[agtiny]

Hi everyone. I'm looking to replace my current HTPC, an old slim Compaq P2/233 with SBLive that just plays mp3's over my network. I want to upgrade to something faster (but just as small and quiet!) which can also do video.


I've been looking at the nice small cases over at caseoutlet.com and most come with the Mini-ITX VIA C3 800mhz CPU/motherboard. It's got integrated AGP graphics, S-video out, and S/PDIF so it looks like it would make a great HTPC. Does anyone have any experience with this? How is the performance, especially for video? What about Linux support for all the integrated hardware?

 

[tbdombrosky]

I had this system. It's kind of slow for dvd playback. It has pretty good Linux support. VIA has drivers on their site. The onboard graphics is very weak. I wouldn't use it for high quality dvd playback. If you have a bigger budget you might want to try the shuttle xpc's. Or you can try the newer VIA Mini ITX with the 933mhz C3 processor. Still won't be fast, but I've heard it has DVD playing built in to the bios so you don't need an OS to play DVD's.


Tom

 

[agtiny]

Thanks for the info, I think I'll pass on the VIA until they get faster. DVD in the bios, now that's a good idea.

 

[tbdombrosky]

Yeah, there's a post going on discussing the pro's and con's of dvd's in the bios. Basically there's no customizability which is what an htpc is all about. Tom's Hardware did a review of a 1ghz C3 and it was about the same speed as a 666mhz Celeron.


Tom