Atom Motherboard

[Kledgie]

I actually have a mini-ITX case that recommends an atom mobo. Any recommendations?

 

[EXCellR8]

Personally I'd avoid Atom boards unless you're looking for really low power/low performance operation for a file server or firewall or something.

There are tons of mini ITX boards on the market and if you want to add a CPU or buy one with a CPU already soldered to the board (embedded) then there are lots of options. We'd just need a list of features you'd need or want along with your budget.

 

[Kledgie]

Thx for the reply. This would mostly be for office work, playing around with small files and emailing. The only game I play anymore is everquest p99. It makes me believe I could use an atom for that, and as I mentioned, my case recommends an atom mobo. The PSU is only 60 watt.

 

[JWade]

I would think an am1 with a 5350 would be under 60w and be a lot better

 

[EXCellR8]

FWIW I've still got a ITX board with an Atom N230 and it's awful slow. Just booting the OS, loading up a browser, and updating AV software is absolutely taxing on the poor little thing. I can't watch any HD video online, and without an SSD and ethernet connection any OS updates take a small eternity to complete. They have their place, sure, but to actively be using one is a true test of patience IMO.

There is an Atom thread on here somewhere, so if you're adamant about using one maybe check that out?

 

[mindless1]

Atom turned int Bay Trail Celeron, the slowest thing I'd put in that would be a J1900 and even then I wouldn't want to be using it as a does-everything box.

The real question is what is this case worth? Must your case be very tiny? It seems like a waste to spend any significant money on something that slow instead of just getting a different case.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I have an Atom based server that does home automation/monitoring and it works fine for that, but I have used an Atom based laptop before (well a netbook) and it is absolutely painful to use, even with a SSD. I tried everything to make it faster including putting Linux and it was still slow. Basically, for server stuff it's fine, since you're not really waiting in real time for it to do something, but for desktop/GUI type stuff, no way.

 

[Kledgie]

OK! I beleive u guys hahaha.

My mentor recommended this one https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/J5005-ITX/index.asp

 

[mindless1]

The J5005 looks reasonable but if my case were tall enough for cards, I'd want a board with more than a single, PCIe x1 slot. Some past ITX boards I've seen had a x4 or x16 sized slot even if not all PCIe lanes were connected, so you could toss in a PCIe x4 SATA raid card or x16 video card, etc... but I guess it doesn't matter as much if you're limited to a 60W PSU, can't support the extra current for more SSDs or video than already built in.

I'd also prefer regular desktop DDR3 so I could reuse some I already have instead of buying DDR4 SODIMMs, but of course you have to give up *something* when picking a smaller ITX board.