mini-itx?

[butch81385]

what are your thoughts on mini-itx boards? worth it? good at all for makind a tiny lan party rig? dont know what they are?

[StealthyV]

WOO HOO FINALLY someone else would like to get into the mini-itx craze!

I bought my first board this past summer (2003) on eBay for $86. (800mhz C3)

what a great board...17cm by 17cm. tiny as h3ll!

to really get a grasp as to your options with a TINY AND FUNCTIONAL board, you'd be doing yourself a favor to check out Mini-ITX.com

I really can't begin to explain why I love mini-itx computers so much, but I think it comes down to a few reasons:
+ SMALL
+ Quiet
+ Power Efficient (my psu is only 150w)
+ (I originally wanted to run mine off a solar panel)
+ my whole desktop puter fits in a knapsack, with room left over for a lunch and coke
+ Tiny desktop footprint
+ Bragging rights, lol. "That's a computer?!!!"
+ Affordability (note, the mb is the most expensive part...because the processor comes soldered on the board, with a hs/fan.)

a few cautions:

- Mini-itx really isn't designed for hardcore gaming.
- the Eden processor, because it's FANLESS, isn't too popular, but still needs Efficient cooling to function properly. (see Via's website)
- Onboard video (8mb) means that certain resolutions aren't possible without "wavyness" onscreen.
- Most boards use sdram, which is more expensive for 512 sticks, and 1gig sticks.
- Cases are nortoriously expensive. eBay is your best bet, but don't these puters just BEG for a specially-designed case? (see mini-itx.com)

I love my mini. it's a file server, it's teaching me how to use linux (right now I'm appreciating multiple desktops in RH 8.0), and the three 40mm cooling fans are soo quiet I can still hear my wind-up alarm clock ticking in the corner.

the opportunity came last month to sell my mini, and I came [---] <--THIS close to selling it (and making a bundle!) but I couldn't do it. extreme portablilty, onboard Everything, and tiny footprint are really too good to be true

Via really designed a great MB...you'd be doing yourself a favor checking out the specs, and building a system! if you don't like it, sell it on eBay for a bunch of $$$!

hope this helped.

~Branson

[noprob]

http://www.viatech.com/en/VInternet/mini_itx.jsp

from what I read a few weeks ago the only thing that seemed to be out of place was there is no use for the one(1)pci slot on board & the graphics are not the greatest,but other then that it seemed to be ok,but what do I know.I'm still in the stone ages,I luv the super socket 7 form factor.this new age fast,faster,fastest,
has zipped past me.good luck on your conclusion.

[Bill in SD, CA]

Here's a humorous article on mini-itx boards.

http://www.techimo.com/newsapp/index.pl?photo=8715

Bill

[butch81385]

i have been looking at the 1gig processor board at www.mini-itx.com the via epia cl10000 all in one looks good. how bad is the "Integrated VIA Unichrome™ 2D/3D graphics with MPEG-2 decoder, featuring motion compensation and duo-view support" not good enough for BF im guessing.... but it does have a pci slot, could i toss a decent vid card in that slot? can this handle a better card? ps this one uses ddr.

[nukes]

How does the CPU handle floating point stuff? Anyone have any experience with this on-chip crypto? There's some great mods I've seen with this board, but unless I can stick Linux on it and do something useful, I'm not really interested. I'm not bothered about games etc, but I'd like to have another PC more powerful than a Duron.

[butch81385]

bump regarding my last post on this thread... are the graphics or can i make the graphics good enough for a bf gaming rig? is the 1g processor good enough for bf?

[StealthyV]

Originally posted by noprob
http://www.viatech.com/en/VInternet/mini_itx.jsp

from what I read a few weeks ago the only thing that seemed to be out of place was there is no use for the one(1)pci slot on board & the graphics are not the greatest,but other then that it seemed to be ok

I am using my one pci slot for a half-height modem...others use it for a pci video card...if my case were taller, I'd put an ATA Hdd controller card there.

imo, the mini-itx form factor is really a neat platform...but it's not for oc'ing, or really demanding proggies, unfortunately.

~Branson

*edit. Butch, regarding gaming...you have to take into consideration that the video ram is ONBOARD, and in the case of the Via Epia V 800mhz board, there is only 8mb video ram onboard! that's hardly enough for Doom!
your best bet is to get a pci video card...yes, they exist. not as good as their agp cousins, but better than the onboard video. if that's what you choose, be sure to get rca in/out, and S-video on that card, or you'll end up using the onboard video ports. if you get a pci riser card, there is such thing as an expansion card, with two pci card slots on it...so you can connect up to two pci cards to the system. add another ethernet card, so you can do a little home networking.
the possibilities are many.
the fact that there is no fdd controller on the board is refreshing...who uses fdds anymore anyway? but people DO use pci devices still. (tv tuner card, sound card, etc)
*end of edit

[Dputiger]

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and say that, for the most part, I consider the VIA EPIA over-hyped junk. Notice I say "for the most part." If want an expensive toy, EPIA isn't a bad idea. If saving space is the MOST important thing about your new machine, EPIA isn't a bad idea.

But if you want a real machine, EPIA is a joke. The C3 is so under-powered (even in its current incarnation) that it probably wouldn't compete clock-for-clock with a K6-2. It does boast low thermal dissipation, true enough--but if you are ever curious, run the math on what a P4 or AthlonXP would dissipate at 1 GHz. According to AMD, a 1 GHz (underclocked) T-bred "B" would dissipate around 15 watts. That ain't exactly much, and a 1 GHz T-bird would, meanwhile, offer much more performance than a Nehemiah or God-forbid an Ezra.

So what do you get with an EPIA? An under-powered chip, lousy video (Twister-T isn't exactly dropping any jaws, even in 2D) weak sound, and virtually no expandability.

You can build an equally cool and quiet system using an AthlonXP or P4, combined with a little ingenuity. You can't match the mini-itx form factor, but how much that matters is entirely personal preference.

If you simply MUST have one of these, I highly recommend waiting until P4-based ones come out. Of course, that's going to kill the C3 in this market, but it'll give customers an actual CPU to purchase instead of a glorified toaster.

[butch81385]

so basically the processors out now in the mini-itx market couldnt handle something like BF1942. i was afraid of that. i thought that a 1ghz processor with some better video might be able to pull it off, but it would seem like i was wrong. did anyone check out that board that i potsted earlier (epia cl10000 all in one)?