*Official* ASRock Vision 3D 2nd Generation Thread - Page 2

The Vision is an i5 mobile CPU. Can't really compare the two like you have done. Try to compare some benchmarks if you want to compare the two.

8GB RAM is largely uneeded compared to 4GB in HTPC applications but only about an extra $10-$20 even if you wanted it.

Also our machines can come without a SSD, Hard Drive or really anything else for that matter as it would be deducted off the price.

I guess that's one of the benefits of using a completely custom machine.

To each his own.

I also have been waiting on reviews on how the ASROCK performs. I know motherboards.org has a youtube video of the unboxing and that was like 1 to 2 weeks ago. I assume after the holidays we may start seeing some reviews trickle in.

Assassin have you had anyone write a review of any of your systems?

I will definitely be getting an HTPC when I get back from vacation in January. I still haven't decided on an ASROCK, Assassin Elite, or if I will just take the time to build one.

We are on amazon and have had a few people post there on their thoughts. LINK

Also we built a test build for a reviewer over at the New York Times and About.com

Here's the most recent email he sent us updating us on his review:


We don't do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sales and don't really want to. We do want to offer a great HTPC at what we think is a very reasonable and fair market value. I don't know of any other HTPC in the world that has a SSD and 2TB drive for less than $1000.

BTW - I apologize for getting this thread off track. I will refrain from posting but if you have any other questions shoot me a PM.

Here is a first review of the Asrock that I could find:

http://www.legionhardware.com/articl...dy_bridge.html

In the Conclusion, oddly, they mention a preinstalled Windows 7. That's something I've yet to see any mention of before.

Legionhardware probably received one with windows 7 installed because on newegg and asrock's site it does not mention it being installed.

Windows was most likely pre-installed by ASrock for review purposes.

I have enjoyed your site and HTPC advice. I have been building PC's for gaming purposes for 15 years but have never researched or attempted a HTPC. I think the dialogue going on here is great in assisting both those with extensive and non-existent HTPC experience.

I second that...

@splas:

I don't know if it will be a hit (for those looking at systems like this) as the original was last year. No immediate external changes are visible to the uninformed. Sites simply won't pick-up the new release and run a story because of this, niche sites will but not the mainstream ones (IMO, niche sites are almost always more interesting to read).

Since the case looks so much like the Mac mini, maybe they should have hired Apple's ad agency. :P
After all, it seems Apple is the only one that can get millions excited over a few cosmetic changes, fancy display names, voice software and a fluffy cloud.

ASRock should have done more to announce this unit, maybe they did, just no one thought it was interesting enough to cover extensively like last year's model. ?

Already mentioned above, the review: Asrock Vision 3D 252B (Sandy Bridge) - Review - http://is.gd/JCDVC3 I think is well detailed.


What's interesting is this part:
"Asrock's Vision 3D is the most powerful HTPC we've tested yet, though it's also the most expensive. That said, at $1000 you get the lot, 8GB of RAM, 750GB HDD, Blu-ray combo drive, GeForce GT 540M graphics card and the Core i5-2520M processor and even an pre-installed copy of Windows 7."

A reader's comment about the article says:
"From the looks of it at newegg and asrock Windows 7 is not included so the price is more like 1100 if you are using Windows 7."

The author replies:
"Asrock has told me that it does come with Windows 7 installed, just as our sample did."

That was a surprising revelation to me (as I'm sure it is to others). I had already purchased Windows 7 Ultimate in anticipation, I'll now use them as an upgrade if Windows is pre-installed. I'll update on whether this is true for the 2 I've ordered, they arrive this week. Hopefully before Christmas. I got a pretty good deal on them I think, $960ea from a supplier in Florida. Since I was buying 2 right then and there I got a small discount, otherwise they sell for the same as Newegg, $999.99.

Later.

If anyone buys the Asrock Vision 3D 252B and plays Batman Arkham City on it please post back on here how it runs. Also, if anyone runs Adobe Premiere on it please let me know how it runs.

They're here! Picked up the 2 Vision's today (about an hour ago). A thing of beauty. Very fitting for an HTPC imo. Quiet as a mouse with no load. We'll see how much that changes when the system is under load. I'll report back after the holidays on my testing for those wanting to know more etc.

As suspected and confirmed, the Vision 3D's DO NOT come with Windows 7 pre-installed. So I can at least use the Ultimate Editions I bought as they were meant to be used, a full install.

Any issues I encounter as I set these systems up or advice I come across, I'll happily write about in this thread.

Have a great one all, I'll be back sometime next week to update.

Thank you,

Probably the best Christmas Present I'll get.

So anyone who bought this how is it?

Just a bump to see if you have any updates

I didn't forget. I'm still on holiday break. lol!

Throughout the setup/config, I've kept notes. I'll put those together later and post back with my experience and thoughts etc. Just to give you an idea; these HTPC's are AWESOME! I'm thrilled to say these are truly some really, really well built, thoughtfully designed systems for the HTPC enthusiast, whether one is a 'must have everything perfect' or just turn it on and go user. Shhhh, be very, very quite. Noise what noise? My A/C vents make more noise than the Vision! Casual to moderate desktop gaming is no sweat, so if you're thinking about doing some of that, you won't be disappointed.

More later.

Thanks.

Loving my Asrock Vision 3D 252B- expensive yes- £800 in the UK!- but fits in with my London flat and has a very small footprint. Fitted it with my SSD and it flies like the wind- and pretty near silent. Just wish Microsoft would integrate Blu-Ray into Windows....!
Just one problem- sleep and shut down. The thing won't go to sleep- it instantly reawakens itself. If I press shutdown via windows it will also reawaken itself, but if I press the power button it shuts down for good. I think the ASRock Instant Boot may be the culprit- sorry to be so vague but I was wondering if anyone had any similar experiences/solutions- thanks!

Good to hear you like yours too cjmccarthy72. My review (finally) of the 2nd Gen will be done this week. I promise!

I'm using the supplied WD 750GB HDD, I've had no issues as you've described. I see a user review at Newegg.com, it is mentioned that the system (very rarely) does not find the hard drive. This user also has a SSD drive instead of the WD. Could just be a coincidence, but a slight pattern is emerging IMO.

On Shut Down, Instant Boot reboots the system and then should proceed to Shut Down again saving the session in either S3 mode (Fast) or S4 mode (Regular). More info here: http://is.gd/iy7aEo - ZDNet

Fast Mode only works if you do not use a login password for your Windows profile. I do use a password and found that with Instant Boot as a System Power profile, my password is bypassed when resuming from regular Sleep mode.
On Shut down, the system restarts as normal, stops at the login screen/profile and sits there until I enter my password. I enter my password, system boots and everything continues as normal. Once the Start-up and Services have been started/activated, the system then proceeds to Shut down. When I power-up the system again, it is 'instantly' (well 5secs or so) booted to my Windows profile, awaiting my password. When I was testing and did not use a password, it booted right into my Windows Desktop.

Instant Boot works as advertised, but because I do use a password, I found that the 35secs saved over not having a Windows profile password was not a big deal and so I've disabled Instant Boot entirely. I like Sleep mode for my computers if I'm not going to be using it for anything over 5/8hrs, Hibernation for extended away time (+20hrs) and Shut Down for when I'm on vacation or away longer than 10 days. I can't say if any "accumulated garbage data” effected the performance of Windows after resuming from Sleep/Hibernation mode. But then again, I do restart my system every 2 weeks or thereabouts (thanks Windows Update).

Instant Boot with a regular HDD is fast, but with the SSD, you should already be shaving quite a few secs when it comes to boot-up time. I see no benefit in having SSD+Instant Boot. I would make sure that Instant Boot is disabled or uninstalled. Then test to see if that solves your issue.

Hope the info helps. Let us know what you discover.

Thanks for that- lot of info there. I am not sure its my SSD as it works fine in all other ways- not sure how sleep would need to draw upon boot order, etc. You are right about instant boot- it made very little difference to a pretty awesome boot up time- the machine really flies with minimal noise with an SSD in it! [By the way, there are mixed messages regarding ASRock Vision and ability to mount a second 2.5 inch drive- it is certainly possible but it is not as straightforward as it should be and leads to my SSD getting pretty hot- EDIT- the reported temp of my SSD is wrong- there is no temp sensor on my Vertex 3 and instead defaults readings as 128c!! A update on OCZ's website allows you to change that value].

I have tried disabling/then unistalling Fast boot [with Revo Uninstaller] but even the latter leaves residue- in Power Plans.

If I was more tecnical I would understand log files.

Oh well I will probably do an install of Windows 8 beta in the next few weeks and start again

Hi,

can you tell us more about noise ?
Excuse my english level, i'm french
Thank's a lot for all your feedback and reviews...

Noise level is very, very minimal with the default Fan Control setting which is level 5. Adjusting the level to 6 & 7 makes no noticeable difference in fan noise at the same distance that I am at (11 to 12 Feet from the ASRock). At 6 feet away with the level 7 setting, you'll hear (it has to be just about dead quiet in the room) slight air flow noise but not a 'high pitch' flow. On the highest level (I'm assuming 8 or 10, there's no numeral indicator after level 7), that's when you can clearly hear the 'high pitch' flow of air as it rushes through the rear cooling port/fins. I would think that the highest level would only be needed for very hot rooms/storage locations that have minimal or just about zero air flow. Perhaps too when one is really pushing the video card.

Cooling Defaults: *Fan Level 5, CPU Target Temperature 75 Celsius / 168 Fahrenheit. *The fan level control is for the CPU only as the GPU is passively cooled. See: Thermal Design Strategy.

The ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) allows you to tune the temp settings/fan level to your liking, but make sure you either leave it at the default levels or don't go below by much. You don't want to have a slow rotating fan (level 3 or below) and high temps. My settings are: Fan Target Speed: Level 6. Target Temperature: 60 Celsius / 140 Fahrenheit. Critical Temperature is set to: 88 Celsius / 190 Fahrenheit (down from the default of 96 Celsius / 204 Fahrenheit).

Currently my temp measurements are: CPU - 43C / 109F. Motherboard - 41C / 107F. MXM GPU - 43C / 109F. Hard drive: 35C / 96F. My home theater room temp is 68, that equals lower than normal temps for me. The CPU fan only spins up faster as the temp gets closer to my setting of 60 Celsius / 140 Fahrenheit, the temp thresholds are maintained as needed with the fan's RPM at 2393/2410.

In AnandTech's review of the original Vision 3D, they said: "We were pleasantly surprised upon looking at the noise reports. In the set of pictures below, a professional sound level detector was placed 2 ft away from the Vision 3D, and the sound level measurements were taken in various HTPC scenarios. The unit has a noise level of less than 35 dB at full load (for both CPU and GPU)." Detailed noise info here: http://is.gd/7KHDj5. It is the same thermal cooling design and like I said in an earlier post, my A/C vents make more noise than the Vision 3D. (At normal temperatures).

Read these Full Reviews:

ASRock's High-End Vision 3D HTPC (Original version) Reviewed.

Asrock Vision 3D 252B (New Sandy Bridge version).


Having said all of the above, I have no doubt you'll be extremely happy with the new Vision 3D.

À la prochaine.

Purgatory

Merci beaucoup

i'm looking for a very quiet pc so i think i will buy this one
Thank you for your help.

I agree- very quiet- the fans on the back of my plasma tv make more noise than the PC. Also it is so small that I can actually put it in my cupboard immediately under the tv and shut the doors on it- then I can't hear it at all and in terms of heat it still seems fine.

With a seperate NAS this really is the perfect HTPC (+ gaming solution) solution- finally a one box solution to put under my tv- I know it is expensive but I am surprised it is not making more waves....

I am experiencing a pretty nasty issue with data corruption with my Asrock Vision 3D 252. I have a friend having the same issue. I would appreciate any solution or your experience. Can you reproduce what I describe below? Indeed, I wrote a few days go Asrock support but have not heard from them yet. Since then I have just tried to reproduce it using Windows 8 preview and it is still the same s#*t.

My message to Asrock support:

Hello,

I am experiencing data corruption with this PC. The most reliable way to reproduce the issue is to try to repair a large dataset (couple dozen gigs) with parity set e.g using Multipar. I have tested a variety of situations by creating a large split archive and corrupting a few files in it. The repair invariably fails wether I place files on local drive eSATA or USB both with FAT and NTFS and either AHCI or IDE enabled. Repair also fails if I try to share the drive on network and I try to make repair from different PC. It is not software issue because the same dataset placed on another computer shared drive and attempt to repair from ASRock vision 3D worked flawlessly. There is no hint of error in Windows logs either to point to a solution. Please advise.
Best regards

Since it's a dual GPU configuration, I'm curious which GPU is used for WMC TV playback and for Blu-ray playback (TMT5)?

Not sure how you can tell, but the virtu software allows you to turn off the Intel GPU

Sleep is working near perfectly now. I reinstalled Win7, (after trying out Win8 for 2 weeks!), and did'nt install any of ASRocks software except the USB 3 programme.
I also installed the Virtu software for switching the GPUs between Intel and Nvidia- but it has always seemed broken- "error warnings, etc" to me, but the latest release 1.2.114 does not seem so broken- although I am still not sure if it actually does anything!

I have a seperate problem regard TMT5 not working, which makes me annoyed that Microsoft won't support natively Blu-Ray, and with Win8, even DVDs, but that is another story...

New ASrock HTPCs coming out later in 2012- the VisionX looks like a real HTPC/Gaming machine combo


http://www.anandtech.com/show/5883/a...nd-mini-series

jakmal will you be reviewing the new IvyBridge Vision HT?
I've noticed it's listed on NewEgg but out of stock.

Do you have any updates on the eta of the Vision X?

Maybe we need to start a new Official thread for the 3rd Gen models.

Looking forward to the review jakmal.

Lack of BT support was one gripe I had with the SandyBridge Vision 3D (had to buy a dongle to get BT).
Good to see they have included 5 GHz support as I am looking at upgrading to a dual band router in the future.