Because we chose two mobile Core 2 Duo processors for our testing, we got a small, quiet stock cooler with the motherboard. Those who've seen a Pentium M will immediately recognize the T7200 and T7600 as their more powerful, dual-core cousins, with low power draw and miniature coolers to match. We chose an Asus N4L-VM to play host to our Intel processors.
| Asus N4L-VM DH | |
|---|---|
| Northbridge | Intel 945 GM (MCH) |
| Southbridge | Intel ICH7-M (DH) |
| Voltage Regulator | Six Phases |
| BIOS | AMI 0502 (04/03/2007) |
| 266.7 MHz (FSB667) | 266.7MHz (+0.0%) |
| Connectors and Interfaces | |
| Onboard | 1x PCIe x16
1x PCIe x1 2x PCI 2x USB 2.0 (2 ports per connector) 1x COM 1x Printer 1x TV out 1x Floppy 1x Ultra ATA 4x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s 1x Front Panel Audio 1x S/P-DIF In/Out 1x IEEE-1394 FireWire 1x Fan 4 pins (CPU) 1x Fan 3 pins (Chassis) 1x Clear CMOS Jumper |
| IO panel | 2x PS2 (keyboard + mouse)
1x RJ-45 Network 4x USB 2.0 1x IEE1394a port 1x eSATA port 1x optical S/PDIF output 1x coaxial S/PDIF output 1x DVI-D 1x VGA Out 8x Analogue Audio (7.1 Channel, Mic-In, Line-In) |
| Mass Storage Controllers | |
| ICH-7M (DH) | 2 x SATA 1.5 Gb/s (RAID 0,1,Matrix)
1x Ultra ATA-100 (2-drives) |
| JMicron SATA Controller | 1x Internal SATA 3.0 GB/s (RAID 0,1)
1x eSATA 3.0 Gb/s (RAID 0,1) |
| Network | |
| GbE LAN controller | Intel 82573L |
| Audio | |
| HDA (Azalia) Controller Interface | Realtek ALC882M 7.1 Codec |
| FireWire | |
| TI TSB43AB22A | 2x IEEE-1394a (400 Mb/s) |
| Graphics | |
| Integrated graphics | Intel Graphics GMA 950 |
| Memory | |
| Dual channel
2x 240-pin DIMM |
Up to 2 GB of unbuffered 667/533 DDR2 |
The N4L-VM conforms to Intel VIIV specifications, which means it works especially well with Windows MCE, and is built around the Intel 945GM and ICH7M-DH chipsets. Its only noticeable drawback compared to the AMD mobos mentioned in the preceding section is built-in support for HDMI (but you can get that from the graphics card and this unit's internal S/PDIF header or use its external S/PDIF output to pipe audio through the graphics card's HDMI output).
| Intel System Hardware | |
|---|---|
| Socket 775 Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7200
(Merom 65 nm, 2.00 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache) Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7600 (Merom 65 nm, 2.33 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache) |
| RAM | Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-8500C5D
2x 1024 MB DDR2-1066 (CL 5.0-5-5-15) |
| Hard Drive | Hitachi Deskstar HDS725050KLA360, Firmware K2AOAB0AACCB, 500 GB, 7,200 RPM, 16 MB Cache, SATA/300 |
| Graphics Card | Asus EN7600GT, P/N: EN7600GT/HTD/256M/A Nvidia GeForce 7600GT - 256 MB |
| Power Supply | Zalman ZM460-APS Silent Power Supply - 460W |
| System Software & Drivers | |
| OS | Windows XP Professional Media Center Edition 2005 Build 5.10.2600, Service Pack 2 |
| DirectX Version | 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904) |
| Platform Drivers | NVIDIA Platform: nForce 9.53
Intel Platform: INF 8.0.1.1010 |
| Graphics Driver | Forceware 97.92 |
- Is The World Ready For DIY HDMI PCs? Are We?
- Components For The Ideal Media PC, Continued
- Components For The Ideal Media PC, Continued
- Components For The Ideal Media PC, Continued
- Components For The Ideal Media PC, Continued
- Reality Confronts The Ideal
- Two Sets Of Builds, Two Sets Of Hardware
- The AMD Fork: Motherboard And CPUs
- The Intel Fork: Motherboard And CPUs
- How (And What) We Tested
- Benchmarks And Results
- 3DMark05
- The HQV Benchmark
- The A/V Experience
- HDMI PC Lessons Learned
- Sidebar: HDMI, HDCP Gotchas And Workarounds, Continued
- Conclusions And Recommendations
