Anyone have any experience with this CPU / board yet? Looks like the speed got a 20% CPU and 5% graphics boost from the 1900, but unclear to me whether there are other features that might merit choosing this one over its cheaper cousin.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/78867,78868
J2900 for WMC HTPC
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cwinfield
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No first hand experience. I have not seen any reviews for this higher end bay trail board chip combo solution. The reviews for the J1900 have been pretty positive. It seems like a very cost effective solution for a low end HTPC as long a 1 PCI-E 1X is all the expansion you would ever need.
Update: I lied I did read this http://www.anandtech.com/show/8344/bayt ... therboards
Update: I lied I did read this http://www.anandtech.com/show/8344/bayt ... therboards
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mdavej
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There has been some discussion at slickdeals.net when these have gone on sale at newegg. My 1900 handles everyday HTPC duty fine (6 tuners, main TV plus a few extenders), but chokes when called on to be a Plex server on top of that. The transcoding pegs my CPU. With only a 20% bump, Plex would probably still nearly peg a 2900 as well. Unless you're running Plex or Madvr, I'd say save your money. And if you are running those, go for something much more powerful than an 2900.
http://slickdeals.net/f/7118584-acer-de ... e-shipping
Note that the Acer model discussed above as well as my 1900 version have virtually no expansion capability whatsoever, only a single mini-PCIe slot and spare RAM slot. No standard PCIe slots or additional SATA ports. This isn't a problem for me since I run only 2 drives and have external tuners, but would be a show stopper if you have internal tuners already. The thing I love most about mine is that the CPU maxes out at 10W. So I can run it 24x7 and draw little more than a night light.
http://slickdeals.net/f/7118584-acer-de ... e-shipping
Note that the Acer model discussed above as well as my 1900 version have virtually no expansion capability whatsoever, only a single mini-PCIe slot and spare RAM slot. No standard PCIe slots or additional SATA ports. This isn't a problem for me since I run only 2 drives and have external tuners, but would be a show stopper if you have internal tuners already. The thing I love most about mine is that the CPU maxes out at 10W. So I can run it 24x7 and draw little more than a night light.
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Ed
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Running Plex =/= transcoding.mdavej wrote:There has been some discussion at slickdeals.net when these have gone on sale at newegg. My 1900 handles everyday HTPC duty fine (6 tuners, main TV plus a few extenders), but chokes when called on to be a Plex server on top of that. The transcoding pegs my CPU. With only a 20% bump, Plex would probably still nearly peg a 2900 as well. Unless you're running Plex or Madvr, I'd say save your money. And if you are running those, go for something much more powerful than an 2900.
http://slickdeals.net/f/7118584-acer-de ... e-shipping
Note that the Acer model discussed above as well as my 1900 version have virtually no expansion capability whatsoever, only a single mini-PCIe slot and spare RAM slot. No standard PCIe slots or additional SATA ports. This isn't a problem for me since I run only 2 drives and have external tuners, but would be a show stopper if you have internal tuners already. The thing I love most about mine is that the CPU maxes out at 10W. So I can run it 24x7 and draw little more than a night light.
I run WMC + Plex fine on my J1900; as I don't do any transcoding.
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mdavej
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Of course. Let me clarify, running Plex server which insists on transcoding the heck out of my wtv files when I watch them on a Roku.Ed wrote:Running Plex =/= transcoding.
I run WMC + Plex fine on my J1900; as I don't do any transcoding.
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Ed
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That's because the roku lacks mpeg2 support, so Plex has to transcode them, iirc.
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conman0321
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I ended up re-boarding my WMC with the J2900 and a 120GB Samsung SSD, keeping my Ceton 4-tuner, a 1TB WD HDD and a Blu-Ray drive (previous 6 y.o. box fell victim to a lightning strike).
Though the build was very tight - had to enlist the help of my 8 year old to get all the SATA cables plugged in - I managed to get the whole shebang enclosed in a mini-ITX case with a 120W power supply.
MUCH faster bootups (~9s to get to the WMC menu) and guide responses as a result
- though I did have to re-license Windows 7 after having replaced the HDD twice before. the extra $99 raised the price of the build to $350 (and took me 90 minutes to work through with MSFT engineers - 
).
Plus, my power bill should be ~$50/y lower. I'd highly recommend the lower power CPU and SSD if you're thinking about upgrading.
Though the build was very tight - had to enlist the help of my 8 year old to get all the SATA cables plugged in - I managed to get the whole shebang enclosed in a mini-ITX case with a 120W power supply.
MUCH faster bootups (~9s to get to the WMC menu) and guide responses as a result
- though I did have to re-license Windows 7 after having replaced the HDD twice before. the extra $99 raised the price of the build to $350 (and took me 90 minutes to work through with MSFT engineers - ).Plus, my power bill should be ~$50/y lower. I'd highly recommend the lower power CPU and SSD if you're thinking about upgrading.