AMD Zacate

danman

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 17, 2005
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Anyone pick up one of the new AMD Zacate based boards? I bought the Asus E35M1 last week and was so impressed by it I replace all 3 media centers in my house with these boards. It has no issues with any MKV rips, plays BD without any problems, and Media Center is completely fluid.

The board is totally silent. I was able to remove all the fans in my case. Totally recommend them for any new HTPC.
 
Any reason I would get this over an Athlon X2 250 3GHz and Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H (total $160) which I'm about to pull the trigger on? My HTPC is for 1080p playback and light gaming.

I heard about Zacate but thought it was more of an Atom competitor.
 
Good to hear. I had the feeling Zacate would be an ION killer.
 
Any reason I would get this over an Athlon X2 250 3GHz and Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H (total $160) which I'm about to pull the trigger on? My HTPC is for 1080p playback and light gaming.

I heard about Zacate but thought it was more of an Atom competitor.
for light gaming stick with the X2. zacate is better if you want low power consumption while doing only standard HTPC tasks (HDTV watching, BD/DVD playback, streaming, etc)
 
Microcenter has the phenom II x2 555 BE and the gigabyte udh2 for 120 dollars.
 
Aside from its HTPC uses, how would this APU-board combo work for basic PC tasks? Running Word/Excel, surfing the intertubes, light photo editing, etc? Basic stuff. I have read what I consider to be quite a bit about Zacate but I still don't have a feel for how well it would work in a basic home office PC.

For instance, I wish they would do comparisons to average 2 or 3 year old desktop rigs. How it compares to that would be more of what I am interested in. If it could get close in performance and yet use so much less energy, I would buy a couple of them to replace my parent's old rigs. I would really like to keep energy consumption to minimum.
 
I'm going to build a XBMC HTPC based around the Zacate here pretty soon. Looks like a fantastic bang for your buck in that area.
 
Any reason I would get this over an Athlon X2 250 3GHz and Gigabyte 880GMA-UD2H (total $160) which I'm about to pull the trigger on? My HTPC is for 1080p playback and light gaming.

I heard about Zacate but thought it was more of an Atom competitor.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157228

For $110 (and shipping) it would be pretty much identical for HTPC use but with a lot less heat and power draw (not to mention a much smaller foot print).

If all you're doing is pure HTPC tasks then there isn't much reason (based on everything I've read so far) to choose a full on PC system over a Zacate based HTPC system.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx

For basic computing (like an office PC) it seems to do much better then an Atom based system, it's somewhere between a cheap Athlon 2 and an Atom.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/6
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157228

For $110 (and shipping) it would be pretty much identical for HTPC use but with a lot less heat and power draw (not to mention a much smaller foot print).

If all you're doing is pure HTPC tasks then there isn't much reason (based on everything I've read so far) to choose a full on PC system over a Zacate based HTPC system.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx

For basic computing (like an office PC) it seems to do much better then an Atom based system, it's somewhere between a cheap Athlon 2 and an Atom.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4134/the-brazos-review-amds-e350-supplants-ion-for-miniitx/6

It looks like a great option for those wanting a bare bones basic HTPC.
I opted for Athlon X2 240e with my Gigabyte mobo so its low power with good performance. Plus I have more PCI slots for PVR cards and the like.

I was also a little weary of a brand new platform. The Sandy Bridge debacle has taught us that its often better to wait until bugs are ironed out!
 
Can you link me to the exact motherboard so I can check out the specs? Can it decode truehd and DTS-ma?

It's most likely one of the lowend Biostar or ECS mobos. Either way, if you go for it prepare to get a real mobo for it.
 
I want one, somebody scour the Internet and find me a cheap case + psu to go with it!!!
 
In for one as well. Going to build a budget HTPC primarily built for streaming media from a NAS and for interwebs browsing, and this is perfect

Too bad we don't get the E35M1-I Deluxe from ASUS in the US (yet, hopefully)... it has passive heatsink, mini-ITX format, built-in wi-fi, etc. which is a dream for a HTPC
 
Wow, that Deluxe itx board looks good. May have to rethink selling my Sugo5 and maybe setup a htpc for the family...
 
I am hoping to pickup a mITX or 3.. At this point honestly the ECS is looking best as I know the ASUS will be expensive & I want fanless.

Judging from the prices of the rest I am hoping to see the ECS for like 80ish.. Should be well within regular atom range.
 
I have 3 of those cases all with Zacate boards in them. Its easy to use and worth the money.
 
I'm sold on these. going to order one next week.

Audio through HDMI working?
 
I bought an Asrock Zacate board the other day to compare to my i3 htpc setup. I'm happy with my htpc but I'm curious about Zacate and it will be on my other tv. I think it shows promise, but I'll post the differences I see.
 
I bought an Asrock Zacate board the other day to compare to my i3 htpc setup. I'm happy with my htpc but I'm curious about Zacate and it will be on my other tv. I think it shows promise, but I'll post the differences I see.

That's what I was going to do too for a bedroom HTPC but I had a spare AMD CPU sitting around (three actually) so I just bought a 8200 IGP mobo (I've had good luck with them in the past).
 
Thats a real waste of space for a HTPC though.. not to mention questionable PSU..

If it were me the 69 bucks for this guy would be the way to go. Basically the Zocate mobo (preferably fan-less) along with a small cheap SSD & a couple gb ram & you have a silent htpc to hide behind the TV..

What an ass ugly case. Why on God's green earth would you put that next to your TV?
 
Thats a real waste of space for a HTPC though.. not to mention questionable PSU..

When I do my Zacate build I will need the space that case has. I plan on using 3.5" HDD's. A 3TB & 2TB for now. I would question using the PSU if my build would draw near 250 watts but the Zacate board and a few HDD's should be fine. Besides the case will probably be hidden, USB extender + USB IR = win.

If it were me the 69 bucks for this guy would be the way to go. Basically the Zocate mobo (preferably fan-less) along with a small cheap SSD & a couple gb ram & you have a silent htpc to hide behind the TV..

My friend has that case. It doesn't fit 3.5" HDD's or I'd consider it.
 
It's most likely one of the lowend Biostar or ECS mobos. Either way, if you go for it prepare to get a real mobo for it.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/042f0ae6#/042f0ae6/29

Check pg 29 of the add. If you get a phenom II x2 560 BE you get $40 off select mobos. Which includes the following one:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0334912

A couple of weeks back, when I got my 555 BE the processor was 89.00 + 34.99 ($40 instant and $10 mail-in rebate) for the mobo. So I lied a bit. It was 125 bucks plus tax.
 
You dont really need that vid card from what i understand, as it comes with an HD Radeon onboard..

Thats the same board im going to get.
 
Anyone tried a Zacate board with a Ceton Infini TV4? I'm interested in swapping my i3-530 out for this badboy if it can handle 4 1080p recording streams at once + 1080p playback without issue :)

Another big benefit would be for a switch to a pico psu as well :D
 
I used this case for my Zacate build:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...115&cm_re=hec_mini_itx-_-11-121-115-_-Product

+ Nice and compact, not ugly as sin, vertical mountable although included feet are lousy
+ PSU fan is quiet enough
+ Room for 1 3.5" HDD and probably 1 2.5" SSD if you ditch the slim optical drive
+ Newegg is throwing in a free mouse right now
+ Low price, includes power supply
- 60mm case fan is somewhat loud (Yate Loon) but can be tamed through a resistor or fan controller or replacing with your own
- No opening for the PCIe slot, but I figured since Zacate's PCIe slot is 4x anyway I wasn't going to use it, and the onboard GFX is good enough for HTPC duty.
 
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