[SOLVED] Planning to buy Atom-based mini-ITX, any good ?

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-18-2010, 06:50 AM

So I'm planning to buy something like:
http://www.avadirect.com/product_det...asp?PRID=11465

If not exactly that, then something similar. Basically a mini-ITX Intel Atom-based PC.

Mostly I need it as a replacement for my laptop (currently used by my parents) because the laptop is slowly but surely failing: LCD screen flickers, HDD is getting old and will likely fail, DVD drive is ancient and will not burn anything anymore, 1 of 2 RAM sticks just burned, bought 2 RAM sticks but they will only work if the remaining un-burned RAM stick is still in place, again ancient BS laptop ... will sell it for whatever I can get.

I see from the HCL that some Atom-based boards work well, so I guess there should be no problems right ?

Anyone else have anything like this and have problems or is it good ? It will be running Slackware.

Oh, and I want a mini-ITX because it has to be somewhat small and portable.

serafean · 06-18-2010, 09:49 AM

Hi, I have a Zotac IONITX board w/4GB RAM running gentoo with no trouble at all. Using it as a media center (tip : enna is an extremely promising one), and it plays 1080 videos from my camera just fine; runs the LAMP suite in the background, and I'm planning to make an AP out of it (first tests were conclusive). Optical audio output works only from 2.6.33 on though.

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-18-2010, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by serafean

Hi, I have a Zotac IONITX board w/4GB RAM running gentoo with no trouble at all. Using it as a media center (tip : enna is an extremely promising one), and it plays 1080 videos from my camera just fine; runs the LAMP suite in the background, and I'm planning to make an AP out of it (first tests were conclusive). Optical audio output works only from 2.6.33 on though.

Interesting, this would be the Ion platform, with nvidia graphics ... could be useful, because the one I linked to has the mediocre Intel graphics.

Hmm, you're right, I could also use this to play HD videos, which I was also looking for tho not particularly with this box.

Thanks for the idea, I'll consider this.

prushik · 06-18-2010, 01:38 PM

I have heard bad things about pretty much all Zotac products, specifically motherboards. High DOA rates (like 2/3), very fragile, some failing after only a few weeks. I never bought one for that reason.
I bought a mini-ITX board from newegg, and I love it. Its a Foxconn: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...onn-_-13186195
Price is pretty much unbeatable.

However, thats only the motherboard, if you want an entire system you will need more than just that.

ctkroeker · 06-18-2010, 02:01 PM

I'm thinking of getting this mini-ITX intel board as a file server http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Intel%20D510MO low heat, low power, up to 4GB RAM and Gigabit ethernet, all at $80. The good thing is that these will fit in pretty much any standard case if you don't care much about having a small box.

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-18-2010, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prushik

I have heard bad things about pretty much all Zotac products, specifically motherboards. High DOA rates (like 2/3), very fragile, some failing after only a few weeks. I never bought one for that reason.
I bought a mini-ITX board from newegg, and I love it. Its a Foxconn: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...onn-_-13186195
Price is pretty much unbeatable.

However, thats only the motherboard, if you want an entire system you will need more than just that.

I didn't know that about Zotac.

I've bought Foxconn hardware before, pretty cheap stuff, not very high quality tho, had a PSU burn out in weeks.

disturbed1 · 06-22-2010, 05:36 AM

Ion based boards get high praise on the MythTV users list. Most popular seem to be anything Zotac and the Acer Revo. I've read mixed reviews on the Foxconn units. When one of our MythTV frontends die or need replaced, they will be replaced with Ion units. Not only for the space savings, but power consumption as well. Right now they are all dual core celerons in these cases.

If you need something small, look at the fit-PC link. Intel GPU's, and price is more than the larger mini-ITX setups. If only they had an Ion based solution

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-22-2010, 06:01 AM

The problem is that the processing power of these things is lacking hugely.

I'll probably just have to get a regular laptop or smaller desktop when the time comes.

Anyway, thanks for the replies, I'll mark this as solved.

serafean · 06-25-2010, 05:03 AM

Even though this is marked as solved, I'll post my $0.02 : Intel Atom is crap, Any ULV Core2 beats it performance-wise as well as power management-wise. I have a Packard Bell Butterfly touch with an U4100 @1,3 gHz and it beats the Atom 330 hands down. Graphically though the nvidia solution beats Intel all the way, although I have managed to play FullHD videos on it. I'd say that for a media center where mmost of the processing can be offloaded to the GPU, Atom is enough (though you end up using more power than if it was ULV Core2), if you're looking for a usable low power computer, go for something with an ULV cpu.

Serafean

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-25-2010, 06:39 AM

Well, I've marked it unsolved, because I am still planning to buy one and still don't know if it's a good idea.

I want something cheap but good, and Atom is definitely cheap and it seems reasonably good.

So would a cheap Core2 with mobo be about as cheap ? I want an Intel mobo, so the mobo will cost at least $100, and the Core2 another $150 or so. The Atom board = processor + mobo = $80. I think it might be worth trying it, cuz for that cheap I can just throw it away if it's no good (well, I'll donate it).

disturbed1 · 06-25-2010, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H

Well, I've marked it unsolved, because I am still planning to buy one and still don't know if it's a good idea.

I want something cheap but good, and Atom is definitely cheap and it seems reasonably good.

So would a cheap Core2 with mobo be about as cheap ? I want an Intel mobo, so the mobo will cost at least $100, and the Core2 another $150 or so. The Atom board = processor + mobo = $80. I think it might be worth trying it, cuz for that cheap I can just throw it away if it's no good (well, I'll donate it).

I'll give you my address for the donation

I guess what would help the most, is telling us what to compare this too, the machine you're replacing, or how your expecting it to perform. I know you're not expecting e8400 Core2Duo performance.

The only experience I have with an Atom CPU is with my Nephew's netbook. It uses the dual core 330 model, 1GiB ram. We put Debian testing on it. I'd put it faster than my PIII 850 laptop, but pretty close to my P4m 1.7 laptop. The P4 is faster on single threaded intensive tasks. If the task is multi-threaded, the Atom is of course faster. Some common tasks there's no difference. Web browsing feels snappier with the P4, but could be Slackware vs. Debian, Intel vs. Nouveau (nv440go) ..... There's no question whose battery lasts longer

For comparison, I spent $45* on an Asus P5KPL-CM, and ~$50* (at the time) on a 2.0 dual core Celeron e1400. A speedy media encoding machine? Aboslutely not! But a great HTPC, and Desktop PC. Throw in a Gig or two of ram, and an Nvida 9x00/GT2x0, and you'll be set. Currently a 2.5Ghz Dual core Celeron e3300 goes for $40*, and is MUCH faster than the atom.

I'd use the atom as a MythTV frontend, only because with VDPAU, the CPU sits idle. The atom is made for low performance, and low power. Our frontends are actually STBs that launch mythfrontend on top of Fluxbox, and nothing else. ever.

Decent benchmarks Atom 230 Atom 330 and D510

* Those are USD prices from my local Microcenter.

schneidz · 06-25-2010, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prushik

I have heard bad things about pretty much all Zotac products, specifically motherboards. High DOA rates (like 2/3), very fragile, some failing after only a few weeks. .

^ +2

i recommend the acer revo's

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-25-2010, 08:12 AM

It will be used by my parents for:

Internet browsing - firefox 3
Writing - openoffice or maybe scribus

Maybe I'll throw in a capture card and have it record TV, no converting, just record and playback, not HD.

I think it will be able to handle the tasks, eh ?

Oh, and the machine it is replacing is:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/mod...?mdl=PCGGRT100

2.8 GHz Pentium 4
1 GB DDR SDRAM
Geforce 420 Go

Now that I think of it, I wonder if I remove this CPU and put it in a desktop, will it work. It might.
EDIT:
Nope, because they don't make mobos with the 865G or 875P chipsets anymore, oh well.
Also the old processor is:

Code:

bash-3.1$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 15
model           : 2
model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
stepping        : 9
cpu MHz         : 2806.404
cache size      : 512 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts sync_rdtsc cid xtpr
bogomips        : 5614.44
clflush size    : 64

This one:
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id...QB,SL6S4,SL6SL

tommcd · 06-25-2010, 10:39 AM

Zareason makes desktops for linux. They have an Intel Atom based system with the nvidia ion graphics, as well as several others:
http://zareason.com/shop/home.php?cat=249
You can get them with Ubuntu installed. Or you can get them without any OS.
They also still honor your warranty if you open up the case and add or change out hardware.

H_TeXMeX_H · 06-29-2010, 12:41 PM

Ok, this issue has finally been resolved, this is the board that I bought:

ASUS AT5NM10-I
1 GB DRR2-SDRAM 800 MHz Corsair RAM
Samsung HDD and DVD+-RW drive
Micro-ATX case

It was a tight fit in the case, but surprisingly everything runs very cool (30 C with 2 small fans), and quite fast (4 virtual cores, not quite as fast as a Core 2, but nowhere near as slow as a P4 that is replaced).

I'm happy with it, it's now running:
http://www.salixos.org/wiki/index.php/Home

I tried Slackware first, but due to issues with the intel driver, have had to use something else.

Will probably try to capture some TV later on this week, just to see if it works.

EDIT: And it even has this Express Gate thing where you can boot into a Linux environment (source code available) and use internet and skype ... perfect for my parents.