SFF S370 Motherboard + WORKING!! IR Keyboard $30 @ Package2You

[alm99]

Originally posted by: fxsts

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: fxsts

Originally posted by: alm99
this thing would be a good mp3 box for the living room

Only if you get the sound to work, or buy a set of USB speakers/sound system.


Edit:
Sorry. I was only thinkinfg for myself. Of course, if you do not use NetVista or any other low profile cases, you can always put a PCI sound card in.[/

The motherboard has RCA and S-Video outputs on it, at least thats what the decription says, to hook up to the TV. Just add a sound card. I would think this would work. It beats having cds around and dealing with them

My problem is that I have a low profile case, and I have not been able to find any low profile PCI soundcard. I do not even know if anyone makes such a thing when integrated sound has gotten this common.

i say sell the case and get a microatx case

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: fxsts
My problem is that I have a low profile case, and I have not been able to find any low profile PCI soundcard. I do not even know if anyone makes such a thing when integrated sound has gotten this common.

Maybe use fine-toothed hacksaw, mod something like this card with game port on top, by removing game port section of PCB, then bend/drill bracket.

 

[unclebud]

thanks for posting! good to see that there are still 370 boards out there...

 

[tommytran]

sound like I do not need to post my order http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=40&threadid=905224

Edit: I will post a follow up when I got my stuffs. Order today, 2 days shipping (pcmcia firewire and 2 round cable 24"). Notice: sometimes 2 days shipping is cheaper than UPS ground

 

[tracerbullet]

I suppose this is obvious, but - if anyone has ordered and received already, please let us know what is actually on this board! I have an old desktop ATX Pentium I'd like to turn into an MP3 player for the stereo rack. This looks perfect! The IR KB/Mouse with an S-video out to the TV, and built-in NIC to boot is great. And cheap!

Add a soundcard, processor, RAM, and be done? (Case and Power supply, floppy, hard drive, CD, etc. of course, which I already have)

I can read it on their site, just skeptical I guess. Anyone verify what's on the board?

 

[fxsts]

Originally posted by: vladgur
there are quiite a few of low-profile sound cards. None of them have SPDIF-out though

Direct me where I can get one "CHEAP". I care more or less about SPDIF. A link would help.

 

[fxsts]

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: fxsts

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: fxsts

Originally posted by: alm99
this thing would be a good mp3 box for the living room

Only if you get the sound to work, or buy a set of USB speakers/sound system.


Edit:
Sorry. I was only thinkinfg for myself. Of course, if you do not use NetVista or any other low profile cases, you can always put a PCI sound card in.[/

The motherboard has RCA and S-Video outputs on it, at least thats what the decription says, to hook up to the TV. Just add a sound card. I would think this would work. It beats having cds around and dealing with them

My problem is that I have a low profile case, and I have not been able to find any low profile PCI soundcard. I do not even know if anyone makes such a thing when integrated sound has gotten this common.

i say sell the case and get a microatx case

I have some MicroATX cases, but that loses the whole point. I would use a MiccoATX board if I were to use MicroATX case. It would be kind of like putting a MicroATX board in a 20 bay server case, if I did that.

 

[fxsts]

Originally posted by: mindless1

Originally posted by: fxsts
My problem is that I have a low profile case, and I have not been able to find any low profile PCI soundcard. I do not even know if anyone makes such a thing when integrated sound has gotten this common.

Maybe use fine-toothed hacksaw, mod something like this card with game port on top, by removing game port section of PCB, then bend/drill bracket.

I was at Fry's today looking at one of their cheap sound cards and think about the same thing, althogh I was more into using Dremel than hack saw. I was also thinking about making a PCI riser card myself using a dead PCI card and an PCI socket from an old motherboard. Fry's was selling one for, belive or not, $80!!!

 

[vladgur]

how about this card

Alternatively, there are cheap PCI risers here

 

[alm99]

could someone who got this comment on the quality of the TV out

 

[Allegro]

What about plugging something like this...

http://www.cablesamerica.com/product.asp?cat_id=1708&sku=27034

I've just got mine but have not hooked it up yet.

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: Allegro
What about plugging something like this...

http://www.cablesamerica.com/product.asp?cat_id=1708&sku=27034

I've just got mine but have not hooked it up yet.

Linked

Would you need a sound card connected to the mb to use this? Or does it just transmit through the USB? A little confused how sound would come fromt his without onboard sound or a sound card

 

[fxsts]

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: Allegro
What about plugging something like this...

http://www.cablesamerica.com/product.asp?cat_id=1708&sku=27034

I've just got mine but have not hooked it up yet.

Linked

Would you need a sound card connected to the mb to use this? Or does it just transmit through the USB? A little confused how sound would come fromt his without onboard sound or a sound card

I believe that it has sound chip inside the unit so you just need to plug it to USB port, install the driver, connect it to speakers, and ready to go. I saw a similar product at Fry's last night.

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: Allegro
What about plugging something like this...

http://www.cablesamerica.com/product.asp?cat_id=1708&sku=27034

I've just got mine but have not hooked it up yet.

Let us know how the sound quality is

 

[Allegro]

Deal, I'm hooking it up tonight.
By the way, the thing also provides OPTICAL output and even comes with a short TOSLink cable. I'll let you know how good it is after testing with my MD player.

 

[vladgur]

Wow, I am very interested to know how the SPDIF-out for Dolby Digital/DTS works in this thing. If you can do it from a software-dvd player, than Im all over this thing. I wonder if USB has enough bandwidth for that

 

[tracerbullet]

Wouldn't this have to show up as a sound card under your hardware manager? USB devices such as mice, CD or hard drives, etc. all seem to work that way. If you went into your control panel / multimedia settings, you'd make sure to choose that for sound recording and playback. Assuming this (which I do) wouldn't a software DVD player simply use whatever sound device is indicated there? Meaning it "should work" by my reasoning...

I really doubt the TV-output is real hot though. It's taken the other companies (nvidia / ATI) many years to get it, I can't see SiS having it done any better, not for this price anyway. I'd suspect it's "OK" but certainly not "great". This is purely a guess, as the above is as well. Opinions?

I picked up a cheap WD 120SE off the Dell fiasco a few weeks ago, and this unit paired with that (and a cheap processor and RAM) would make a killer MP3 player for the stereo. If I was to want video out of it, I'd be planning on an ATI card in the PCI flavor for that... especially if I was to combine it with a cheaper / slower VIA processor (no fan noise) so as not to overtask the thing. Sorry, just rambling there...

Well, we're all ears here to see how the TV-output performs!

 

[vladgur]

Usually spdif-out has to be programmatically supported. The USB component will appear as the USB-Audio device in the Device manager, but depending on the software utilities that come with it, thats about it. For SPDIF-out its important that there are Software DVD players that support it

 

[TekDemon]

Heh, I opened up a Dell 4550 and it had a passive heatsink with a fan shroud that just fed to the exhaust fan...clever =P

Which helped explain it's scary silence...my own self built PC got a lot quieter lately after I installed the TruePower 550 though =P It has auto speed adjusting fans heheheheeh

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: tracerbullet
Wouldn't this have to show up as a sound card under your hardware manager? USB devices such as mice, CD or hard drives, etc. all seem to work that way. If you went into your control panel / multimedia settings, you'd make sure to choose that for sound recording and playback. Assuming this (which I do) wouldn't a software DVD player simply use whatever sound device is indicated there? Meaning it "should work" by my reasoning...

I really doubt the TV-output is real hot though. It's taken the other companies (nvidia / ATI) many years to get it, I can't see SiS having it done any better, not for this price anyway. I'd suspect it's "OK" but certainly not "great". This is purely a guess, as the above is as well. Opinions?

I picked up a cheap WD 120SE off the Dell fiasco a few weeks ago, and this unit paired with that (and a cheap processor and RAM) would make a killer MP3 player for the stereo. If I was to want video out of it, I'd be planning on an ATI card in the PCI flavor for that... especially if I was to combine it with a cheaper / slower VIA processor (no fan noise) so as not to overtask the thing. Sorry, just rambling there...

Well, we're all ears here to see how the TV-output performs!

Could you get a Video PCI low profile card for this?

 

[Allegro]

About the SoundBox...

Ok guys,

I succesfully connected the SoundBox to one of the keyboard USB ports. XP recognized and installed the hardware without a problem or any additional drivers. Device Manager reported a "Generic USB Audio Device" Microsoft driver ver. 5.1.2535.0
I tried both SoundBox's analog output via headphones and optical output via MD player. Analog was somewhat low level (pre-amplified typical) and not any different than the PC analog output I am used to. HOWEVER, optical output through the MD player was excellent. Boy, I didn't realize how much sound I was missing with the analog. The optical output was crisp, bass was deep and signal through the MD screen was rich and detailed enough even during audio streaming (FlareSounds-Cable) via regular WinAmp.
In conclusion, this thing would work perfectly with this MB, especially if you hook up this baby to something like your eg. new Yamaha speakers, via the optical output.

I hope this help. BTW, for those of you that might want to add a TV tuner to this FLEX-ATX MB in a book-pc or mediabox case, the ATI TV Wonder VE is a nice and cheap LOW PROFILE card. It happens to come with a full height bracket, but who doesn't have a dremmel!

 

[fxsts]

I am still looking for a CHEAP low profile sound card. Anybody?

TV Wonder VE is a good idea if anyone is looking for TV tuner.

 

[vladgur]

Allegro, could you please try to connect this USB Sound Box to a Dolby DIgital Receiver via optical-out(make sure analog is not connected) and play some dvd movie.

Does 5.1 channel SPDIF-out work?

 

[alm99]

Originally posted by: vladgur
Allegro, could you please try to connect this USB Sound Box to a Dolby DIgital Receiver via optical-out(make sure analog is not connected) and play some dvd movie.

Does 5.1 channel SPDIF-out work?

EDIT: Also, fxsts is the netvista case PSU enough to power this?

 

[fxsts]

Originally posted by: alm99

Originally posted by: vladgur

EDIT: Also, fxsts is the netvista case PSU enough to power this?

Because I do not have the USB sound thing, I cannot quite comment on that. However, the 95W power supply in NetVista has been working pretty well with my current Gateway/MSI board with FCPGA Celeron 633Mhz.

I can connect an external USB harddrive (w/ 2.5 in notebook drive in it) to the system and run it by getting the power directly off USB port. On the contrary, according to my experience, it also depends on the motherboard and how much power it can send out to the USB port regardless of what power supply it uses. For example, the same drive has a problem running without any external power source when it gets connected to my main P4 computer with 480W Antec power supply.