D201gly2: product and SPCR review discussion

All about them.

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vincentfox
Posts: 271
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:35 pm
Location: CA

Post by vincentfox » Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:49 pm

yamawho wrote:I posted some pics of my new build here ...

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f8/new-in ... 11482.html

I really need to get a photobucket account :roll:
Yes you do. It's free you know.

By the way the link you posted, goes to a forum where I'd have to register. I already have too many accounts too many places as it is, I'll pass.

yamawho
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:08 am
Location: Montreal

Post by yamawho » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:05 am

The only mod I did to my board is swap out the 1" sq stock northbridge heatsink for a 2" sq model from my junk box. I found the stock one to run too hot when I touched it during memtest. Now that I replaced it, I can keep my finger on it no problem. I also decided to add fan to blow into the cpu heatsink and over the northbridge heatsink for good measure.

Here are some pics ...

Image

Image

Image

mx-5
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:43 pm

Post by mx-5 » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:11 pm

Has anyone tried this as a MythTV Frontend? The version with s-video would make a nice cheap frontend.

If you already have a MythTV setup, this can be tested easily with Mythbuntu. Using Mythbuntu 7.10 (www.mythbuntu.org), I've been able to get a frontend up and running in ~20 minutes!

yamawho
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:08 am
Location: Montreal

Post by yamawho » Mon Dec 03, 2007 12:40 pm

The question is can this version be found ?

I tried to find one ...

andyb
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 3307
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Location: Essex, England

Post by andyb » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:50 pm

This mobo will start to gather a bit more steam, the much read Inquirer has posted a link to SPCR's review on the board.

Although on the downside I havent had a reply from itx-warehouse with a timescale for these mobo's in the UK.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... e-03122007


Andy

mx-5
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:43 pm

Post by mx-5 » Mon Dec 03, 2007 4:20 pm

yamawho wrote:The question is can this version be found ?

I tried to find one ...
Or even VGA out? I guess I'm hoping someone can test the SIS662's Mirage 1 as supposed to the s-video connection itself.

yamawho
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:08 am
Location: Montreal

Post by yamawho » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:23 am

I installed Linux Mint using the vesa video drivers and all seems well including watching videos.
Just used the safe graphics install option on the live cd.

On another note, I am pleased with the system so far. I was worried about the fan noise and considered putting in a fan controller. However, the fan does get controlled by the mobo enough not to warrant the installation the controller. I didn't use the cpu fan header ... I plugged it in to the one near the rear.

frank2003
Posts: 332
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:35 am

Post by frank2003 » Tue Dec 04, 2007 5:54 am

Has anyone tried fitting this board into a mini-itx case?

syburgh
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:00 am

ITX case

Post by syburgh » Tue Dec 04, 2007 7:04 am

frank2003 wrote:Has anyone tried fitting this board into a mini-itx case?
Yes, it fits well even in a very small case like the Mini-Box M300. The height of the CPU heatsink can be an issue, but the board itself fits.

dougz
Posts: 317
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:03 pm

Post by dougz » Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:05 am

yamawho wrote:I installed Linux Mint using the vesa video drivers and all seems well including watching videos.
Just used the safe graphics install option on the live cd.
Good info.

I'm curious why you didn't choose to stay with Mepis, as described in your previous posts.

frank2003
Posts: 332
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:35 am

Re: ITX case

Post by frank2003 » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:27 am

syburgh wrote: Yes, it fits well even in a very small case like the Mini-Box M300. The height of the CPU heatsink can be an issue, but the board itself fits.
IIRC this case uses one or two 40mm fans. I'd imagine keeping the box quiet and cool at the same time must be quite a challenge.

syburgh
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Nov 21, 2007 5:00 am

Re: ITX case

Post by syburgh » Tue Dec 04, 2007 10:41 am

frank2003 wrote:IIRC this case uses one or two 40mm fans. I'd imagine keeping the box quiet and cool at the same time must be quite a challenge.
Not too bad so long as they are connected to the variable speed fan header (REAR_FAN). The included fan is low speed 40x10mm, and not sufficient. Works OK with 2 40x20mm at low speed.

The M300 case itself is a bit insubstantial, but that's nothing to do with the board. Also-- the standard CPU HS is a few mm too tall to use a 3.5in drive.

yamawho
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:08 am
Location: Montreal

Post by yamawho » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:44 am

dougz wrote:
yamawho wrote:I installed Linux Mint using the vesa video drivers and all seems well including watching videos.
Just used the safe graphics install option on the live cd.
Good info.

I'm curious why you didn't choose to stay with Mepis, as described in your previous posts.
dougz, there are a few reasons ...

I came across an article on how to configure a home server using Mint which interested me ...
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS9015653445.html

The look of Gnome in this article got me to take a look at this distro a 2nd time. I had already downloaded the iso last week and gave it a brief look when I was trying this mobo to test the graphics.

BTW the networking and internet work out of the box ... so does video like xvid's and music MP3's.

I also tried PClinuxOS when it went final and Ubuntu 7.04 but after playing with them on and off, they have been removed from my test system.

I still have Mepis 6.5 installed in a dual boot with win xp pro. However, this was my old kitchen pc which I just replaced last month so it's still sitting on the shelf waiting to be put back into service. PLus Mepis 7 RC1 just came out so the final might be weeks away. As a side note, I can't remember the last time I booted into win xp on this rig ... must be well over 6 months. Mepis got me interested in linux again after being burned with SuSe 9.0 Pro 3 or 4 years ago. However with the release of VISTA, I started renewing my efforts to stop being so windows dependent.

In the end the fate of my "Little Valley" has taken an interesting turn. I got hosed for extra bandwidth charges after my contact expired. My ISP does not offer unlimited bandwidth anymore and I am limited to 30 gig per month. Anyways, back to the Little Valley ... I took it with me to my office where I only use the internet for email and such and set it up with a KVM. I plan to use it at work for my linux downloads and other projects.

I set it up with win xp pro and dual boot with Linux Mint 4.0 ... needless to say that I plan the use it 99% in Linux :wink:
Here is a resent article on Linux Mint 4.0 ...
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7491263673.html

dougz
Posts: 317
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:03 pm

Post by dougz » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:38 pm

yamawho wrote: As a side note, I can't remember the last time I booted into win xp on this rig ... must be well over 6 months. Mepis got me interested in linux again after being burned...
I can't remember the last time I booted my home Win2K. No other Win versions at home.

Mepis turned my brother on to Linux after struggles with other distros previously. He's moved on, not because of any Mepis faults, due to personal preferences for other distros. He stopped booting his Win partition.

So many distros, so little time. I'm intrigued with gOS. It shows that E17 is a decent lightweight Window manager. It turns out that the E17 wm is easily tunable to look less like a "training wheels" wm. Even though gOS is still in early days and has some bugs, it is a nice way to show off E17. Seems to be gaining ground in the Ubuntu forums.

yamawho
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:08 am
Location: Montreal

Post by yamawho » Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:51 pm

"So many distros, so little time ..."

I hear you there 8)

I'm not a linux guru my any means so I look into the ones that are user friendly.

I also setup a FreeNAS server awhile ago ... never had an issue yet.
http://www.abxzone.com/forums/f47/build ... 08268.html

I learn a bit here a there ... get in too deep sometimes, then dig myself out :lol:

dougz
Posts: 317
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:03 pm

Ars: Intel's low-cost "Diamondville" CPU

Post by dougz » Tue Dec 04, 2007 1:23 pm

A few more tidbits --
viewtopic.php?t=45001

pfft
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 3:26 am

mythbuntu

Post by pfft » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:09 pm

mx-5,

I have played with a mythbuntu frontend/backend (default) install. It works well except for the ubuntu sis video driver. The screen is useable for configuration but has artifacts so is ugly and unuseable for video. There is a solution however. In this thread ... http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... c&t=463077
on pages 4,5 and 6 there is information about a suse10.2 driver file modified by a forum member along with a starter xorg.conf file that works for the sis chipset. 3d doesn't work well but that doesn't matter for mythbuntu. I probably got these files to work in the wrong way. I control+alt+F1'd to console then init 3 (enter) and used cp -dp to replace the used files with the ones downloaded from the link above. The xorg.conf file supplied in the link above gave hideous fonts when handled this way and I had to use control+alt+a plus or minus to get to a showable resolution so I reinstalled and edited the xorg.conf file before hacking the files in. I also used depmod. The resulting xorg.conf file was a cut and paste mix of the linked file and the monitor,screen and mouse sections from my original xorg.conf file with the contributed fonts section removed.

pfft
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 3:26 am

mythbuntu

Post by pfft » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:11 pm

The end result is a nice looking desktop and video up to dvd resolution looking good as well. I haven't tried anything more demanding.

derekva
Posts: 477
Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2005 11:00 am
Location: Puget Sound, WA
Contact:

Post by derekva » Wed Dec 05, 2007 2:29 pm

derekva wrote:I've been thinking about putting a ThermalRight HR-05 IFX on the CPU and some other heatsink (perhaps the CPU heatsink) on the northbridge.
OK. That's a non-starter. The HR-05 IFX gets in the way of the RAM slots (or the CPU heatsink) and doesn't fit. Oh well.

-D

mx-5
Posts: 28
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:43 pm

Re: mythbuntu

Post by mx-5 » Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:48 pm

pfft wrote:The end result is a nice looking desktop and video up to dvd resolution looking good as well. I haven't tried anything more demanding.
Great! Looks like this may work out nicely after a bit of hacking with xorg.conf. Thanks for testing!

pfft
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 3:26 am

Post by pfft » Thu Dec 06, 2007 2:54 am

mx-5,

Watch out! Mythbuntu will drop to the vesa driver which is poor for video overlay(Full screen video) at the drop of a hat. If you use my method then right after copying in the files the screen will flash a few times then offer an opportunity to configure. Don't! Instead hit continue then reboot. Any configuration will require hand editing the xorg.conf file and only replacing it while at the console under init 3. A depmod is a good idea but I can't guarantee that dependencies and links aren't broken.

I believe that a proper method would involve something like initx modification. I didn't bother as I am mainly interested in mythbuntu backend.
It's probably a good idea to consult with someone more capable with linux for a better way to implement the driver. Downloading the driver requires registration on the ubuntu forum so they will probably help there.

Bathman
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:19 am
Location: England

Post by Bathman » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:28 am

The CPU on these board run at 1.3 volts that seems to be pretty high for a core 2 solo I wondered if it is possible to lower this in any way. Could one for instance use the Intel Integrator Toolkit to reprogram the BIOS and allow a lower voltage. Also could the same application be used to use the x6 multiplier which is built in with the thermal monitoring. As 798mhz (6*133) would still blow away all VIA ITX boards.

sun4384
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:23 pm

Post by sun4384 » Thu Dec 06, 2007 11:56 am

There are a few questions for this board. It would be great if those who own this board can answer these questions.

1. Does anyone know if tools like RmClock or CrystalCPUID can be used with this board? If so, can both FID and VID be controlled? Within what range the FID and VID change?

2. Does Speedfan work with this board?

3. It was mentioned 2GB of ram can possibly used (though 1GB should be used at time of installation). Can someone confirm this?

Bathman
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:19 am
Location: England

Post by Bathman » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:02 pm

"1. Does anyone know if tools like RmClock or CrystalCPUID can be used with this board? If so, can both FID and VID be controlled? Within what range the FID and VID change?"

RM Clock works but all it allows you to do is ODCM clock throttling. I have not been able to get FID and VID to be controlled (although I don't really understand what they do).
I can't make any changes with CrystalCPUID

"2. Does Speedfan work with this board?"

I run my board fanless. I have changed the Northbridge heatsink (like above post) and with RM Clock the CPU runs at around 50C (I can keep my fingers on it for about 3 seconds before it is too hot). I have the motherboard in a hypermedia case which has no other fans in it. I therefore haven't tried speedfan as have no reason to put a fan into mysystem

"3. It was mentioned 2GB of ram can possibly used (though 1GB should be used at time of installation). Can someone confirm this?"

Cant help you here but it runs fine with PC4200 1gig stick of generic memory.

The main problem that I am having at the moment is with my Nvidia 6200 PCI graphics card which when combined with my 80Pico PSU (with 60W powerbrick) draws too much juice. Hence my post on how to reduce processor voltage or find away to reduce the multiplier to x6 and hopefully reduce the power requirements further.

Incidentally I use the motherboard as a client for GBPVR

Mikael
Posts: 206
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:12 am
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Post by Mikael » Fri Dec 07, 2007 11:35 am

Bathman wrote:The CPU on these board run at 1.3 volts that seems to be pretty high for a core 2 solo
It's that high!? How did you find out the voltage, if I may ask?

As you say, 1.3V for a 1.2GHz 65nm Core 2 is very high. It really shouldn't need more than 1.0V at the very most. I still haven't found a Core 2 based CPU that wouldn't do 2GHz at 1.0V... Power consumption would probably go down by 5-7W if the CPU ran at 1V and that's a pretty significant decrease when we're starting out with 30-40W.

frank2003
Posts: 332
Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 3:35 am

Post by frank2003 » Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:25 pm

Mikael wrote:
Bathman wrote:The CPU on these board run at 1.3 volts that seems to be pretty high for a core 2 solo
It's that high!? How did you find out the voltage, if I may ask?

As you say, 1.3V for a 1.2GHz 65nm Core 2 is very high. It really shouldn't need more than 1.0V at the very most. I still haven't found a Core 2 based CPU that wouldn't do 2GHz at 1.0V... Power consumption would probably go down by 5-7W if the CPU ran at 1V and that's a pretty significant decrease when we're starting out with 30-40W.
Vcore of 1.3 is low, VERY low. See my comment here: viewtopic.php?t=44140&postdays=0&postor ... 839319e11d

Kind of makes you wonder who to trust :wink:

Bathman
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:19 am
Location: England

Post by Bathman » Fri Dec 07, 2007 12:29 pm

"It's that high!? How did you find out the voltage, if I may ask?"

RM clock told me.

"I still haven't found a Core 2 based CPU that wouldn't do 2GHz at 1.0V"

Yes that was my thinking to - however as of yet I have not found a way of lowering the voltage. I was hoping some clever sod on this forum would know how to do it.

Mikael
Posts: 206
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:12 am
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Post by Mikael » Fri Dec 07, 2007 1:50 pm

frank2003 wrote:Vcore of 1.3 is low, VERY low. See my comment here: viewtopic.php?t=44140&postdays=0&postor ... 839319e11d

Kind of makes you wonder who to trust :wink:
Hehe, my Pentium 200MMX runs on less than that... I think the Celeron 220 is specified to run at 1.0V-1.3V, but I haven't found any decisive data on it.
Bathman wrote:"It's that high!? How did you find out the voltage, if I may ask?"

RM clock told me.
Ohh, I see. It would be cool if someone came up with a mod to get that vcore down where it "should" be.

ojg
Friend of SPCR
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 8:08 pm
Location: Norway

Post by ojg » Sat Dec 08, 2007 8:07 am

Got the D201GLY2 a couple of days ago. So far I have only booted into a Linux Live-CD. As everyone else reports, it gets too warm to touch, but by placing a Panflo at 5V on top of the board keeps both the CPU and northbridge at comfortable temps (<40 deg?).

Too bad it can't be run fanless in stock configuration, but the price/performance ratio is unbeatable. Also the audio i/o on the back is too tall to allow it to fit in a 1U box.

For those of you in Europe looking for somewhere to buy it, I bought it from this guy http://stores.ebay.com/The-Mobile-Computing-Solution . He knows how to fill out customs forms the right way 8)

Shade00
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:29 pm

Post by Shade00 » Sat Dec 08, 2007 8:23 pm

I just ordered this board. Can't wait to put it together in a Flex ATX case I bought several years ago and have never had a use for. I'm probably going to order a Sparkle SPI220LE to power it, then get some sort of discrete video card. It sucks being limited to PCI, but you take what you can get when it comes to these tiny boards.

I ordered a 1gb stick to go with it, but I will be very curious to see if anyone else tries another 2gb stick.

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