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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 ;)

10 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. Performance by Stonent1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Pentium M is quite a bit faster than any EPIA board. Interestingly enough Pentium M MHz per MHz is faster than the Pentium 4.

  2. I'd love to build a new PC... by Boone^ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think at the age of 27 I'm finally starting to outgrow gaming, so the concept of a "lightweight" PC that can be used for digital imaging and video storage interests me. My thirst for FLOPS isn't totally gone, so the Athlon64 has my attention as well. It's like trying to choose between a Civic and a monster truck. :(

  3. Re:Excellent! by El_Ge_Ex · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I love making very small computers to bring along to lan parties.

    I'll see your LAN party and raise you this:

    mini-ITX board + cheap 3d processor + Linux = ???

    Give up? Here's a hint. It makes Microsoft's Xbox Development team shake in their boots.

    -B

    PS What would be more interesting? An Apple Game Console, or an IBM Game Console???

  4. Benchmarks comparing apples with oranges by starunj · · Score: 2, Interesting

    For once, I think we need some benchmarks comparing laptop processors to desktop processors. Just so we get an idea of how laptops actually perform rather than depending on the specs alone.
    Like right now, how does the Pentium-M compare to the Pentium 4/Athlon XP?
    Atleast we're sure that HTPCs can be faster now. . .

    1. Re:Benchmarks comparing apples with oranges by stryck9 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The pentium M is roughly 1.5 x faster than a P4 at equivelent MHz. A 1.6 pentium M performs about as fast as a 2.4 P4, while using significantly less power. You can find benchmarks on most hardware sites.

  5. Re:Excellent! by GigsVT · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A couple of the guys I know already have Shuttle systems they bring to LAN parties, those are one handed deals. They aren't low end either, usually they have some of the best hardware of all the attendees.

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  6. Yet another Thunderbird? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Perhaps I'll get in my Thunderbird and pick up one of these Thunderbird boards. I guess I'll need a new processor, too, since it uses Pentium-M instead of an AMD Thunderbird. I wonder how well Thunderbird performs on it? It's a good mail client.

  7. XBox 2 by pimpinmonk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think this would make an excellent platform for the next XBox or any sort of PC-hardware-based game console. It runs cool and fast as the dickens! (I'd say it'd be a much better option than a very hot and power-hungry AMD or Pentium 4 solution).

    I have a Pentium M notebook and I absolutely love it :-)

  8. Performance or Utility? by Shturmovik · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just because they aren't 10GHz Pentium IX's is pretty meaningless for many. The mini-itx thing is a Godsend to some of us.

    I use the EPIA EDEN 533MHz system for the two weather stations on my mountaintop observatory site. They are plenty fast enough, considering all they do is run the weather app and Opera/Eudora/network-clock/antivirus/firewall.

    I don't have AC up here yet, so low power consumption is way more important than beating somebody in a pissing competition over UT2k fps or Photoshop rendering speeds! :-)

  9. Perfect for Linux home gateway by -tji · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The Pentium-M will be a nice boost over the performance of the VIA C3 based EPIA boards.

    The other great things about this board:

    - Two ethernet ports on board - for Gateway usage. Internal port is the Gigabit port, for fast file serving. The external 100Mbps port is plenty of bandwidth for any reasonable Internet connection.
    - It appears to have a CompactFlash interface on the bottom. For the ultra quiet system, a 512MB or 1GB CF card provides a lot of space.
    - Pentium-M based - Low power consumption.. My server sits idle most of the time, and it lightly loaded for a good portion of its actual usage. The Pentium-M can be downshifted to a lower clock speed when not under load, to save even more power.
    - Wireless LAN on board - nice for the all-in-one Linux server.

    I could even see using one of these for a quiet workstation.. It supports dual head displays ( which I can't live without now).

    The only questions are Availability and Price.. The product announcement says it's intended for OEM's producing gaming, entertainment, and other high performance embedded applications. That does not sound promising for end-user availability.