LIX Systems LX8100-AM2BB-M2NPV HTPC

The standard hardware components in our unit included the ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard, KWorld Global PVR-TV 7131 tuner, 1GB of DDR2, 400GB IDE hard drive, and Sony DVD-RW drive. The LX8100-AM2BB-M2NPV base model consists of a 250GB IDE drive, AMD Sempron 3000+, 512MB DDR2-533, TV capture card, DVD/CDRW combo, and IR Blaster option. The ASUS M2NPV-VM motherboard uses NVIDIA's GeForce 6150 + nForce 430 Chipset, supports four DDR2-800 memory slots, one PCI Express x16 port, and the usual array of other features. The KWorld Global PVR-TV 7131 TV tuner uses Philips' SAA7131 chipset and features real-time MPEG 4/2/1 encoding, supports radio FM tuning, and an infrared remote control.

With LIX Systems being a relatively small company at this point, and all systems being built by hand, they are prone to supply shortages. During the initial ordering process, the LX8100-AM2BB-M2NPV was going to ship with an AMD Sempron 3000+ but due to a shortage, they had upgraded their systems being built for customers up to 3200+ models free of charge. This upgrade is nice to see, not to mention that this saved on delaying the unit by several days.

After removing several screws we had finally gained access to the innards of the LIX Systems LX8100-AM2BB-M2NPV. As we quickly learned, the Lx8100 is a very compact chassis. In fact, it is even smaller than the recently reviewed SilverStone Milo ML01 MoDT case. Immediately next to the ASUS motherboard is the SilenX power supply unit, optical drive, and hard drive. Along with the AMD AM2 reference heatsink, there are two case fans on the Lx8100; all of these fans are thermally controlled. In some environments the CPU heatsink fan may not even need to run. LIX Systems had also done a reputable job with the cable management to prevent the obstruction of airflow.