Mobile Athlon Chips

[Mercutio]

Does anyone have experience with using mobile athlon chips in desktop machines? They are available and have been for some time, but I'm wondering if there's a significant savings in terms of power use and heat dissipation.

Reason I ask: I got a couple of thrown-away Optiplex GXsomething 600MHz machines a couple nights ago. Both have bad motherboards but that tiny case looks like it could be home to a pretty spiffy SFF machine if I can make something work with the 150W PSU they have.

Also, anyone know of a DECENT u-ATX board?

 

[blakerwry]

I know you'll love the nvidia-ness of the Shuttle MN31N


Intel makes some nice u-atx boards if you swing that way.

 

[Pradeep]

Only experience I had was with an Athlon4 1GHz Compaq lappie, ran pretty hot. But obviously this was before all the t-bred/barton goodness.

 

[NRG = mc²]

I've had good luck with the Asus A7N266-VM which is an early micro ATX nForce board with onboard everything. I believe Tony used to use these some time back.

 

[CougTek]

Dunno for Tony, but I did on several boxes and the A7N266-VM was a very good board for the time. Very stable and trouble-free. No longer bleeding edge though.

 

[CougTek]

One issue that comes back to mind regarding this board is that the PCI slots were a tad too close to the edge of the board and PCI cards were very hard to insert when I used Antec enclosures with this mainboard. That's the only problem I remember about it.

 

[NRG = mc²]

I like these boards for budget systems as they are very cheap (under £40) for the quantity and quality of onboard stuff they include. For the same price you could get an ECS board with onboard SiS graphics and audio of much lower quality and questionable stability.

 

[Mercutio]

As more of a sure bet, I found a couple of Biostar u-ATX P3 boards I can work with. I'll pair them with 1.13GHz chips and all should be well.

Speaking of SFF designs, though, has anyone else seen coverage of the Via ApExtreme platform?

It also looks like Via's trying to get an all-in-on C3-based Tivo competitor readied as well.

That's some fairly interesting stuff for a little fish like Via.

 

[Mercutio]

Via Media Center thingy link.

 

[Mercutio]

The Via media thingy has an OEM ATI Remote Wonder that also includes an infrared transmitter, for $35. That could make a dream remote for a lot of people.

Also, I started putting my little SFF guy together and just discovered that it can only handle 1/2 height PCI cards. So much for a set-top home for my PVR250. D'oh!

 

[blakerwry]

Merc, ati didnt design or manufacture the remote wonder.. they just slapped their name on it and add functions for it in their software. It is made by a company I think called x10 (there is even an x10 folder on the driver disk that came with mine)

If you notice there is a palce for an IR transmitter on the ATi remote... aparently this remote is used by many companies.. several choosing to add both IR and RF transmitters so that the remote can be used with things like your TV, VCR, etc instead of just a computer.

 

[Mercutio]

I've had x10.com blocked out of my hosts file since the first time I saw their popup (Netscape 4 days). If x10 makes anything but ads, I'd never know it.

 

[CityK]

Merc, ati didnt design or manufacture the remote wonder.. they just slapped their name on it and add functions for it in their software. It is made by a company I think called x10 (there is even an x10 folder on the driver disk that came with mine)

If you notice there is a palce for an IR transmitter on the ATi remote... aparently this remote is used by many companies.. several choosing to add both IR and RF transmitters so that the remote can be used with things like your TV, VCR, etc instead of just a computer.

Anand recently wrote about the remote (or variations of it) here

 

[CityK]

I started putting my little SFF guy together and just discovered that it can only handle 1/2 height PCI cards. So much for a set-top home for my PVR250. D'oh!

I was just looking at the Antec Minuet on the weekend and thought to myself that it was a shame that it only takes half height cards too. With a little bit of reworking, the minuet could have been a awesome case. Slap a A64 mATX board in there and wow what a fine little computer that would make ... and for considerably less then a Suttle like SFF.

 

[Mercutio]

Yeah, that was the first replacement I thought of, too. I *really* like the Sonata.

Spent the last 20 minutes looking at microATX desktops. They all have something wrong. Either 1/2 height PCI or they're too big for set-top applications.

My idea was to build a semi-portable PC that replicates the functions of my big HTPC. I want a slim-ish desktop rather than a shoebox for aesthetic reasons.

Right now I have a 120GB 1GHz P3 RHEL3 machine. Not a terribly impressive box by most standards.

 

[CityK]

Merc, have you seen the SilverStone Lascala cases. When I first saw the SST-LC01 online I thought it looked rather big and bulky. However, I actually have seen (and held) one in person, and I was quite surprised how much smaller it was in real life...not to mention that it looks awesome all in silver. Anyways, there are some faults with it, but I look forward to SilverStones next rendition.

In regards to something slim that might suite your interests, their much smaller SST-LC02 may be worth looking at. I know I have spotted a couple reviews of it on the net, but have never read any.
Here's the obvious one, as linked from Silverstone's product page.

 

[blakerwry]

CAREFUL the Antec Overture suffers from an extrmemely CRAPPY paint job. The minuet apears to be the same. It scratches VERY easily.


I read a review, but didnt believe it till I saw it in the store... not the usual antec quality at all.. very very poor. I could piss a better paint job.

 

[Mercutio]

The LC02 is in fact several kinds of lust-inspiring but I have to wonder if it's worth $175 with no PSU. It sure is a pretty case though.

The generic 2x PCI or 1xAGP+1xPCI riser is really interesting, however, since a component like that would be the perfect solution for my needs.

I've got a tape measure out and now I'm looking to see if I've got an old audio component somewhere that I can gut. My oldest DVD player is just a little too short.

 

[time]

When I first saw the SST-LC01 online I thought it looked rather big and bulky.

That's because it is! 29 litres of big and bulky.

The SST-LC02, on the other hand, displaces a mere 11 litres. 8)

But let's face it, half-height cards were invented by the devil (Dell?).

I actually bought a couple of these cases. They're great (YY-A105 with USB & front audio), but supply here is problematic. I'm currently using one lying on its side with a monitor on top (strength is not an issue - think 'small tank').

With the glow of the blue light strip setting off the charcoal case, it's hard not to think "TARDIS" or something similar.