Just bought a Gigabyte BRIX i5

Hey MGs, I needed to upgrade my 9 year old HTPC from the ancient Core Duo (overclocked lol) with Radeon 3450 GFX card to something with a bit of go but because it is open and seen, I didn't want a computer box sitting behind or beside the 65" TV so was looking for something very small, ultra compact but still powerful that could easily be tucked out of sight.

After looking at the Intel and Asus offerings, I finally settled on this Gigabyte BRIX.
It comes with Geforce GTX 760 graphics.

The system is :_
Gigabyte GB-BXi5G-760
Kingston 16Gb 1600MHz SO-DIMM low voltage RAM
Samsung Evo 850 1TB SSD
Samsung external 8X DVD burner
Logitech k830 illuminated wireless keyboard
The screen is a 65" Hisense 1080P 3D screen and the amp is a Yamaha RX-V2077 9.2 channel receiver amp and with a Kogan bluray player attached.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/56-164-018-TS?$S300$

http://www.mini-pc-bouwen.be/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/gigabyte-brix-GB-BXi5G-760-inside.jpg

http://www.ozone3d.net/public/jegx/201409/gigabyte_brix_gtx760_13.jpg



I set the BRIX up this morning and from first impressions it is really worth the money to get that much performance in such a small package. It was so easy installing the RAM and SSD and internally appears to be constructed and assembled to a very high standard. Sadly in the first 10 minutes of opening the BRIX package, Shiloh the rhodesian ridgeback chewed the mini HDMI to HDMI cable that was supplied so I had to get another one from the computer shop :mad and so currently Shiloh, is sitting in contemplation out in the cold on the back porch, reflecting on her indiscretion. She will be allowed back in late afternoon. rolleyes
Tomorrow or Tuesday if I don't have too much work happening, I will put some games on it as well as the Xbox controller and then also load up XBMC but until then just playing bluray movies from my NAS server using SM Player and flac files using VLC :-D:cool

I will update when I have been using it for a week or two and we will see if I am still just as happy but so far so good :-D:cool

 

That link does not work.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/list.aspx?s=47&ck=104

As for Shiloh, it was clearly your fault for leaving it within her reach! lol Especially if left on the floor - her domain.

That said, do note after 20 minutes she has no idea why being punished.

Please do as I would be interested in this too. Will you be using this as a DVR/PVR too?

 

The original link still works for me but here is the link address between quote tags

Shiloh grabbed the cable from the bottom of the box while it was sitting on top of my workbench and I was distracted for 20 seconds unfolding the quick start guide :mad She is that quick and almost silent as she doesn't put her paws on the bench but instead she stands and then balances on her hind legs and as she drops back to the ground she managed to grab the cable. I got it back from her within 30 seconds but her molars had split the shield and crushed the wires inside in two places

Yep already setup with XBMC for playing games, watching movies, TV and music and next will be looking for a two channel USB TV tuner with picture in picture and can record one channel while watching another. Even better would be if it could record both channels at the same time. I haven't looked yet and it is a bit lower on the priority list

First minor update and small grievance. Playing the latest Wolfenstein with everything set to the highest resolution causes it to run rather warm and so the two rear fans cut in at full speed and the fan noise is excessive. When watching bluray movies with file sizes up to 20GB the fan never cuts in so for movies it is very good. Mind you when I was playing Wolfenstein I was also simultaneously running the XBMC scrapers to rebuild the content database and indexing system from my 36TB NAS server so the BRIX has processing power aplenty as the game was scrolling very smoothly and with no video or audio stutters :-D:cool

 

Hmmm, that link in your original post or above does not work for me with IE, Chrome or FF.

I am dog sitting my daughter's 140lb American bulldog and it is amazing how sneaky and silent he can be when he wants to be. Truly a gentle giant.

 

Works for me with IE 10 and latest Chrome........ I never use Firefox
BTW Does the other link in quotes from my subsequent post work?

American bulldogs are good looking even though they are very solid and very strong but not so tall although with all that strength, I imagine he can still be quite a handful.
Shiloh weighs 90lbs and is 27 inches tall at the withers and is a mischevious 18 months old. Ridgebacks are very fast, very strong and extremely agile dogs that were originally bred for lion hunting in Africa.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Ridgeback
She must be doing her job as I haven't seen any lions hanging around my house LOL :cool

 

No, neither link seems to work. I get to the scorptec.com.au site but then it says Error 520, Web server is returning an unknown error, and Website is offline. It then shows a nice graphic with green arrows showing my browser is working, CloudFlare in Dallas, Tx is working, then a red x at the www.scorptec.com.au host is not working - try again in a few minutes.

Harley is very powerful and is large for his breed too - about 28inches - but his eyelevel is level with the dinning room table so he doesn't miss a thing and knows precisely when and wear anything might fall, or when someone is done eating and a plate to lick may be coming his way. He knows not to get too close, but is never far away either.

Sadly, this breed is often used by scumbags and lowlifes for fighting. crymad:mad

Fortunately, this one has never had anyone or another dog abuse him so as I noted before, he is just a gentle giant.

I am glad your Ridgeback is keeping the lions away.

 

Both links worked for me. I looked into something like this for our dispatch 911 center, but got this instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28M5595

They just need a semi static web page and a 30 second refresh on a dispatch app powering two 55" 1080p monitors.

Also had to buy ram and m2 ssd. So far the 911 director loves it.

 

The Intel DC3217IYE is a good choice for business but not quite there for gaming. How hot does the Intel DC3217IYE run? The demo Intel I checked and also the one doing POS duty on the checkout pc (mounted behind the screen) in the store both seemed uncomfortably warm even when they weren't doing much processing.
I checked the offerings from Intel, Asus and also Gigabyte. I chose the Gigabyte because of the dedicated GTX 760 graphics and got the i5 over the i7 partly on price and also from the extra heat. My supplier said a couple of the i7 BRIX had come back but none of the i5 BRIX and they had sold double the number of the i5.
The i5 plays demanding games very well but the fans are very noisy. When used for movies or music the fans never cut in so for me it is overall a great solution as it is nice and small and very capable. It would be good if it was a few $$$ cheaper......oh well you can't have everything :cool

 

Well, the displays are pretty static, they do change on occasion. Its been up and running for about 3 days and so far no issue. The device itself is in the ceiling, so far no heat issues.

 

Thanks and that is interesting because both the ones I saw over here seemed quite hot so maybe the ones over there have a slightly different spec :confused