Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Pentium-M In Mini-ITX Format

Posted by timothy on from the oh-be-passive dept.

Hektor_Troy writes "A German outfit is going to introduce a Pentium-M based mini-ITX board. Finally good performance in a small size. The manufacturer claims it can be cooled pasively, but I'd like to see it first." "Good performance in a small size" is relative, of course -- I like the quiet little EPIA system in front of me pretty well ;)

20 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. 'finally good performance'? by Neophytus · · Score: 4, Informative

    The shuttle sff range have been up with the big boys since they got an AGP slot.

  2. awesome by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I'll believe the passive cooling party considering you can put these in laptops with their puny little fans so a single case fan should be fine.

  3. page hits by Eyston · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why would you link to a secondary site talking about the companies announcement and not the actual announcement?

    http://www.lippert-at.com/miniitx.html

    -Eyston

  4. Re:Excellent! by FrostByte03 · · Score: 5, Informative

    the Pentium M is not a Pentium 4M, its a Pentium 3 enhanced, P3 core, larger L1 64kilobyte cache L2 1megabyte with the P4 host bus interface, longer pipeline at 12 stages. Intel added an extra pin on the chip to prevent it from being plugged into existing motherboards and hence a new license agreement. What I like about the chip is that the 1.7Ghz Pentium M is faster than the Pentium M 2.2ghz and consumes (about) 27watt only... Radisys has a microATX board with AGP http://www.radisys.com the E7501 chipset can be used with the Pentium M chip its a matter of time till someone makes a mboard with the chipset with AGP http://www.intel.com/design/intarch/pentiumm/penti umm.htm FrostByte

  5. Re:Yeah... by FrostByte03 · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.radisys.com MicroATX board fro Pentium M with AGP FrostByte

  6. Re:more Pentium M less P4s by mabhatter654 · · Score: 3, Informative
    It's really a next gen P3 not a P4! It's a like P3 with support for 400MHz ram and other goodies every one wanted when the travisty of P4 came out. There's more to it than that, but it's a far more efficent processor than a P4---more ops at less MHz and watts.

    Actually, it looks like they are building this board to qualify for a Centrino logo! This requires specific intel hardware all of which is in the demo photo. Unfortunately, this will cost a small fortune if you can even find it at retail. SBCs are horribly expensive, but do make allowances for extended/harsh environment [run with no fan at 120 degrees in the shade] needed for industry and public service. Think welded shut in a subway station or under a steel drop forge type apps.

  7. heat issues by JDizzy · · Score: 2, Informative

    If they can make a better product than the soekris boards I might get interested. It is generally accepted that Intel chips have not been capable of being passivly cooled since the early Pentium days. I'd say the pentium 166(??) was the last passivly coolable design before active cooling became mandintory. A router doesn't need that much processor to operate unless its some sort of ultra-utilized mega router.

    --
    It isn't a lie if you belive it.
  8. Standard Components by Eamon+C · · Score: 3, Informative
    I like the quiet little EPIA system in front of me pretty well.

    Then you must not be using Linux. Some cool folks like this guy (not to mention this guy) are working hard at making Linux work on the EPIA -- but it doesn't have to be this hard. I've been keeping my eye on these MiniITX boards for some time now, but I'm waiting until I can do everything I want (play DVDs and DivX files, maybe run a couple emulators) without reverse-engineering drivers. Maybe this new board will make it happen.

    1. Re:Standard Components by Rob+Simpson · · Score: 3, Informative

      Huh. I've got a VIA C3 on a PC Chips M787 board (yeah, I know, but it was $260 Canadian) and it works fine on linux. The only problem I've had is getting the sound to work on Mandrake 9.1, but Knoppix/Morphix KDE work fine. (I installed the latter, since I couldn't figure out how to get Knoppix to install.)

  9. is this news? by rewdy · · Score: 5, Informative

    has anyone been paying attention to the mini-itx community? Commell Systems has had mini-itx pentium4 based boards out for months in both mobile and desktop processor versions.

  10. more power in the same size by quisquil · · Score: 2, Informative

    as far as i know, this has been around for a while and now there is a mobile version too

    1. Re:more power in the same size by ciroknight · · Score: 2, Informative

      This is where intel went wrong..

      There are two different processors right now in Intel's Mobile fleet. One is called the Pentium 4-M, the other is simply Pentium M. The one we are discussing is the Pentium M. The boards you linked to are the Pentium 4-M. The difference is that they took technology from the Pentium 4 and applied it to a chopped down version of the Pentium 3's core. Things such as the 400MHz processor bus, the Micro ops L1, and other chip level micro enhancements were copied back to the Pentium 3 (tualitin). This makes the Pentium M really something like Pentium 3.5, but they really couldn't name it that, so they simply dropped the number and it became Pentium M.

      Recent delays in Prescott make me think they are probably doing that to a more developed level to the Pentium 4's core so that the "Pentium 5" won't run as hot. Prescott definitely won't see the advantages of the copying, but Tejas, or possibly even a Prescott b revision, will.

      --
      "Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is." G.W.Bush
  11. fastest fanless? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    passively cooled hmmm...

    I've been looking for a silent computer for a while and only found the hushtechnologies and the tranquil pc. Both run on via eden 1ghz mainboards customised to be fanless (the 1ghz would normally have a fan), that's not much horsepower but as fanless computers go that's cutting edge.

    I'm actually seriously considering buying one, they cost more, but for home recording (computer in same room as instruments) it will make a huge difference especially when recording queit sources.

    So if this board is passively cooled and running at 1600 then it should end up in the hush and the tranquil... and the 'Silent Computer' just got 60% faster!

  12. Re:Excellent! by quisquil · · Score: 2, Informative

    I have good news for you the "day" you are waiting for... has passed already.
    Buy one of this and one of this
    then add your preferite socket 478 processor, some RAM, HD, DVD and you are done...
    You could use it as a stove if needed (you never know, you may get hungry playing).

  13. Pentium-M is P4-based, not P3 by Alereon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Pentium-M IS a Netburst-based CPU, just like the P4. What Intel did was to shorten the pipeline, thus increasing the IPC, making the CPU do more work per clock cycle. Thus, the Pentium-M is what the P4 SHOULD have been, had Intel not implemented a long pipeline to get higher clockspeeds for marketing purposes. It is a "P3-like" P4, but it's still a P4.

    1. Re:Pentium-M is P4-based, not P3 by FrostByte03 · · Score: 2, Informative

      it is it lacks netburst hence its shorter pipeline it does have SSE2

      http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/03 08 .3/0086.html

      http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8368

    2. Re:Pentium-M is P4-based, not P3 by connorbd · · Score: 4, Informative

      This is not true. The Pentium-M/Banias is a P6, and it was designed by the same Israeli design team that produced the ill-fated Timna chip. I think Banias was given to them because Intel knew that an overclocked P6 (a Tualatin at least) could spank a Pentium 4, and the Israeli team knew more about the P6 architecture than anyone else in the company. Banias borrows some ideas from the P4, but it's essentially a Pentium Pro milked as far as it can possibly go, which puts it as the direct successor to the Pentium III.

  14. Re:look up Hush PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    Whoa, there. I'd check VIA's page on the C3 being cool before you say it's slower than a 1GHz Celeron. It's at http://www.via.com.tw/en/viac3/pcb.jsp. Scroll to the performance per watt graph (just above the fanless heat rendering)
    None of the graphs show actual speed comparisons (because the C3 would lose them all). The graph you're referring to shows that the 1ghz C3 is faster than the 1ghz celeron per watt, which is not in dispute. Look, the Nehemiah is cool (literally) but it is not fast. Ok, compared to the Ezra or the Crusoe it is...
  15. Re:floppy? by fred666 · · Score: 2, Informative

    In fact, every modern motherboard (manufactured after year 2000) can boot from USB devices, which can be USB hard disks, USB CD-Rom, USB floppy drives and event USB ZIP drives. Unfortunately, i tried to boot from a Card-reader plugged on the USB: it crashes the 3 computers i tried. :-(

    Go check your BIOS...

  16. Re:Excellent! by Chaosrider · · Score: 2, Informative

    Another embedded project called Army Linux uses the VIA technologies Mini-ITX form factor motherboard. The Army Linux project documents the development of an embedded Linux system constructed from a 50-caliber ammunition canister, which features a backlit LCD screen and a small 1U power supply. The site covers construction techniques, costs and hardware installation.