What's up everyone, I had an idea the other day for designing the ultimate LAN-box...basically it's a compact solution (think G4 Cube-sized) with many onboard features, yet still enough options and room for customization to appeal to the enthusiast/gaming crowd...i don't know how feasable it is to actually go through with the whole procedure of getting custom-built motherboards (see my other thread), but I have an email out to about 15 motherboard manufacturers looking into it
Anyway enough background...below is an excerpt from the email i sent out which basically has most of my thoughts on the subject:
<email>
With LAN parties becoming more and more popular and orgainzations like the CPL growing in size every year, many interested gamers are facing the dilemma of having to transport huge towers and tons of equipment to and from each event, risking physical harm to the computer as well as harm to the data stored on it. While other solutions have come to market in the past year, most notably the Shuttle SV-24, none have been designed with the gamer/enthusiast in mind. Onboard video chipsets just won't cut it to the gamer, and enthusiasts are often driven away by the sub-par components usually included in integrated systems, since most are designed with the value sector in mind. My design, which is still in the works, would be a compact, integrated solution including:
Support for AMD Socket A Duron/Athlon/AthlonXP (with, if possible, future support for the Thoroughbred)
VIA KT333 Chipset
4 184-pin DDR RAM slots
1 AGP 2X/4X slot (via riser card to conserve space)
0 PCI slots
0 Parallel/Serial Ports
0 PS2 Ports
6 USB 2.0 Ports
2 1394 Firewire Ports
ATA-66/100/133 IDE controller
Floppy Controller
Onboard 10/100 Ethernet Controller
Onboard Audio Controller
That is the basic outline of the board's specs. I've gone with the legacy-free format where the Parallel, Serial, and PS2 ports have been eliminated in favor of 6 USB and 2 Firewire ports. With onboard Audio and LAN, PCI slots can be eliminated, thus conserving an incredible amount of space. Since this system is geared toward the mobile gamer/enthusiast crowd, I've included an AGP slot, since the general lack of power or performance from onboard video chipsets would tend to turn away the targeted crowd.
</email>
If anyone else has any ideas they'd like to throw out I'd really appreciate it...comments are very welcome(but flames hurt my feelings
)
thanks,
.:galas:.
Anyway enough background...below is an excerpt from the email i sent out which basically has most of my thoughts on the subject:
<email>
With LAN parties becoming more and more popular and orgainzations like the CPL growing in size every year, many interested gamers are facing the dilemma of having to transport huge towers and tons of equipment to and from each event, risking physical harm to the computer as well as harm to the data stored on it. While other solutions have come to market in the past year, most notably the Shuttle SV-24, none have been designed with the gamer/enthusiast in mind. Onboard video chipsets just won't cut it to the gamer, and enthusiasts are often driven away by the sub-par components usually included in integrated systems, since most are designed with the value sector in mind. My design, which is still in the works, would be a compact, integrated solution including:
Support for AMD Socket A Duron/Athlon/AthlonXP (with, if possible, future support for the Thoroughbred)
VIA KT333 Chipset
4 184-pin DDR RAM slots
1 AGP 2X/4X slot (via riser card to conserve space)
0 PCI slots
0 Parallel/Serial Ports
0 PS2 Ports
6 USB 2.0 Ports
2 1394 Firewire Ports
ATA-66/100/133 IDE controller
Floppy Controller
Onboard 10/100 Ethernet Controller
Onboard Audio Controller
That is the basic outline of the board's specs. I've gone with the legacy-free format where the Parallel, Serial, and PS2 ports have been eliminated in favor of 6 USB and 2 Firewire ports. With onboard Audio and LAN, PCI slots can be eliminated, thus conserving an incredible amount of space. Since this system is geared toward the mobile gamer/enthusiast crowd, I've included an AGP slot, since the general lack of power or performance from onboard video chipsets would tend to turn away the targeted crowd.
</email>
If anyone else has any ideas they'd like to throw out I'd really appreciate it...comments are very welcome(but flames hurt my feelings
)thanks,
.:galas:.
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