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Small Footprint PCs?

Posted by Cliff on from the the-smaller-the-better dept.

Gameface asks: "I am looking for the smallest system I can find, in quantity, for my company. We need thousands of these systems, and I'd like to ask the Slashdot community what they'd recommend. Looking for the tiniest footprint for: Case, Motherboard, CPU, RAM, HDD, Serial Port, (2) 10/100 ports. No video required, no sound, all access will be via console (serial port). No OS, just a bare piece of hardware that I can load the OS onto the HDD. I'd really like to find something with SIMMS so we can upgrade the RAM if we need to. And of course, price is very much an issue. Thanks."

4 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Really small by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Have a Cappuccino.

  2. Small Form Factor (SFF) Forum by buffy_fan · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://forums.viahardware.com/categories.cfm?catid =33

    These guys know quite a bit about SFF computing.
    Bit curious what you need them for though - people are suggesting Rack mounts, but you seem to need serial access - is rackmount appropriate, or will they be scattered?

    Have you considered the VIA EDEN/EPIA? If performance is not a major concern, but size/energy/heat/cost are, it might have what you want...
    http://www.via.com.tw/en/Products/eden.js p
    http://www.mini-itx.com/

  3. Crystal computers by billmaly · · Score: 3, Informative

    Utilize a single board computer, lots of exp. w. remote access. I used to work there....used too. www.crystalpc.com

  4. Servers? by funkboy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Given the fact that you want no video, it seems you need servers on the cheap. If you're actually buying thousands (or really more than ten or so) of machines, I suggest you go with an integrator like XRam or Fnord. They'll build whatever you want for you, configure everything EXACTLY the same, test everything, install & do a basic config (i.e. network config and root password) for any OS you want, and install your machines on site. I'm sure the'll give you a nice quantity discount if you buy in the numbers you're talking about.

    Don't even THINK about deploying that quantity of machines without racking them in a proper datacenter type environment (cooling, ample redundant AC power feeds, generator, decent physical security, etc.); FORGET about normal PC cases on Ikea shelves in your basement/office. Whatever cash you would save doing it the ghetto way is absolutely not worth the headache of blowing breakers, having your ambient temp at 35-40C and grilling PC parts if your cheap-o electro-cool chiller dies or spills its bin of water all over the place, your local power company decides you're not important, etc.

    That being said, here are a few links for what I'd build if I had to do it myself on the cheap (try googlegear.com for good qty. 1 prices on this stuff:

    Elite K7S5AL mobo (integrated lan)
    1.2 GHz AMD Duron with a really good fan (i.e. Tai-Sol or similar overclocker freak fan)
    at least 512M of brand-name CAS2 ECC DDR SDRAM
    Western Digital JB series hard drive (WD800JB or WD1200JB)
    Netgear FA311 NIC

    The cheapest 2u rack case on the net seems to be the Electroseller IPC-2025 at $118 without power supply and fans. It takes nomal ATX size CDRom, floppy, power supply, fans, etc. pricewatch is your friend (-:.

    This should net you a pretty sweet 2u rackable server for about $500. I envy not the man that has to assemble more than about 10 of these things by himself. Maybe those chainmail gloves that people that shuck clams for a living use would help.

    If you want to do something with the data on these machines, you'll probably want to stick a pair (yes, a pair) of big ethernet switches in front of them. I suggest Foundry or Extreme. You can buy these "certified used" from BizInt.

    "Imagine a beow..." (-: