- Dec 28, 2007
- 2,548
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My new Zacate build came about primarily because I got a really nice deal on the ISK300 case from Amazon a short while back. I wish the rig was dead silent, but that tiny cpu fan is still much quieter than what I would have expected. With the smart fan controls enabled for the cpu fan, it's perceptively quieter than the 80mm case fan.
Parts list:
$110 - ASRock E350M1
$33 (normally ~$70) - Antec ISK300-65
$25 AR - Patriot Signature DDR3-1333 4GB
$11 - Hornettek HT-H5DN Wireless 300Mbps 802.11n USB 2.0 High-Gain Adapter
Re-using - Seagate Momentus 7200.2 120GB 7200rpm 2.5" HDD
No optical drive, though there is room for a slim drive
Already own a license for Windows 7 Pro x64
Cost was relatively low for me, since I already had a couple things on-hand and I got a great deal on the case, but it's kinda scary that the license for Windows would have been about the price of the rig itself. I wonder if Ubuntu has software support for the Zacate platform, including capability to enable hardware acceleration for video.
My primary concern with the E-350 is its slowness, if the video I'm trying to play won't work with hardware acceleration. When I tried watching the The Muppets Official Trailer at 1080p, it stuttered horribly (roughly 90-100% cpu utilization). However, it seemed to have played the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" Trailer 2 at 1080p just fine (roughly 75% utilization). I can't even really tell if hardware acceleration for flash was actually working. Maybe it wasn't, since cpu utilization was so high in both cases. Fortunately or unfortunately, my internet isn't fast enough to stream 1080p flash video, let alone 720p, so I suppose I don't really have to worry about that much. (Flash version 10.3.181.26)
Outside of flash, the HD6310 IGP works with DXVA just fine.
I was originally going to use an old Belkin wireless G USB2.0 adapter or eHome wireless G USB2.0 adapter, but both were just useless. The Belkin has issues getting any kind of reception unless it was sitting next to the router, and the eHome adapter simply didn't have drivers for Windows 7. Well, they were really old anyways.
Fortunately, that cheap Hornettek adapter works great. Windows had drivers for it, so it was just plug and play, and reception is excellent. It's good to know that the giant antenna isn't just for show.
There has been only one major problem so far. I'm not sure what the cause is, but the computer sometimes refuses to boot after it goes to sleep. I would have to disconnect power, plug it back in, and then it will wake from sleep. For now, I just avoid using sleep and go for a full shutdown.
Power consumption is excellent as expected. It makes me glad that the case deal was for the 65W version. From this review, the 150W model's PSU is much less efficient. I forgot to jot down the PFC, but it was about 50-60% or so, like in the review. A bit disappointing, but power consumption is rather low anyways.
(Taken with Kill-A-Watt meter)
Idle: 18-19W
Prime95: 25-26W
Furmark: 29W
Prime95+Furmark: 31W
Temperatures:
The max column would be the temperatures after running Prime95 and Furmark for about 15-20 minutes.
The current value column would be idling for about half an hour.
Ambient temperature was 27C.
I should have taken more pictures, but here is what I have:
Some additional resources for potential builders:
VirtualLarry's build
Gigantopithecus' build
Parts list:
$110 - ASRock E350M1
$33 (normally ~$70) - Antec ISK300-65
$25 AR - Patriot Signature DDR3-1333 4GB
$11 - Hornettek HT-H5DN Wireless 300Mbps 802.11n USB 2.0 High-Gain Adapter
Re-using - Seagate Momentus 7200.2 120GB 7200rpm 2.5" HDD
No optical drive, though there is room for a slim drive
Already own a license for Windows 7 Pro x64
Cost was relatively low for me, since I already had a couple things on-hand and I got a great deal on the case, but it's kinda scary that the license for Windows would have been about the price of the rig itself. I wonder if Ubuntu has software support for the Zacate platform, including capability to enable hardware acceleration for video.
My primary concern with the E-350 is its slowness, if the video I'm trying to play won't work with hardware acceleration. When I tried watching the The Muppets Official Trailer at 1080p, it stuttered horribly (roughly 90-100% cpu utilization). However, it seemed to have played the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" Trailer 2 at 1080p just fine (roughly 75% utilization). I can't even really tell if hardware acceleration for flash was actually working. Maybe it wasn't, since cpu utilization was so high in both cases. Fortunately or unfortunately, my internet isn't fast enough to stream 1080p flash video, let alone 720p, so I suppose I don't really have to worry about that much. (Flash version 10.3.181.26)
Outside of flash, the HD6310 IGP works with DXVA just fine.
I was originally going to use an old Belkin wireless G USB2.0 adapter or eHome wireless G USB2.0 adapter, but both were just useless. The Belkin has issues getting any kind of reception unless it was sitting next to the router, and the eHome adapter simply didn't have drivers for Windows 7. Well, they were really old anyways.
Fortunately, that cheap Hornettek adapter works great. Windows had drivers for it, so it was just plug and play, and reception is excellent. It's good to know that the giant antenna isn't just for show.
There has been only one major problem so far. I'm not sure what the cause is, but the computer sometimes refuses to boot after it goes to sleep. I would have to disconnect power, plug it back in, and then it will wake from sleep. For now, I just avoid using sleep and go for a full shutdown.
Power consumption is excellent as expected. It makes me glad that the case deal was for the 65W version. From this review, the 150W model's PSU is much less efficient. I forgot to jot down the PFC, but it was about 50-60% or so, like in the review. A bit disappointing, but power consumption is rather low anyways.
(Taken with Kill-A-Watt meter)
Idle: 18-19W
Prime95: 25-26W
Furmark: 29W
Prime95+Furmark: 31W
Temperatures:
The max column would be the temperatures after running Prime95 and Furmark for about 15-20 minutes.
The current value column would be idling for about half an hour.
Ambient temperature was 27C.
I should have taken more pictures, but here is what I have:
Some additional resources for potential builders:
VirtualLarry's build
Gigantopithecus' build
Last edited:
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