Great link dougz! With what I've been reading on the 45nm processors these boards, along with the hopeful inclusion of an Intel chipset, would be awesome.

Hi all,

My order was 'obsoleted' on dabs, since they have discontinued the D201GLY2 apparently.

By any chance does anyone know any other place in the uk selling this board?

Any hope we'll see a SPCR review this november? If it comes much later I think I'll order it now...

mebbe; hard to say, there's so much on our plates right now.

I'd be happy to provide a completely unscientific, subjective review after I've received my board and have built out Windows Home Server on it...

If the 2004 Shelton was any indication, I wouldn't hold my breath for the 2008 Shelton unless you live in Asia or South America.

Let's hope AMD also gets on the bandwagon.

derekva:

Please do!

frank2003:

I hear you, and I'm an AMD fan, but a 500 MHz Geode just ain't going to do it for me.

I think we might want to be more optimistic about Intel & Diamondville/Shelton. True, the primary audience for these low-cost mini-ITX mobos is Asia, Africa, and industrial. However, the cited Register article also says:
As you may know, the Asus Eee has been quite a hit. Great reviews.

Intel has been working on various ways (Mac Mini clone, Classmate PC, Asus Eee, etc.) to introduce low-cost, Intel mobile based computing into the mainstream. Looks like they finally succeeded. Part of the key (sorry, derekva...) was Linux being a lighter OS, more suited for these lightweight systems. Asus is planning a follow-on to the current Eee models when the new CPUs/chipsets are available.

Another indicator pointing to a marketplace for these sorts of machines is the Everex/Wal-Mart US$199 computer based on a 1.5 MHz Via C7D and the gOS variant of Ubuntu Linux. Sold out. The mobo from these systems is said to be a hot seller at ClubIT for $US60.

I've had a Google news alert on AMD DTX since the project was announced. Personally, I prefer the DTX form factor to mini-ITX because the boards fit uATX boxes. A 35W AMD DTX would be fine for me. Trouble is, AMD seems to be targetting these exclusively to the Middle East and Africa.

I think Intel has proven that there is a market for these sorts of systems in North America and Europe. Everex/Via has too. I hope AMD wakes up and competes.

Since Shelton'08 specs support the SIS 671 chipset, a D201GLY3 using Diamondville is quite easy to do and quite possibly already in development - they just need to change the CPU and power sections. They should be able to get rid of the ATX12V connector.

Of course I'd like to see a 945GC board more...

(Mini-itx is uATX compatible, too. This is why D201GLY* is sold as a uATX board...)

The Eee PC from Asus uses the 915 chipset and a version of this cpu. There is no reason a 915 type solution wouldn't work for this, and the Eee PC is cheap enough to indicate that the 915 is also a cheap chipset. As for Gigabit, I think you guys are asking too much from a $70 motherboard. I'm considering this board as my SageTV server, but I realize that I may want more than 2 SATA ports and I still have my Nvidia DualTV card in the PCI slot.

As for using this as a SD media extender, there are stand alone boxes like the Hauppauge MVP powered by SageTV that are much better solutions IMO.

The eee currently uses a Dothan-core Celeron downclocked from 900 to 630mhz. It will move to Silverthorne next year, although who knows if it'll get the Poulson chipset w/PowerVR, 945, or even just stick with the 915...

Chad:
I've seen speculation that Poulson would be cost-prohibitive for something as inexpensive as the Asus Eee PC. Of course prices have not been publicly revealed, but does that seem probable?


Can Silverthorne attain this sort of power reduction without Poulson?

Chad:
I guess I'm dense. I saw this in the Intel spec sheets, but the board size is mini-ITX. Would this mean that the holes would line up with holes in a uATX box and the IO shield would fit? Please enlighten me!

yes - it will line up/fit

Thanks, linux247!

That really gives so many more case choices than the mini-ITX world. Much easier to accommodate the 5.25" DVD drives that I prefer to slimline drives. Multiple 3.5" drives (and power) for a home server. Also, bigger/quieter fans. Cheaper, too.

yw dougz.

fyi everyone - price has gone up $3 today, so now it's $71.00 shipped at buy.com. still out of stock atm...

According to UPS.com, my board should arrive on Monday (11/19), so I'll be able to fiddle about with it a little bit that evening (not much as I've got two small children and am in the middle of a kitchen remodel). However, I may muck about in more detail on the Friday after Thanksgiving since I've got my Windows Home Server DVD sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be installed (currently running RC2 on my WHS server).

If you'd like, I can install Vista for grins and see how well it does. I'll be running it with 1GB of PC5300 which is about as high as it goes.

-D

derekva --

I'd be more interested in hearing how your WHS (or Win XP) runs. Vista doesn't seem like an ideal fit, despite the 1GB...

FYI: Review of Windows Home Server on Pentium M 1.73 GHz/1GB box. (Minimum requirement is 1GHz/512MB. D201GLYx looks like a decent choice for WHS.)

Yes. The Celeron 220 on the D201GLY2 has a TDP of 19W, Silverthorne/Diamondville has a TDP of 2W in it's top configuration. If D201GLY3 moves to Diamondville this will result in a <=10 watt board!

If Intel also releases a 945GC Diamondville mini-ITX with DVI and more ports, stick a fork in the EPIA line.



Yes, mini-ITX is the smallest form factor that is fully uATX compatible.

Wow! Great news from efficiency, quiet computing, and cost perspectives. Intel really seems to be working hard on their low-power segments. Via has only recently tried to cost-reduce their EPIA stuff to make it more competitive (e.g., Wal-Mart/Everex $199 PC and PC-1 initiative). Might be too little, too late.

I hope that a "945GC Diamondville mini-ITX with DVI" would also address more than 1 GB of RAM, so that quiet, low-power systems can use Vista. Linux users would just love a system like this! Intel has been doing good things with their Linux drivers lately. It might also make a nice, low-end Mac OS X Leopard box, with a bit of Apple's great engineering.

Sounds like it might hurt Via in set-top boxes for cable, too.

I gave some bad info earlier. The southbridge will only accept a 10/100 interface chip and the northbridge to southbridge bus is 1GB/s.

Like anyone I would prefer an intel chipset and lower power consumption. My board should arrive on the 20th.

I received an iStar S 3 case and I like it so far. It looks to me like it already has the 12v power connector. Two full hard drives looks doable with a metal brake and maybe with much less work. It will be tight. I'm starting with only 1 tb drive waiting for price drops while I fill it.

Wake on LAN should work for me instead of any sleep state.

I just came across a few things that piqued my interest:

ULV Dothan vs Silverthorne

TG Daily
"The 45 nm Silverthorne chip is expected to be as fast as the second-generation of Pentium M processors, while running in a power envelope between 0.6 and 2.0 watts."

"At IDF, Intel said that the CPU will be Intel’s “most cost-efficient processor since the 286 CPU. Manufactured in 45 nm, Intel can squeeze about 2500 Silverthorne processor on one 300 mm wafer. According to Otellini, the average price of a product that will be integrating a Silverthorne processor will be about $100."

I'm currently typing this from my D201GLY2 running Windows Vista Home Premium (temporarily). First of all a few things of note:

1. The setup - 80GB 7200.7, 1GB PC5300, D201GLY2

2. The CPU cooler runs warm, but the northbridge chip runs HOT. You gotta have a fan (I'm running a 92mm Nexus while I breadboard this) running across this motherboard.

3. The Windows Experience Index stats:
- Processor: 3.0
- Memory (RAM): 4.0
- Graphics: 1.9
- 3D Graphics: 1.0
- Primary HDD: 5.2

4. Granted, the graphics sucks, but otherwise, this is perfectly acceptable performance (albeit limited by the 1GB of RAM). Vista is perfectly snappy sans Aero. I'm sure Windows Home Server will be just fine.

5. The only thing I really miss is dual-core. Let's face it, everything goes better with dual core. You have to hate the slowdown that occurs when something is hammering on the CPU and you want to do something else. On the other hand, I'm running on a 1.2GHz Celeron that consumes somewhere in the neighborhood of 20W including motherboard.

6. Lastly, it seemed somewhat picky with regard to PSU (or maybe the opposite is the case). When I tried to use it with my current bench CPU (a Seasonic SS400-HT), I couldn't get the system to power up. Switching to a 2U Emacs PSU (leftover from an old P4 rack server that's taking up garage space) allowed it to power up without issue. We'll see what the story is when I install this in my current WHS chassis. However, this is a bit disconcerting.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Kill-O-Watt or the like, so I can't measure power draw. However, given that I'm cooling the whole system with one 92mm fan sitting at the bottom end (other side of the PCI slot) of the board blowing across, it can't be pulling that much juice.

I'll give an update after I've built out the Windows Home Server.

-Derek

Are you sure? Win XP, CPUZ and SmartFan all say the CPU in our sample D201GLY2 is 1.333GHz.


Could be not enough 12V current draw at boot; not usual for high efficiency PSUs when asked to boot low power PCs.


W/ a very high efficiency PSU and 5400rpm laptop drive, we're getting 32W at idle, just over 40W on max peaks.

Yup. Vista is reporting it as a Celeron 220 - 1.2GHz.

Are you sure your board has the Merom-based Celeron 220? If it is running at 1.333GHz you may have the older Celeron 215 CPU (Yonah-based).

-D

It has 2 SATA ports... and I only just noticed -- -- it has an s-video port and is marked as a D201GLY2T. You have to understand, the bare board came by itself and nothing else in an antistatic bag.

I really need to know before I buy it.

Video decoding.. how far does it work? can you please test some 720p 1080p? H264, VC1, anything would be useful.

Eventually it would be nice to know if the 1.2 to 1.33 ghz would be a step-up that would allow it to stepup in a benchmark but that would be after the official review of the D201GLY2T SPCR has.

The review should be ready some time this weekend.

Hi all, first post here.

I ordered this board last week but the Canadian supplier does not have stock yet. When I ordered it was 66$ but I see the price went up abit.

Can anyone suggest cases that would accommodate the high cpu heatsink ?

This is where I ordered it from ...
http://www.agileelectronics.ca/prod_det ... OXD201GLY2

Although I plan to run many tests on this board when it comes in, I do plan to get a small case for it eventually and I was wondering if there is a listing of cases that would accommodate the high cpu heatsink.

Apex has a new MW-100 mini-itx case which looks interesting but is not available yet.
http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=157

They have the MI-100 listed as available but the PSU seems like it will interfere with the cpu heatsink.
http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=115

For those that want a case that will accept upto mini-atx they have the DM-339 which looks exactly like the antec MINUET 300 inside but at half the cost going for around 40$ cdn.
http://www.apextechusa.com/products.asp?pID=77

I listed the Apex cases because I found the prices to be much lower than the other brands.
Anyone care to comment on Apex or suggest other cases and power supplies ?

I wasn't able to post links in my 1st post so I needed to repost.

Yeah, that's how Intel is rolling with the D201GLY2 - a board in an antistatic bag with a CD, an I/O shield and chassis stickers. It's odd that the -T variant is using a 1.33GHz CPU, though - I still suspect that you have a Yonah rather than Merom CPU, so power ratings will be artificially high.

What's the stepping info?

-D