Via VB7001G Source?

[thorin]

Anyone know of a store which carries:
VIA VB7001G C7-D 1.5GHz Mini-ITX Motherboard ?

According to here:
http://www.epiacenter.com/modu...&file=article&sid=1086
It's supposed to have a much better price point compared to other Via Mini-ITX boards.

 

[SleepyB]

eWiz has it at a good price.

logic supply also carries it, but they charge a lot more.

I'm waiting for a cheap supplier of the LN10000EG.

 

[thorin]

Ok now i'm curious, why the LN10000EG ?

I don't see much difference aside from it being 1GHz.

 

[SleepyB]

Want something totally passive, no fans, so I can leave on 24/7 for downloads/VPN access. Spent too much time buying silent fans or heatsinks, so finally want to get something made for totally passive use.

All the other passive models are $180+. There are some around the $110 range, but those use older 500/800Mhz CPUs and use DDR mem, which costs 2x DDR2 these days.

VIA VB7001G C7-D 1.5GHz @ eWiz

Logic Supply
iDOTpc
E-itx

Another cheap solution would be that Intel D201GLY mini-itx board. It'll probably perform better than VIA CPUs, but it's limited to IDE connections, no SATA. Also it has a very tall CPU heatsink/fan, so it might not fit into most mini-itx cases.

 

[MichaelD]

That 1.5GHz Via board looks pretty good; full-featured and totally passive. What would you use it for? It would make a nice, quiet "kitchen or den system" for just surfing/emailing, I guess. What else?

 

[thorin]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
That 1.5GHz Via board looks pretty good; full-featured and totally passive. What would you use it for? It would make a nice, quiet "kitchen or den system" for just surfing/emailing, I guess. What else?

Considering it for a small web server photo gallery (Apache/QDig), and network file server (hang one or two 320-500GB drives off it). Depending on how loaded it ends up then maybe also an email server or private ShoutCast server.

Thanks for the links SleepyB

 

[Zap]

Have you looked into other brands such as Jetway? Even if it's just for comparison sake. They make a fairly complete line of mini ITX boards.

 

[thorin]

Thanks for the suggestion Zap I'll look around.

 

[hans007]

jetway makes fanless 1.2 ghz one that is all over the place. i think the jetway 1.5 and 2.0 ghz ones have fans.

 

[MichaelD]

I was about to pull the trigger on this board for a home-NAS when I noticed something. I don't think this board is totally passive.

Note the HSF mounting holes around the CPU in this pic.

Text

Maybe that's why other versions of this board come with a HSF attached?

Thoughts?

 

[SleepyB]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I was about to pull the trigger on this board for a home-NAS when I noticed something. I don't think this board is totally passive.

No, the VB7001G is not passive. It has a heatsink + fan. The other board I mentioned IS passive, the LN10000EG. But I can't find it for a good price yet. Most of the places are listing it for around $137+. I'm waiting for it to be under $110.

If you're interested in building a NAS, you might wait for the EPIA SN series.

VIA launches 'fastest ever' EPIA motherboards

Looks like it's perfect for NAS duty as it has 4 SATA ports + built-in RAID + gigbit ethernet. But looks like it will be a while before it hits market.

Looks like the 1Ghz version will be fanless, SN10000EG.

VIA EPIA SN-Series Mini-ITX Mainboard

If someone knows of any other fanless 1Ghz mini-itx board that uses DDR2 and under $110, please let me know.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: SleepyB

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I was about to pull the trigger on this board for a home-NAS when I noticed something. I don't think this board is totally passive.

No, the VB7001G is not passive. It has a heatsink + fan. The other board I mentioned IS passive, the LN10000EG. But I can't find it for a good price yet. Most of the places are listing it for around $137+. I'm waiting for it to be under $110.

If you're interested in building a NAS, you might wait for the EPIA SN series.

VIA launches 'fastest ever' EPIA motherboards

Looks like it's perfect for NAS duty as it has 4 SATA ports + built-in RAID + gigbit ethernet. But looks like it will be a while before it hits market.

Looks like the 1Ghz version will be fanless, SN10000EG.

VIA EPIA SN-Series Mini-ITX Mainboard

If someone knows of any other fanless 1Ghz mini-itx board that uses DDR2 and under $110, please let me know.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions; that's too bad, actually. I was ready to buy it today. What confused me was that I don't see any pics of the HSF in any of the pictures of the board. Kind of false advertising...sort of. At least if they showed the contents of the retail package and you saw the HSF you'd know. You know?

The SN-series indeed looks sweet. But with a probable $300 price, it's more than I want to spend. Plus, though the 16x PCI-E will be awesome for HTPC folks, I don't need it at all.

I'm going for a totally passive solution; only fan in the box will be in the PS. I'm building a SFF NAS/backup server. It will sit on the shelf, behind some books, never to be seen (or heard).

*edit*

Stupid question time

As shown here on EWiz, there's no HSF. Is it correct to assume that the retail package board will come with the HSF? Thanks! This is looking like the best deal to me...especially since it uses ultra-cheap (ATM) DDR2.

 

[MichaelD]

LN1000EG - $137.

Not sure how good a price that is. It's too bad about the VB7001G not being passive. $90 is hard to pass up!

 

[SleepyB]

Logic Supply has proper pictures of the VB7001G board.

linky
More pics

You can see the tall heatsink with embedded fan. You can also see the price difference between them and eWiz. That's why I'm hoping eWiz/newegg will carry LN10000EG soon, but I dunno if they will since mini-itx aren't that big sellers.

Pics of the LN10000EG

You can see the very large, wide heatsink, no fan.

If you want really cheap, check out the Intel D201GLY I mentioned before. eWiz and newegg carries it. It's only around $70, maybe $60. Only problem is it has a very tall heatsink/fan, so it has problems fitting into most small mini-itx cases.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks, SleepyB.

Yes; huge price diff b/t the two! :Q I'm really leaning towards EWiz and the VB7001G. I'm just wondering if that's a low-speed fan or a buzzsaw. I wonder if I could get away with removing the fan? Hmm.

The only thing that kills the Intel board for me is no SATA. I just don't deal w/IDE cables anymore...I got spoiled. Besides; in most cases the SATA drive is cheaper than the IDE of the same capacity.

 

[MichaelD]

Well, I pulled the trigger.

I got the VB7001G from EWiz (hoping the fan is not a buzzsaw). The case I got has a 80mm fan (which I'll probably replace with a Panaflo if it's not silent enough) so I may be able to get away with taking the fan off the CPU HS. We'll see.

Oh, the case. Got it from Directron, along with a slim Sony DVD Rom/CDRW and a 320GB Seagate SATA drive.

I went the full-size HD route for a number of reasons. Capacity being first and price being second...and no adapter necessary (laptop drive) being third. This box will be a backup server/NAS box so I'll need space.

I have a 512MB stick of Corsair PC3200 laying around so I'll use that for memory.

Planning on going with XP but may play with Linux since it seems to be well-supported for the Via mini-ITX boards. I"m a Linux n00b though. We'll see.

Thanks for the help I received in this thread...you guys helped me spend my money.

 

[thorin]

Hey everyone, thanks for all the follow-ups and updates.

MichaelD let us know how the build goes. You might wanna checkout FreeNAS.

I think I'm going to hold out for something with passive cooling myself.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: SleepyB
If someone knows of any other fanless 1Ghz mini-itx board that uses DDR2 and under $110, please let me know.

That budget will be tough to hit because mini-ITX solutions are usually more pricey, except for the really low MHz ones.

Originally posted by: SleepyB
If you want really cheap, check out the Intel D201GLY I mentioned before. eWiz and newegg carries it. It's only around $70, maybe $60. Only problem is it has a very tall heatsink/fan, so it has problems fitting into most small mini-itx cases.

Intel BOXD201GLYL Motherboard w/ Integrated Celeron 215 CPU $69.99 plus shipping

Another "problem" is that it only has one IDE port and no SATA ports, so you're limited to 2 drives unless you go USB.

If that board was exactly the same (including price) but had two SATA and Firewire onboard, plus gigabit ethernet, plus DVI output, then I'd buy one up in a heartbeat. But then again, guess I'm asking for too much in a $70 combo.

 

[SleepyB]

Yeah... the LN10000EG is the first lower cost, modern, passive mini-itx mb I've seen. Everthing else is $180+ which is a bit too expensive.

The D201GLYL does have a PCI slot, so I thought in MichaelD's case, he would have a PCI RAID card he would use for his NAS. But it seems he just wants to use one drive. Thought he wanted something like a 4 HD RAID 5 solution.

Yeah... that many extras is a bit to ask for a $70 mb. If it has a passive heatsink, I would of bought it. I'm fine with just one HD.

Hey MichaelD, I hope you mis-typed your "512MB stick of Corsair PC3200". The VB7001 takes DDR2-400/533 (PC2-3200/4200). Let us know how it works out, how loud the fan is, and your solutions on silencing it.

I will also wait for a cheap fanless mini-itx mb to arrive...

 

[MichaelD]

I wish I made a typo on the memory type, but I didn't. Crap.

I just ordered a 1GB stick of DDR2 PC6400. That was a $39 mistake. I was tired when I placed that whole order. Oh well, these things happen.

Re: "NAS" I meant it in the most basic sense of the term; "storage on the network" I already have an external USB HD that I use for backups, but this can do double duty as a web/ftp server or a second PC. And it's small, so high WAF. This is for private, home use, i.e. I'm paying for it, so I'm trying to do "nice but cheap."

I know the VB7001G isn't fanless, but at $91 vs. $130+ for anything else, I couldn't pass it up. The case it's going in has an 80mm exhaust fan; I should be able to get away with disabling the fan on the CPU HS. I'm thinking I WILL be able to disable the fan since the PS is an external brick...nothing else generating heat in the case but the CPU/chipset...we'll see how hot this Via 1.5GHz chip gets. Maybe it throttles down during inactivity? Dunno...this is my first mini-anything project.

I'll post pics/impressions when it's up and running.

 

[SleepyB]

Humm... Be careful of those DDR2-800 (PC2-6400). These VIA boards are kinda finicky about memory, and most of the DDR2-800 are overclocking mem that need 2.0+V. Also it doesn't like high density memory, so hope you got a double sided stick.

Anyways, look forward to your report and impressions on this mb.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: SleepyB
Humm... Be careful of those DDR2-800 (PC2-6400). These VIA boards are kinda finicky about memory, and most of the DDR2-800 are overclocking mem that need 2.0+V. Also it doesn't like high density memory, so hope you got a double sided stick.

Anyways, look forward to your report and impressions on this mb.

Thanks for the tip on the memory. I purchased this stick.

Or at least that's the link that Newegg has for "Manufacturer Link" on the product page. The product page shows a single-sided module. But the manuf link shows double sided. Whatever. At least it's 1.80 volts.

We shall see what happens. I'm hoping this will be an easy, problem-free install. *crosses fingers* We should find out late next week! Report to follow.

 

[thorin]

Please do let us know, I'm very curious.

 

[MichaelD]

I will post a detailed thread (with pics of course!) when it's up and running. That may be a little while as Directron emailed me to say the case I wanted is OOS until 1 October.

Assuming it comes in to Directron on 1 Oct, I should have all the parts roughly a week later. The case has the PS; no PS, no bootup. I could've bought another case but I like the one I chose Linkage AND it comes with the SlimCD-->Full size IDE adapter plate. The adapter would've been another $9 on top of the additional cost of whatever other case I would've chosen.

I'm really psyched about this! It's been a long time since I had a cool PC project to work on and this is also my first mini-system.

Cool stuff.

 

[SleepyB]

Saw an update on the Intel D201GLY board from silentpcreview:

Intel D201GLY2 @ IDF (Japanese)
D201GLY2: Celeron 215-> Celeron 220 (1.33Ghz -> 1.2Ghz), plus 2 SATA. Boards are scheduled to ship in 4th Quarter.

Intel showed a newer model called the D201GLY2

At IDF this week, Intel showed a newer model called the D201GLY2 with an extra 2 SATA ports in addition to the existing PATA IDE port and it comes with a new Intel ?Celeron? Model 220 1.2 GHz processor that can be cooled completely passively. That would seem to indicate that the new processor is probably in the 10W to 15W TDP range if it can be cooled without an active fan on top of the CPU. Pricing is expected to be similar to the slightly older D201GLY and should be available soon.

Awesome! "cooled completely passively" is exactly what I'm looking for. If Intel can keep it at the same price point, I think we have a winner!

Picture of the mb + 2x SATA ports
Picture of the mb + big, fanless CPU heatsink