Really Small A64 mobo?

[franco523]

I'm merely asking if anyone knows of a retail available SFF motherboard that supports either socket 754 or socket 939?

With the ready availablility of laptop sized components, i'm looking to make the ultimate in portable gaming. I know of some boards that would be compatable with what i'm looking to do, but i'm having a hard time finding a way to get my hands on them. Should i be looking at a distributor? As an example, Soltek lists the motherboards they use in their small form factor systems, however they do not seem to sell them on the open market.

The end goal is the AGP card being the height limiting factor of the whole design. For those wondering, yes, i'm well aware of just how cramped it's gonna have to be in there, and yes i realize what i'm potentially getting into, and i welcome the challenge. Rawr

So, any ideas?
Franco

 

[amheck]

FWIW...the MB in my Jetway SFF PC died last year. I searched around for a replacement and had to end up going directly to Jetway. I was never able to find a SFF MB to purchase seperately.

 

[ShadowBlade]

not an a64 board, but mini-ITX (and soon nano-ITX) motherboards by VIA are the smallest motherboards that i know of
there is one mITX with a P4 socket, but otherwise they have integrated CPU's
for a size reference, the nITX is the same size as a mac mini board
mini-ITX have integrated video, one DIMM, one PCI and a bunch of other integrated stuff
google search mini ITX

i found the store i was looking at before
http://www.shentech.com/motherboards-motherboards-miniitx.html

 

[franco523]

Thanks for the responses.
Some replies:
amheck, did they sell you one outright, or did they treat it like warranty work or somesuch? I'd totally be willing to buy direct if i had to.

Shadowblade, i was concerned about the performance (graphically) from those, but i found a mini-ITX board using one of ATI's chipsets.
http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info.php/cPath/55/products_id/247
You'll note that this uses the RS300 chipset, which includes a downclocked version of the 9100IGP. Not the greatest stuff in the world, but i'm sure that's as good as it gets without an add in card.

For a good gaming design, i'll probably try to get my hands on a SFF mobo, but if i want to make a solid digital media micro computer, i'll definately be going the mini-ITX route.

I may end up doing both... who knows.

 

[amheck]

franco, yeah, Jetway was really great in the process. I shipped in the case, MB and PS, and they replaced the MB and sent it back for like $40. And it was out of warranty. I was jsut about to go out an buy a barebones SFF computer (case, MB, PS) and just move everything over, but I'm glad I contact them first.

 

[Zap]

The "easy" thing to do is to just buy a mini system with the board you want and take out the board. You gonna make a custom case? Those mini systems make for really small/portable gaming rigs and many people have modded theirs.

 

[will889]

I'm waiting on a very good mATX myself. Prefferably mATX with nice backup IGP (better than what's out now) for a new S939 HTPC. I wan't it in a regular mATX tower though (like an Inwin) case and not an IDEQ (or similar).

 

[franco523]

Originally posted by: Zap
The "easy" thing to do is to just buy a mini system with the board you want and take out the board. You gonna make a custom case? Those mini systems make for really small/portable gaming rigs and many people have modded theirs.

Yeah, that's basically what i'm thinking i'll have to do, but i was hoping (in the interest of saving some cash) i could just get my hands on the sff mobo. Oh well, i suppose those days aren't with us yet.

Yeah, i'm probably gonna end up doing that. Considering they should have solid psu's for the size constraints, i'm getting 2 components, really. So i may end up spending less than i'm realizing (time to run some more price reports and whatnot...).

Thanks for all the advice.

Franco

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: will889
Prefferably mATX with nice backup IGP (better than what's out now) for a new S939 HTPC.

You can get one with an ATI chipset that has arguably the best IGP on the market at this time.
MSI RS480M2-IL