A smattering of opinions on technology, books, business, and culture. Now in its 4th technology iteration.
30 May 2012
“Rich”:www.tongfamily.com asked me what setup I am using – here is what I have so far
* Zotac IONITX-S motherboard with Intel Atom D525 proc Nivida ION 512MB GPU. You can pick up at “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-Dual-Core-Intel-Wi-Fi-Motherboard/dp/B004V3X9D2 if you want it fast or there are cheaper slower options.
* 4G of DDR3 800Mhz FSB RAM. This is available many places, is super cheap due to modest speed of FSB.
* For a case I like the “open air techstations”:http://www.highspeedpc.com/ so I can get in and out easily. But these things are completely open, so not a great choice if you have an inquisitive cat or a toddler. Another open air case option might be the “Antec Skeleton”:http://store.antec.com/Product/enclosure-skeleton_series/mini-skeleton-90/0-761345-15127-6.aspx but whoa, a 90W power supply seems seriously minimalist
* I can find no clear doc on what kind of power supply these need (ie watts). I picked up a “20+4 pin mini itx supply”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148044 because that seems to be the right thing but I am a little concerned about being underpowered. UPDATE: in email with Zotac support, they suggested 112W for the board, sans hard disk. So throwing in the SSD and Ceton card, 250W seems like it should be fine.
* and the “ceton card”:http://www.amazon.com/Ceton-InfiniTV-Digital-Cable-Quad-tuner/dp/B003B4VLJQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1338408276&sr=1-1 for cable feed
* oh yeah I need an SSD, I am using the “Samsung 256G unit”:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147164 but I’d really like a 1T SSD. But those are crazy expensive.