ASRock CoreHT 252B Review
by Ganesh T S on September 2, 2011 3:45 AM EST- Posted in
- HTPC
- Intel
- ASRock
- Media Streamer
The ASRock CoreHT 252B package contained the following:
- Main unit in a 2.5L chassis (195mm x 186mm x 70mm)
- 90W AC / DC adapter
- Media Center remote with batteries
- Support CD with drivers and miscellaneous software
- HDMI - DVI dongle
- SATA and power cables / screws for user installation of second hard disk
- 3.5mm audio cable
- Anti-slip base pad for the main unit
The industrial design is nothing to write home about. The pleasing rounded edges are reserved for the higher end Vision series. The CoreHT series has to make do with a sharp edged chassis very similar to the first generation Core 100HT.
When compared with the Core 100 from last year, we find that two of the USB 2.0 ports at the rear end of the unit become USB 3.0 ports in the CoreHT. The front panel remains the same except for the structure of the ventilation slot which is now curved in (instead of the planar slots in the Core 100) and the shape of the power button is now circular instead of the square in the last generation unit.
Just like a notebook, this unit also supports simultaneous display on two monitors. Testing was done mostly with the HDMI output connected to a Toshiba REGZA 37" 1080p TV through an Onkyo TX-SR 606. For non-media playing related testing, the HDMI port was connected to an Acer H243H 1080p monitor.
Our review unit shipped with Windows 7 x64 Ultimate and a OEM version of Cyberlink PowerDVD for Blu-Ray playback. However, the OEM version doesn't support 3D Blu-rays and is also crippled with respect to the number of audio channels that can be decoded / HD audio passthrough. To test these, we installed the full versions of both Cyberlink PowerDVD 11 as well as ArcSoft Total Media Theater 5.
We will conclude this section with a table to summarize the data and A/V connectivity options for the ASRock CoreHT 252B HTPC.
| Option | Status |
|---|---|
| HDMI | Yes [v1.4a] |
| Component | No |
| Composite | No |
| VGA | Yes |
| SPDIF | Yes [Optical] |
| Stereo |
Yes |
Data Connectivity Options for the ASRock CoreHT 252B
| Option | Status |
|---|---|
| Optical Disk Drive | Yes [Blu-Ray / DVD-RW] |
| USB | Yes [4 x v2.0, 4 x v3.0] |
| eSATA | Yes [1 x v3] |
| LAN | Yes [ 1000 Mbps GbE ] |
| Internal HDD | Yes [ 500 GB ] |
| WiFi | Yes [ 300 Mbps 2T2R 802.11n ] |
| Card Reader | No |
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casteve - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
page 3, GPU paragraph:"However, WiDi is supported by the CoreHT 252B. "
I think you meant to say NOT supported.
Great article! Thanks, Ganesh.
ganeshts - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Thansk! Fixed.jensend - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
If somebody made a system like this with a 65W Llano, esp. an A8-3800, I'd be all over it. Mobile Llano would be ok as well. (Barebones would be nice- I'd like to put in my own small ssd, and I have no need for Blu-Ray.)Foggg - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I thought there was a chance that ASRock's next level "Vision 3D series" which Ganesh referred to was possibly so-named because of AMD's "Vision" labeling for the Llano's.No such luck. That series has mobile i7's/i5's/i3's paired with Nvidia's GT425M. Guaranteed to be pricier than a mobile Llano. And for most, unnecessary, given this uses for this thing.
smdx - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Following the last comment, is there any news on a possible update for the ZInoHD 410 line? (I guess they will be using Llano on their next lineup)Last year model was presented in September 2010...
Don't know in Anandtech has any feedback on this...
jabber - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Yeah would be nice. I got one in for a customer and he loves it. I thought it a great bit of kit.Shadowmaster625 - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I would like to see performance and power consumption comparisons to a desktop running an i3-2105. I suspect they are close, even though the i3 costs significantly less. My scam radar is going off like crazy here. Since when is a small form factor worth that much? Why not just buy a notebook and use that as your HTPC???? That is a much higher volume product and thus it is highly likely you'll be able to find one on sale for cheaper than this product.Shadowmaster625 - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Just saw these on slickdeals:Sony VPC EG13FX/B 14" Notebook - i5 / 500GB / 4GB RAM - $549 @ Frys
(New) ThinkPad Edge E420/ i5-2520M/ Win7 HP 64/ 2GB/ 320GB/ 9-Cell for $488 @ lenovo outlet
ganeshts - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
Yes, a laptop can be a portable HTPC nowadays.As you say, pricing is just a matter of scale. I would expect this to weigh in around the 500 - 600 range. Laptops are mass produced. So, they have an advantage there.
justniz - Friday, September 2, 2011 - link
I'm looking for a mythtv frontend.But this thing has Intel graphics and you can't buy it without windows.
What stupid marketing decisions. I think I'll pass.
I would have bought one if they had a nVidia GPU and a no-OS or Linux option.