Intel D201GLY: cheap, low power mini-ITX
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Intel D201GLY: cheap, low power mini-ITX
Intel's D201GLY is starting to show up around the web. The board is sold with a 1.33Ghz Celeron soldered on for only $77. The board seems pretty limited in capability, but for the price, there are plenty of interesting things to do with it. Supposedly the whole board consumes 27 watts... Does anyone have one of these things yet? I'd love to see what the BIOS looks like and some actual power figures.
-
- Posts: 1406
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:28 pm
- Location: USA
-
- Posts: 1608
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:02 pm
- Location: United States
Looks very good for the price. Only one IDE port seems kind of limited, though. I know it's a low-end board, but one or two SATA ports would've been nice.
EDIT: 27w TDP isn't bad at all IMO considering this probably outperforms Via's C7 based boards many times over. Also looks like the 65nm ULV Celerons at 5.5w TDP and run 1200MHz 0.975V max. I don't see why you couldn't run the Celeron in this board at 1.0V or so and and effectively have a processor w/TDP 7-8 watts that kills any Via CPU out there.
In this case one could probably just rip the CPU fan off as well and call it good.
EDIT: 27w TDP isn't bad at all IMO considering this probably outperforms Via's C7 based boards many times over. Also looks like the 65nm ULV Celerons at 5.5w TDP and run 1200MHz 0.975V max. I don't see why you couldn't run the Celeron in this board at 1.0V or so and and effectively have a processor w/TDP 7-8 watts that kills any Via CPU out there.
In this case one could probably just rip the CPU fan off as well and call it good.
if I am not mistaken the CPU is soldered on so you cannot change it. Also the BIOS appears to have no CPU voltage options so you cannot undervolt the CPU (no speedstep either). IMO cheapest AM2 Sempron + undervoltable mobo (for example: AM2 Semp 3K + ECS mobo $70) will give similar results with more flexibility and only slightly larger dimensions.Also looks like the 65nm ULV Celerons at 5.5w TDP and run 1200MHz 0.975V max. I don't see why you couldn't run the Celeron in this board at 1.0V
I'm with you on the Sempron part, but ECS/PC Chips mobos are simply not of the same quality as Intel mobos (or most first & second tier makers).IMO cheapest AM2 Sempron + undervoltable mobo (for example: AM2 Semp 3K + ECS mobo $70) will give similar results with more flexibility and only slightly larger dimensions.
Almost any other low-end mobo would be a better bet.
"Slightly" would be a bit of an understatement considering a mATX board is twice as big. If you have the space for an mATX board, by all means go that route instead as you get a much wider selection of parts and features.jaganath wrote:if I am not mistaken the CPU is soldered on so you cannot change it. Also the BIOS appears to have no CPU voltage options so you cannot undervolt the CPU (no speedstep either). IMO cheapest AM2 Sempron + undervoltable mobo (for example: AM2 Semp 3K + ECS mobo $70) will give similar results with more flexibility and only slightly larger dimensions.
-
- Posts: 1608
- Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2005 4:02 pm
- Location: United States
You may very well be correct. I assumed since Wikipedia listed a variable voltage (1.0-1.3V) that it supports EIST, but a quick Google search did not bring anything up to prove or disprove this, so I dunno. Assuming it does support EIST, one should be able to lower voltage to 1.0V in Windows using RMClock or similar software.jaganath wrote:if I am not mistaken the CPU is soldered on so you cannot change it. Also the BIOS appears to have no CPU voltage options so you cannot undervolt the CPU (no speedstep either). IMO cheapest AM2 Sempron + undervoltable mobo (for example: AM2 Semp 3K + ECS mobo $70) will give similar results with more flexibility and only slightly larger dimensions.Also looks like the 65nm ULV Celerons at 5.5w TDP and run 1200MHz 0.975V max. I don't see why you couldn't run the Celeron in this board at 1.0V
Is there a mini-ITX case that could take this board, along with a full-size PCI card, one internal 3.5 inch drive and one external 3.5 inch drive?
At minimum, I could skip the external, but I want PCI. Also, it looks like you'd want some height for the fan to disperse air with low impedence.
Looking for a small home server. This and the DTX mobos are my favorites. They appear to have height issues with coolers too.
At minimum, I could skip the external, but I want PCI. Also, it looks like you'd want some height for the fan to disperse air with low impedence.
Looking for a small home server. This and the DTX mobos are my favorites. They appear to have height issues with coolers too.
These guys have the board and did a power consumption test
http://www.mini-box.com/Intel-D201GLY-M ... 8Ta38Lc350
http://www.mini-box.com/Intel-D201GLY-M ... 8Ta38Lc350
-
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 6:48 am
Works just fine under Linux and the fan is very quiet
I got this board a few days ago from eWiz. In the meantime, many dealers have it in stock.
The fan is quiet and the board runs Linux both from a harddisk and from a USB flash stick.
I could not, however, get the board boot from my external USB-CDROM drive.
It is not suitable for 1U applications since the heatsink+fan is way too high.
Judging from changing pages in the BIOS screens, the board feels "slow". I'd bet it is still faster than anything VIA has to offer in the miniITX form factor. I haven'd done any real benchmarks yet, however.
Would be interesting to pit this 1.33 GHz board against a 2.0 GHz VIA C7 board, which is not available from VIA itself but from 3rd party manufacturers.
The fan is quiet and the board runs Linux both from a harddisk and from a USB flash stick.
I could not, however, get the board boot from my external USB-CDROM drive.
It is not suitable for 1U applications since the heatsink+fan is way too high.
Judging from changing pages in the BIOS screens, the board feels "slow". I'd bet it is still faster than anything VIA has to offer in the miniITX form factor. I haven'd done any real benchmarks yet, however.
Would be interesting to pit this 1.33 GHz board against a 2.0 GHz VIA C7 board, which is not available from VIA itself but from 3rd party manufacturers.
Whats with the One S-Video output port (optional), that I've seen listed on www.mini-itx.com? It's shown in one of their images of the board, but I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere online. I'm thinking of picking this board up and having a way to output to a TV would be nice.
Interesting board. Didn't Intel make a processor/board for the developing countries called the "Shelton"? Maybe this is the US version of that.
If the processor could run passive I would switch from my Epia EN12000 in a heartbeat. But then again, maybe not, since the Intel board only has a 100mbps NIC whereas the EN12000 has a 1GB NIC.
Someone in this forum asked about application of such a board. I can answer that - A low power consumption board like a mini-ITX can be used to build a file server or PVR server that can be left running 24/7. I built such a system based on the fanless Epia EN12000. I put a 500GB WD ATA drive and a Hauppauge 500MCE dual-tuner TV card into this small case (http://www.logicsupply.com/products/2699b). For cooling I ripped out the noisy dual 40mm fans and placed a 80mm fan inside running at low RPM. It's virtually silent.
This Intel board with some teeth opens up some possibilities.
If the processor could run passive I would switch from my Epia EN12000 in a heartbeat. But then again, maybe not, since the Intel board only has a 100mbps NIC whereas the EN12000 has a 1GB NIC.
Someone in this forum asked about application of such a board. I can answer that - A low power consumption board like a mini-ITX can be used to build a file server or PVR server that can be left running 24/7. I built such a system based on the fanless Epia EN12000. I put a 500GB WD ATA drive and a Hauppauge 500MCE dual-tuner TV card into this small case (http://www.logicsupply.com/products/2699b). For cooling I ripped out the noisy dual 40mm fans and placed a 80mm fan inside running at low RPM. It's virtually silent.
This Intel board with some teeth opens up some possibilities.
Re: Works just fine under Linux and the fan is very quiet
I don't think it is possible to judge the performace of a computer by the snappiness of the BIOS. At work I use CPUs ranging from old 233MHz Geodes to 1,4GHz Pentiums and the BIOS speeds fell more or less equal. Which is of course to be expected since the BIOS does not consume any significant resources.Inspector 2211 wrote: Judging from changing pages in the BIOS screens, the board feels "slow".
All in all, most likely the issue is related to a hasty implementation of some BIOS feature, perhaps the screen redraws are only done in tandem with sensor polling or something.
-
- Posts: 524
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:39 pm
- Location: Denver, Colorado USA
- Contact:
Wikipedia is down, so I can't fact-check this, but I'm pretty sure ECS is one of the largest board manufacturers in the world. They're like Foxconn--they make boards for Asus and MSI, boards that get re-branded after ECS makes 'em. If memory serves, they make Intel's boards.ECS/PC Chips mobos are simply not of the same quality as Intel mobos (or most first & second tier makers)
-
- Posts: 524
- Joined: Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:39 pm
- Location: Denver, Colorado USA
- Contact:
Actually I am planning to use it in Silver Stone LC-9 case (http://silverstonetek.com/products/p_sp ... 9&area=usa), however that appears to be a problem.yschandra wrote:Can any one tell me what is the height of the CPU cooler on this board?
Subhash
Is Silver Stone LC-12 (http://silverstonetek.com/products/p_sp ... 2&area=usa) is good enough for this board?
Subhash
Saw this thread on AnandTech: Intel D201GLY Board - My Experience by sprockkets