SPCR

Looks like it is going to be available soon. Retails for US$180-$200
I guess you'd have to pay for dvi port and low power design, but didn't realize it was gonna be this much expensive

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/ms_9830
http://www.buy.com/prod/intel-atom-n270 ... 42599.html

Review:
http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/atoms/

I'm not surprised at the price - no fans means more heat-sink, and this is an industrial board w/ a nextended temp/vibe spec. Probably a great choice for a carputer.

Problems tho ... they use the N270 rather than the N330 processor (lower performance for a mosdest poewr increase). They use the 945GSE (mobile) Northbridge which save a LOT of power but at a cost of reducing the memory bus bandwith by more than a factor or two.

The major problem w/ the Intel Aton is there is no decent performance low-power NorthBridge.

The other boardds (like the Itntel) use a NB that consumes ~4x the power as the CPU and then they attach a noisy short-lived 40mm fan to the NB - ugh !

Just found this motherboard. Do you guys think this might work in a completely fanless system? Planning on this case.

stevea wrote: The major problem w/ the Intel Aton is there is no decent performance low-power NorthBridge.

What about Nvidia 9300M (not yet available but looks like it will be) and Intel US15W (actually available, but apparently not for retail)? You are certainly correct, for the time being, but 2009 should bring some changes.

WOT? It has two com ports? I guess it's made for embedding in industrial machines 'n stuff. But it's kind of expensive, I've seen the Intel D945GCLF2 for only $80(-ish).

I just received one that I bought from Logic Supply. The BIOS has temp-based system fan voltage control. I haven't installed an OS on it yet, but it looks good so far. I expect its performance and power usage to be similar to the Eee Box, which uses the same CPU and NB.

jessekopelman wrote:What about Nvidia 9300M (not yet available but looks like it will be) and Intel US15W (actually available, but apparently not for retail)? You are certainly correct, for the time being, but 2009 should bring some changes.

The Nvidia 9300M/Ion platform sounds nice, but that'll only happen if Intel takes that stick off its arse and allow other chipsets to be used with Atom. Until then, we're stuck with the crappy 945G. Oh and last I checked, the Atom + US15W is darned expensive.

ilovejedd wrote: The Nvidia 9300M/Ion platform sounds nice, but that'll only happen if Intel takes that stick off its arse and allow other chipsets to be used with Atom.

Intel claims they have done this. Nvidia claims Intel has done this. If products based Ion (or similar) ship in 2009 we will know these claims are true and if not we will know they are false.

Has anyone used this board yet. It looks like the serial ports are labeled wrong in the manual. I need the RS-485 port to work and I can't get it to communicate at all. MSI Tech support stinks. No responses to email and no call backs.

I had to changed the BIOS setting Advanced->IDE Configuration->ATA/IDE Configuration to 'Enhanced' to make it work with SATA hard drives. Under the default 'compatible' mode it was throwing bunches of timeout error messages while installing linux.

MSI is lazy here it doesn't even post user manual on its website.

Reasonably happy with the board. System description here:

viewtopic.php?p=463825#463825

Hey, don't want to spoil your party... the new Intel Atom seems to be better than this MSI:
viewtopic.php?p=465508

MiKeLezZ wrote:Hey, don't want to spoil your party... the new Intel Atom seems to be better than this MSI:
viewtopic.php?p=465508

Well, certainly very similar. The MSI board has two NICs, and the Intel board is cheaper.