ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi

Perhaps there will never be a day when Dell or eMachines is heavily invested in truly SFF systems. Just too labor intensive. And the average Joe user isn't even aware of the potential really.
Exactly. And especially in these economic times...

Btw, I'll PM you about the OT stuff, I don't want to highjack the thread.

@cre3d: Nice to hear it ended up ok for you.

And for those who are wondering, the Ion Graphics Processor - a fancy name for an Integrated Graphics Processor... lol - is a 9300i with apparently slightly lower-than-usual speeds, both in the core and shader departments, used on the new ION motherboards (Atom+9300i).

In short, any driver package that specifically says "ION" or "IGP" should work with regular 9300i motherboards, but you should be getting the regular 9300i chipset drivers if available.

Cheers.

Miguel
 
I bought cooler for weird socket but made plexi mounting for it
total cost about 12$

74304992.jpg


weight (only copper thing) 380grams
 
I recently bought one of these and dropped it into a SG05 case with 4 gigs of ram and an E5300 2.5ghz core duo and it's pretty fun. I installed windows 7 x64 but I haven't spent much time tweaking it yet. Right now it appears to be dropping frames when viewing both full screen flash video (hulu.com) and watching 1080p H.264 mkv videos. Some light research indicates that I have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get coreAVC working correctly but I'm really bothered by the flash video problem. Does anybody know about problems with the 9300, windows 7 x64, and flash video?
 
Hmm... that processor should have no problem with 1080p h.264... and hulu...

Would be interesting to see how Vista holds up... but you want DXVA working with those mkv videos, CoreAVC isn't as vital... I use the Internal MPC-HC decoders, but with DXVA on, I get 0-2% CPU usage while watching 1080p movies...

But playing a crappy flash Hulu 480p in full screen (2560 x 1600) with a Q6600 @ 3.0ghz... I see 35-40% CPU usage...

So I guess I could see that happening if the 1080p video isn't using DXVA
 
Would be interesting to see how Vista holds up... but you want DXVA working with those mkv videos, CoreAVC isn't as vital... I use the Internal MPC-HC decoders, but with DXVA on, I get 0-2% CPU usage while watching 1080p movies...

But playing a crappy flash Hulu 480p in full screen (2560 x 1600) with a Q6600 @ 3.0ghz... I see 35-40% CPU usage...

So I guess I could see that happening if the 1080p video isn't using DXVA

Hey thanks for the response, looks like the problem with Hulu is that IE8 sucks. I'm not seeing any problems in Firefox and my CPU usage is similar. The thing is that the dropped frames are barely perceptible to the point where I wonder if my mind is playing tricks.

Anyway, I'll report back when I figure out my H.264 problem. I have a terabyte of HD video so figuring it out isn't optional.
 
;) I'm at like 1.4TB right now...

But both our HTPC and My main desktop that play them back are powerful enough to do it with or without GPU support (Although we use DXVA when we can, some encodes don't support DXVA so you're out of luck)

I do plan to get one of these Zotacs, an SG05, GTS 250... and build a nice little gaming box... still debating on processor but it looks like there are a lot of options if we can use a Geminii S or regular Geminii (with the front 120mm taking care of the CPU) as well as the PSU fan... then the venting on the side-panel lets fresh air in for the GPU cause it'll be pretty close to the side panel... :tup:

Wish they had a windowed version though... window with venting like those Lanboxes I had... although I could make my own... :D ... or Maybe just fine-mesh like the front-intake 120...
 
Does anybody know about problems with the 9300, windows 7 x64, and flash video?

I am running Win7 64 and no issues with Flash (that I have noticed). I also regularly watch revision3 feeds in h264 and don't have any drops or skips. I have not installed any drivers other than what came in the Win7 64 RC1 package (except the HD Audio where i grabbed the vista ones off the ZOTAC site... since i wasn't getting realtek output on the mini-plug line out).

I will check other streams (can't get hulu... live in Canada... damn you hulu, hurry up)
 
First of all this is an awesome thread! Thanks to all those that posted pics of their systems. It seems that you have all started me on the upgrade path once again...

My questions is with using SSD drives in this system. While I'm sure it can be done I don't know if you can do this onboard with the software or if you need an external board. I've been out of the computer sceen for awhile but I know that there is a ICh10R chipset that is really good for raid. I'm not sure if two drives will saturate the bus or not. I'm just looking for the best way to run raid 0 in this little case. If anyone has been running an SSD raid pics or info would be great.

Thanks again!
 
What set of drivers are recommended for this board for each of the components? The official Zotac ones? Latest NVidia WHQL?

I will be using XP, but may switch to Vista later.
 
So, anyone get the Xfi mobo drivers mod to work?? The drivers install for me and say Xfi mobo but the software won't.
 
running this board with a 8400/4gb ram/sony bluray drive with windows 7 (x64), but powerdvd keeps saying my graphics driver isnt compatible for bluray playback. is anyone having this issue? any cures?
 
Weee, mine is out for delivery right now.


Case is stuck in dallas though, but i think i'll rig up my main pc's power supply and leave her in the open air till monday... can't wait to get w7 up on this thing and see how well it does.
 
running this board with a 8400/4gb ram/sony bluray drive with windows 7 (x64), but powerdvd keeps saying my graphics driver isnt compatible for bluray playback. is anyone having this issue? any cures?

Guessing it's because PowerDVD isn't setup for Windows7 yet? Or another 64bit driver issue...
 
running this board with a 8400/4gb ram/sony bluray drive with windows 7 (x64), but powerdvd keeps saying my graphics driver isnt compatible for bluray playback. is anyone having this issue? any cures?
when i was on win7 32bit i couldnt find a way to play blu rays (only thing i could see was comercials and previews but after that, the main movie was scrambled :confused:), i had a lg drive.

tried all the major blu ray apps, powerdvd, tmt theatre platinum, hp media blu ray, nothing worked.
 
AnyDVD HD by Slysoft allows you to bypass all DRM/HDCP. It operates as a layer between your hardware and software.
 
Is it possible to use a shuttle psu with this board or are the connectors different?
 
I am running Win7 64 and no issues with Flash (that I have noticed). I also regularly watch revision3 feeds in h264 and don't have any drops or skips. I have not installed any drivers other than what came in the Win7 64 RC1 package (except the HD Audio where i grabbed the vista ones off the ZOTAC site... since i wasn't getting realtek output on the mini-plug line out).

I will check other streams (can't get hulu... live in Canada... damn you hulu, hurry up)

I have an update on my trials and tribulations with video on Windows 7 x64. Keep in mind I'm testing worst case scenarios, most of the time everything works fine. There is a problem with flash but it only occurs in very specific instances and is very minor. There is a HUGE problem with mkv files though and I haven't managed to get a workaround up and running yet but I'm close. The best fix appears to be http://labs.divx.com/mkvwin7preview

The problem is that there's little support for x64 among media splitters and everyone's favorite, Haali's media splitter, reports encoded streams incorrectly to wmp12 so they end up getting decoded in software. robaer, you mention revision 3, I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing but the 1080p video I'm using is usually flagged as either L4.1 or L5.1 and needs considerably more resources than L3.1.

From there things only get worse. Apparently DXVA2 will never decode multichannel audio from mkv files and will always force you into 2 channel.
 
It's an HTPC. Why run 64-bit version of anything?

I suppose that's a fair question. I guess I wrongly assumed that after 6 years you wouldn't have all of these terrible support and compatibility issues with windows x64 platforms. I have a bigger problem with DXVA2 and how it's designed to be some proprietary closed system.
 
I suppose that's a fair question. I guess I wrongly assumed that after 6 years you wouldn't have all of these terrible support and compatibility issues with windows x64 platforms. I have a bigger problem with DXVA2 and how it's designed to be some proprietary closed system.

It takes the mick really, doesn't it? The explanation i was given over at The Green Button is codecs won't start going 64-bit until the WMC community makes the move. The daft bit being that the community can't make the move until the support is there. It'll probably take something drastic like MS releasing a 64-bit only OS before all of the codecs make the move :(
 
. robaer, you mention revision 3, I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing but the 1080p video I'm using is usually flagged as either L4.1 or L5.1 and needs considerably more resources than L3.1.
.

Revision3 the web podcast location,, diggnation, Totally Rad Show etc... They have an h.264 stream and h.264 quicktime that I watch regularly...

http://revision3.com/
 
BETO - Did a quick measurement while taking photos of the inside of the T3500. The top grill opening 140mm x 167mm to be exact. I'll post the photos of the grill later this evening for you.

Just realized I never thanked you for the measurements and the pics. I certainly meant to do so... Thanks for that. It is valuable info. Still running strong? Still enjoying the setup?
 
Just realized I never thanked you for the measurements and the pics. I certainly meant to do so... Thanks for that. It is valuable info. Still running strong? Still enjoying the setup?

Yea.... no problems (although I bet I just jinxed it).

I did update the nVidia chipset drivers as they released a win7 version and I was not seeing the GPU temp in my monitoring tools(had to power down to BIOS to see them). The GPU is a little hotter than I expected... mid 60's during idle to high 70's when playing long video streams. I think I am going to look at the heatsync bond. I am not familiar with what others are seeing on the GPU for this mobo to know if I am too hot or ok.

The CPU temps idle around 32-34C and only when I am driving full screen video streams does it climb into 50's. Ironically, the hghest CPU temp recorded was 66C during some PhysX demos to stress the GPU... and thats over 2 weeka of typical use for my setup. No concerns there,

Other than the (mild) GPU concern... very impressed.
 
I just got one of these it's working fine BUT everytime I boot it says CPU has changed wtf... bios battery is fine but still it shows this it's got me worried
 
The GPU is a little hotter than I expected... mid 60's during idle to high 70's when playing long video streams. I think I am going to look at the heatsync bond. I am not familiar with what others are seeing on the GPU for this mobo to know if I am too hot or ok.

I don't have any idea what the acceptable temps for the GPU would be either. I normally, just as a matter of course, try to reseat all the heatsinks using AC5 for most of my builds. I make sure the board is working for for a couple of weeks and then pull it all apart and put it back together. I am sort of a temp freak though.
 
My CPU fan runs at full speed the whole time, even though I switched the CPU fan control in the BIOS on? Can't control it via SpeedFan either. How do you get software fan control?
 
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My CPU fan runs at full speed the whole time, even though I switched the CPU fan control in the BIOS on? Can't control it via SpeedFan either. How do you get software fan control?

Try using the latest bios from zotac website.
 
That's correct. It was one of the only coolers I could find that could both cool a mildly overclocked Q6600 and would also fit within the SG05. The power supply I'm using isn't the stock power supply. It is the Seasonic 350w sfx power supply with a 120mm hole cut in the bottom of it for airflow. The stock psu should work similarly in the same airflow setup since it too has a bottom vent and is physically smaller, allowing more airflow to go around it.

Do you know of any other stock PSUs with the fan pointed that way that are quiet?
 
Ooo $120 AR w/ Free ship on Newegg..

and $30 combo deal with Vista 32bit OEM might be tempting... although Ebay has similar deals for ~$70
 
Hey

My "big lump of copper" for the CPU arrived today.
http://www.dynatron-corp.com/product...odel.asp?id=93
and am I impressed.

After 6 hours, I am seeing numbers 5-7C lower when idling and 8-10C lower when under load.

Since I had the hood off, I decided to pop the IGP cooler and cleaned off whatever thermal goo they used and applied the same artic silver to it. My GPU is now much cooler as well. It used to idle in mid 60's and is now down to 44C consistently. It hasn't gone about 50 yet (although i would like to let it burn in 24 hours before claiming victory). If this keeps up, I wont bother replacing the IGP HS with some copper as I once thought of doing.

The new nvidia drivers for the 9300 chipset rock and their monitoring tool has a great interface.
Anyway, can't recommend the new CPU heatsink more and reapplying the GPU heatsink also really helped those temps fall more in line with what I would want out of a box that is on 24/7

[tinme]... word of warning about the bios flash. Some have had great success, but a couple of guys bricked their system and are having a terrible time getting it back up. BIOS recovery seems to be weak on the ZOTAC if it fails to take properly. Not speaking first hand and I decided to not upgrade to the latest bios as my machine is purring well without it... but check out the AVS forums under their official zotac 9300 mini-itx thread for discussions about those bios upgrade issues.
 
Has anyone managed to update successfully to the latest bios, 2K090422 (which supposedly implements the NVidia Memory Manager Advance Path function)?

In the official Zotac 9300 thread on avsforum one can find three reports of failed attempts to flash to this bios, leading to dead motherboards (one of these was mine), and it is possible that the bios image inside the newest pa105.zip file on the Zotac support pages could be either incorrect or corrupt. I have been unable to find reports of failed updates to the previous bios version, 2K090410,and I also installed it without any problems (wish I had remained on 2K090410!)

To make matters worse, the Zotac 9300 ITX bios does not implement a working bios recovery procedure, an omission which is hard to understand in view of what other motherboard manufacturers have been doing for years, for example, Gigabyte with their dual bios.
 
oops... guess I cant post links, it keeps truncating it.

go to
www.dynatron-corp.com/

under PRODUCTS -> 1U solution -> Phoenix Series P12G

(I tried just searvhing P12G on there website it didnt come back, so you have to follow the links to get to it)
 
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I have a Morex 3500 case with a 140mm x 20mm fan blowing down on the IGP and CPU Heat sinks. It spins at 2000 rpm (which is really quiet in this box) and that is the only fan cooling the entire system.
The before numbers were based on the stock Intel 8500 heatsink with the fan hacked off (since there was no point having that fan sitting between the 140mm unit and the HS itself... it might actually hurt to have left it on).

In researching my case and components, another builder over on the AVS forums had put one of the Dynatrons in to replace his stock HS with good results so I ordered one as well (~40 bucks). It had not arrived when I built my box but I was pleasantly surprised to see the temps were already low with just the stock HS alone... so I didn't really _need_ to install it... but since I had already bought the thing and thought it would look better under the hood, I put it in after a couple of weeks burn in.

The nice thing about this HS is the fins direct the air out the side of the case where I have large vents... the stock HS is a circular pattern and blows hot air in all directions warming the rest of the case.
 
Looks like it might be prudent to wait for a competitor or a refresh with BIOS recovery and Wake on USB.
 
I understand that the wake on USB will not be possible on this board (when in S3). The design is not wired properly to allow the USB ports to be powered when in that sleep..

Since I am happy with S1 for my setup, S3 wasnt a show stopper for me... but unless I missed something I don't think you will see a wake on usb solution for S3 in any bios update.

If someone has other information, would love to hear it as this is pretty much the main concern I hear from people trying to decide between this board and others... it would be good to know otherwise.
 
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