Can AMD Entertain System Builders with the Maui HTPC?
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It
is debatable whether or not the entertainment PC market will ever take
off, but channel players need to be ready if it does and AMD might very
well have the platform to bring the business to system builders and
integrators.
Code-named
“Maui”- AMD’s Home Theater PC (HTPC) brings together several
technologies in a uATX format to create a media center PC. The key here
for system builders is that nothing is proprietary or unique as far as
selecting components is concerned. The Maui system AMD sent over to
Channel Insider is a “reference unit,” a
pre-assembled unit using components from various manufacturers to show
what is possible. That does not mean a system builder must use those
particular vendors and their components to build a HTPC based upon
AMD’s live technology.
The
machine features multiple AMD products and starts off with MSI's
MS-7411 micro-ATX motherboard using AMD's 780M chipset with UVD support
and side-port memory. System builders can order the motherboard with
either pre-amp or amp audio card solutions directly from their MSI
distributor. For a CPU, AMD sent over an energy-efficient Phenom 9350e
(2.0Ghz / 65W-max quad-core) CPU. Other components included an ATI TV
Wonder 650, a Pioneer BDCD Blue-ray optical drive, a Seagate 500Gb
Pipeline HD and a H1000b media system case from ThermalTake.
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