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Perhaps this or this could work? Niche is always little expensive, though.

Perhaps this or this could work? Niche is always little expensive, though.

Well there is always more than one way to skin the kitty as I always say and I used a couple of Via boxes for low power servers for an SMB that needed their data encrypted, having AES hardware accelerated made them have decent performance without heating up the closet I had to put them in.

Don't look at the C7 though friend, its too old and they have MUCH better models out. Instead check out their Pico-ITX embedded as you can get a nano dual core based unit for around $200-$250, has lower power, better support for crypto, fanless, and they are built like tanks. My buddy that does carputers has used some and says they are top notch, really take a beating and run well. Hell I just spent 3 minutes in Google and found one ready to go for $160 so its really not any more expensive than the E350 and the Nano dual core has AES support baked in. Look up "Via Padlock" if you want to know more about it but if you need low power crypto that would be the way to go.

But it just goes to show what I was saying was correct, with X86 there are a dozen ways to do the same task so its simply a matter of finding the right tool for the job. E350 won't do it? Here is a Via that will without blowing the power budget. Money no object? They have Intel CULV that just sip power but those bitches are expensive with a capital E so if you are on a budget it wouldn't be the first choice. But as you can see here on this overview that if crypto is a major requirement the Via has it covered, hell it says it can get 12.8 Gbps throughput encode/decode which would be more than plenty and at roughly the same power budget as the E350, and I can tell ya it makes for a great low power server box with crypto.

This is why I don't get people trying to fit ARM into every project, it reminds me of those guys that tried to make everything with VB. ARM works best with helper DSPs in the PMP/handheld space, once you start needing any kind of real IPC ARM quickly runs into a wall. As you can see there are just so many different X86 chips out there somebody will have one that will cut the mustard without giving up performance. i don't even want to know how hard you'd have to slam a Pi to get it to do a crypto dashcam, poor little thing would probably melt. You could take that Zotac box, slap a stripped down Linux or Windows install and there ya go, hell it even has an SD card slot so you could take the data out of the unit without taking it out the trunk, easy peasy.

For an interesting alternative VIA recently released the VAB-800 pico-ITX ARM board.

You might want to check out the VIA pico-ITX ARM board.

• low power requirements
  
• honkingly big disks
  
• a very fast LAN
  
• great IO bandwidth
  

• It uses less than 20W at idle, 72 at start (max).
  
• Its cool/quiet.
  
• It only has 2 IDE channels and a max of two PCI cards (using a splitter that permits two PCI cards into the Mini-ITX's single PCI slot). Depending on what other cards you want to plug in, this could be a drawback. Personally I use the IDE channels for a disk and DVD, and plug the other disk into Firewire.
  
• IO bandwidth is so-so
  
• there are issues with DMA on the M and MIIs that via is only just getting around to fixing.
  
• standard Mini-ITX cases are built for small size - many only support a single laptop drive. Those that do support normal HDDs only fit one. You need to either use a non-std case or have a second case for your drives.
  
• The standard power supplies with those cases are usually 60 or 80W. Thats not enough to run a lot of peripherals, with problems most often showing a boot.
  

Nano ITX board

the new via epia sp uses the cn400 chipset, although apparently it still uses the vt1623 tv encoder.

http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_sp_spec.js p?motherboardId=261

http://www.viaembedded.com/

The mini-itx and nano-itx boards require little power to operate, can run any X86 based OS, and some can run off of flash memory devices with no addons required.

The only drawback to these is that their overall performace is not as fast as their AMD or Intel counterparts, but if silence, space and power savings is what you are looking for then these are a great solution.

I was planning to house it in a Silverstone LC08 case, with a slimline DVDROM drive and bring the YPbPr signals out to extra connections on the back panel. The case can also accomodate a 3-1/2" hard disk drive, but that might run too hot without active cooling.

Still, the idea of using networked Myth backends with PVR250s, pre-ripped media, with HD playback capability at the front-end is appealing.

You might be able to get close with a Nano-ITX board, which is only 12x12 cm (4.7 in). http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_N_spec.jsp ?motherboardId=221

Then perhaps you would like the MS-series EPIA motherboard?

http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_ms_spec.js p?motherboardId=281

Well well well, once again another craptacular story submission wafts through the submission process. Thanks, Timothy! You really go the extra mile towards making slashdot more and more crap.

First, here is a link for the VIA EPIA SP line. Notice how the link is descriptive of the content linked to? This is what we the thinking people of the internet refer to as "proper" use of links. The link text should have included "review on the brandnew" (sic) which should have had a couple of additional spaces, one after brand, and one after new, before the link.

Finally, the story submission itself is devoid of content and linked to a site that everyone involved should have known would go down quicker than a crackwhore on your payday. If you're going to link to a site that's going to crater, please give us some information in the story itself.

Nehemiah, I know you were all excited that you had something to submit to slashdot, but couldn't you have taken a little bit of time to work on your story submission? I won't even bother chastising Timothy, who it has long since become clear is not willing to put out any effort at all.

Those pictures don't match what's on via's site:

EPIA DP

Note the orientation of the processors, and the lack of PS2 ports on the (official?) pictures.

a link to the actual product page

i have been on the brink of buying some mini-itx componants to do this and create a small, fannless machine for the front room that can be bolted under a table. the forever pending release of better and smaller boards by VIA has kept me from acting. my quesiton is whats the diffrence between the 5.1 sound from a VIA board like this.. http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_MII_spec.j sp?motherboardId=202 and a PCI card like the ones from AVID .. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution51 -main.html

And if you actually read the f'ing article, you'll see that he used a VIA Nano-ITX board. It's 12x12 cm. Not much of a "challenge", you pointlessly smug Apple crackmonkey, you. :)

The only difficulty was making the CPU's heatsink fit inside the case - so he trimmed it with a hacksaw and installed a fan to insure adequate cooling.

I've been anxiously waiting for the Nano-ITX motherboard (http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_N_spec.js p?motherboardId=221).

No, it doesn't have firewire but it supports up to 6 USB 2.0 ports.

No, his version doesn't have WiFi or Bluetooth but there is a Mini-PCI slot to add those things yourself (for far less than Apple would charge).

Also, there are some configurations of the board that are fanless. It's a shame that Kevin hadto use a board with such a huge fan/heatsink because that consumed most of the space inside the case and adds noise. If he used a fanless version he could have had plenty of room for a Slimline slot-loading optical drive.

I'm not trying to discount the Mac Mini (I'd love to have one) but I also think people should understand the potential of the Nano-ITX motherboard. It's soon going to be showing up in a lot of cars, entertainment centers, etc...

You might want to check out VIA's EPIA series (both Mini-ITX at 170 mm x 170 mm and Nano-ITX at 120 mm x 120 mm) and what people have done with it. At 160 mm x 160 mm and with rounded corners, the motherboard in a Mac Mini is just a wee bit smaller than Mini-ITX, and dwarfs Nano-ITX. All a PC maker has to do is make a good-looking box to put an EPIA in, and you have your dream.

You might want to check out VIA's EPIA series (both Mini-ITX at 170 mm x 170 mm and Nano-ITX at 120 mm x 120 mm) and what people have done with it. At 160 mm x 160 mm and with rounded corners, the motherboard in a Mac Mini is just a wee bit smaller than Mini-ITX, and dwarfs Nano-ITX. All a PC maker has to do is make a good-looking box to put an EPIA in, and you have your dream.

Speaking of Mini-ITX, VIA is introducing a new Mini-ITX board. It's got built-in compact flash slot and other features that suggest it could be the heart of the device they are coming out with. Then again a few other mini-itx boards could be too.

Here's some links. Plenty of connectors visible.

The EPIA MS
Mini-ITX.Com Review

Good call - and to go one better: Nano TX! I'm just waiting for these things to speed up a bit then drop it in whatever I feel like using for a case - maybe a SuperFamicom, Turbo-Grafx 16, or maybe even a beautiful Dreamcast! :D

http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_m_spec.jsp ?motherboardId=81

Epia PD Specs:

Damn.. didn't see this thing before, it's damn great for building a nice firewall.
It will even fit in my Raq2 case (damn MIPS :))

"Only" 20 watts? That seems pretty significant to me, especially since my next computer draws less than twice that on average.

See here for a hi-res picture (warning, it is 600k ).

In case you were wondering, it uses laptop-style SODIMM memory.