New low-price clone system alternative

[Tehtsuo]

Don't know if this would interest anyone, as it's pretty limited, but Intel is pushing their new Atom gear. Here's a site with pre-orders available. Max 2g memory, 1.6 processor, and a pci slot (Not express, I think). I think it might be a low price way for people to break into hardware multiboxing with identical systems.

http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatalog/Motherboards.html

Check out the power usage - you could probably get away with a 250w power supply on that thing.

[Bovidae]

You could probably get away with a 90w power supply on that thing.

I'm thinking HMPC, because low power -> low heat -> quiet fans -> no hum while watching movies.

It would be a cheap experiment to see if this can even handle 800x600 WoW

/edit: It cant 800x480, tv resolution
even better, the heatsink with fan isn't the processor, thats the northbridge. the processor is the tiny heatsink with no fan.

[Shaitan256]

I guess for WoW it's more than enough ;) ok if you have about 1GB RAM as a minimum, you could get some sort of perfomance decrease in Cities, I guess this onboard graphx has shared memory doesn't it? if no it would run with 1 GB easily.

[Tehtsuo]

1.6ghz processor and onboard Intel based video??

RUN AWAY.Normally I'd say the same thing, but:

1) This is a reference board. There will be other versions out before long with much more appealing options
2) Look at the price. Mobo/proc for near $100 is a reasonable value
3) Extremely low wattage/noise/heat
4) Size - The picture is pretty much to scale, around 5x5. You could stack those things like bricks.

While I'll agree this deal probably isn't the best choice for average multiboxers, I think the mini-ITX form factor is worth keeping an eye on, especially now that Intel seems motivated to promote it. Those power requirements are pretty diminutive.

[ThatIrishGuy]

I really wonder if it could run wow, id put a 2gb stick in each, so i wonder...

[Ishar]

I would run far away from this mobo. But, @Tehtsuo ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=User&userID=2820') cause he mentioned Mobo + proc for 100 bucks, from newegg(im sure you could find a slightly better deal somewhere else if you looked hard enough):

http://c1.neweggimages.com/brandimage/Brand1442.gif ('http://www.newegg.com/Store/Brand.aspx?Brand=1442&name=BIOSTAR') BIOSTAR NF61S-M2 TE AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138103
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Brisbane 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103243

Currently out of stock (bizzare, I bought 2x of each a week ago, go figure) and too lazy to look for similarly priced items, but
$47.99 for the Mobo, and $59.99 for the CPUl so about 100 bucks. (I think geeks.com was actually cheaper for very very similar products, but i went with NewEgg because of the free shipping.

Can put together a quasi decent clone PC for about 340-400 bucks if you go AMD. (not an AMD cult follower, I actually prefer Intel CPUs, but the AMDs are sooooo much cheaper, hehe.)

Might need to add a bit to that for 3d card, i went with an 8500 GT because it was cheap, and my target-game is EQ1, not WoW.

Ishar

[ThatIrishGuy]

but also, the form factor, heat and power to run these mobo, could be the difference to some people who dont have alot of space...