[mileslb56]

Guess I'll start the inevitable thread, and maybe someone more knowledgeable and experienced can let us know.

One choice in the Zino configuration is an AMD dual core Athlon 3250e which runs at 1.5Ghz.

This link:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=212523
shows that this chip was succesfully oveclocked to 2.4Ghz before showing signs of instability. This was done almost a year ago. Of course that was on a specialized motherboard made for overclocking.

It would be sweet if it was possible to (easily) take this unit up to 1.8 or 2.1Ghz.

I have a base price unit on the way, and I didn't even take the dual-core upgrade, but most Athlons easily accept 10 - 20 % overclocking.

I am much better at following detailed instructions, rather than discovering them, which is why I started this thread.

Thanks in advance to any that take on the challenge.

[Prax]

My dell Zino has now been on order for the better part of a month and a half, its suppose to ship next week but I am not holding my breath here. I have yet to hear of anyone who actually has one in their hands yet but when I do get it I will post my O/C'ing experience with it.

[scottso87]

I received my Dell Zino on Friday, December 11th (ordered it online from Dell on Nov. 28th). The BIOS does not seem to have any overclocking options, perhaps there is a way to access an advanced screen?

[Prax]

I originally ordered min on 11/18, but due to Dell screwing up my order *grumble* it still has not been delivered and has a delivery date of 1/11/2010. How are you enjoying the Zino is it a decently powerful machine? Mine is a second computer for my desk and will mainly be used for web browsing light gaming and a media playing box.

[scottso87]

This is getting off topic, but here goes. My brother and I bought the Zino HD to give to our parents for Christmas so they can use it as an HTPC. I wouldn't call it powerful, but it has respectable performance.

Music, standard definition videos (mpeg and divx), and streaming Netflix movies play just fine. High definition (720p) movies play fine in Media Player Classic (I believe it utilizes Avivo) but will not play smoothly in WMP or Media Center. I would guess that 1080p movies would be too much for my config to handle.

Blu-ray movies (1080p) play just fine in Media Center with the included PowerDVD plugin, again because Avivo is being utilized.

We purchased the Avermeda AVerTv Hybrid Volar Max USB tuner so my parents could watch and record off-air ATSC channels. I don't live in an area to test ATSC channels, but I have been testing Clear-QAM channels and the report is not good. The picture is very jagged and there are a lot of frame drops. It would be comparable to having a 60% off-air digital signal. Unfortunately my setup is not powerful enough to decode digital TV signals. Analog cable channels barely work at all.

I would say it's a good machine overall for it's intended use, though in retrospect, I wish I would have ordered the 6850E processor. If I could find a way to overclock the processor slightly, that might help.

Specs:
AMD Athlon 3250e (1.GHz, 1MB)
3GB DDR2 SDRAM AT 800MHZ
ATI Radeon HD 4330 512MB Graphics Card
320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit

[mileslb56]

Originally Posted by Prax

I originally ordered min on 11/18, but due to Dell screwing up my order *grumble* it still has not been delivered and has a delivery date of 1/11/2010. How are you enjoying the Zino is it a decently powerful machine? Mine is a second computer for my desk and will mainly be used for web browsing light gaming and a media playing box.

Email I got from Dell about my Zino ordered on the Black Friday sale:

---------------------------------------------------------------
We wanted to let you know that there is a delay with one or more items in your order.

Based on the latest available information, we have adjusted the estimated delivery date
and are confident your order will be delivered on or before this new date.
(see Revised Estimated Delivery Date below)

---------------------------------------------------------------
Order Number Product Description Revised Est.Delivery Date
96X40X43X Inspiron 400, no MXM Graphics w/ ODD, Blk 01/06/2010

You can check on the progress of your order at any time by clicking on the Order Number.
If you ordered multiple items, they may ship separately and at different times.
Click here to check the status of every item you ordered.
----------------------------------------------------------------

This is the one I was planning on playing with..I took the base model as offered for $199 and was expecting a quick delivery. I wonder if Dell sold more than expected?

[groundhogdaze]

I got my Zino a few days ago (black friday deal) with the 1.8ghz cpu. I immediately loaded Windows 7 x64 on and hooked it up to my TV at 720p settings. At first I was quite happy because it seemed to play HD .mkv video files just fine but later discovered when trying to watch an entire movie, there would be a few moments where the video would pause or the sound would go out of sync. I tried it watch a couple other HD videos and they all had the same issue. My guess is that either the CPU needs to be a little faster or I need to switch back to a 32bit OS in an attempt to eek out just enough performance out of the zino to watch HD videos glitch free. The Zino is fairly quiet but not as quiet as I had hoped given how weak the processor is. I doubt that the bios will allow overclocking so I'm wondering how much trouble it would be to rip out the processor and throwing something more beefy on it. I've only had it a few days so more time/tweaking is needed.
Update - I installed win7x32 and this time didn't install the FFDSHOW codec and now it's playing 1080p mkv files without a hitch. Assuming the ffdshow codec wasn't using avivo hardware acceleration. Gonna load more programs on it and hope the added overhead doesn't break the experience for me.