Build Your Own Mini-PC for $80

[Guest]

Dip below the conventional mainstream market and you'll find highly integrated platforms priced at about $80 dollars. We take a look at a Celeron-powered Intel board to see what sort of performance is available for less than $100.

Build Your Own Mini-PC for $80 : Read more

 

[goonting]

Via mini-itx boards got better features than this one... with 4 sata ports

 

[goonting]

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/sn18000g


Processor 1.8 GHz VIA C7
800MHz FSB
Chipset VIA CN896 northbridge
VT8251 southbridge
System Memory 2 DDR2 533/667 DIMM
Up to 4GB memory size (3.25GB recognizable)
VGA Integrated VIA Chrome9 HC Integrated Graphics with 2D/3D and video accelerators
Expansion Slots 1 PCI Express
Mini PCI (32-bit)
Onboard IDE 1 ATA 133 (40-pin)
Onboard Serial ATA 4 SATA (3.0Gb/sec.) connectors
Onboard USB 6 USB 2.0
Onboard LAN VIA VT6103L 10/100
VIA VT6130 PCI-e 10/100/1000
Onboard Audio VIA VT1708A HD audio codec
Onboard TPM (Trusted Platform Module) Infineon SLB9635TT 1.2
Back Panel I/O 2 LAN ports
4 USB 2.0 ports
1 VGA port
1 RS-232 COM port
1 PS2 mouse port
1 PS2 keyboard port
3 Audio jacks: line-out, line-in, mic-in (Horizontal, Smart 5.1 supported)
Onboard I/O Connectors 1 CIR pin header (switchable for KB/MS)
1 IDE 40-pin connector
1 USB 2.0 connector for 2 USB ports
1 LVDS/DVI module connector (add-on card required)
4 SATA connectors
1 COM port pin header (5V/12V selectable)
1 SMBus connector
1 CF Type I connector (shares channel with IDE)
Front panel audio connector (mic & line-out)
1 Audio line-in connector
1 LPC pin header
2 Fan connectors
1 SIR pin header (IrDA 1.0)
1 DIO connector
1 S/PDIF-out pin header
1 Front panel connector
ATX power connector
BIOS AMI BIOS, 4/8Mb flash memory
System Monitoring & Management Watchdog timer, Wake on LAN, CPU Voltage monitoring, Keyboard power on, Timer power on, System power management, AC power failure recovery
Operating Temperature 0 ~ 50°C
Operating Humidity 0% ~ 95% (relative humidity; non-condensing)
Form Factor Mini-ITX (17 cm x 17 cm)
Includes ATA 133 flat cable (40-pin, 80 conductor, 3 connectors)
Back plate
Installation CD
Quick installation guide

 

[goonting]

this one is better suited for windows home server or a linux... you can attach up to 4TB total HD. Plus I drool and envy a friend of mine in Boeing who can also remotely access it. love the minis

 

[genored]

WTF LOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. I'm not a intel or a amd fanboy. But when you fucking compare energy savings. And find out that a 4850e draws less power then a e2140 and then put bouth CPU:s under load and find out that 4850e draws more power. WELL FFS 4850e draws more power because is has a higher clock and it also performs at maximum load compared with a maybe E6400. So plz come back with this test when you under clock e4850 to the same as e2140 and then compare power consumption under load. E2180 with overclock 2 2.1ghz or e2200 with under clock to 2.1ghz vs 4050e, that's what i want to see. Magic is for nvida transforming 8800gt into a 9800gt with a firmware update and new stickers. Plz don't tell me everybody is using magic nowadays.

 

[hellwig]

I would have liked to see this compared to the more expensive VIA boards it was obviously designed to compete against. How does this board compete against a new Atom-based boad? Also, AMD created Geode boards a few years back, how would those fair (at 500MHz, I would guess not well)? I think that these Celeron boards would out-compute similar VIA and Atom boards in the mini-ITX form factor, though they seem to consume more power.

It's hard to determine the market this was intended for, sub $100 mini-ITX? It's certainly not a good power consumer for the mini-ITX segment at idle, and it lacks enough power for the sub $100 PC market (dual-core Athlon + AM2 board = $100).

 

[goonting]

it would be great to add more mini-itx solutions from via and amd

 

[randomizer]

[citation][nom]genored[/nom]WELL FFS 4850e draws more power because is has a higher clock and it also performs at maximum load compared with a maybe E6400.[/citation]That makes no sense.
[citation][nom]genored[/nom]So plz come back with this test when you under clock e4850 to the same as e2140 and then compare power consumption under load. E2180 with overclock 2 2.1ghz or e2200 with under clock to 2.1ghz vs 4050e, that's what i want to see.[/citation] By your logic they should underclock all processors to 1.2GHz so they can "accurately" compare to the Celeron 220, since that is the processor that this article is focused on, not the 4850e. [citation][nom]genored[/nom]Magic is for nvida transforming 8800gt into a 9800gt with a firmware update and new stickers. Plz don't tell me everybody is using magic nowadays.[/citation]Which is totally relavent to this article of course.

This celeron equals my webpage load times for the CPU charts and I have an E6600. Blasted Aussie internet!

 

[genored]

Oki my english is a bit bad. But here i go again. The performace of a 4850e is equal to a E6400. Its quite simple to understand that 4850e draws more power then e2140 under load. But the 4850e also outperformes w2140 but a lot of margine.

I know the article is not focused on the 4850e but then it souldent eather be focused on e2140 with they did lots of tests on. What pisses me of is that they only thest the crapy sempron in the test from amd's side. Making it look like amd hade nothing to come with. Also the e2140( witch i actally think is a briliant CPU) shines over the sempron and the celeron like it would be the ovios choise. But it would not shine over the 4850e.

Also do you randomizer think its fair to compare the CPU's that way.

 

[SebMKd]

Using this board in an super small Travla Case as an Ubuntu Server. It kicks ass! Although, it's right that getting the Xorg to work takes a few trials. Just look it up in ubuntu forums!
D201GLY2A Fanless, RAM KVR533D2N4/1GB, OS on WD scorpio WD800BEVS, Data on WD Green Power WD5000AACS, PW-200M Onboard DC-DC PSU (with 80W power adapter), 80mm Chassis fan. Case: Travla C138. (Very small. However, without the 3.5" Drive I could have put everything in a case even smaller!)

It would also be fine for light office work and recreational use!! Or great for kids and family.

 

[genored]

"Under load, the differences are much more pronounced. Equipped with a Pentium dual core E2140 (M0 stepping), the Intel G33-based system consumes 69.5 watts, while the Celeron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeron 220 board gets by with only 55.4 watts. Meanwhile, the AMD System draws 70 watts under load even when only equipped with the Sempron LE-1100."

WELL Daniel Schuhmann TRY underclocking a 4050e to 1.6Ghz and se how much powerconsumtion the amd system has.

Warrning intel fan boy detected!!!!!!!

 

[genored]

[citation][nom]genored[/nom]"Under load, the differences are much more pronounced. Equipped with a
Pentium dual core E2140 (M0 stepping), the Intel G33-based system
consumes 69.5 watts, while the Celeron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celeron
220 board gets by with only 55.4 watts. Meanwhile, the AMD System draws
70 watts under load even when only equipped with the Sempron LE-1100."

WELL Daniel Schuhmann TRY underclocking a 4050e to 1.6Ghz and se how much powerconsumtion the amd system has.

Dont forget to also test witch CPU does the job faster to find out withc CPU has to stay underload the longest and comsumping more power.

Warrning intel fan boy detected!!!!!!![/citation]

 

[predaking]

So wait, i'm confused. Is the $80 for the mobo/cpu combo?

usually a mini-pc includes, ram, hdd, optical, psu, case, etc.

I just checked newegg and they have this board for under $70. But they also have other boards for under $70(mobo/cpu/video card combo) that include pciexpress, more sata ports, upgradable cpu, more pci slots, etc.

Heck, this board seems nice. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135060

 

[gwolfman]

Wait, up to 2GB? They why does all the documentation say 1GB?

 

[gwolfman]

BTW, I loaded Ubuntu server 8.04.1 on my board (same one here) and it runs fine. I'm not running an X-windows system obviously.

 

[odoketa]

I don't really understand this product - the only reason I can think of for wanting a system like this is for 24/7 type operations. And therefore the price of the system will be dwarfed by the cost of electricity (my back-of the envelope calcs suggest you will spend in the neighbourhood of $75/year on power for this, depending on electricity costs). So why would I not get something much more energy efficient?

 

[nukemaster]

I wonder how that cheap Atom board with the 1.6ghz(hyperthreaded) cpu would have done.

 

[gwolfman]

@nukemaster

The atom is slower than the conroe-based celeron. Plus it uses a horrible chipset so the power savings of the CPU is outweighed by a power-hungry chipset. Hopefully intel changes the chipset on their next refresh and/or when they release the dual-core Atom

 

[nukemaster]

Ok

Thanks

 

[MU_Engineer]

[citation][nom]predaking[/nom]So wait, i'm confused. Is the $80 for the mobo/cpu combo?usually a mini-pc includes, ram, hdd, optical, psu, case, etc.I just checked newegg and they have this board for under $70. But they also have other boards for under $70(mobo/cpu/video card combo) that include pciexpress, more sata ports, upgradable cpu, more pci slots, etc.Heck, this board seems nice. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813135060[/citation]

The appeal of the D201GLY is that it is a mini-ITX board, has low power consumption, and is only $80. (There is also a 945GC/Atom N270 version of this board on Newegg, which Tom's would do well to review, hint hint.) There are other CPU + MB +VGA combos on Newegg and many are faster, but they are either bigger and draw more power (most of the other combos) or are much more expensive (VIA boards.)

@odoketa: Something like this would make an excellent file/Web server, firewall/router, or HTPC. It can also make a very cheap desktop for running W2K/XP or Linux. It's small, cheap, low-powered, and quiet yet more than powerful enough for a file/Web server or firewall. It would also be a decent SDTV HTPC but its prowess with with HDTV files depends strongly on what PCI GPU you stick in it as you need GPU video decode assist support to allow a 1.2 GHz Conroe-L to work with 1920x1080 HDTV.

The biggest competitor that I see for this unit would be old computers with the faster Coppermine and any Tualatin PIII/Celeron CPU. You can find this kind of machine in dumpsters quite frequently. (I found a Celeron 900 + AOpen uATX i810 board with 256 MB PC100 in a surplus pile last week and now it's my new MythTV machine.) The CPUs have a TDP between 20 and 30 W and the chipsets consume very little energy- the 440BX units don't even regularly have heatsinks and the i810/i815 ones have tiny little heatinks. A 1 GHz Coppermine or Tualatin isn't that far off the pace of the Celeron 220 in much besides SSE performance. The old boards commonly have AGP slots as well as PCI slots, so you can use a less-expensive and more-powerful The thing that you do sacrifice in using an old setup is that it's not going to be ITX and that you're typically limited to 512 MB or 1 GB as a maximum RAM capacity and it's going to be PC100/133 or RDRAM (yuck.) But if you can live with the lower amount of RAM and a slightly larger uATX board, go check out and see what computers people are getting rid of and you can find something roughly similar to the D201GLY and save yourself the $80.

 

[KyleSTL]

My Celeron 420, 4GB DDR2, and Geforce 7100 IGP is plenty of power for my HTPC. I have successfully recorded three shows simultaneously with no problems whatsoever. That's not much more than the ITX system tested in this article (and has single-channel ram as well). I agree with my Missouri brother.

 

[nukemaster]

Are your recording cards hardware based?

 

[Mr_Man]

Hm... looked all through the article and didn't see any Crysis benchmarks. Did they just forget it or something?

 

[KyleSTL]

Are your recording cards hardware based?

Yes, a Hauppauge 1600 and an OEM Sony card from my old computer with hacked drivers. Currently I can record two analog and one digital. Soon I'll be buying a Hauppauge 1800 to record two digital and two analog. I have a HD 3650 awaiting installation, and I'll probably throw in a E2160/2180 and a BluRay drive when I buy the second TV card. My computer "hobby" is increasingly becoming an "obsession" (although no one on this forum would fault me for it).

 

[aldo_gg]

What about a 200$ pc
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=8460952&WishListTitle=aldo's 200$ PC