Sandy Bridge

Jul 12 2011

Review - Intel DH61AG Media Series Mini-ITX Motherboard and Core i5-2390T

By Andrew Van Til

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Not that long ago it was a significant challenge to build a small and quiet home theater PC (HTPC).  Mini-ITX was an option, but case selection was limited and more importantly the form factor was held back by the lack of decent integrated video performance and the power/heat dissipation requirements of the processor (CPU) and graphics (GPU).  With both of those concerns addressed with Intel’s Sandy Bridge (SNB) architecture the next, natural evolution turned toward the mainboard.  Intel responded again with a thin PC standard and today we have a chance to look at the first full featured implementation – the Intel DH61AG Media Series motherboard.  In our first look several features were outlined besides the slim physique that make it especially interesting to the HTPC crowd; including a built in 19V DC power connector, mSATA support, eight channel analog line level audio and the brand new “HTPC” header which, with the right hardware can enable affordable HDMI CEC on the PC; today we couple it with a 2.7GHz 35 watt Core i5-2390T to find out if DH61AG makes good on the initial promise.

Jun 13 2011

Review - First look: Intel DH61AG Thin Mini-ITX Media Series Motherboard

By Michael Welter

ImageOver the last several weeks we had the pleasure of testing the new Intel Mini-ITX Media Series Motherboard, dubbed the DH61AG. This is what I consider to be the first truly HTPC-centric motherboard.  Since the first integrated graphics processing unit (iGPU) with HDMI output was introduced we have heard boards coined as the “the perfect HTPC board” or “HTPC nirvana.”  Is the DH61AG the real thing?  Before we get into that let us give you a first look through a few unique features of the DH61AG and why I am excited about it.  In typical Missing Remote fashion, we will publish a full review as soon as possible. (See Intel DH61AG Media Series Mini-ITX Motherboard and Core i5-2390T)

Feb 28 2011

Review - Intel Core i5-2400S and DH67GD Micro-ATX Motherboard

By Andrew Van Til

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Having previously examined both the 95 and 35 watt extremes in the Sandy Bridge CPU lineup, we now turn our focus to the 65 watt 2.5GHz Intel Core i5-2400S and Media Series DH67GD micro-ATX motherboard with built in IEEE 1394a (FireWire) support.  With the basic capability questions already answered, let’s find out if by providing four physical cores with lower power consumption this CPU and motherboard combo can find the right balance between outright performance and efficiency in a full featured home theater PC (HTPC).

Feb 15 2011

Review - Intel Core i3-2100T and DH67CF Mini-ITX Motherboard

By Andrew Van Til

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In our launch coverage of Intel’s Sandy Bridge we took an in-depth tour of the platform’s capabilities.  But our previous coverage was limited to a higher end member of the CPU lineup with a 95 watt TDP, that made is less ideal for dedicated home theater PC (HTPC) use--especially considering its tantalizing siblings scheduled to arrive shortly thereafter. Fortunately we now have a 35 watt Intel Core i3-2100T and DH67CF Mini-ITX motherboard in hand and will be taking a detailed look at the lowest powered desktop CPU and smallest LGA1155 motherboard Intel has to offer.

Jan 03 2011

Review - Intel Sandy Bridge: Core i5-2500K and DH67BL Motherboard

By Andrew Van Til

Intel Sandy Bridge: Core i5-2500K and DH67BL Motherboard

When Intel gambled by packaging its graphics processing unit (GPU) with the central processing unit (CPU) in last year’s Clarkdale the home theater PC (HTPC) niche benefited immensely from the power saving, performance gain and features like HD audio bit streaming provided by the new platform.  The bet obviously paid off, because this year’s Sandy Bridge melds the GPU and CPU on the same die promising significant performance improvements for both units, dedicated transcode hardware, further reductions in TDP and frame sequential 3D Blu-ray (BD)/HDMI 1.4 support.  As good as Clarkdale was it was not perfect however, with issues in the level of refresh rate precision used to playback video content - most notably using 24Hz instead of 23.976Hz to handle 24p.  Today we are fortunate to have an Intel Core i5-2500K CPU/GPU and DH67BL motherboard on hand to find out if Sandy Bridge is a worthy successor and viable competitor to the last twelve months of progress in our marketplace.

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