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*Official* Zotac Geforce 9300 Mini-Itx HTPC Motherboard Thread - Page 2

post #31 of 1588
2/5/09 at 4:22pm
I know this goes on sale the second week of Feb, but has anyone had any luck finding any place with it on preorder or sale yet?
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post #32 of 1588
2/5/09 at 5:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by harvinstl View Post

I know this goes on sale the second week of Feb, but has anyone had any luck finding any place with it on preorder or sale yet?


Currently no one has it up for presale yet. I'll b ordering mine from newegg as soon as possible.
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post #33 of 1588
2/6/09 at 12:20pm
I heard some rumors that board's wifi does not support WPA, only WEP. can it be true?
Do You think that 120W psu would be enough for zotac+e5200+ram+hdd+dvd (or blu ray)+1 usb device?
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post #34 of 1588
2/6/09 at 10:54pm
Thread Starter 
First place that has it up for sale!

http://www.ncixus.com/products/36236/GF9300-D-E/Zotac/
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post #35 of 1588
2/9/09 at 8:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwoody2016 View Post

First place that has it up for sale!

http://www.ncixus.com/products/36236/GF9300-D-E/Zotac/

Grr, and they are sold out. Well I guess I should order my proc and ram first. Newegg here I come.
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post #36 of 1588
2/9/09 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 
I just wanted to let you all know that Zotac has officially put up a support folder. Everything will be located under here.

http://www.zotac.com/index.php?optio...120&Itemid=506
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post #37 of 1588
2/9/09 at 6:11pm
I've had an email exchange with somebody from Zotac since mid January, and this is the latest news I got:

Currently the official release date is on 2/18 world-wide. However, we won't be expecting our first shipment toward end of this month or early next month.
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post #38 of 1588
2/9/09 at 8:42pm
Thread Starter 
Well I just want to officially let everyone know that the manual and the drivers got released tonight.!!!


From when I called last week, they really had no idea when this board would be getting released. I got passed around to three different people before I got with someone at the top who said we should be seeing the board around the second or third week of February.

We got 64bit drivers and also XP drivers so that's a plus. I'm going to be looking more into this. Ill post some stuff tonight if I find anything interesting
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post #39 of 1588
2/9/09 at 8:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwoody2016 View Post

Well I just want to officially let everyone know that the manual and the drivers got released tonight.!!!


From when I called last week, they really had no idea when this board would be getting released. I got passed around to three different people before I got with someone at the top who said we should be seeing the board around the second or third week of February.

We got 64bit drivers and also XP drivers so that's a plus. I'm going to be looking more into this. Ill post some stuff tonight if I find anything interesting


WHOOA First page mentions a 9300 ITX and also a 9400 ITX!!
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post #40 of 1588
2/9/09 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
First thing first

Yes there is two fan headers on the board, with a menu in the bios to monitor the speed of the fan. I know I was looking for this option. As I have an extra fan in my case that I would like to monitor.
Here is the proof:



There is options in the bios to change the voltage of the CPU and the memory. I know this is a great thing for those that were interesting in overclocking. The MEM voltage settings can be changed from 1.90v,2.00v or 2.10V. The CPU voltage settings can be changed to 1.10V,1.15V,1.20V,1.25V. This isn't really my area of expertise but if anyone has any info on this area it would be great to add some stuff


The greatest resolution you can get with the onboard graphics cards is 1920X1440 at 75Hz

There is also options in the bios for S3,S4, so I think we are set for TV tuners. There is also the option of the PCI 16X slot being able to wake the computer up.

This board also mentions the possibility of having RAID in this system. You might end up having to add a SATA card if you hope to use this a a server.

There is no option to have firewire. I guess with the slot you can add a card if you really need it.

If anyone has any other question, feel free to ask, the manual took a couple minutes for me to download.
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post #41 of 1588
2/10/09 at 4:33am
bwoody2016 - Thanks for sharing the info.

Quote:
Originally Posted by bwoody2016 View Post

with a menu in the bios to monitor the speed of the fan.

Being able to monitor the fan speed is nice, but it would be even better if the bios could control the fan speed. Based on my research, their AMD mini-itx board lacks any type of intelligent fan speed control in bios based on CPU load or temperature. Worse yet, they do not provide any software for fan speed control, nor can you use Speedfan do accomplish this. I was hoping their Intel board would be different.

Quote:


The CPU voltage settings can be changed to 1.10V,1.15V,1.20V,1.25V.

What, no undervolting? That's disappointing. How about multiplier control? The AMD board has both voltage control (down to 0.8V, IIRC) and multiplier control. If I were to buy this board I would wait after they upgraded the bios to support these features.
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post #42 of 1588
2/10/09 at 4:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwoody2016 View Post

First thing first

Yes there is two fan headers on the board, with a menu in the bios to monitor the speed of the fan. I know I was looking for this option. As I have an extra fan in my case that I would like to monitor.
Here is the proof:



There is options in the bios to change the voltage of the CPU and the memory. I know this is a great thing for those that were interesting in overclocking. The MEM voltage settings can be changed from 1.90v,2.00v or 2.10V. The CPU voltage settings can be changed to 1.10V,1.15V,1.20V,1.25V. This isn't really my area of expertise but if anyone has any info on this area it would be great to add some stuff


The greatest resolution you can get with the onboard graphics cards is 1920X1440 at 75Hz

There is also options in the bios for S3,S4, so I think we are set for TV tuners. There is also the option of the PCI 16X slot being able to wake the computer up.

This board also mentions the possibility of having RAID in this system. You might end up having to add a SATA card if you hope to use this a a server.

There is no option to have firewire. I guess with the slot you can add a card if you really need it.

If anyone has any other question, feel free to ask, the manual took a couple minutes for me to download.

The big question is, does the BIOS fan control monitor and adjust for CPU temperature? Zotac's 8200 board apparently does not.
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post #43 of 1588
2/10/09 at 10:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gazebo View Post

bwoody2016

What, no undervolting? That's disappointing. How about multiplier control? The AMD board has both voltage control (down to 0.8V, IIRC) and multiplier control. If I were to buy this board I would wait after they upgraded the bios to support these features.

Yeah... no undervolting does suck, but as long as you decide to go with a low power draw processor, you shouldn't have a problem. Fan monitoring does seem like a problem with the board, but I think if we get enough emails going saying we would like it in the bios, it shouldn't be a problem. Zotac is quite open to adding things.
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post #44 of 1588
2/11/09 at 9:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwoody2016 View Post

Zotac is quite open to adding things.

I hope you are right about this. But I'd rather have a product working on the first day than waiting/begging for fixes to problems that should not have been there in the first place.

I'll be sitting on the fence waiting to see how this board and the upcoming Nvidia ION boards pan out. For most HTPC applications, I think any Atom based ION implementation should be more than adequate.
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post #45 of 1588
2/11/09 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwilcox25 View Post

Anybody know whether this will have esata port multiplier support? That's the main drawback of the ich10 dg45fc board that i'm using now as a file server / htpc

A Mini-ITX as a file server. My how far we have come...
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post #46 of 1588
2/11/09 at 2:05pm
NCIX Canada is taking orders for the Zotac mobo:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=Zotac

$175.00 CAD
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post #47 of 1588
2/11/09 at 3:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by gazebo View Post

I hope you are right about this. But I'd rather have a product working on the first day than waiting/begging for fixes to problems that should not have been there in the first place.

I'll be sitting on the fence waiting to see how this board and the upcoming Nvidia ION boards pan out. For most HTPC applications, I think any Atom based ION implementation should be more than adequate.

I too am interested in how the ION pans out. But my only concern is price and this Zotac board will keep me busy until the ION is released in late summer.

Just picked up 4GB (2x2GB) of DDR2 800 for this board for $15.99 shipped after $20 MIR.

http://shop4.frys.com/product/5530560

*Edit*
Anyone think I would have a problem powering this motherboard, E7400 , HDD and a HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive with a pico 120w PSU?

http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-120-...8&category=981
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post #48 of 1588
2/11/09 at 6:02pm
Hmm, is NCIX Canada the only one carrying this at the moment? Any US retailers where we can nab one?
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post #49 of 1588
2/11/09 at 6:07pm
Thread Starter 
You can pre-order it from them. No one currently has it in stock. Look after the 18th of next week.
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post #50 of 1588
2/11/09 at 6:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bwoody2016 View Post

You can pre-order it from them. No one currently has it in stock. Look after the 18th of next week.

Live in the US and NCIXUS doesn't have it available for pre-order. The only option is "Add to Wishlist"
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post #51 of 1588
2/11/09 at 7:11pm
*Edit*
Anyone think I would have a problem powering this motherboard, E7400 , HDD and a HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive with a pico 120w PSU?

http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-120-...8&category=981[/quote]

Please see my test above,
with E8400 it drains 96w in peak (3D mark Vantage most intensive parts)
During blue-ray playback it drains 64w
All test were done with 120w PSU (Inwin 639BM case)
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post #52 of 1588
2/11/09 at 7:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwilcox25 View Post

thanks for the info. hopefully the esata port isn't from the 9300 thenI might be considering this as well. My case is also pretty small (2.8" x 8.7" x 7.3"), so the card would def have to be low-profile. Not to mention SLI capable w/ this mGPU

Hmm, question, is the case you're using an Apex MW-100? If yes, what do you have installed there? I want to use it for a regular mini-ITX board but I have no idea what LGA775 cooler would fit...

If it's a different case, think you could send me a link to the case you used? Thanks!
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post #53 of 1588
2/11/09 at 11:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post

Live in the US and NCIXUS doesn't have it available for pre-order. The only option is "Add to Wishlist"

Last order I made with NCIXUS, I still got charged a few percent extra (about 2-weeks later) by my credit card for the exchange rate. Keep this in mind when looking at the USD price & shipping.
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post #54 of 1588
2/12/09 at 7:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post

Hmm, question, is the case you're using an Apex MW-100? If yes, what do you have installed there? I want to use it for a regular mini-ITX board but I have no idea what LGA775 cooler would fit...

If it's a different case, think you could send me a link to the case you used? Thanks!

Yup MW-100 w/ the Hiper HFC 10828-C2 cooler. Unfortunately, the company has discontinued them, and they're extremely hard to find. Dynatron's P199 low-profile cooler (or the aluminum version) would also work. However, being a server cooler, the fan is a bit louder. FYI both the Hiper and Dynatron fans support PMW.
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post #55 of 1588
2/12/09 at 2:33pm
although the Ion looks promising, the mini-ITX platform lets you pair up a more capable processor. hopefully this will be the board that ticks all the boxes.

time will tell
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post #56 of 1588
2/12/09 at 4:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwilcox25 View Post

Yup MW-100 w/ the Hiper HFC 10828-C2 cooler. Unfortunately, the company has discontinued them, and they're extremely hard to find. Dynatron's P199 low-profile cooler (or the aluminum version) would also work. However, being a server cooler, the fan is a bit louder. FYI both the Hiper and Dynatron fans support PMW.

Not surprised they discontinued them. While decent LP coolers they were too tall for Hiper's own LP HTPC chassis' by 2 or 3mm. Bit of a c**k up really

Caused us no end of problems.

Wo0zy
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post #57 of 1588
2/13/09 at 10:45am
I have the Apex MI-100 and I am currently using the Jetway 8200 mini-itx board and there is barely any room between the PSU and the low profile HSF.

If you (meaning anyone that wants to answer) removed the PSU and used a picopsu which quiet cpu cooler would you go with?

Quote:
Originally Posted by vaulter View Post

*Edit*
Please see my test above,
with E8400 it drains 96w in peak (3D mark Vantage most intensive parts)
During blue-ray playback it drains 64w
All test were done with 120w PSU (Inwin 639BM case)

Thanks for the info!
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post #58 of 1588
2/13/09 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by opentoideas View Post

although the Ion looks promising, the mini-ITX platform lets you pair up a more capable processor. hopefully this will be the board that ticks all the boxes.

time will tell

I'm pretty sure I read in a tech site (sorry I forget which one) that nVidia does not limit the Ion plataform to the pico itx format. So mini itx and mini dtx (my first choice) boards could very possibly become available. Then again as you said, time will tell.
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post #59 of 1588
2/13/09 at 3:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jwilcox25 View Post

Yup MW-100 w/ the Hiper HFC 10828-C2 cooler. Unfortunately, the company has discontinued them, and they're extremely hard to find. Dynatron's P199 low-profile cooler (or the aluminum version) would also work. However, being a server cooler, the fan is a bit louder. FYI both the Hiper and Dynatron fans support PMW.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to order from the UK if I want one of those. On the upside, the aluminum version (Hiper HFA 10828-C2) seems still to be available from US retailers. Question, do you have a slim optical drive installed or did you have to forfeit that so the cooler would fit?
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post #60 of 1588
2/14/09 at 4:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to order from the UK if I want one of those. On the upside, the aluminum version (Hiper HFA 10828-C2) seems still to be available from US retailers. Question, do you have a slim optical drive installed or did you have to forfeit that so the cooler would fit?

Slim optical + 2.5" will fit fine without customizing the case. Good luck!
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