is this worth it...Elonex Artisan LX

SoundWave

Hey All,

I was thinking of getting a basic and cheap Media Centre PC together.... i have a few spare parts lyin around (775 CPU, Sata HDD, GXF card) and was havin a look on ebay for a case and saw this: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Elonex-Artisan-LX-Model-Media-Centre-Barebone-Chassis_W0QQitemZ140059424584QQihZ004QQcategoryZ179QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

not sure about the seller but the case looks ok...

Any opinions... is it worth it...

Thanks in Advance.
SW

8T8

Seems pretty nice it appears to be a gutted Elonex system & from the reviews I can see on Elonex Artisan HTPC systems they all seemed fairly positive.

The only thing is that Elonex are dead they went into administration and were bought by someone else who left their customers without warranty cover. Anyway the point is if should anything ever happen to the PSU in that unit which looks fairly custom then it may be tricky getting your hands on a replacement.

SoundWave

hmmm interesting... i might go ahead and pick one up... its gonna be cheap and cheerfull so im not too concerned about it lasting all that long... but thanks for the info 8t8.... much appreciated.

SoundWave

as an add on to the above.....I just got myself a new telly... sharp lc37ga8e.... will the GFX card below display 1366x768 ok? i see it says HD resolution... but i wanted to ask anyway...

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=323522&view=detailed

Is says on the auction that you need a low profile pcie card but it looks like there is a pci riser on right hand image. does anyone know for sure?

thanks again in advance
SW

8T8

Yeah that will GPU will do 1366x768 (any modern GPU will in fact) there is nothing "special" about HD it's just a resolution e.g 720p = 1280x720

You can just see the PCI-e slot in front of the three blue PCI slots in the motherboard photo shot. The card above is real low profile so it will work in the system.

The Intel integrated graphics that comes with it will handle the the 1366x768 resolution though. The benefit of the graphics card are if you want to run Vista on it or use the AVIVO DVD decoder that comes with ATI cards.

SouperComputer

Personally I wouldnt bother due to thermal constraints. That tiny power supply is going to have to work hard to expel its own heat as well as the internals.

Not everyone is as anal as me with regard to thermals however.

aCA

Ebuyer are selling this case for £117.49, I havent looked at how much they charge for shipping.

Elonex Artisan LX Model Media Centre Barebone Chassis
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=23453117507&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=119572

There is a thread in the Ebuyer Forum:
http://forums.ebuyer.com/showthread.php?p=6469#post6469

Its not a bad looking case and might be a good deal if you already have some of the components you need. The motherboard wont take any p4 dual core or core2 processors though.

SoundWave

ok... ive gone ahead and bought the Elonex case and a few other bits. i havnt got a new vid card yet though,

I had seen some posts on avforums about certain GFX cards not doing pixel matching on some lcd tvs. I have a Sharp 37in lcd (LC37GA8E) and was thinking of getting this one: http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=317045, does anyone here know from experience if it will work ok, or am i better choosing a different card?

Thanks In Advance.

SW

8T8

Do you mean 1:1 pixel mapping ?

Most recent NVIDIA GeForce 6/7 cards and ATI X1K cards can do the custom resolution of 1366x768 over DVI-HDMI giving you 1:1 pixel mapping.

I'd go with the ATI for the simple reason you get their DVD decoder free with it the NVIDIA one you will have to extra pay for.

Also that GeForce card does not have the low profile bracket for the card so wont fit in the case. The ATI X1300 one is out of stock but this X1600 one does come with HDMI (+HDCP support) & comes with low profile brackets in the box.

SoundWave

Hey,

Thanks for the info 8T8, and yes i did mean 1:1 pixel mapping.

i think ill go ahead with the x1600 too....

thanks again
SW

silverside

SoundWave, let us know how you get on

i'm thinking about building up the same thing with some leftover bits and pieces I have here.

SoundWave

will do.... the case is on its way... it apparently got stuck somewhere along the way but it should have it this week, got the x1600 before christmas..... am dying to get it all setup.

my only concern now is the space in my tv cabinet.... there will only be about 1in free space each side of the system... and i think that the heat will build up in there so i might need to cut a hole in the back of the tv unit, and mount a case fan to the back of the unit to blow out the hot air.... will hold off till its in place but have a feelin ill need it...

SoundWave

was just lookin on the ebuyer forum at the artisan thread.... someone had posted about the minimum power supply needed to work with the x1600 hdmi and apparently Sapphire had said it was 350 watt, but the PSU on the system is 250...

on another benchmark site i saw that the card only consumes about 40ish watts but it didnt mention minimum requirements. anyone know if this is gonna cause me some trouble.

Thanks
SW

8T8

Depends on the quality of the 250W PSU it could have been a better than average model in order to feed more power hungry parts.

As long as there are not too many devices in the system one HD/DVD you might just squeeze by, the X1600 is unlikely to be running in 3D mode anyway so it should be happy.