How To: Building A Viiv PC

four Gbytes of memory to support 64-bit computing, and Flex Memory Technology allows different memory sizes to work together in dual-channel mode. Like most recent chipsets, the 945G supports USB 2.0.

The Intel 955 chipset adds support for up to 8 Gbytes of memory. It also supports Intel Memory Pipeline Technology (MPT), which provides more efficient use of each memory channel for better system performance. This chipset supports Pentium4 Hyper-Threading, Pentium D and Pentium Extreme Edition processors. The Intel 975 chipset adds intelligence to help manage multiple threads from the processor. It also supports multiple graphics cards. The 975 chipset supports Pentium Extreme and Pentium D processors.

Three Intel motherboards currently support Viiv. They include the D945GPM Micro-ATX, D945GBO Micro-BTX and the D975XBX ATX. The D945GPM and D945GBO support Pentium D processors and feature the 945G Express chipset along with the ICH7DH chip. They also feature one PCI Express x16 and one x1 connector, four SATA II connectors, eight USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, gigabit Ethernet and 7.1 audio with an optical S/PDIF output.

The high-end D975XBX ATX motherboard offers everything that the other two boards do and more. It supports Pentium D processor and Pentium Extreme processors and features an i975X chipset along with the ICH7DH. Offering state-of-the-art graphics performance, this board includes three PCI Express x16 graphics connectors, one PCI Express x1 connector and two PCI slots. Four SATA II and four SATA I connectors are featured. Windows MCE never included the codecs and software required to play DVDs, which was a pain in the neck for system builders. Fortunately Intel's Viiv motherboards do include it.

Basically any motherboard that supports Intel dual-core processors and contains one of the proper chipsets will support Viiv. Manufacturers including FIC, AOpen, Gigabyte and ECS are already on board so to speak.

Aside from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, there are other various software requirements for Viiv compliance. In addition to all the necessary drivers, Intel's Quick Resume software is also needed. This lets users turn the PC on and off instantly, albeit after the initial boot which takes a typical amount of time to complete. While this makes the PC appear to operate more like a typical consumer appliance, it also means that the PC is never actually turned off.

One new thing that Viiv will bring to the table is a slew of consumer appliances supposedly coming out in the second half of 2006 that will contain built-in wired and/or wireless NICs. Such things as TVs, set top boxes, DVD players and so on will have them. That will allow such things as viewing a DVD played in one room from another room, perhaps on a TV or a PC. Digital Media Adapters, or DMAs, will basically be NIC-equipped wired or WiFi receivers that can connect to a TV in rooms where computers are not wanted. Viiv PCs will then on the fly "transcode" material that's stored in a format that a DMA doesn't know to one that it can handle.

More Viiv coverage:

> Review: Viiv: New Platform, Same Old Systems

> Intel Offers $1M Home PC Design Challenge