Mass Storage
Finding the right video source for our High Definition tests was a little more difficult than we anticipated. We thought of several titles that would be perfect for generating stunning video playback sequences, but each title was available in either HD-DVD or Blu-ray formats only. In the end, we chose a couple of titles that offered very good visuals but more importantly were available in SD, HD-DVD, and Blu-ray formats. These two titles are Mission Impossible 3 and Swordfish. While we would love to show Halle Berry's special scene in Swordfish, we will instead focus on one of the colorful action scenes in the beginning of the movie. Mission Impossible 3 affords us a scene where Tom Cruise is scaling the wall at the Vatican, and that will separate the good from bad when it comes to moiré patterns in 1080P.
In order to display those movie sequences we need the latest HD software, so we naturally used
CyberLink's PowerDVD Ultra and
Corel's InterVideo WinDVD 8 Platinum HD/BD . Both programs gave us migraines under Vista up until the latest patches, and we are still a little on edge during scene switching and extended playback. Of course, this is almost standard fare with Vista, but we will cover these issues and others in a separate article. On a side note, we are also utilizing the
HD HQV Benchmark to evaluate the picture quality output of our graphics solutions and Intel's
Digital Home Capabilities Assessment 2.0 Tool to verify our platform's digital video capabilities and expected stability when playing back various video formats.
Having the software available for viewing and playback does little good if we do not have the proper optical drives that are up to the task. As an offshoot of this particular roundup we will start reviewing optical drives again at AnandTech in the near future. In the meantime, our HD capable test drives consisted of the
Plextor PX-B900A , Toshiba
SD-H802A , and Pioneer
BDC-S02BK . Our standard DVD playback drive is the
Lite-On LH-20A1P and we might even throw in a playback comparison between the Toshiba SD-H802A HD-DVD drive and the Microsoft
Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. Unfortunately, we were hoping to receive the
Toshiba SD-H903A HD-DVD writer to compare directly to the new low cost Pioneer BDC-S02BK Blu-ray writer but our sample has been delayed. However, we should receive it in time for the optical drive reviews.
While we are on the subject of storage, it turned out one of the most difficult choices we had to make was choosing what hard drive to utilize. In keeping with our silent and inexpensive theme we settled on the Samsung
SpinPoint T166 500GB for our standard test bed. That said, we wanted to try something a little different for our featured HTPC buildup and selected the
Seagate DB35.3 750GB hard drive that is designed for DVR-specific challenges such as power consumption, video streaming performance, acoustics, and long term reliability. For those that like to throw caution to the wind, we also will be testing two of the Seagate DB35.3 500GB drives in RAID 0 and RAID 1 to see how well they perform against our standard Samsung T166 500GB in video specific testing. As if that's not enough, we also have the
Seagate SV35.2 500GB drive engineered specifically for use in digital video surveillance systems. Not to be left out, Western Digital is trying their hardest to get us production level
GreenPower hard drives for our home office platform buildup and Hitachi has promised a
CinemaStar 7K1000 for our HTPC buildup.
(Ed: Did we mention the Feature Creep yet?)
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Mazen - Monday, August 27, 2007 - link
If memory serves me well, we were supposed to see something last week!Mikus42 - Thursday, August 16, 2007 - link
You have great timing! I am researching components for a Micro ATX box.I have an older Shuttle SFF I am going to replace. (It is topped out on CPU speed.)
For me, noise is a very important factor. My shuttle is on my desktop and it can be a tad noisy.
jonp - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - link
The SG03 case is $160 (Newegg) w/o a power supply....ouch.The SX6 w/600w case is $112 (eCost).
I would like to nominate the Foxconn TLM776-CN300C-02 w/300w at $40 (Newegg) as a more typical mini-tower case option.
2 5.25" external -- one more than SG03; same as SX6.
2 3.5" external -- one more than both SG03 and SX6.
4 3.5" internal -- two more than both SG03 and SX6.
expansion slots, front ports same for all three.
power & reset buttons (SX6 yes; not sure if SG03 has reset button).
1 80mm exhaust fan (SG03: 120mm intake, no exhaust; SX6 80mm intake, 120mm exhaust)
Steel (SG03 Al; SX6 steel(?))
The TLM776 power supply is a Channel Well unit. If that doesn't suit then it can be replaced with say a Seasonic S12 II 330watt at $60 for $100 total.
RamIt - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
I am so dissapointed by the numerous delays with this article, i will just pass it up when it finally materalizes. Way too many broken promises Gary.Peace out.
SanLouBlues - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
Since you're dipping your toes in, I'm dying to see some reviews of the PCHDTV cards for linux that claim ATSC/NTSC and unencrypted QAM support.carver5678 - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
here are some suggestions for the review:(1) measure northbridge temps. *lots* of people are having problems with hot NBs. for example, see customer reviews on newegg product pages.
(2) evaluate the ability of the boards to support passive cooling. can the scythe ninja fit on the motherboard? does the board rely on airflow from a cpu cooler to cool its northbridge? can it fit a scythe ninja, thermaright hr-05 NB heatsink, and thermaright hr-03 VGA heatsink, all at the same time, or do they conflict with each other?
lopri - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
I am 200% for the AT's (newer) stance on motherboard evaluations. Contrary to common myth, enthusiast market is HUGE. In various forums I often hear arguments like "Vendors make most money from OEM contracts", "They don't care about enthusiasts. They make money off server market", etc. - this can't be wrong enough. As computers are becoming a commodity, the number of enthusiasts is getting bigger, and vendors are very well aware of this fact. These days we observe even the most conservative and OEM-oriented companies attempt to jump in this growing market and have a piece.And there come the inevitable side-effects: Rushed-out (i.e. bug-fest) products, irrelevant blings, non-functional features, unacceptable compatibility, and poor longevity, etc.
The #1 components in PC, of the said side-effects, are by far motherboards. I have been really put off by today's motherboards and for me it totally ruined the image of "Intel Stability". In all honesty, if I were to be responsible for an on-going support of an Intel based system, there would be only select a few 975X boards to choose from – of course in order to avoid potential hassles . It has been that bad, IMHO, and the ways vendors handle their mishaps are infuriating sometimes. Anyone who had to deal with the so-called "tech support" of famed motherboard manufacturers would know. Even under the best case of scenario, users have to deal with 2~3 weeks of downtime for replacement. (maybe except EVGA) For me, it's a total nonsense.
If you buy a TV, you most likely expect it to work as advertised. Same for a DVD player, refrigerator, or anything that you spend your hard-earned cash on. Not so for a motherboard. It's been such a mystery for me (who happen to be dealing with many professionals and their works/products) how these Taiwanese mobo manufacturers can get away with the poor quality of products they dump in the market, and their shady business practices. When I purchase a product, I should be able to expect a 100% defect-free product, instead of praying on luck. I also don't want to see a almost same product as I bought, being sold with a slightly different name and fixed functions, not too long after my purchase.
To a certain extent, I blame online journalist for their negligence. I do understand many are working with the manufacturers directly to get things right for us and that alone could be a reason why they often are sympathetic with the manufacturers. However, it is important to note that ultimately, reviewers should be in the buyer's shoes, and articles from reputable reviewers can have a huge effect on buyers' decisions. No matter how much work a mobo manufacturer put in, and no matter how much they listened to the reviewers, if the final products that end-users get are not up to the standard (read: 100% free from , reviewers should clearly state the shortcomings of the products at hand.
Above said, I felt so refreshed reading from the first page of this article and would like to commend AT's courage. It's not that AT has been partial or unfair until today - it's the opposite. AT's motherboard reviews are probably the only motherboard reviews (and TechReport's) I've trusted to date and often times I don't even bother to read any other site's reviews. (they are waste of my time) I couldn't be happier with every single sentence that Gary wrote in a clear English. It read almost like a 'motherboard review manifesto 2007' :D and I couldn't agree more with every single word he stated.
SunLord - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
I sure as hell hope you have no plans to recommend the Mx5000 desktop to anyone. It's an unstable pile of crap. The keyboard at random times goes nuts and keys "stick" as you type. They don't stick down but they just keep repeating in windows cause the keyboard has dropped it's signal it's a bluetooth/site point problem. Oh andf can't forget the battery life gotta remember to always turn it off or you'll be replacing batteries every other week. The mouse is nice though.I'm buying a G15 and a rf wireless mouse to replace my month old Mx5000 because it's not worth the hassle of having to pull out and replug in the bt adapter every time the keyboard takes a dump
strikeback03 - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
We have a MX5000 set at work and I have one at home. On the work set it has never dropped the connection, and we have replaced the batteries twice in 15 months (and it sees use for a couple hours a day). The only major problem is that the Logitech software can't handle switching between Linux and Windows, which is why on my home computer I didn't install the Logitech software. I use my home keyboard more, and still get 3 months or so out of decent rechargable batteries.SunLord - Wednesday, August 8, 2007 - link
I exchanged one set after a week and this one is still flacky i just moved to linux 3days ago and while bluetooth is useless it works perfectly. So I'd have to say it's all logitechs fault with there typical craptastic driversOn batteries no clue I burned through 8batteries in a month i bought the same day i got the keyboard at BB... Nice new duracells