Mini Computer World |

A fair while since its original post, Logic Supply has pubished its second review of the Chenbro ES34069 Mini-ITX PC case, paired with the Gigabyte GA-6KIEH-RH Mini-ITX motherboard.

Although no formal or extended test results were conducted, the reviewer was pleased with the system:

After my (admittedly small) battery of real-world tests, I can conclude that this system really can make an excellent small form factor NAS, HTPC, or media server. The GME965 platform on the Gigabyte 6KIEH mainboard is more than capable of handling HD video and DVD playback, and the system kept within a reasonable operating temperature during its overnight CPU burn in an enclosed box.

The Chenbro ES34069 Mini-ITX PC case supports 4 x hot-swap 3.5″ SATA disk bay, an internal 2.5 disk bay, a slimline optical drive bay anda SD/Mini-SD/MMC/MS card reader in a compact format (d x w x h: 10.24″ x 5.51″ x 10.24″ or 260mm x 140mm x 260mm).

The Gigabyte GA-6KIEH-RH Mini-ITX motherboard supports Intel mobile CPUs and features an impressive 5 SATA ports, 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports and the most comprehensive set of video output ports - DVI, HDMI, Component/YPbPr.

GA-6KIEH-RH Specifications:

• CPU: Socket P, supports Intel Core 2 Duo & Celeron M processors
• Chipset: Intel GME965 + ICH8M
• RAM: 2 x 240-pin DIMM, up to 4 GB of DDR2 533/667 RAM
• Expansion Slots: 1 x PCI slot, 1 x MiniPCI slot, 1 x MiniPCIe slot
• Display: Intel GMA X3100 Integrated Graphics, 1 x  VGA output, 1 x DVI output, 1 x YPbPr
• Audio: 5.1 Channel HD Audio, 1 x SPDIF Out (Coaxial)
• Storage: 1 x IDE port, 5 x SATA2 ports, 1 x CF
• LAN: 1 x Intel 82566DC Gigabit, 1 x Intel 82573L Gigabit
• USB: 8 x USB 2.0 (4x rear panel, 4x internal)
• I/O: 2 x serial

This is a good combination of case and board for who wants to build a compact home server or HTPC with ample storage and comprehensive features.

Read the full article here.

Technorati Tags: Core 2 Duo, Gigabyte, GME965, Intel, mini motherboard, mini pc case, mini-itx

SweClockers has reviewed the Jetway NC81-LF Mini-ITX motherboard. They used the Jetway motherboard with a AMD Phenom X3 8650 triple core CPU (2.3GHz, 95W TDP) and compared it to the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H Micro-ATX motherboard.

They found the Jetway board’s performance to be close to the Gigabyte board - although slightly below.

1080p VC-1 HD playback did provide a good surprise, with the Jetway board requiring much less CPU that the Gigabyte (27% vs. 38%). Could the sideport memory be responsible for this? Regardless, this makes the Jetway board a very good candidate for HTPC.

Finally, power consumption of the Jetway board did not exceed 115W when the Gigabyte peaked at 146W for the 3DMark06 test. This is consistent with the 110W measured by EPIACENTER.de when paired with the Athlon64 X2 5000+ CPU (89W TDP - review here). A good point for this Mini-ITX board.

Overall, they liked the Jetway NC81-LF Mini-ITX motherboard, being a fully featured board, with decent onboard graphics, and good for HD playback.

Limitations are with the lack of PCIe (1 PCI slot), inability to overclock, and the use of SODIMM RAM.

Read the full article (translated from swedish) here  [original article] [via the inquirer].

Technorati Tags: 780g, Gigabyte, Jetway, mini motherboard, mini-itx, nc81-lf, phenom, sideport

Mini-ITX.com has reviewed five Atom Mini-ITX: Intel D945GCLF motherboard, Gigabyte GA-GC230D, Jetway JNC91, MSI MS-9830, and Intel D945GCLF2 (featuring the Dual Core Atom 330).

They found the D945GCLF2 to stand out thanks to it’s Dual Core Atom CPU, without compromising the power consumption, while the MS-9830 did offer the lower power consumption thanks to the use of the 945GSE chipset, and was the only motherboard in the reviewed that offered DVI.

Read the full review here.

Technorati Tags: 945gc, 945gse, atom, Gigabyte, Intel, Jetway, mini motherboard, mini-itx, MSI