Newegg finally has Mini-ITX boards!

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Link

Not sure if there are many people here interested in these boards, but I have been wanting one for a long time, and I think I may finally pick one up.

 

[BigFatCow]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Link

Not sure if there are many people here interested in these boards, but I have been wanting one for a long time, and I think I may finally pick one up.

just saw those the other day, they look pretty cool...

 

[Dacalo]

you have a long name :Q

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: BigFatCow

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Link

Not sure if there are many people here interested in these boards, but I have been wanting one for a long time, and I think I may finally pick one up.

just saw those the other day, they look pretty cool...

I have been eyeballing them for a long time now. mini-itx.com is a really cool site.

you have a long name :Q

It's my real name too!

 

[RanDum72]

Nice, but can't you just get a mini-ATX mobo like the Asus A7N266-VM and an Athlon XP CPU cheaper than those? Plus, the nforce1/XP combo is going to be a lot faster.

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
Nice, but can't you just get a mini-ATX mobo like the Asus A7N266-VM and an Athlon XP CPU cheaper than those? Plus, the nforce1/XP combo is going to be a lot faster.

The VIA boards are mini-ITX, not mini-ATX which is a very uncommon form factor slightly smaller than ATX. Mini-ITX is a VIA created form factor for their C3 CPU's. The boards are too small for an Athlon or P4 socket plus heat sink assembly. The mini PC's like the Shuttles use flex-ATX which is larger than mini-ITX but smaller than the standard smaller form factor boards which are micro-ATX.

 

[eplebnista]

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

I think I'm gonna order the EPIA 5000.

533 Mhz, no fan, tiny ass board, 1 pci slot, one sdram slot, onboard video/lan/sound, $98, I think that's an awesome deal

I just have to work on finding or making a case to put it in. I wish I could make something like this

 

[Confused]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I think I'm gonna order the EPIA 5000.

533 Mhz, no fan, tiny ass board, 1 pci slot, one sdram slot, onboard video/lan/sound, $98, I think that's an awesome deal

I just have to work on finding or making a case to put it in. I wish I could make something like this

And performance of a Celeron 300


IF you're wanting to do anything with video/dvd, you need at least the 933MHz, probably the 1GHz one

Confused

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: Confused

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
I think I'm gonna order the EPIA 5000.

533 Mhz, no fan, tiny ass board, 1 pci slot, one sdram slot, onboard video/lan/sound, $98, I think that's an awesome deal

I just have to work on finding or making a case to put it in. I wish I could make something like this

And performance of a Celeron 300


IF you're wanting to do anything with video/dvd, you need at least the 933MHz, probably the 1GHz one

Confused

About like a celly 366. I don't need that much power, it will probably be an mp3 player alot of the time running (probably) netbsd, and I may use it as a windows/kazaa piracy machine too. Either way, power is not the issue - having a cool, tiny little computer is

 

[RanDum72]

The VIA boards are mini-ITX, not mini-ATX which is a very uncommon form factor slightly smaller than ATX. Mini-ITX is a VIA created form factor for their C3 CPU's. The boards are too small for an Athlon or P4 socket plus heat sink assembly. The mini PC's like the Shuttles use flex-ATX which is larger than mini-ITX but smaller than the standard smaller form factor boards which are micro-ATX.

Yes, I know that. My point is, the only major difference between the ITX and mini-ATX is the loss of 2/3 expansion slots. If size is REALLY that important, then the ITX makes sense but if size is important but not the only factor, micro-ATX cases are just slightly larger but can accomodate more choices in the components used.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: RanDum72

The VIA boards are mini-ITX, not mini-ATX which is a very uncommon form factor slightly smaller than ATX. Mini-ITX is a VIA created form factor for their C3 CPU's. The boards are too small for an Athlon or P4 socket plus heat sink assembly. The mini PC's like the Shuttles use flex-ATX which is larger than mini-ITX but smaller than the standard smaller form factor boards which are micro-ATX.

Yes, I know that. My point is, the only major difference between the ITX and mini-ATX is the loss of 2/3 expansion slots. If size is REALLY that important, then the ITX makes sense but if size is important but not the only factor, micro-ATX cases are just slightly larger but can accomodate more choices in the components used.

Such a boring way to look at things... Who needs expansion cards when everything is onboard? And no, size isn't important when you get down to it, I mean, computers in general aren't important, we got by fine without them for thousands of years. The point is, small stuff is interesting and fun.

 

[mechBgon]

and I may use it as a windows/kazaa piracy machine too.

I can see VIA's new marketing approach now: "Ultra-quiet piracy appliance! Case has outward appearance of standard household clock radio! Your wife will never know!"

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: RanDum72

The VIA boards are mini-ITX, not mini-ATX which is a very uncommon form factor slightly smaller than ATX. Mini-ITX is a VIA created form factor for their C3 CPU's. The boards are too small for an Athlon or P4 socket plus heat sink assembly. The mini PC's like the Shuttles use flex-ATX which is larger than mini-ITX but smaller than the standard smaller form factor boards which are micro-ATX.

Yes, I know that. My point is, the only major difference between the ITX and mini-ATX is the loss of 2/3 expansion slots. If size is REALLY that important, then the ITX makes sense but if size is important but not the only factor, micro-ATX cases are just slightly larger but can accomodate more choices in the components used.

Slightly smaller???

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

and I may use it as a windows/kazaa piracy machine too.

I can see VIA's new marketing approach now: "Ultra-quiet piracy appliance! Case has outward appearance of standard household clock radio! Your wife will never know!"

Eh, right now I have 3 roles for computers: main workstation, firewall/router/server, and #3 is a dual boot with some bsd or linux that i'm testing stuff out on or just playing with, and then dual booting with windows, so I can download mp3's. Someone take me back to the days of audiogalaxy when this wasn't necessary (audiogalaxy kicked kazaa's butt too )

 

[RanDum72]

Slightly smaller???

Link of ITX board.

Link to micro-ATX board


Link to a small micro-ATX case.

Like I said, if size is the only factor being considered, the ITX IS smaller but if you are looking for just a smaller sized case that still packs some punch, the Asus board combined with an Athlon XP is so much faster its no contest at all.

 

[DannyBoy]

Think those ITX boards look pretty sweet actually

Dan

 

[Pariah]

Originally posted by: RanDum72
Yes, I know that. My point is, the only major difference between the ITX and mini-ATX is the loss of 2/3 expansion slots. If size is REALLY that important, then the ITX makes sense but if size is important but not the only factor, micro-ATX cases are just slightly larger but can accomodate more choices in the components used.

Mini-ATX and micro-ATX are not the same thing. Nobody uses mini-ATX. Micro-ITX is also a lot smaller than Micro-ATX:

Micro-ATX is 3rd board down

The rest of it is pretty much stating the obvious. Another benefit of this board is that you can easily create a fanless system. Add in a hardware DVD/DIVX card and you have a silent very small multimedia system

 

[Pariah]

Compare this:

Link to a small micro-ATX case.

to this

Bona Computech Co., Light

and this

Chyang Fun mini-itx cube

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: RanDum72

Slightly smaller???

Link of ITX board.

Link to micro-ATX board


Link to a small micro-ATX case.

Like I said, if size is the only factor being considered, the ITX IS smaller but if you are looking for just a smaller sized case that still packs some punch, the Asus board combined with an Athlon XP is so much faster its no contest at all.

Speed isn't everything. These have about half the surface area, and probably a helluva lot less heat dissipation. Did you see the guy on the MiniITX site who put one in a picture frame and hung it on the wall? Try to do that with an Athlon.

 

[McCarthy]

That picture frame one is my favorite.

I'd still rather have a motherboard in my main computer with a CPU socket, ram and 10 PCI slots and do my own sound, video, network, etc etc. Just how I am. But I also love these for total (except FIREWIRE??) integration in a tiny, quiet, low power package. Very slick.

 

[XeoBllaze]

w00t w00t..... ima check it out, lol brb!

 

[Chaotic42]

These would make a sweet firewall/router.

Too bad I just spent $120 on memory!



Edit: d, t, what's the tifference?

 

[tRaptor]

I dont see why anyone would not spend $4 more to get 267 more mhz.... Maybe that little fan on the 800 is really anoying LOL

Do these have enough power to do divx? If yes, then here i come!

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

Originally posted by: tRaptor
I dont see why anyone would not spend $4 more to get 267 more mhz.... Maybe that little fan on the 800 is really anoying LOL

Do these have enough power to do divx? If yes, then here i come!

The main thing is the sense of reliability you get without the fan. You don't ever have to worry about a fan dying, you can just turn the thing on and let it go forever without worrying about heat problems.