Q35 Mini ITX, core2 pci-e

zpsyx9

Junior Member
Nov 5, 2007
12
0
0
So I had an idea a while back to make a gaming PC out of a mini ITX form factor. I finally came across a motherboard that fits the requirements I was looking for.

MI935 q35 chipset

Alright, so theres ONE board, has support for 1333 Mhz FSB, and pci-e x16. Cool stuff..
How the crap do I order it now?! =p

Basically the point of this project is to make a small (think original XBOX sized) PC that can run modern games. I want to get a full desktop core2 and an 8800 gt in this system. I know theres plenty of options for a smaller system ranging from mATX to a laptop, but the smallest mATX isnt small enough and the fastest laptop is still slow for gaming. I also don't want to spend $3000 on a system I can't upgrade...

Any suggestions or an alternative would be appreciated.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
126
That is indeed an amazing find. I can only imagine how long it took for you to find that thing? Heh..

What's the price? I'd think no less than $300...
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
18
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well they are usually bought in quantity for industrial use.

you'd be better off just going to logic supply and getting a socket P mobile board. theres a few at logicsupply that have the x16 pci-e slot. i think they are miniDTX though since they have 2 slots
 

zpsyx9

Junior Member
Nov 5, 2007
12
0
0
Just to follow up if anyone was following this, the company just got back to me. It's $409 for the model with gigabit LAN onboard (um... ouch). Gonna see what the 10/100 model is. Eh, its kinda hard to drop that kind of dough on just a mainboard =/

Edit: Wow, they got back to me quick, $389 for the 10/100... still ouch
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: zpsyx9
It's $409

And you were expecting what?

With the exception of the two Intel boards, mini ITX boards have always been priced very high compared to similar desktop boards.

Perhaps you should consider a Shuttle box?

G31 chipset $224 shipped

So it is wider than mini ITX by one slot - if you're going top end video card you'll be using that space anyways. The differences between G31/G33 and G35 are minimal and you won't be using onboard video anyways. This chipset "officially" supports 1333MHz FSB and the board has gigabit ethernet. Just take it out of the case and there ya go! (If you go this route, feel free to ship me the empty case/PSU as a thanks!)
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: zpsyx9
Just to follow up if anyone was following this, the company just got back to me. It's $409 ...
Edit: Wow, they got back to me quick, $389 for the 10/100... still ouch

Just found another board... cost a bit more and an older chipset... $1400 but comes with a CPU, LOL.
 

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Also has RAID, and the LAN chipset is Intel (not the typical Realtek or Marvel). Sounds pretty awesome. Now, they just have to sell it for around $150 and I'd be all over it. ;)
 

HeXploiT

Diamond Member
Jun 11, 2004
4,359
1
76
Hey Zap thanks for pointing me to this thread. I'm just going to copy and paste what I posted in mine.

This is the ARBOR ITX-i7435 that supports socket 478, 2GB DDR2 533 memory and boasts a PCI-E X16 slot. What a slick little motherboard. I am seriously considering using this for some sort of LAN MOD rig.:)


I'd love to have one that takes a core2 but the pcie x16 slot is invaluable imo. I've had plans to make a toolbox LAN mod for a couple years now and I've decided this is the board I'm going to use. I'll be putting an 8800 in as well. I love these little itx boards.
 

Dadofamunky

Platinum Member
Jan 4, 2005
2,184
0
0
Originally posted by: Zap
Originally posted by: zpsyx9
It's $409

And you were expecting what?

With the exception of the two Intel boards, mini ITX boards have always been priced very high compared to similar desktop boards.

Perhaps you should consider a Shuttle box?

G31 chipset $224 shipped

So it is wider than mini ITX by one slot - if you're going top end video card you'll be using that space anyways. The differences between G31/G33 and G35 are minimal and you won't be using onboard video anyways. This chipset "officially" supports 1333MHz FSB and the board has gigabit ethernet. Just take it out of the case and there ya go! (If you go this route, feel free to ship me the empty case/PSU as a thanks!)

He's right, at that price the Shuttles are the better buy.
 

Gaurav Duggal

Member
Oct 17, 2007
92
0
0
Superb Find!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd really like a mini-ITX board with a c2q, 1 PCI-E slot, etc. Well if they try selling that one ($409 one) for around $150 (I'm really hoping for that), I'm sure they'll sell it by the thousands if not lakhs!!!!

Quick question: Why are Mini-itx boards so expensive - is it manufacturing costs?
 

undeclared

Senior member
Oct 24, 2005
498
0
86
Seriously, just get a shuttle.

Originally posted by: Gaurav Duggal
Superb Find!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd really like a mini-ITX board with a c2q, 1 PCI-E slot, etc. Well if they try selling that one ($409 one) for around $150 (I'm really hoping for that), I'm sure they'll sell it by the thousands if not lakhs!!!!

Quick question: Why are Mini-itx boards so expensive - is it manufacturing costs?

My hypothetical reasoning (may be false!) ---

Whether they manufacture 1000 in an hour, or 1 in an hour, they still have to pay all their workers for the hour.

So I could imagine their cost being $250 (just employees work for minimum 1 hour + actual parts)

++ this is a part that is almost always only used by laptop manufacturers, meaning its going to be more expensive because they don't make many

If they make more, it becomes cheaper, because in that same hour, maybe they could have made 50 of them instead, at a cost of $4,000 (hypothetical again), but now their cost per unit is only $80

However - they have to sell all 50, so making 50 in that hour is a waste unless they have a guaranteed buyer, or its something popular like a mainstream motherboard

I hope my logic is correct, i'm sure its more or less close to what is the reality
 

QuixoticOne

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2005
1,855
0
0
Nice find.

I've been highly interested to see things like mini-itx, nano-itx, PC-104, Compact-PCI, and other small form factor designs become more ubiquitous.

The mini-itx stuff is neat for embedded "appliance" type of PCs for things like firewalls, car computers, media players, or whatever.

I could never understand why they weren't more popular or weren't engineered just a BIT better to suit various industrial and consumer markets.

I'm just shocked and disgusted at some of the prices for some of these low power / small size motherboard type PCs. I remember trying to get some pricing / availability information on some transmeta CPU boards back in the day, it was hard to even get a straight answer as if they thought they were doing you a favor by letting you plead to buy their product or something, WTF...and then the price was like an order of magnitude higher than equivalent PC motherboard.

Same deal with things like Power PC based boards, small SPARC based boards, JAVA processor motherboards, etc.

At least VIA is putting the stuff out there and popularizing it to a more effective degree than most other low power / small form factor type.

Like for instance, this is pretty neat, but $750? Come on you'd have to be REALLY desperate for something that small size and JAVA programmable to not just use an equivalent laptop (which would probably cost a lot less and have much better compute power):
http://www.sunspotworld.com/

Or this mini itx Power PC board is $995 (ouch!):
http://www.freescale.com/webap...1&tid=t32pspMPC512Xgst

Looks like they've finally got picoitx and nanoitx out $230
http://www.idotpc.com/thestore...ategory=&idproduct=483
http://www.idotpc.com/thestore...ategory=&idproduct=482

Anyway back to the 'gaming' type aspect of the OP's search.Check this one out,
and the others they have:
http://www.idotpc.com/thestore...tegory=2&idproduct=523


 

bfdd

Lifer
Feb 3, 2007
13,312
1
0
I definitely agree on the Shuttle case if you're wanting a small easy to carry lan pc. I just built a PC with a Micro-ATX board in a Silverstone SG-03 nice little case the pc is lighter than hell, mobo is a bit bigger than a mini-ITX, but it's perfect for carrying around since it weighs next to nothing. It is like less than half the size of my TJ-09.