Small (Ultra small form factor) and powerful PC (dedicated graphic board)

[centrico]

Hi all,

 

I've seen some threads regarding Ultra small form factor PC but not discovered which ones are really small and powerful, especially regarding the possibility to have a dedicated graphic card that can drive full hd resolution in multimedia applications.

 

I have dedicated some time investigating also in miniITX but again not finding what I need

 

Any help is appreciated

 

Marco

[FN-GM]

The Dell Optiplex Ultra Small Form Factors come with some very good specs. But i dont think the graphics are as good as you want.

 

The Mac Mini will go full HD. They have a HDMI Port. Tech specs are here: Mac mini - Apple Store (UK)

 

If you dont like Mac OS X software you can run Windows on these machines.

 

I have a Mac Mini plugged into a 40" screen running full HD. I am really happy with it.

[synaesthesia]

Any system that is "Nvidia Ion" powered will munch through HD for breakfast, plenty provide all the connectivity you need and are also dirt cheap.

[centrico]

Any system that is "Nvidia Ion" powered will munch through HD for breakfast, plenty provide all the connectivity you need and are also dirt cheap.

 

Any example of existing systems on the market? Thank you!

[centrico]

The Dell Optiplex Ultra Small Form Factors come with some very good specs. But i dont think the graphics are as good as you want.

 

The Mac Mini will go full HD. They have a HDMI Port. Tech specs are here: Mac mini - Apple Store (UK)

 

If you dont like Mac OS X software you can run Windows on these machines.

 

I have a Mac Mini plugged into a 40" screen running full HD. I am really happy with it.

 

Unfortunately I can't use Mac....too long to explain. Any Windows 7 based system?

 

Thans a lot

[synaesthesia]

Centrico: search "Ion" on ebuyer/misco and you'll see too many products to list. I think some of Acer ultra SFF ones use them but obviosly that size wont allow for dedicated graphics.

[dhicks]

I've seen some threads regarding Ultra small form factor PC but not discovered which ones are really small and powerful, especially regarding the possibility to have a dedicated graphic card that can drive full hd resolution in multimedia applications.

 

I have a Tranquil PC ixL:

 

Tranquil PC Limited INTEL i3 / i5 POWER PCS

 

The case can passively cool a Core i3 or i5 and can take a 16x half-height PCI express card, so should provide all the power you'll need. I'm using mine as a home server, so I have no idea how well the on-board graphics perform, but the PC Pro podcast review from a few weeks ago sounded suitibly impressed.

 

As mentioned above, the Acer Aspire Revo's built-in graphics are pretty impressive, especially in a machine small enough to be screwed to the back of a screen and costing around £200. I found it had no problem running YouTube video, either from a web browser or over RDP from Windows Server 2008 R2.

 

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David Hicks

[Brpilot99]

Ditto the Acer Revo .. we have 20 here and they run everything that we want in the school ... I wouldnt want to run Crysis in top res though .....

[Arthur]

What sort of things are you going to use the HTPC for? For example, do you need to bitstream DTS-MA/Dolby TrueHD audio from Bluray's to a receiver?

[centrico]

I have a Tranquil PC ixL:

 

Tranquil PC Limited INTEL i3 / i5 POWER PCS

 

The case can passively cool a Core i3 or i5 and can take a 16x half-height PCI express card, so should provide all the power you'll need. I'm using mine as a home server, so I have no idea how well the on-board graphics perform, but the PC Pro podcast review from a few weeks ago sounded suitibly impressed.

 

As mentioned above, the Acer Aspire Revo's built-in graphics are pretty impressive, especially in a machine small enough to be screwed to the back of a screen and costing around £200. I found it had no problem running YouTube video, either from a web browser or over RDP from Windows Server 2008 R2.

 

--

David Hicks

 

Thank you David,

 

the Tranquil PC i3/i5 seems interesting. I have to understand how to integrate a dedicated graphic board on my own, there is no info on that on their website. I'll let you know.

 

Marco

[centrico]

What sort of things are you going to use the HTPC for? For example, do you need to bitstream DTS-MA/Dolby TrueHD audio from Bluray's to a receiver?

 

I'm using it for interactive signage, at full HD, with multimedia applications that use images, audio, video and animations.

[dhicks]

the Tranquil PC i3/i5 seems interesting. I have to understand how to integrate a dedicated graphic board on my own

 

You just plug a half-height PCI Express graphics card in the free slot, it's just a normal PC. Actually, the Core i5 comes with inbuilt graphics capability, which should be more than enough for your digital signage..

 

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David Hicks

[centrico]

You just plug a half-height PCI Express graphics card in the free slot, it's just a normal PC. Actually, the Core i5 comes with inbuilt graphics capability, which should be more than enough for your digital signage..

 

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David Hicks

 

From my experience inbuilt graphics is not sufficient. Can you recommend some half-height PCI Express graphics card?

 

Thanks

 

Marco

[dhicks]

From my experience inbuilt graphics is not sufficient. Can you recommend some half-height PCI Express graphics card?

 

The Core i5 is supposed to have some swishy new on-board graphics technology, with a fancy name that I've completly forgotten, so you might be surprised by how capable it is. Otherwise, the ATI Radeon HD 5450 looks pretty good:

 

ATI Radeon HD 5450 review | Graphics cards | Reviews | PC Pro

 

As the review points out, it's not a gaming graphics card (although it did run their basic performance tests just fine), but it should be very capable of handling video and so on, and is half-height, passivly cooled, and cheap, which is just what you want. I actually bought one to use for a small PC I was planning to build, but it wound up being used in a server when we reliased we'd bought a motherboard with no on-board graphics port - text-only console sessions certainly seemed to refresh quick enough, if that's any help :-) Obviously, double check on the manufacturers websites before you go and buy any kit.

 

--

David Hicks

[Thefuturesbright]

We have just got some HP 8100 Elite i5 SFF brilliant little machines £480 if I recall

[centrico]

The Core i5 is supposed to have some swishy new on-board graphics technology, with a fancy name that I've completly forgotten, so you might be surprised by how capable it is. Otherwise, the ATI Radeon HD 5450 looks pretty good:

 

ATI Radeon HD 5450 review | Graphics cards | Reviews | PC Pro

 

As the review points out, it's not a gaming graphics card (although it did run their basic performance tests just fine), but it should be very capable of handling video and so on, and is half-height, passivly cooled, and cheap, which is just what you want. I actually bought one to use for a small PC I was planning to build, but it wound up being used in a server when we reliased we'd bought a motherboard with no on-board graphics port - text-only console sessions certainly seemed to refresh quick enough, if that's any help :-) Obviously, double check on the manufacturers websites before you go and buy any kit.

 

--

David Hicks

 

David, thanks a lot, I think I'm near the solution

[centrico]

We have just got some HP 8100 Elite i5 SFF brilliant little machines £480 if I recall

 

It is a too big machine. I'm looking for USFF.

[Arthur]

I've seen some threads regarding Ultra small form factor PC but not discovered which ones are really small and powerful

The Zotac HD-ND22 (~£163) perhaps? It's a barebones PC (just add RAM, HDD & OS) and can be easily mounted on the back of a monitor/LCD with the included VESA mount. It has an Intel Celeron SU2300 dual core CULV processor (making it a lot faster than any Atom-based PC) and nVidia ION graphics - which means it can handle 1080p videos with ease thanks to the GPU.

 

Reviews

TechReport: http://techreport.com/articles.x/19507/1

SPCR: http://www.silentpcreview.com/zotac-zbox

Linux User: http://www.linuxuser.co.uk/reviews/zotac-zbox-hd-nd22-review/

 

I'm using it for interactive signage, at full HD, with multimedia applications that use images, audio, video and animations.

I'm not sure if it is relevant, but only videos encoded in MPEG-2, H.264 or VC-1 formats will be accelerated by the Radeon HD 5450. Everything else will be processed by the CPU.

 

From my experience inbuilt graphics is not sufficient.

That latest IGPs from AMD, nVidia & Intel are a lot better than they used to be. AMDs 890GX chipset includes a Radeon HD 4290 and the latest "Clarkdale" processors from Intel are good too (particularly the Core i5-661). Playing a 1080p H.264 video clip on the latter uses very little processor power (around 10%).

 

The Intel CPUs have generally a couple of per cent lower CPU usage than the Nvidia on average, but there's not a huge difference at all, and between the two Intel CPUs they are very similar. Remember the Core i5-661 has a higher clock than the Core i3-530, meaning there's more processing power available so this means the overall average will be lower. All the systems produced a very smooth 1080p h.264 playback, though.

 

...

 

Conclusion

Intel's newest integrated graphics chip has an advanced feature-set especially if you're interested in high quality video playback. Its power consumption should be lower when playing back Blu-ray content, given the extra performance its latest products offer, however it's a only couple of watts away from its rivals, which when you factor in that big HDTV and surround sound amp is arguably not significant.

 

If you're serious about your movie watching you'll be more pleased that the HD-audio passthrough now works, you can get your picture-in-picture and deep colour resolutions, and when you're not using it, the idle power use of the Core i5-661 and Core i3-530 is very low. (Source)

[centrico]

The Zotac HD-ND22 (~£163) perhaps? It's a barebones PC (just add RAM, HDD & OS) and can be easily mounted on the back of a monitor/LCD with the included VESA mount. It has an Intel Celeron SU2300 dual core CULV processor (making it a lot faster than any Atom-based PC) and nVidia ION graphics - which means it can handle 1080p videos with ease thanks to the GPU.

 

Reviews

TechReport: Zotac's Zbox HD-ND22 barebones mini PC - The Tech Report - Page 1

SPCR: Zotac ZBOX HD-ND22: A CULV Nettop at last! | silentpcreview.com

Linux User: Zotac Zbox HD-ND22 review | Linux User

 

It seems really interesting. Probably I have to test it with my applications.

 

I'm not sure if it is relevant, but only videos encoded in MPEG-2, H.264 or VC-1 formats will be accelerated by the Radeon HD 5450. Everything else will be processed by the CPU.

 

 

That latest IGPs from AMD, nVidia & Intel are a lot better than they used to be. AMDs 890GX chipset includes a Radeon HD 4290 and the latest "Clarkdale" processors from Intel are good too (particularly the Core i5-661). Playing a 1080p H.264 video clip on the latter uses very little processor power (around 10%).

 

Thanks for your suggestions