Looking for a mini ITX board - requirements inside

t_ski · Jan 27, 2011

I'm trying to build a new home server to replace my HP with proprietary hardware. I want to go mini ITX so I can keep the footprint very small, but I want to be able to do the following:

raid 5 (with 4 drives or more)
gigabit ethernet
2 ram slots (I want to put in 2GB now and be able to upgrade later)
eSATA
onboard video of any kind (not for gaming, just for setup. I will use RDP to get into it later.)

My other main requirement is to keep the cost down. So far I have only found this Intel board:

Intel BOXDQ45EK LGA 775 Intel Q45 Mini ITX Intel M...

I can get this for $130 plus a new CPU for it for less than $50. If I can find a different socket type that meets these needs and still costs less than $180 for both the CPU and board, that would work, too.

Thanks :toast:

MohawkAngel · Jan 27, 2011

It has to be Intel ?

If not then http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131659

With Wi-Fi included and could go up to 85 watts phenom2 x2 cpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103817

The mobo has the cpu cores unlock function in bios and some of these cpus can become a tricore or quadcore.

20$ more than what you wanna pay but the investisment worth it !

Maelstrom · Jan 27, 2011

Perhaps this combo:
CPU
Mobo

Or some socket 775 cpu with this

t_ski · Jan 27, 2011

MohawkAngel said:
It has to be Intel ?

If not then http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131659

With Wi-Fi included and could go up to 85 watts phenom2 x2 cpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103817

The mobo has the cpu cores unlock function in bios and some of these cpus can become a tricore or quadcore.

20$ more than what you wanna pay but the investisment worth it !

No, it does not have to be Intel, but from everything I've seen the numbers look a little better. Most of the mini ITX boards I've seen for AMD were nForce shipsets, which I'm not crazy about.

Maelstrom said:
Perhaps this combo:
CPU
Mobo

Or some socket 775 cpu with this

Do either of those support Raid? I can't find any mention of it on the NewEgg site or others.

Maelstrom · Jan 27, 2011

t_ski said:
Do either of those support Raid? I can't find any mention of it on the NewEgg site or others.

Only mention of raid for the ECS one was in its manual when it said eJiffy didn't support it (eJiffy is supposedly a little bootable linux, it's not needed). The Zotac board's manual says it supports RAID, but someone on newegg reviewed it and said that it actually didn't support raid even though it says it does. So, tbh, I can't say they have raid for sure

.

I'd just go with the first board you linked, unless you can get a bit more money and get a pricier socket 1156 board and cpu.

t_ski · Jan 27, 2011

Yeah, I'm leaning towards the Intel, but I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something.

DrunkenMafia · Jan 27, 2011

I was thinking about getting one of these myself:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_1019&products_id=16113

It supports:

With the latest AMD® SB850 southbridge, MINIX™ 890GX-USB3 is ready to support the latest SATA 6Gbps hard drives, and is the world’s first mini-ITX motherboard supporting this feature, thus users can setup their 6Gbps RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 arrays on a mini-ITX system.

alucasa · Jan 28, 2011

DrunkenMafia said:
I was thinking about getting one of these myself:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_1019&products_id=16113

It supports:

With the latest AMD® SB850 southbridge, MINIX™ 890GX-USB3 is ready to support the latest SATA 6Gbps hard drives, and is the world’s first mini-ITX motherboard supporting this feature, thus users can setup their 6Gbps RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 arrays on a mini-ITX system.

Just be careful with the TDP limit. I've been planning to pair it with 95w Thuban, but I've been delaying the build.

boogah · Jan 28, 2011

http://us.msi.com/vga_mb_pr/vga_20110124_e350ia.html

bobcat anyone? Maybe a lil overkill haha

alucasa · Jan 28, 2011

boogah said:
http://us.msi.com/vga_mb_pr/vga_20110124_e350ia.html

bobcat anyone? Maybe a lil overkill haha

Well, I have a home server that runs off X3 BE (forgot the model number).

Having said that, for mini-itx form factor, you also have lotta choices.

Computer Hardware,Motherboards,Server Motherboards...

cdawall · Jan 28, 2011

DrunkenMafia said:
I was thinking about getting one of these myself:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_1019&products_id=16113

It supports:

With the latest AMD® SB850 southbridge, MINIX™ 890GX-USB3 is ready to support the latest SATA 6Gbps hard drives, and is the world’s first mini-ITX motherboard supporting this feature, thus users can setup their 6Gbps RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 arrays on a mini-ITX system.

thats the AMD i was looking for

alucasa said:
Just be careful with the TDP limit. I've been planning to pair it with 95w Thuban, but I've been delaying the build.

the last couple of miniX boards have been modded for way over the 95w limit

t_ski · Jan 28, 2011

DrunkenMafia said:
I was thinking about getting one of these myself:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_1019&products_id=16113

It supports:

With the latest AMD® SB850 southbridge, MINIX™ 890GX-USB3 is ready to support the latest SATA 6Gbps hard drives, and is the world’s first mini-ITX motherboard supporting this feature, thus users can setup their 6Gbps RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 arrays on a mini-ITX system.

Not bad, but I'd prefer to use stadard DIMMs so I can swap parts out with another computer in the house if nneded.

boogah said:
http://us.msi.com/vga_mb_pr/vga_20110124_e350ia.html

bobcat anyone? Maybe a lil overkill haha

I'd be interested to know what they sell for, but probably over my budget.

alucasa said:
Well, I have a home server that runs off X3 BE (forgot the model number).

Having said that, for mini-itx form factor, you also have lotta choices.

Computer Hardware,Motherboards,Server Motherboards...

I didn't think of looking in the server catagory, but only three boards listed there support raid 5, and all of them are Supermicro boards with so-dimms

alucasa · Jan 28, 2011

You can also take a look at http://www.logicsupply.com/

t_ski · Jan 28, 2011

Thanks. Checking them out now...

alucasa · Jan 28, 2011

Anything that is being sold on Logicsupply is probably out of your budget, but it's always good to take a look at those. It's quite educational.

t_ski · Jan 28, 2011

Yes, they were a bit pricey. I'm trying other places too, like ewiz and mwave.

toastem2004 · Jan 28, 2011

Almost all the 'bobcat" boards will be meet ur requirement. they *should* be available retail mid-febuary. I've got (5) 2TB hard drives waiting for em to come out to get a proper WHS build.

t_ski · Jan 28, 2011

Not going to be able to wait that long, as I just sold my MediaSmart.

What about this one?

ZOTAC 880GITX-A-E AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB...

I can buy that board plus a CPU plus a stick of DDR3 for $164 shipped. That's $40 cheaper than the Intel motherboard, cheap Celeron and 2GB DDR2.

alucasa · Jan 28, 2011

Go for it.

[Ion] · Jan 28, 2011

t_ski said:
Not going to be able to wait that long, as I just sold my MediaSmart.

What about this one?

ZOTAC 880GITX-A-E AM3 AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB...

I can buy that board plus a CPU plus a stick of DDR3 for $164 shipped. That's $40 cheaper than the Intel motherboard, cheap Celeron and 2GB DDR2.

Agreed, go for it. That has the option to upgrade to even a hex core & DDR3 is dirt cheap :cool:

t_ski · Jan 28, 2011

Thanks - probably will be pulling the trigger today

System Name	My i7 Beast
Processor	Intel Core i7 6800K
Motherboard	Asus X99-A II
Cooling	Nickel-plated EK Supremacy EVO, D5 with XSPC Bayres & BIX Quad Radiator
Memory	4 x 8GB EVGA SuperSC DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 SuperClocked
Storage	Samsung 950 Pro 256GB m.2 SSD + 480GB Sandisk storage SSD
Display(s)	Three Asus 24" VW246H LCD's
Case	Silverstone TJ07
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Keyboard	Corsair K95
Software	Windows 10 x64 Pro

System Name	Freyja
Processor	Core i7 3770K
Motherboard	AsRock Z77 Extreme4
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	16 GB GSkill Sniper
Video Card(s)	Diamond Radeon HD 7970
Storage	Kingston HyperX 240 GB SSD + Seagate 2 TB HD
Display(s)	Dell U2410
Case	NZXT Tempest 210
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar Essence STX
Power Supply	Seasonic X-Series 750W
Software	Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit

System Name	My i7 Beast
Processor	Intel Core i7 6800K
Motherboard	Asus X99-A II
Cooling	Nickel-plated EK Supremacy EVO, D5 with XSPC Bayres & BIX Quad Radiator
Memory	4 x 8GB EVGA SuperSC DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 SuperClocked
Storage	Samsung 950 Pro 256GB m.2 SSD + 480GB Sandisk storage SSD
Display(s)	Three Asus 24" VW246H LCD's
Case	Silverstone TJ07
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Keyboard	Corsair K95
Software	Windows 10 x64 Pro

System Name	Freyja
Processor	Core i7 3770K
Motherboard	AsRock Z77 Extreme4
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	16 GB GSkill Sniper
Video Card(s)	Diamond Radeon HD 7970
Storage	Kingston HyperX 240 GB SSD + Seagate 2 TB HD
Display(s)	Dell U2410
Case	NZXT Tempest 210
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar Essence STX
Power Supply	Seasonic X-Series 750W
Software	Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit

System Name	My i7 Beast
Processor	Intel Core i7 6800K
Motherboard	Asus X99-A II
Cooling	Nickel-plated EK Supremacy EVO, D5 with XSPC Bayres & BIX Quad Radiator
Memory	4 x 8GB EVGA SuperSC DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 SuperClocked
Storage	Samsung 950 Pro 256GB m.2 SSD + 480GB Sandisk storage SSD
Display(s)	Three Asus 24" VW246H LCD's
Case	Silverstone TJ07
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	Corsair AX1200
Keyboard	Corsair K95
Software	Windows 10 x64 Pro

Looking for a mini ITX board - requirements inside

t_ski

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MohawkAngel

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Maelstrom

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Maelstrom

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cdawall

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t_ski

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[Ion]

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t_ski

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