Intel D201GLY: cheap, low power mini-ITX

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Jul 29, 2007 6:07 am

Thanks for the info guys.....I'm in the process of down-loading the manual. I'm on a dial-up...this will take a while.

I'm intending to run this thing on a 120w PICO.....using their 50w AC/DC power supply. I'll have a laptop HD connected to the board, nothing else. I think it should work like that. The option is to run the PICO off a 12v battery, which is being charged by a small solar panel.

I suspect this Intel board will be supported for a while....with more info about it floating around, more so than the VIA boards I've been considering. My concern is about the power draw, which I'd like to keep under 50w.

sea2stars · Post by **sea2stars** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:16 am

mcoleg - what did you swap out for the CPU heatsink?

I went to boot the board Saturday night and I noticed that the PicoPSU doesn't come with a 4-pin adapter; nothing happened besides the fans spinning. I should have one in a couple of days.

mcoleg · Post by **mcoleg** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:27 am

i tried several different ones, ended up with this:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5934/ ... ?tl=g40c16

before that i tried this:

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/3860/ ... d=rXxUnJwS

a bit of a pain

and this:

http://www.svc.com/rt-ucl-l4u1.html

didn't like the fan noise on it though, swapped it for a mini-kaze.

to be honest, all that cpu needs is the sink it came with. clean up the thermal goo, put some as5 on, change the fan for a mini-kaze and it would work fine.

on the other hand, i could run the cooler master and silenx fanless, with only an exhaust fan in the case.

dougz · Post by **dougz** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:15 am

didn't like the fan noise on it though, swapped it for a mini-kaze.

Is the mini-kaze durable? 40mm fans on mini-itx cases seem to get noisy quickly, according to posts I've read. The 40mm "industrial strength" fans for rack mount cases are durable, but not particularly quiet.

Ideally, I'd like to use this board in a box that would let me have one 3.5" HD, one 5.25" full-size optical, and the use of the PCI slot for networking. High efficiency power supply preferred. Quiet, but not necessarily silent.

The Morex Venus 668 seems to be the only suitable case, although it is bigger than I like. The real killer is that it adds two more 40mm fans. http://www.logicsupply.com/products/venus_668b

Any suggestions for how to use this board in a quieter manner for a home server?

mcoleg · Post by **mcoleg** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:52 pm

dougz - not sure how durable it is, looks ok. i doubt it will die on you but even if it will, what's the worst that's going to happen, the sink is going to run fanless?

i doubt you'll even notice.

"Ideally, I'd like to use this board in a box that would let me have one 3.5" HD, one 5.25" full-size optical, and the use of the PCI slot for networking. High efficiency power supply preferred. The Morex Venus 668 seems to be the only suitable case" - it's a q-box, isn't it? sure looks like one...

wonder what the power efficiency on that psu is.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811165041

this one could be quiet if you don't mind slim optical. it will take 3.5" hd.

dougz · Post by **dougz** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:38 pm

mcoleg, thanks for the post. I should probably have been clearer, but my concern with having three relatively quiet 40mm fans was that they would soon turn into three noisy 40mm fans due to bearing wear, as mentioned in other fora.

I read the NewEgg customer reviews on the iStar case after you first mentioned it in your build post. Nice value, but one poster said that the PCI riser was was a problem and there were numerous reports of durability and fit/finish issues issues. PCI is essential for me.

Morex PSU: "Power supply efficiency typical 70% at normal AC main voltage and full load on all outputs." 220W is way overkill for my needs. OTOH, I probably don't need to use the two 40mm case fans with what appears to be an 80mm PSU fan. http://www.morexintl.com/product/case/ENP2222D_SPEC.pdf

If that didn't work, I could probably remove the PSU, mount a quiet 80mm case fan where the PSU was, and add a picoPSU.

The whole mini-ITX thing is new to me and the Intel board isn't compatible with a lot of cases, if Logic Supply is to be believed.

I'm still going to hold off a bit to see what happens with the AMD DTX offerings for use with Windows Home Server. Don't want Windows, but a DTX board with low power (or undervolted) Sempron in a small microATX box would suit me fine. Driver support might be better for Linux than the D201's.

Don't want Via C3/C7 because I'd have to recompile for it... http://wiki.contribs.org/JetwayMiniITX

mcoleg · Post by **mcoleg** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:12 pm

all this mini stuff is new to me as well...

haven't tried the pci riser yet; i need to find something to stick in pci slot first

. if there are any problems, i'll let you know.

take posts on newegg with a grain of salt - people complain because they don't know what they are talking about most of the time. same goes for positive posts as well.

btw, the mini-kaze is sleeve, i think.

as for efficiency; i don't know, the higher the better. it's somewhat noticeable in a small system. check this out:

your system would burn about what, 40w?

40w at 70% efficiency is 57w

40w at 90% efficiency is 45w (brick psu)

it's hard to get a good efficiency at loads that small from regular psus. you probably will want to upgrade to that pico soon after you'll build it.

B5S4 · Post by **B5S4** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 4:42 pm

For those who want to program the fan controller but are having issues with SpeedFan, (as long as BIOS leaves the SMBUS controller on, which would show up in Device Manager), you should be able to communicate with the Winbond chip directly assuming you have a tool for SMBUS communication (Linux has these).

BIOS itself does not control the fans, it just sets target temps in the Winbond chip. If you look at the board you can see the part number and the data sheet can be dowloaded.

calvinsy · Post by **calvinsy** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:30 pm

Those who have this board up and running. Can you confirm what kind of memory you are using?

I've tried a Kingston ValueRam 1gb ddr2 667mhz and it does not post. It powers up but won't post - the green lights don't flash.

This is the ram I have > KVR667D2N5_1G

I know it supports 533 but all my experiences since SD ram days - high frequencies can always be clocked down. The 667 would run at 533 speeds?

After 2 mins of leaving it on, the northbridge heatsink get's hot but the cpu heatsink stays frozen.

I'm really hoping it's the CPU that's dead. I'd hate for this Intel board to be picky with ram.

Thanks, Calvin

derekva · Post by **derekva** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 9:53 pm

This could be very tasty when paired with a 4-port SATA PCI card as a Windows Home Server. The only downside (perhaps fatal) is the lack of a gigabit NIC.

-D

TracyyMcGradyy · Post by **TracyyMcGradyy** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 2:25 am

Kingston 533 Mhz DDR2 512MB

jmk · Post by **jmk** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:26 am

KVR667D2N5/1G and working 100 % ok.

B5S4 · Post by **B5S4** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 6:37 am

Corsair CM2X1240-6400C4 works (POSTed at 667MHz)

As for SATA ports, some of you have probably noticed there are 2 de-popped pads for SATA ports next to the IDE connecter. Im pretty sure the BIOS supports SATA still. You just need to get the SATA connectors reworked onto the board.

Wibla · Post by **Wibla** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 8:11 am

This would have been great if it had:

- two nics, gigabit
- 2-4 sata connectors
- dvi out

SleepyBum · Post by **SleepyBum** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 4:52 pm

B5S4 wrote:As for SATA ports, some of you have probably noticed there are 2 de-popped pads for SATA ports next to the IDE connecter. Im pretty sure the BIOS supports SATA still. You just need to get the SATA connectors reworked onto the board.

I think this board's chipset has some issues with SATA 3Gb/s backward compabilities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA ... TA_3Gb.2Fs

That might be one of the reasons they left the connectors off, so they didn't have to deal with the issues.

Anyone, replaced the CPU heatsink on this board or found some way to run it passive?

sea2stars · Post by **sea2stars** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:43 am

Yes. Read the thread.

B5S4 · Post by **B5S4** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 7:52 am

SleepyBum wrote:
B5S4 wrote:As for SATA ports, some of you have probably noticed there are 2 de-popped pads for SATA ports next to the IDE connecter. Im pretty sure the BIOS supports SATA still. You just need to get the SATA connectors reworked onto the board.
I think this board's chipset has some issues with SATA 3Gb/s backward compabilities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA ... TA_3Gb.2Fs

That might be one of the reasons they left the connectors off, so they didn't have to deal with the issues.

Anyone, replaced the CPU heatsink on this board or found some way to run it passive?

SATA 1 is still better than PATA

B5S4 · Post by **B5S4** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 10:45 am

I got my board all set up now in a T3310 case. I measured the power draw of the entire system at the wall under 100% CPU load and it only drew 30W. Pretty sweet little system:)

Master One · Post by **Master One** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 3:37 pm

Hi guys, I am a complete newbie to mini-ITX, and since I want to build one or more small machines with low power consumption to run 24/7, I stumbled over this nice little mobo, which seems to offer the best value so far (considering that comparable VIA are about twice the price or more).

At first my major concern is a fitting case. It should be rather cheap, and as already mentioned, this board seems to limit the case selection.

There is one case that caught my eye, it's from Jou Jye called Ice Cube CF-7989TC (designed to be used with the EPIA-TC board). I couldn't find this exact model on the manufacturer's website, but only two similar ones called CF-7989-M and CF-7978-C3, which seem to be slightly different variations for EPIA-M and EPIA-C3.

Looks like the Ice Cube CF-7978TC can only be found in various online-stores, like that and that one.

It has a fanless external 60W power-supply for TC-boards, and one PCI card can be used without the need of a riser-card (that's what the German description in the latter mentioned online-store says).

Can anybody tell me, if that case would be suitable for this Intel board?

Looks like it should fit in concerning the dimensions and headsink+fan, but will it work with the menioned 60W power-supply for TC-boards, and will the PCI card be on the right spot (considering, that the case it meant to be used with an EPIA-TC board)?

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:22 pm

I'd be interested if I could find a decent small case for it. Everywhere I've looked has only shown large HTPC cases, which I don't care for.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:18 pm

If you have access to Newegg or some other place that sells it, the natural partner case for this board is the iStarUSA S3. $90 is a good deal considering it comes with a Pico-PSU style PSU and AC-DC brick. There are a bunch of Morex mini-ITX cases that come with the Pico-style PSU and can be had for < $100. Check out Logic Supply, they sell the D201GLY and a variety of Morex cases.

Master One · Post by **Master One** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 12:59 am

jessekopelman wrote:If you have access to Newegg or some other place that sells it, the natural partner case for this board is the iStarUSA S3. $90 is a good deal considering it comes with a Pico-PSU style PSU and AC-DC brick.

Now that's pretty cool, because this item is offered by Procase in the Nederlands here in Europe (without doubt an OEM device), and is called NOAH.
It already caught my eye, and seems to be one of the best cases for that board. I just sent a request to Procase.

I don't know why, but I don't really like the Morex cases, but I honestly didn't take a closer look, so I have no idea, if they have any advantages compared to the IStarUSA S3 / Procase NOAH, considering they are in the same price range.

After some more reading, I already know, why the Jou Jye Ice Cubes are not an option (one one hand, the slot-faceplate is fixed for the mentioned EPIA boards and can not be exchanged, on the other hand, the mentioned power-supply for EPIA-TC does not fit).

I think I go for this board and the Procase NOAH case, together with a 2.5" harddisc, but I am still unsure about the memory. Intel says "up to 1 GB", but I just read a user comment, telling, it also works with 2 GB RAM (but he did not mention, which brand). There was a also a comment about a config as a router with 256 MB RAM running pfsense off a CF-card (would like to know, how this exactly can be accomplished). I am pretty convinced, that such a config around a D201GLY offers the absolute best value for a mini-ITX system.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 12:09 am

Master One wrote:There was a also a comment about a config as a router with 256 MB RAM running pfsense off a CF-card (would like to know, how this exactly can be accomplished). I am pretty convinced, that such a config around a D201GLY offers the absolute best value for a mini-ITX system.

If you are just planning to use this as a router/firewall/DHCP server, or the like, there is no practical reason to use more than 256MB of RAM. After all, most pre-made boxes for such a purpose only have 64MB or less of RAM. Given that 512MB costs about the same as 256MB these days, it might not be worth buying less than that, however. I would point out that for this task, you'd be even better off exploring using DD-WRT (or competing firmwares) on a compatible consumer-grade router. You can get a decent enough compatible router for ~ $100 and it will be silent, consume < 10W, and be smaller than any mini-ITX. The only reason to bother with a mini-ITX box is if you need to build some sort of file server or media player.

You run pfsense or any other distro off a card by using a CF-IDE adapter. You probably need to do a little diligence in choosing the right adapter and card as some of these are not bootable (problem seems more often with specific cards). One question is how to get the distro on the CF card in the first place. Some places will sell it to you, but a better choice would be if you had a card reader for a different PC so you could do it yourself. If you don't mind a less aesthetic option, you could just use a USB flash drive and same yourself the hassle of CF-IDE adapters and writing to CF cards.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:04 pm

One question - what's the CPU heatsink mounting system like? Is there any chance of buying a large northbridge heatsink and replacing the stock heatsink with it?

From my experience, the Mini-Kaze fans are pretty quiet, especially if you undervolt them a little bit. I'm not exactly sure what I used before, but I think a 100ohm resistor in series did the trick to quiet the whole thing down.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 2:32 pm

Nick Geraedts wrote:One question - what's the CPU heatsink mounting system like? Is there any chance of buying a large northbridge heatsink and replacing the stock heatsink with it?

Go back one page. mcoleg describes how he did just that and even tells you about various parts he tried.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:35 pm

Hmm... I've been seriously thinking of setting one of these up for a friend. He's been looking for a super-low power system for just downloading

Here's what I've got so far:

Intel BLKD201GLYL - $81.05
Corsair Value Select PC2-5300 1GB - $34.99
Casetronic Mini ITX 2699R - $75.64
Hitachi TravelStar 5K80 80GB 2.5" HD - Already have from old laptop

I'd just use a separately powered CD-drive to install the operating system, and then just leave it as is. All my other programs can be installed over the network after that.

All prices are in CAD (not that it matters today... hehe), and would there would be no shipping, since I could pick it up at the store. I'd probably replace the fans in the case and on the heatsink with mini-Kaze's, or follow mcoleg's instructions, but I'd do that after the basic system is up and running. Anyone have any thoughts on what I could do better, or what I'm missing?

jmk · Post by **jmk** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:08 am

I replaced the stock heat sink with Noctua NC-U6 and it fits nice. With 8 mm fan (Nexus, 1600 rpm) the system is silent enough compared to noisy stock fan (4400 rpm). CPU temp also dropped about 5 degrees C.

There is sufficiently space in Nexus Psile mini-ITX case for NC-U6. By the way, I bought my Psile second-hand for "only" 130 euros (DVD-RW included).

jmk · Post by **jmk** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:10 am

correction: 8mm fan -> 80mm fan

Flandry · Post by **Flandry** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:42 am

jmk wrote:correction: 8mm fan -> 80mm fan

==8 cm fan

Interesting little board.

jessekopelman · Post by **jessekopelman** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:47 pm

Nick Geraedts wrote: Here's what I've got so far:

Intel BLKD201GLYL - $81.05
Corsair Value Select PC2-5300 1GB - $34.99
Casetronic Mini ITX 2699R - $75.64
Hitachi TravelStar 5K80 80GB 2.5" HD - Already have from old laptop

Anyone have any thoughts on what I could do better, or what I'm missing?

That case is very shallow height-wise. Using the included heatsink you may be cutting things close. Remember that with a top down fan you want some clearance between the fan and the roof of the case. Hard to tell just from pictures how tall that heatsink is, but it looks at least 2" to me and the case is only 2.5" high (outside dimension) . . .