Hey Jpadua,
Looks like nocturnal creature ka rin ah hehehe
I really like that slim black casing since it deviates from the typical HTPC look. The ATI X300 on the DFI RS482 Infinity is good enough for most video playback up to 720p (maybe even up to 1080p with a fast Athlon). The lone slot can be reserved for a good sound card na siguro. What other mobo's would you recommend for 1U configurations? Di na ako updated sa mga bagong motherboard brands/models after a long hibernation from PC hardware/modding. May mga modders din ba dito sa PinoyDVD?
Marami na bang slot-loading DVD drives available for this black casing?
By the way, I've been looking for a good wireless keyboard with touchpad (preferably RF) na black. Maybe you have something like this? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00083Y0YG/ref=ord_cart_shr/103-6907445-6993425?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance&n=172282 but this one's silver.
I'm also looking for good heat pipes. Any local sources?
Dami kong tanong. Thanks in advance.
Cheers!
Kato! yeah I guess nocturnal na ako ngayon! can't sleep till its like 5am hehehe. Its really hard to find the Perfect mobo since not all of them have complete onboard stuff.
The reason why I chose to use the DFI Rs482 becuase it looks like the best all arounder. The fact that it has VGA/DVI/S-VID/Component/Spdif optical/USB/Firewire/Gbitlan all on the back port is phenomenal for a mATX board. The X300 like you said would be sufficient enough for DVDs 720p. There are other boards out there that have better video capabilities also aimed at the HTPC market which use the Geforce 6150/nforce430 chipset.
ASUS, Foxconn, and Gigabyte.
Asus= DVI output only, 5.1 Analog Audio, spdif via optional bracket
Foxconn= VGA output only, 7.1 Analog Audio, spdif, s-video, via optional bracket
Gigabyte= VGA output only, 7.1 Analog Audio, spdif via optional bracket, included S-video/Component breakoutbox
These are all great nvidia based boards and way better IGP than the Radeon Xpress200 (X300IGP) but lack connectivity options out of the box.
You would just have to be selective based on your display device (DVI or VGA). Your case should have an 2nd extra slot though for the spdif bracket which the Slim case does not have any option for unfortunately. But if you do plan to use the HTPC for Audiophile Analog Audio, then you may use the extra slot for the Audiocard and just rely on VGA for your video, use a USB TV tuner. It really all depends on how you want to use it.
As far as I know there is only the Panasonic Slimline Slotload. Which I ordered a long with the Case. You can find lots of laptop DVD drives here naman, but as for slot loads you really have to buy it outside the PI.
Ive been using the BTC wireless keyboard which could be had at 2K sa Octagon. Its pretty good. Its RF and has very good range compared to logitech keyboards. Also the BTC has a built in Joystick/Mouse controller. You can switch from Mouse mode to Joystick game mode with a function keypress on the keyboard. I'm loving this keyboard, although I still find it hard to type since I am not used to the key layout (parang laptop) compared to a traditional keyboard.
What do you mean by heatpipes... you mean CPU heatsinks that use heatpipes? I can recommend some if this is what you are looking for but usually these HSFs need big cases.
Zalman 9600 (TipidPC.com contact SERVO)
Akasa EVO120 (TipidPC.com contact WAYCOOL)
Bigtyphoon 120mm fan (Rising Sun)
XP120 (TipidPC.com contact WAYCOOL)
Scythe Ninja plus 120mm fan (TipidPC.com contact WAYCOOL)
For GPU cooling, the Zalman VF700 or the new VF900 (uses heatpipe technology) these are the best in my opinion if you use a high end video card. (TipidPC.com contact SERVO)
If you are interested in the DFI RS482 Infinity you can also contact WAYCOOL of TPC.