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As I had posted last month, I built my first computer from scratch.  So far it has performed exceptionally well for media playback.  As soon as I had all of my media players configured and codecs installed, my computer handled 1080P HD Playback flawlessly.  The next phase of my testing was to determine the gaming capabilities of a relatively current game.

I purchased Dragon Age about a month ago.  I won’t go into too much detail about the game itself, but it’s a great game.  Initially I setup the game on it’s highest settings which would be 1080P resolution, high texture, anti-aliasing, and high graphics.  The game was playable, but it lagged quite a bit which was a major pain.  Inevitably I gradually lowered the settings to see how much my system could handle where I could play the game comfortably.  I’ve lowered the resolution to 720P, textures to low, anti-aliasing off, and graphics details to low.

Overall, I’m a bit disappointed in how poorly my system handles games, but at the same time I’m not surprised.  Nowhere has atom/ion been advertised as a gaming processor.  So I still say my system does well in what it was intended to do, which was be my HTPC.  It functions perfectly running Windows Media Center, and I can still game at low settings if I choose.

Still, I might have my family inherit this computer once I start my next build sometime next year.  I’m looking to go Quad Core i7 this time around.

I’m loving it!  Fired up my HTPC for the first time, so far I have already installed Windows 7, the hardware drivers, and some updates, now to get it all setup for playing movies.

This is a thing of beauty.  The performance is amazing, and it makes almost no sound at all.  I can’t wait to test out it’s gaming capabilities even though that’s not going to be a major focus of this build.  Mostly I’m going to use this for HD playback.

Once I get everything setup I’ll post pictures of the build and specifics on the hardware and software.

I have everything now except for the optical drive and the RAM. The project is almost complete, and I can’t wait to fire this baby up. I hope everything starts off without a hitch, but I have this weird feeling that I’m going to face some obstacle.

So far, everything together, the case is really cramped. Everything just barely fits, I hope the optical drive doesn’t add too much to that…

So I finally decided to fund my first, fully from scratch, computer.  This project is particularly special, because I’m specifically building an HTPC.

I made a list of features that I wanted it to have:

• Supports 1080p without any lag since it will be connected to my big screen LCD TV.
• Able to play games relatively well.
• Needs to be small (mini-ITX)
• Consumes very low power since I will have it on all the time.
• Generates very little heat (which is pretty much the same as low power)

Based on all of this, I ended up choosing the following hardware:

• Zotac Motherboard, Atom330 Processor, and Nvidia Ion GPU
• 4GB RAM 800 Mhz – Corsair
• 1TB HDD – Western Digital
• USB TV Tuner
• Thermaltake Mini-ITX HTPC Case

It will be running Windows 7, and it’s primary function will be Windows Media Center; however, I will also use it as my primary computer in my room.  I already have a wireless keyboard and mouse that I will continue to use with it, and I’ll use my ipod touch as a wireless media remote.

So far I have received the Motherboard, TV Tuner and RAM, and I’m expecting the HDD tomorrow and the case next week sometimes.  More on this after it all comes together!

I was one of the early adopters of the EeePC.  After having read about this little device I knew that I would have to get one.  When it was finally made available I snatched one of the earliest models, the EeePC 700 (2G Surf).  It came equipped with Xandros Linux, but that was not suitable for my needs so I quickly installed an nlited XP, and it served me well for many months.

Almost two years have gone by, and my first EeePC had been long forgotten, boxed away in my room.  I have since replaced it with a newer, more powerful netbook the 1005HA seashell.  Upon discovering this lost treasure, I decided to try to make some use of it.

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