|  | July 15, 2024
KUBIC is a Nintendo-themed, 3D Printable Mini-ITX case September 05, 2017
Choosing the right DC-DC PSU August 27, 2015
AMD's Project Quantum August 13, 2015
The Redstone PC is the ultimate Mini-ITX Minecraft Machine October 09, 2014
The "Restomod TV" April 09, 2013
Installing NAS4Free February 28, 2013
Building an XBMC 12 Home Theatre PC January 25, 2011
XBMC Guide updated to version 10.0 August 06, 2010
Building a Green PC February 15, 2010
Building an ION powered HTPC with XBMC |
| | | | October 10, 2008
The "Cambridge Autonomous Underwater Vehicle 2008" September 12, 2008
"Florian", the DVD burning robot September 05, 2008
The "i-EPIA" May 22, 2008
The "GTA-PC" April 14, 2007
The "Digg" Case January 19, 2007
The "ITX-Laptop" December 07, 2006
The "Tortoise Beetle" October 02, 2006
The "DOS Head Unit" August 31, 2006
The "Janus Project" August 05, 2006
The "Leela PC" June 26, 2006
Nano-ITX in a Football May 17, 2006
The "EPIA Alloy Mod" April 11, 2006
Neatorama's Collection of Case Mods February 18, 2006
The "Rundfunker" October 24, 2005
The "ITX TV" October 06, 2005
The K'nex-ITX August 05, 2005
The "Waffle Iron PC" July 21, 2005
The "Supra-Server" July 18, 2005
The "Mega-ITX" July 07, 2005
The "Encyclomedia" |
| | | | May 25, 2005
The "Accordion ITX" May 16, 2005
The "FileServerRouterSwitch" May 15, 2005
The "Mini Falcon" May 13, 2005
The "Bender PC" May 11, 2005
The "BBC ITX B" May 10, 2005
The "Frame" April 20, 2005
The "Jeannie" March 09, 2005
The "Cool Cube" January 30, 2005
First Nano-ITX Project? January 17, 2005
The "iGrill" January 15, 2005
The "Gumball PC" December 15, 2004
The "Deco Box" December 03, 2004
The "TERA-ITX" October 06, 2004
The "Coealacanth-PC" September 17, 2004
The "Gramaphone-ITX-HD" August 26, 2004
The "C1541 Disk Drive ITX" August 25, 2004
The "SEGA-ITX" August 13, 2004
The "Quiet Cubid" August 06, 2004
The "BMWPC" July 14, 2004
The "Moo Cow Moo" Full alphabetical archive on right hand side of page... |
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5 Atom Mini-ITX Boards Reviewed
Intel D945GCLF - The Original Atom Mini-ITX Board
The D945GCLF was Intel's first Atom Mini-ITX board and arrived on the market in June 2008, but it wasn't their first foray into Mini-ITX. The Intel D201GLY was released in 2007 and used an embedded Celeron processor and SiS chipset and had just one IDE port. The D201GLY2 and D201GLY2A replaced this board several months later, keeping the SiS partnership but adding two SATA ports. With the release of the Atom, Intel took the plunge and used their own chipset - the 945GC with ICH7 I/O controller.
Board and heatsink design is very similar to those previous two boards, presumably to keep costs down or hit the market quickly. The choice of ports harks back to the very first Mini-ITX boards released by VIA in 2002. Graphics output is VGA only. A 10/100 LAN port handles networking. Serial and Parallel ports. PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse connectors. Four USB 2.0 connectors. A PCI slot for expansion. One IDE port and (thankfully) two SATA ports.
But these are all the connectors many people need. These boards are never going to run Crysis. They are going to be selected for a specific task and put to work. The beauty of Mini-ITX isn't an overblown feature set - if you need different features, you select a different board. What this board does give is excellent value and a generous amount of processing power soldered directly onto the board - faster than current VIA C7 processors MHz for MHz.
The Atom 230 CPU has an incredibly low 4W TDP, meaning the CPU can be passively cooled. The 945GC chipset is not so efficient - drawing about 20W by our estimates. The heatsink and fan actually sit on top of the 945GC chipset, and not the processor. The heatsink height is our only real gripe with the D945GCLF. It sits 45mm above the board, limiting compatibility with many lower profile Mini-ITX cases. Find a suitable case and the Intel D945GCLF board is perfect - and it's the cheapest of the bunch. We measured the total height of the board at almost 50mm.
| Intel D945GCLF Mini-ITX Motherboard |
| *Advert* Buy this motherboard at the Mini-ITX Store |
| Processor | 1.6GHz Atom 230 |
| Chipset | 945GC + ICH7 |
| Memory | 1 x DDR2 400/533 DIMM slot (up to 2 GB) |
| Graphics | Intel GMA950 Integrated Graphics |
| Audio | Realtek ALC662 4 Channel Audio |
| LAN | Realtek RTL8102EL 10/100Mbit Ethernet |
| Back Panel Connectors |
1 PS/2 Mouse
1 PS/2 Keyboard
1 Parallel
1 Serial
1 VGA
4 USB 2.0
1 RJ45 LAN (10/100)
3 3.5mm Audio
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| Onboard I/O Connectors |
1 PCI Slot
1 IDE Connector (UDMA 33/66/100)
2 SATA Connectors
1 USB Pin Header for up to 2 additional USB 2.0 Ports
1 9-pin Audio Connector
1 Front Panel Connector
2 Fan Headers
1 4-pin +12V P4 Power Connector
1 20-pin ATX Power Connector
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Gigabyte GA-GC230D - Overclockable -->
*Advert* Find your perfect board the Mini-ITX store! *Advert*
Our board finder will help you decide at the Mini-ITX.com Online Store. We serve the UK, Europe, USA and beyond. Order in-stock components before 7.00PM GMT and we'll ship same day! |
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