With two Intel Gigabit Ethernet ports, this might just make the perfect router. Except that it’s noisy, the i7 is probably overkill, and it’s not that cheap (why, oh why, can’t there be a dual LAN i3 “NUC”?). Ultra-compact form factor (UCFF) PCs have become quite popular after Intel introduced the NUCs. They have become powerful enough to be the […]
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Intel just about perfected the small form factor (SFF) home theater PC (HTPC) over the last few iterations of NUC systems, so it is great to see that the Skylake based Intel NUC6i5SYK kit has stayed with this winning formula. Updated with an Intel Core i5-6260U with Intel Iris Graphics 540, support for NVMe SSD, and DDR4, the system has […]
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Like the rest of Intel Atom systems, home theater PCs (HTPC) based on the CPU have come a long way over the last few years. The Intel NUC5PGYH offers hardware accelerated video decoding up to 4K (HDMI 1.4b output) via the quad-core Intel Braswell Pentium N3700. Now add in 7.1 multi-channel audio support, Windows 10 preinstalled, RC6 CIR (consumer […]
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I think we can all agree that Fractal Design makes a fantastic chassis. Whether its a full ATX or SFF, the design is always elegant and well thought out. At $60 this looks like a really nice value as well. Fractal is expanding their lineup continuously: small form chassis are becoming more and more popular as even the latest high […]
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I think ASUS forgot to mention HTPC as a key use case for its recently announced mini-PCs. Looking at the spec’s and product photos, they would slot right into the A/V cabinet :). VivoMini VC65 Series ASUS’ VivoMini VC65 Series PCs are the world’s smallest with support for up to four storage devices and RAID functionality, making them ideally suited […]
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With m.2, 2x Intel NIC the GIGABYTE GA-Z170N-WIFI looks like a really solid foundation for a HTPC or mini server, it is a bit disappointing that DisplayPort didn’t make the cut… Our review unit of the Gigabyte GA-Z170N-WIFI arrived in a medium sized, brown corrugated cardboard box from the company’s American headquarters in City of Industry, California, USA. It arrived […]
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Shuttle has been a well respected OEM in the SFF barebone space for quite a while. Their systems generally have exactly the right look for a certain type of HTPC (read nice looking cubes :)). If a Skylake based SFF is in your future, and you don’t mind a proprietary motherboard (which could limit future upgrades), have a look at […]
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If integrated graphics won’t cut it for your mini HTPC needs, something like the Zotac Zbox Magnus EN970 might be just the thing. I haven’t had the best experience with Zotac’s BIOS support lifecycle, so make sure to do your research and pick something you’ll be happy with long term. The miniaturization of PCs is an interesting trend. Of late, […]
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Looking for a cheap OpenELEC or HTPC streamer? You could do worse than a Braswell (Atom) based system, and Zotac just announced two new boxes, in two different formats. These new systems use Intel’s Atom N3150 SoC, part of the Braswell family of products. The N3150 contains four low-power CPU cores, rated with a max TDP of 6 W, operating […]
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When it comes to sleek small form factor (SFF) home theater PCs (HTPC) Intel pretty much perfected it with their Haswell based NUC systems–offering an excellent media experience in a chassis with built-in IR, the potential to add HDMI-CEC, and optional hard disk drive (HDD) all from a quiet, low power system. Seeking to build on this success they recently […]
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