 40% of it's processing power just to do something simple like update Norton virus definitions!

Quote from Zuhkov : Unless you're using it for something other than a HTPC, there's no way you're going to notice the 6Gb/s over 3Gb/s. Dedicated graphics requires a significantly larger form factor (or a riser card which is not super cheap). If you want better graphics in a small package, you might as well look at one of the regular AMD Fusion APUs and a separate mini ITX board.

I'm using the MSI board with a GIGABYTE Radeon HD 6450 Silent to bitstream high def audio to my receiver. On Win7, XBMC I get 11-12% CPU on 1080p HD-DTS MA audio. I think I got the card on Amazon open box for $30.00 or so.

That being said if I had to do it again I'd just get an A6 rig.

Quote from m715 : Any good case recommendations? Haven't really looked at mini ITX cases before, and it looks like a good case will cost as much as the MB/CPU combo Some very nice Silverstone cases but $$... $53 - APEX MI-008 Black Steel Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 250W Power Supply [newegg.com] $60 - IN WIN BP655.200BL Black Steel Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 200W Power Supply [newegg.com] $75 - Thermaltake Element Q VL52021N2U Black SGCC / Plastic Mini-ITX Desktop Computer Case 200W SFX Power Supply [newegg.com]

I have the element Q, and I did some research with MI-008 (which is basically the same case) before buying it, the only difference between these 2 is that Element Q has a "hook" with the PSU that can hook itself with the right bar, and frees you hand while you screw in the PSU. The Apex one requires you to hold the psu with one hand while screwing with another. And there is some minor difference in PSU wattage (I got a 230W despite the picture said 220W).
and yes there is little space for CPU cooler for both cases, but I think the this mobo will works just fine.
There is no other fan for the hdd and it can becomes hot after long usage, so know ur hdd operating temperature before putting it in

Quote from Zuhkov : Fantastic value...

Huh? This is pretty much what this should cost. Nothing fantastic here. Not even close.

Quote from zhopa : Huh? This is pretty much what this should cost. Nothing fantastic here. Not even close.

Key word being SHOULD. You're right, this should be the normal everyday price for these things (and what's with the next generation Brazos 2.0 APUs being almost unavailable and nearly identical to the ones that have been out for ages?), but usually it's not, aside from the fairly regular Frys rebate.

For what it is, this is solid...unless you have a better suggestion at the moment...

I bought this board/APU with a case for $100 last month on another Slickdeal to use for XBMC. I've been running XBMC on a dual-core Atom Netbook for a few years and that CPU just didn't have enough power to handle anything over 600p. As a cheap netbook, it had cheap intel graphics without any video codec support.

Pretty much everything said above is true based on my experience. The E350 handles playback of h.264, mpeg2 HiDef content easily. The CPU is strong enough to handle all other formats at lower resolutions, so your WMV, AVI, and .rm video files aren't lost.

It did run Unity fine, until I added XBMC on top. Between Unity, Compiz and XBMC, the CPU was pegged at 100%. I'm a Linux guy, so I dropped back to light-weight Ubuntu, Lubuntu. No compiz effects, which is actually a good thing. Any Ubuntu releases prior to 12.04 don't work with the audio/video out of the box.

The power use for the MB+APU is 16W, to adding a HDD is about 10W more peak. Less than 30W total if that is important to you

Do yourself a favor and follow the XBMC setup instructions here:
http://youresuchageek.blogspot.fr...linux.html
to setup XBMC on the E350. You don't need to follow everything since it is for a different machine.

Also, if you want a silent PC, use a picoUPS - the 80W version is fine, but the 12V CPU plug is farther away than their 4 inch cord, so be ready to solder an extension in. The APU fan still makes a little noise, but hardly anything.

With that deal, I got an istar case+PSU. The PSU was so noisy it was like a server from 10 yrs ago - jet engine like. The istar case has so many design flaws that is isn't funny. AVOID. For example, mounting a HDD prevents the case from closing if you've hooked up a card. I'd hoped to use an eSATA adapter to connect external HDDs, but the slot had to be cut down to fit and the cable ports on the inside block the HDD mounted to the cover.

There is a newer model of this MB with USB3. This one is USB2 only. There are plenty of USB2 ports - 6 between the front and rear ports.

XBMC is working pretty well except I've had trouble with suspend/wake up. Both Wake-on-LAN and the MCE remote work perfectly, for everything except suspend/wake.

This is not a desktop replacment. It is a little under powered for that.
This is not a gaming machine unless you play 8+ yr old games.
This is a video playback machine with more CPU power than ATV or other specialized video streaming devices, so when an odd codec is seen, it has enough CPU to handle it instead of punt completely and say "not supported" like other players. IMHO, this is better than a Raspberry Pi.

My total costs for everything were:
* $100 = E350 + case + PSU (not used)
* $30 = 4GB RAM. 2GB was $27 locally and the board will not POST without RAM.
* $45 = picoPSU - silent tiny, 97% efficient, power supply + external AC/DC brick; I love, love, love this thing.
* $0 = reusing 3.5" 300G SATA HDD.
* $0 = reusing HDMI cable from WD TV Live HD box
* $0 = reusing keyboard, mouse
* $0 = reusing MCE remote control (roswell $17 3+ yrs ago)
-----------
$175.

If you wanted a more general purpose device, I'd get a Core i3 system. For an under 10 yr old, this would be a fine PC. It won't play high end games, so you won't be contributing to that never-ending upgrade treadmill.

Overall, I'm happy enough with the purchase, but wish it were easier to use ATI GPU drivers.
In the future, I might put this board into a full-sized case and convert it into a NAS. The built-in GigE port is nice for that. If I didn't have so many parts that would be reused, I'd have waited for a Core i3 to be on sale.

Like others said, I'm confused by the old com1 and parallel ports being included. Even I - a late switcher - haven't used those in 10+ yrs.