ARCTIC MC001-N ~ MultiMedia Barebone PC - €114.95 Delivered. [Amazon.de]

quad_red · 15-02-2013 12:00pm

Private Joker wrote: »

Got an eamil from acrtic saying they received my faulty machine and are shipping a new one, they also refunded my shipping costs.

It was fairly painless, so i should have mine up and running next week.

ANyone else have to send theirs back?

@Joker - where did you ship it back to?

witnessmenow · 15-02-2013 12:17pm

Just a warning for people buying directly off arctic's website.

Although the barebones with a DVD drive works out at about €120 delivered (when you select fedex), it appears it is shipped from Hong Kong so you will get stung by customs more than likely. Fedex are absolute disasters when it comes to customs something that cost $20 + $20 shipping I needed to pay €23 on or something (€14 admin fee). It was a Reddit Secret Santa gift It would have been rude to not accept a gift (even if it did require me to pay for it) and secondly I had not idea what was in the package or how much it cost.

Private Joker · 15-02-2013 12:24pm

quad_red wrote: »

@Joker - where did you ship it back to?

Germany

quad_red · 15-02-2013 12:34pm

My main aim for this was a player as an 'appliance'. Something the Mrs will be comfortable using to watch a movie herself or put a cartoon on for the wee man.

It would be nice to have something with a bit more juice to run streams etc. But I don't have the cash at the moment for that.

So OPENELEC it is.

Is there even any point in getting 4GBs in that case? Is 2GB more than enough?

Calibos · 15-02-2013 12:40pm

Looks like if I want one to replace my ancient desktop I'll need the DVD version for €115. HDD from the dead laptop is sata and fine but it turns out the DVD-RW is the old ATAPI interface. Pulled a mini-sata drive from brothers laptop to install for test though but he'll be wanting that back

Calibos · 15-02-2013 12:47pm

2. Gigs is more than enough but if the price difference between that and 4 is only 3 or 4 euro than you might as well get 4.

Calibos · 15-02-2013 12:56pm

The openelec 3.0 Final and MC001 specific build have been delayed another few days. Hoping it cuts down boot times. 3 of mine are booting in 28-31 seconds and one takes 50 strangely. If the specific build reduces those then it will have a total appliance feel now that I disabled EUP and can turn on and off with the remote without even having to use the shutdown menu. Kiosk mode will lock out most areas that technophobes can screw up. Parents are loving theirs.

fish fingers · 15-02-2013 1:38pm

witnessmenow wrote: »

XBMC remotes for your phone are the right job for controlling XBMC.

On android im using yatse and I find it very good.

Xbmc commander on my iPhone and iPad is good I have to say.

quad_red · 15-02-2013 1:50pm

A question re what sort of storage to use - would a USB key be faster a standard HHD?

Are there any compatability issues with what USB to boot from? Do you need a certain speed/brand?

Cheers folks

15-02-2013 1:55pm

quad_red wrote: »

A question re what sort of storage to use - would a USB key be faster a standard HHD?

Are there any compatability issues with what USB to boot from? Do you need a certain speed/brand?

Cheers folks

A USB thumbdrive will boot noticeably slower. Once you are booted there won't be a huge difference but a regular HDD still has a big advantage in sequential read/write speed so anything involving large read or writes will obviously be quicker with a HDD. A thumbdrive will have a lower access time but im not sure that will benefit (noticeably) anywhere.

Its worth noting that some USB sticks are woefully slow compared to others. If you have a few lying around, benchmark them, the closer you get to 30MB/s the better.

quad_red · 15-02-2013 1:56pm

Deleted User wrote: »

A USB thumbdrive will boot noticeably slower. Once you are booted there won't be a huge difference but a regular HDD still has a big advantage in sequential read/write speed so anything involving large read or writes will obviously be quicker with a HDD.

Its worth noting that some USB sticks are woefully slow compared to others. If you have a few lying around, benchmark them, the closer you get to 30MB/s the better.

Cheers. I'll just throw a HDD in then

MaceFace · 15-02-2013 3:07pm

What are people's boot times like?
With a (decent) new USB Thumbdrive with openelec, I boot in about 50 seconds.

Anyone have a HDD in theirs with openelec and getting better boot times?

m8 · 15-02-2013 3:36pm

Hi Calibos

How did you do this please as it sounds like a good idea to me?

I disabled EUP and can turn on and off with the remote without even having to use the shutdown menu.

Headshot · 15-02-2013 4:32pm

You know I went for windows 7 for the Arctic because I wanted some programs like bitlord etc but reading the last few pages it seems openelec is the way to go but im unsure about in terms of torrents etc

What I bought the Arctic for was to use it as my new media centre that I can watch my videos and use for torrents. Would openelec suit me?

15-02-2013 4:43pm

Headshot wrote: »

You know I went for windows 7 for the Arctic because I wanted some programs like bitlord etc but reading the last few pages it seems openelec is the way to go but im unsure about in terms of torrents etc

What I bought the Arctic for was to use it as my new media centre that I can watch my videos and use for torrents. Would openelec suit me?

OpenElec has a Transmission add-on for downloading torrents, and also SABnzbd, Couchpotato and Sickbeard.

XBMCbuntu is an alternative to OpenElec, its based on Ubuntu so you can do more stuff if that's what you want. Again, should be a lot lighter than Windows.

Calibos · 15-02-2013 4:51pm

m8 wrote: »

Hi Calibos

How did you do this please as it sounds like a good idea to me?

Press and hold DEL key during boot to enter bios. Go down to the peripheral menu item if I recall correctly and EUP is last item in that menu. Disable save and exit. The power button on the arctic remote or mce remote or harmony remote emulating an mce remote will now shut down the mc001 fully and turn it on from fully off.

Headshot wrote: »

You know I went for windows 7 for the Arctic because I wanted some programs like bitlord etc but reading the last few pages it seems openelec is the way to go but im unsure about in terms of torrents etc

What I bought the Arctic for was to use it as my new media centre that I can watch my videos and use for torrents. Would openelec suit me?

Are you storing your media content on a HDD in the unit itself? Afaik there are torrent client addons for XBMC on Openelec

Headshot · 15-02-2013 5:06pm

yes Im storing the media content on the HDD unit it self

hangar18_ · 15-02-2013 7:15pm

Well lads I'm finally setting mine up now

I'm goin with xbmcbuntu for now, have a 128GB SSD SanDisk installed that I got cheap off amazon and 4GB of ram. Will update later on how it all goes.

Calibos · 15-02-2013 9:52pm

With Win7 64bit now installed on one of mine on a 5200rpm Lappy HDD, its a mixed bag. Slower for the CPU usage to drop off after boot, web pages only slightly snappier than old dell, that is to say that page components still visibly load separately unlike brothers i5 where whole page appears in one go instantly. In other instances its obviously much snapper. ie multitasking. GPU much better so xbmc on top of win7 on this will be better than same on old dell. I dont game. So all in all a step up in most areas and similar in a few. Combine that with the fact that this is 1 tenth the size of the old dell, silent, doesn't guzzle lecky, doesn't turn room into a hotpress.

Put me down for another 2 on Monday:D

Going to order a 24" monitor while I'm at it. Thrilled to see a half decent one can be got for about €160 now

Calibos · 15-02-2013 9:56pm

Had another look. You'd actually fit about 20 of these inside my Dell XPS case

networkj · 15-02-2013 10:26pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Can someone check if the optical drive cover stays on without an optical drive inside (on the barebones). It was something else that seemed fiddly on the one I looked at.

I just received the MC001-N unit and there is no optical drive cover.. is it supposed to come with a blank?

I haven't actually opened the casing yet, but it doesn't look like there is a blank to cover the slot.

Thanks

Allyall · 15-02-2013 11:26pm

networkj wrote: »

I just received the MC001-N unit and there is no optical drive cover.. is it supposed to come with a blank?

I haven't actually opened the casing yet, but it doesn't look like there is a blank to cover the slot.

Thanks

There is, it's in the box in the box, with all the bits and pieces.

It's fine on mine. Although it won't be there long, i'll be whipping it off when my Blu-Ray arrives.

networkj · 15-02-2013 11:29pm

Allyall wrote: »

There is, it's in the box in the box, with all the bits and pieces.

Clearly I was way too excited... I swear I triple checked before posting. Sure enough it is there

Thanks!

Headshot · 15-02-2013 11:33pm

Im going to give my arctic another week to see can I get the best out of it

If anyone wants first dibs if I do decide to sell. pm me

I got this version
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/living/entertainment-center/407/mc001-bd.html?c=2296

Calibos · 16-02-2013 2:02am

Allyall wrote: »

There is, it's in the box in the box, with all the bits and pieces.

It's fine on mine. Although it won't be there long, i'll be whipping it off when my Blu-Ray arrives.

By that I take it you mean you'll be removing the cover the Blu-Ray comes with and fitting the MC001 cover. In my case for my Win 7 test where I borrowed a DVD-RW from my brothers laptop, I popped the Sony Vaio Drive drawer cover off and attached the MC001 one in its place. They all have standardised clips so its a straight swap over.

How did those without optical drives fit the drawer cover. I just glued mine onto the casing.

Calibos · 16-02-2013 2:18am

BTW, I just placed an order with Amazon.de for another 2 @ €99

. As I've said plenty of times previously, I am loving these as Openelec/XBMC clients and am happy enough with the performance as a Win7 light duty machine. Just copped that I appraised its performance earlier while Windows was still updating in the background. Its snappier than I initially thought. Now please understand that at the moment I don't need a beast of a PC and the PC I end up using most in the house was an 8 year old Dell, so while this feels snappy as a Win 7 machine to me relative to the old Dell I am used to, to someone who bought a half decent Desktop/Laptop in the last 4 years, this probably feels dog slow by comparison. However in my case I can't miss what I never really had so for me this still feels like a small upgrade in some areas and a large upgrade in others...and its tiny and its silent and it doesn't turn my room into an oven and it doesnt eat electricity etc etc

I jumped again on another two just now because these things are changing price by the day now. DVD 'E' version is back up to €199 again from 115 yesterday for instance. I wanted to lock in the €99 price now even though my fith and sixth MC001 wont arrive for 3 weeks at least. Number 5 is for me as my Win 7 machine and number six is for Openelec/XBMC use for yet another brother who will be picking himself up a 40" 1080p LED/LCD to use with it.

I also ordered a 23" IPS LG 1920x1080 monitor to use with mine. A bargain at €139 IIRC

My sig explains better than words how and why I seem to be on a bit of a spending spree at the moment. It's time to reward myself

( for those with sigs turned off or an ad blocker turned on, I'm off the fags 6 months today and have saved an absolute fortune. )

tadgh · 16-02-2013 2:44am

Is it true that Netflix is not available when using Openlec?

Calibos · 16-02-2013 9:21am

tadgh wrote: »

Is it true that Netflix is not available when using Openlec?

Netflix uses Microsofts Silverlight framework so its only windows XBMC that can integrate Netflix in any way. No Netflix on any Linux based XBMC be that Openelec or UbuntuXBMC or XBMClive etc. not sure about the OSX/IOS distro's.

Wizard · 16-02-2013 1:34pm

Hi guys, am waiting on my one to arrive but just wanted to ask a question,
I'm gonna buy a 16gb ssd drive and stick openelec on it, do I need a sata cable to install the ssd ?

toddunctious · 16-02-2013 3:05pm

thanks op just ordered one, not sure what to do about remote, something universal that can control this and tv, any ideas ? i looked on amazon.de and seen the harmony 300 for ~25 euro, but read its slow, or would i be better getting the cheap ebay remote and just use that for the htpc?
thanks

16-02-2013 3:40pm

toddunctious wrote: »

thanks op just ordered one, not sure what to do about remote, something universal that can control this and tv, any ideas ? i looked on amazon.de and seen the harmony 300 for ~25 euro, but read its slow, or would i be better getting the cheap ebay remote and just use that for the htpc?
thanks

Have you got a smart-phone or tablet? There are remote apps for iOS and Android.

toddunctious · 16-02-2013 4:05pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Have you got a smart-phone or tablet? There are remote apps for iOS and Android.

cheers that would work

toddunctious · 16-02-2013 4:08pm

Wizard wrote: »

Hi guys, am waiting on my one to arrive but just wanted to ask a question,
I'm gonna buy a 16gb ssd drive and stick openelec on it, do I need a sata cable to install the ssd ?

you will need a sata cable to install. if the ssd doesnt come with one you can pick one up for 1 or 2 euro

zagmund · 16-02-2013 4:41pm

Is the power transformer built in to this device, or do you need an external power block/brick?

Also, I thought I saw up above in the thread that these were shipped from Hong Kong and may be subject to duty or VAT on delivery. Can anyone confirm if this was the case for their one?

z

16-02-2013 4:53pm

Wizard wrote: »

Hi guys, am waiting on my one to arrive but just wanted to ask a question,
I'm gonna buy a 16gb ssd drive and stick openelec on it, do I need a sata cable to install the ssd ?

No. There is a 2.5" sata bay in the unit.

quad_red · 16-02-2013 4:58pm

zagmund wrote: »

Also, I thought I saw up above in the thread that these were shipped from Hong Kong and may be subject to duty or VAT on delivery. Can anyone confirm if this was the case for their one?

z

The ones from amazon.de come from Germany. The ones bought from the arctic website come from HK and be liable to customs charges.

Allyall · 16-02-2013 5:34pm

Calibos wrote: »

By that I take it you mean you'll be removing the cover the Blu-Ray comes with and fitting the MC001 cover. In my case for my Win 7 test where I borrowed a DVD-RW from my brothers laptop, I popped the Sony Vaio Drive drawer cover off and attached the MC001 one in its place. They all have standardised clips so its a straight swap over.

How did those without optical drives fit the drawer cover. I just glued mine onto the casing.

I had an old DVD laptop drive that i put in it, with the Arctic cover over it.
It clipped on perfectly, no looseness, no problem for me. When the Blu-Ray arrives i'll be swapping the cover over. I got the one linked a few pages back from ebay for €28. If any VAT it'll probably be €2 or close.

Do-more · 17-02-2013 12:53pm

I have no DVD drive in mine and I have just left the drive faceplate off on the basis that it should encourage better airflow and cooling.

Allyall · 17-02-2013 2:12pm

Do-more wrote: »

I have no DVD drive in mine and I have just left the drive faceplate off on the basis that it should encourage better airflow and cooling.

Good idea. I probably would have done that, only i convinced myself i needed a Blu-Ray drive..
I don't.

I just threw in the DVD drive to check everything was working.

Another thing i was thinking of getting, but most likely won't, is something like THIS

networkj · 17-02-2013 2:32pm

For any of you who are using this horizontally, what are you doing with the exposed casing after removing the stand? It looks a bit unfinished with nothing there.

I put the black plastic piece that attached to the metal stand back on it, but it still doesn't look so great. I'm just curious if anyone came up with any cover for it.

Calibos · 17-02-2013 3:06pm

Allyall wrote: »

Good idea. I probably would have done that, only i convinced myself i needed a Blu-Ray drive..
I don't.

I just threw in the DVD drive to check everything was working.

Another thing i was thinking of getting, but most likely won't, is something like THIS

Oh, thats interesting! Nice find. Would have to be mini sata version though. The PATA/IDE version wouldn't be usable in the Mc001. Thats why I couldn't use the DVD-RW from my dead laptop unlike the HDD from it. HDD was Sata and fine for the MC001. However the DVD-RW was PATA so I had to borrow a sata drive from my brothers working laptop.

After playing around with Win 7 on one of mine for a few days, I've changed my mind. Its definately snappier in all areas than my old Dell monster. However after setting 75ºc audio alarm in the bios, the alarm went off last night while just watching youtube. Now, it might never get hotter than that and 100ºC is the thermal limit for the chipset but I just have this thing about not liking things running that close to their thermal limit.

New plan is to use all 6 MC001 I have or have on order as Openelec/XBMC clients and instead of using 1 as my bedroom internet/light duty PC like I intended, I am going to order an Arctic MC101 with the new Trinity chipset as my bedroom light duty PC. Love the form factor and looks like the MC001 but its much more powerful with a Quad Core 3.2ghz capable CPU and 7000 series GPU. For most uses it still runs passive with the beautiful Full Aluminium casing as giant heatsink, however there is a quiet fan inside that will kick in if the temp gets to high or you are gaming.

I had already seen vids of the MC101 but this was when I was only thinking about XBMC usage. For that it was over powered and very expensive so it was quickly ruled out. However, since the MC001 put the idea of small silent lovely form factor bedroom light duty PC replacement into my head, the cost of the MC101 for that use actually doesn't seem too bad at all for such a powerful beautiful little thing.

It also sparked a brainwave for where I put the PC and the arrangement of my room that opens up the space considerably. So I've a great project now planned for it.

Allyall · 17-02-2013 6:49pm

Calibos wrote: »

Oh, thats interesting! Nice find. Would have to be mini sata version though. The PATA/IDE version wouldn't be usable in the Mc001.

Yeah, i just linked after quick search on Amazon. I would get the SATA. Not sure if i will or not, but could be a handy thing to have anyway..

m8 · 17-02-2013 9:18pm

Anyone look at the possibility of fitting a very light fan to aid cooling?

Calibos · 17-02-2013 11:40pm

m8 wrote: »

Anyone look at the possibility of fitting a very light fan to aid cooling?

I don't know if this was spurred by my last post but just to note....

The slight concern I had

(and only because I am an@l about not letting a cpu get within 20ºc of its thermal limit (whereupon its own protection circuitry kicks in independent of any motherboard/bios auto shutdown protection))

was only during windows 7 use which puts a much heavier load on the chipset than openelec running XBMC.

I have no such concern for that use. It doesn't break a sweat even playing high bitrate 1080p content. I've checked temps within seconds of stopping such a file and at its highest in a hot room (radiator on full blast) the GPU only got to 60ºc and CPU to about 55ºc.

So IMHO absolutely no need for a fan if using one of these as an XBMC clent with Openelec.

Probably no need for a fan for Win 7 use either and I'm just being fussy about not letting temps get into the high 70's

jfk247 · 18-02-2013 12:14am

help or advice needed.....
had my device up and running with openelec running off a usb key which was perfect but decided I'd try out Ubuntu xbmc over the weekend. Was going good on Friday night, had Ubuntu booting off a separate usb key and tried to install it off that... issues around not having enough space to create some partitions, then the box started 'wigging' out. kept on rebooting itself when I'd get into the bios it would reboot and reboot straight away... finally got p!ssed off and went back to the openelec usb got that up and headed off to bed.

Saturday... It won't power on. When I plug it in in totally the Arctic logo appears and the green led is on inside. When I press the power button nothing happens. I've taken out everything, reseated the ram, and tried it without the ram and it beeped as I would expect.

Sunday....exactly the same nothing happens when the power button is pressed. not even a beep or the led behind the button come on. (this does come on when you remove the power lead and plug it back in)
would anyone's else have any ideas? I don't feel like sending it back to wait another 2weeks for a replacement if it can be fixed up at home.

18-02-2013 12:50am

jfk247 wrote: »

help or advice needed.....

The first thing to try is remove all storage devices and clear the CMOS.

Im sure it doesnt need to be said but in case any beginners are buying the MC001 and reading this, you need to ground yourself before and during working inside any computer and do the minimum of touching metallic components. RAM should be handled by the edges only. You can quite easily ruin a mobo or ram module with static discharge.

jfk247 · 18-02-2013 1:19am

I Kill You Scum! wrote: »

The first thing to try is remove all storage devices and clear the CMOS.

Im sure it doesnt need to be said but in case any beginners are buying the MC001 and reading this, you need to ground yourself before and during working inside any computer and do the minimum of touching metallic components. RAM should be handled by the edges only. You can quite easily ruin a mobo or ram module with static discharge.

cheers for that pointer i kill you scum.

just tried and no joy still doing the same thing.... nothing!!

stephendevlin · 18-02-2013 3:18am

jfk247 wrote: »

help or advice needed.....
had my device up and running with openelec running off a usb key which was perfect but decided I'd try out Ubuntu xbmc over the weekend. Was going good on Friday night, had Ubuntu booting off a separate usb key and tried to install it off that... issues around not having enough space to create some partitions, then the box started 'wigging' out. kept on rebooting itself when I'd get into the bios it would reboot and reboot straight away... finally got p!ssed off and went back to the openelec usb got that up and headed off to bed.

Saturday... It won't power on. When I plug it in in totally the Arctic logo appears and the green led is on inside. When I press the power button nothing happens. I've taken out everything, reseated the ram, and tried it without the ram and it beeped as I would expect.

Sunday....exactly the same nothing happens when the power button is pressed. not even a beep or the led behind the button come on. (this does come on when you remove the power lead and plug it back in)
would anyone's else have any ideas? I don't feel like sending it back to wait another 2weeks for a replacement if it can be fixed up at home.

Green light on this device then? No lag at all on 1080p? what about going back through the gui when the movie is still playing?

jfk247 · 18-02-2013 9:46am

hi stephendevlin,
cant get onto the unit at all so no chance of going back through the GUI. the unit wont even power on to the BIOS. pressing the power button does nothing at all!

As I kill you scum! noted above, it may have shorted somewhere but i'm always very careful when working on an open mobo not to touch it and short it out.

Looks like I'll have to send it back and see what they say!!!!

stephendevlin · 18-02-2013 12:59pm

Having my doubts about that HD 5430. Benchmarks look low enough from what I am reading its lower that Intel's integrated HD3000

Correct me if I am wrong.

Might try openelec on my laptop and see how it fairs out, might be a good judging point

ARCTIC MC001-N ~ MultiMedia Barebone PC - €114.95 Delivered. [Amazon.de]

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