Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I was a little concerned that the Z-BOX would be a bit underpowered, but the new atom processor coupled with the ION chip set give it plenty of go.
With win7 it works right out of the box, although you'll need to get the latest NVIDIA drivers (windows update has these as optional updates), and it required a Bios update to quiet the fan, but once that was done it was pretty much inaudible, especially with the TV on.
As an indication of how it handles the load, Media Center uses about 40% CPU (distributed across the 4 cores) even when recording 2 HDTV channels using separate USB DVB-T receivers and playing back a previously recorded show (all at 1080i).
There was even enough grunt in the ION graphics (which are supposed to be equivalent to a GeForce 218) to get it play Left 4 Dead, UT3, Portal etc. all at near HD resolutions, with reasonable frame rates, although the details and reflections were turned down.
Getting it to work with MythTV (back end / front end all in one) was a little more challenging, but that's down to Linux not the PC. In the end, it worked for that as well.
It wakes as expected from signals on the Microsoft USB remote control, but not the RF keyboard or mouse, and the BIOS doesn't support wake on lan - for me not a show stopper.
The only other minor issue I have found is that any drives attached to the eSata port get seen as non-removable, only gets detected if the device is present at boot, and Windows crashes if it's unplugged.
Does run a little warm, especially when you hit it hard with games, but it doesn't seem excessive.
On the whole, I'm very happy with it!
Click Here to see more reviews about: ZOTAC Atom Dual-Core D510/Intel NM10/WiFi/A&V&GbE/Mini PC Barebone System ZBOX HD-ID11-U
ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11-U Atom Dual-Core D510/Intel NM10/WiFi/A&V&GbE/Mini PC Barebone System
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