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The D201GLY turned heads when it appeared in May this year. An embedded ULV Celeron 215 processor on a mini-ITX board from Intel at a rock-bottom price was definitely worthy of notice. The just-released D201GLY2 improves the board with two SATA channels and lower power draw with a Celeron 220. We examine the new board in detail and assess its significance in the mini-ITX world, in the trend towards smaller and cheaper, and in the emerging markets.
November 30, 2007 by Mike Chin and Nicholas Geraedts
| Product | Intel D201GLY2T embedded CPU mini-ITX motherboard |
| Manufacturer | Intel |
| Street Price | ~US $75 |
The realm of Mini-ITX mainboards has been dominated by VIA ever since they established the platform back in 2001. Their devices have been used in various integrated systems, such as the Seagate Mirra Personal Server we reviewed back in late 2006, and the Hush mini-ITX PC we reviewed in November 2003. They are also used in a slew of invisible industrial devices that run things like PoS terminals, touch-screen kiosks, and other applications where low power, low heat, low noise and low maintenance are critical.
Over the years, a manufacturers in the commercial arena have joined VIA in making mini-ITX boards, usually in small volume at high prices. Most utilize VIA chipsets and processors, but there are Intel P4, Pentium M (socket 479), Core, and Core 2 as well as AMD Geode, Turion, and AM2, with sockets that allow for removable CPUs. These board makers are little-known in the retail market, such as Commell, Jetway, Kontron, Portwell, and iBase. Other than VIA, the only board makers to have any kind of visible presence with consumer-oriented, full-featured mini-ITX boards have been AOpen and DFI, whose first mini-ITX boards we reviewed here.
The prices of both the retail and system integrator versions of mini-ITX boards have been, plainly speaking, ridiculously high. For the longest time, about $150 was the lowest price you could find anywhere for the most minimalist VIA (or VIA-based) mini-ITX board, usually with a CPU running at <1GHz that a Pentium 3 of half the clock speed could match in performance. Prices for better featured boards with any chipset and CPU/socket usually ran at least $250, and often, over $300, many without CPU.
The material cost of a 6.5″ square board has to be considerably less than that of a microATX board which is twice as big. So where’s the logic of boards like the AOpen i945GMt-FSA (C2D) and the Albatron KI690-AM2 both priced near $300… when microATX boards with more features like the recently reviewed Asus M2A-VM HDMI can be had for a measly $75? There can really be only one answer: Supply and demand. Like any smart vendor, these mini-ITX makers have been charging what the market will bear. Those who needed the unique qualities of mini-ITX have been willing to pay through the nose; there simply hasn’t been any choice.
Enter the Intel D201GLY
Released in May 2007, the D201GLY caught the attention of many because it’s an embedded-CPU mini-ITX board from one of the industry’s 800-lb gorillas, and because of its price. At a paltry $70-75, one could buy two or three D201GLY boards for the price of a typical VIA C7 board. Not to mention the fact that the D201GLY runs circles around a C7 1.5GHz equipped motherboard, as documented in mini-box.com’s enlightening comparison. (The comparison shows the Intel board achieving about double the score on a number of standard benchmarks.) The D201GLY lacked SATA ports, however, despite the traces for two SATA ports clearly visible on the board.
The questions glowed like neon (or, to be more uptodate, LEDs): With its huge manufacturing, distribution and marketing power, was Intel setting its sights on the mini-ITX market? Would Intel’s aggressive pricing steal market share from the rest and set them tumbling or would they stimulate new demand and blow the sector wide open?
In a partial answer six months later, Intel released the D201GLY2 with SATA ports installed and an upgraded processor, the Celeron 220. While running at a lower clock speed, the Celeron 220 lowered the TDP of the CPU from 27W to 19W, but it is suspected to perform better than its Yonah-based predecessor. Despite the hardware improvements, the retail price of the board hasn’t increased significantly.
| D201GLY2 SPECIFICATIONS (from the Intel web site) | |
| CPU | Celeron 220, soldered |
| Chipset | SiS SiS662 / SiS964 |
| FSB | 533 MHz |
| Memory | 1x DDR2-533/400 |
| Integrated Graphics | Sis Mirage 1 |
| Expansion Slots | 1x PCI Slot |
| USB | 6x USB 1.1/2.0 Ports |
| LAN | Broadcom 10/100 Adaptor |
| Sound | 2 Channel AC97 |
| South Bridge Speed | 1x ATA 133 channel |
| Serial ATA | 2x SATA 1.5Gb/s Channels |
The D201GLY2 provides all the necessities for a basic system. As is the norm for mini-ITX, there is only one PCI slot, and there’s just one DDR2 memory slot. Minimalist is good and fine, but we were a little surprised that our sample board came by itself and nothing else (not even a driver CD) in an anti-static bag! We’re guessing that our review sample was just that… a sample. Retail packages come with a driver CD, an ATA cable, SATA cable, and an I/O faceplate.
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| Not too much real estate left on this board… |
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| Everything in place. An AUX12V port is present (hidden by the ATX power cables), but we don’t really see why it’s necessary for such a low power device. |
MINI-ITX: LEADING THE SHRINKING TREND?
With their low cost and low power operation, mini-ITX motherboards are increasingly finding their way into the home computer segment, where serious shrinkage and price reduction has begun. In May 2007, Dell announced the Dell EC280 desktop system, targeted at Chinese consumers with a base price of RMB2,599 (~$350 USD). Centered around a Celeron 205 CPU and the SiSM661GX chipset, we’d guess that the hardware in the EC280 is a close cousin of the D201GLY. In October, the first of the AMD DTX small form factor prototype systems were released. The Mini-DTX form factor motherboard is more or less an adjunct to mini-ITX, differing mainly in offering space for two peripheral slots instead of just one. Just this month, Everex began selling it’s micro-ATX size VIA C7-based gPC for $199 USD at Walmart, just in time for the holiday season. Small footprint, low power, and low cost — what more could you ask for? Not to mention that the low power draw of these devices also satisfies green concerns of late.
Intel lists the D201GLY2 board under the Essential Series, which “are designed to build flexible, traditional configurations for the budget-conscious user.” The rest of the Essential Series, aside from the D201GLY/2 boards, are all based on the now-aging 945/946 chipset (around 2 years old, ancient by current chipset cycles), and support a wide range processors from the low power Celeron D to the high performance Core 2 Duo. Most are micro-ATX. The D201GLY2 is described specifically as “an innovative solution for the sub-value market segment; this board enables easy system integration and helps you to achieve a lower system cost.” Sub-value market segment is the key phrase: It is Intelspeak for what most of the IT industry calls “emerging markets”, or, in older econo-politico-speak, the developing countries. The subtitle of the D201GLY2 product brief — “Reaching the next billion users” — clearly confirms its intended role.
In this context, the low power envelope, the minimal features, and the low pricing all make perfect sense. This board is a corollary of the Classmate PC, Intel’s alternative offering to the OLPC XO and the Asus Eee PC laptops; the Classmate has been shipping to selected third world markets since March this year for about $175. The D201GLY2 is something a system integrator could use in desktop PCs (rather than laptops) for the same emerging markets. That the new board is available in the US and Europe suggests that Intel is betting there’s viable demand for such a product in the developed world. With the obvious shrinking of computing products across every category (except gaming), there is little question that there is indeed a growing market for small, integrated, low power motherboards everywhere in the world.
D201GLY2 VS. OTHER MINI-ITX
We looked at the common features of the D201GLY2 compared to some other mini-ITX systems that we’ve reviewed recently. Interestingly, it appears that even in the past month or so, prices for all mini-ITX boards appear to have dropped a bit. We don’t have any hard data, but it is a strong impression and memory that there were mini-ITX boards priced above $300 even a month or so ago, and now those prices are gone. This could be attributed to the arrival of the Intel board.
| Feature Comparison Chart | ||||
| Feature | Intel D201GLY2 | Albatron KI690-AM2 | AOpen i945GTt-VFA | VIA EPIA EN12000E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socket/CPU | ULV Celeron 220 embedded | AMD AM2 | Socket 479 | VIA Eden 1.2GHz embedded |
| RAM Support | 1x DDR2 | 2x DDR2 SODIMM | 2x DDR2 SODIMM | 1x DDR2 |
| IDE | 1x UDMA 100 | 1x UDMA 133 | 1x UDMA 100 | 2x UDMA 133 |
| SATA | 2x SATA 1.5GB/s | 4x SATA 3.0GB/s | 2x SATA 1.5GB/s | 2x SATA |
| RAID | No | 0, 1, 0+1, JBOD | No | No |
| Audio | 2 channel | 8 channel | 8 channel | 6 channel |
| Video Output | VGA | DVI/VGA/HDMI | DVI/HDMI | VGA/S-Video |
| Expansion slots | 1x PCI | 1x PCI | 1x PCIe x1 1x mini-PCI | 1x PCI |
| Price | ~$75 | ~$250 | ~$280 | ~$230 |
The D201GLY2 has all the basics, but it definitely has the fewest features of the lot. This is where some of the board’s low cost shows. Some might say that part of the Intel board’s low cost comes from its “lower quality” SiS chipset, but VIA is typically thrown in the same class as SiS, while Intel, nVidia, and ATI chipsets are considered to be in a higher quality bracket. We don’t believe that’s the reason for the low cost.
The obvious downside to the D201GLY2 is the lack of flexibility in the CPU, an inflexibility it shares with most VIA-based m-ITX boards. The boards with CPU sockets allow system builders to choose a CPU that’s just right. Whether this is important in the intended target market is questionable.
NOTE: D201GLY2T SAMPLE
There appear to be two variants of the D201GLY2 boards currently being shipped. While the product page on Intel’s website mentions an “optional” S-Video port, they forget to mention that this version comes with the previous generation Celeron 215 instead of the new-and-improved 220. Our sample turned out to be a D201GLY2T, a fact we didn’t actually notice until we’d gone through most of the testing. (Oops!)
The S-video port in the center marked our sample as a D201GLY2T.
The difference, aside from the number on the board SKU, is the S-video port in the center of the I/O panel. While the Celeron 215 board draws very little power as is, our guess is that the peak power draw with the Celeron 220 would drop by at least 5W.
BIOS & FAN CONTROL
The BIOS was rudimentary, not worth posting any pictures of. Basic settings were available, but most were of the enable/disable variety. There isn’t much flexibility. There is no indication that Enhance Intel SpeedStep (EIST, similar to AMD’s Cool ‘n’ Quiet) is supported. However, where the D201GLY2 shines is in its ability to be used as an integrated systems board. Intel offers a software utility called the Intel Integrator Toolkit with which system builders can create a custom BIOS file. With the custom BIOS, users can show a custom boot screen and prevent changes to CMOS settings, just to name a couple of options. This is the kind of flexibility that vendors need to customize their products. It’s also a pretty cool tool for the uber-geek.
Despite being packaged and advertised as passively cooled, the D201GLY2T has two 3-pin fan headers. We tried our reference 80mm Nexus fan, placed it on top of the CPU heatsink, and checked the fan speed. The fan header closest to the CPU always ran the fan at full speed, close to 1400 RPM. With the fan control in the BIOS engaged, the header closest to the ATX connector ran the fan at ~1280RPM, a slight decrease from maximum. We used an external voltage controller to set the fan speed lower.
TESTING THE D201GLY2T
The board was placed on one of our testbench platforms and fitted with the following components for a minimalist system. An optical drive was first plugged in to install Windows and drives, then removed to reduce clutter.
A quick and dirty test bench system built around the D201GLY2T
Measurement and Analysis Tools
Our test procedure is designed to determine the overall system power consumption
at various states (measured using a Seasonic Power Angel), and to test the integrated
graphics’ proficiency at playing back high definition videos. Standard HD-DVD
and Blu Ray discs can be encoded in three different codecs by design: MPEG-2,
H.264/AVC and VC-1. MPEG-2 has been around for a number of years and is not
demanding on modern system resources. H.264 and VC-1 encoded videos on the other
hand, due to the amount of complexity in their compression schemes, are extremely
stressful and will not play smoothly (or at all) on slower PCs, especially with
antiquated video subsystems.
Since we did not have a HD-DVD or Blu Ray drive at our disposal, we
used a variety of H.264 and VC-1 video clips encoded for playback on the PC
for testing. The clips were played with Windows Media Player 11 and a CPU usage
graph was created by the Windows Task Manger to determine the approximate
mean and average CPU use. High CPU usage is indicative of poor video decoding
ability on the part of the integrated graphics subsystem. If CPU usage reached
extremely high levels and the video skipped or froze, we concluded the board
(in conjunction with the processor) failed to adequately decompress the clip.
Video Test Suite
720p H.264: BBC’s
HD in Full Bloom is encoded with H.264. It features time-lapsed
photography, mainly of various flowers blooming with vibrant colors and
high contrast. 1280×720 | 24fps | ~6.1mbps1080p H.264: Rush
Hour 3 Trailer 1 is encoded with H.264. It has a good mixture
of light and dark scenes, interspersed with fast-motion action and cutaways. 1920×816 | 24fps | ~9.9mbpsWMV3 VC-1: Coral Reef Adventure trailer is encoded in VC-1 using the WMV3
codec (commonly recognized by the moniker, “HD WMV”). It features
multiple outdoor landscape and dark underwater scenes. 1440×1080 | 24fps | ~7.5mbpsWVC1 VC-1: Microsoft Flight Simulator X trailer is encoded in VC-1. It’s a compilation
of in-game action from a third person point of view. While the source
image quality is poor compared to the other videos in our test suite,
it was one of the few decent length clips we could procure encoded using
the Windows Media Video 9 Advanced Profile (aka WVC1) codec, a more demanding
implementation of VC-1. 1280×720 | 60fps | ~11.9mbps
The main source of noise was the reference Nexus 80mm fan that we placed on top of the CPU heatsink and undervolted to around 7V; in a word, pretty minimal. The Fujitsu notebook drive was mostly inaudible, and the Sparkle SPI220LE power supply fan did not turn on. Without active cooling, CPU temperatures rose to unacceptable levels — 70°C at idle and over 90°C within seconds of starting CPUBurn. With the fan at 12V, the load temperature dropped to 50°C, and rose to 58°C when the fan was slowed down to 7V. The difference between no airflow and some is enough to keep the CPU from incinerating itself. It’s likely that Intel intended for this board to be placed in an environment where airflow is provided by some external source, such as a case fan or a PSU fan.
| CPU Usage & Power Consumption | |||||
| Test | CPU Usage | AC Power | Estimated DC Power | ||
| Off | N/A | 2W | – | ||
| Idle | N/A | 32W | 24W | ||
| HD in Full Bloom (H.264) | 50-60% | ~36W | 27W | ||
| Rush Hour 3 (H.264) | 85-100% | 40W | 31W | ||
| Coral Reef Adventure (WMV3) | 90-100% | 40W | 31W | ||
| Flight Simulator X (WVC1) | 100% | 40W | 31W | ||
| CPUBurn | 100% | 40W | 31W | ||
| The Sparkle Power SPI220LE 80 Plus power supply used in this system is about 77% efficient at 40W AC input and 75% efficient at 30W AC input. | |||||
The D201GLY2T handled the Full Bloom and Rush Hour 3 clips without any difficulties. While CPU usage was considerably higher than with other systems we’ve tested recently, there was no noticable lag or stuttering. Note that there are actually two variants of 1080P, one at 24 fps and one at 60 fps (and possibly one at 30 fps). We’re testing 24 fps, not 60 fps. HD-DVD movies will probably be released at 24 fps, while most 1080P Television footage is likely to be 1080P / 60 fps.
Playback of the WMV3 and WVC1 clips wasproblematic. The Coral Reef video had intermittent stuttering during high motion segments, enough to bother most people trying to enjoy a movie. The Flight Simulator video was nearly impossible to watch. Whereas the occasional frame or two was dropped from the Coral Reef video, the occasional frame would be rendered from the Flight Simulator clip.
To confirm the absence of any EIST related controls in the BIOS, we tried setting the power management in Windows to Minimal Power, with no drop in idle power, which should happen if EIST is enabled. The processor may simply not support it, as it is considered an Ultra Low Voltage part.
Still, power consumption of the D201GLY2T is very low. To power an entire computer system for less than 40W AC (albeit with a high efficiency power supply) gives rise to new possibilities. While we wouldn’t recommend running the system completely passively, very little airflow is required to keep all the components of the board within safe limits.
CASUAL COMPARISONS
We were curious to see how the D201GLY2T stacked up against the recently reviewed Albatron KI690-AM2. Our Albatron board sample was fitted with 1GB of PC2-5300 SODIMM memory and an AMD X2 4800+ processor along with a similar notebook drive. The current market price of the Albatron system would be about $500, compared to about $220 for the Intel system.
We used FutureMark PCMark05 and ran the full suite of CPU benchmarks on both systems. Other benchmarks were not run, since they typically do not affect overall system performance as much, and it is difficult to keep consistency across platforms. We found that the D201GLY2 system ended up with a CPU score of about 2400, while the AMD powered system scored somewhere betwen 4800 and 5000 on repeated tests. We also know that the KI690-AM2 is capable of running HD video of the highest resolution, via DVI or HDMI outputs, unlike the Intel. Whether that’s worth the ~$280 difference depends on the viewpoint and needs of the buyer, of course.
Then there is the performance comparison posted by mini-box.com we mentioned earlier, where the Intel board trounced a VIA EPIA-EX15000G. The latter sells for around $270, has an embedded CPU like the Intel, and extra features such as Firewire, DVI video, S/PDIF opical and coax connections to balance the slower performance. Adding a PSU, memory, and HDD like the ones in our comparison systems would bring the total cost to about $400. Again, the question of relative value depends on the intended application and user’s perspective.
FINAL THOUGHTS
With a stunningly low price and a reasonably complete feature set, Intel has set a new standard for integrated motherboard manufacturers. At a price that undercuts comparable VIA offerings by at least half, Intel has a mini-ITX platform capable of handling most desktop computing tasks. With little effort, it’s possible to use the D201GLY2 to build a flexible, low-power, low-cost computer system for point-of-sales terminals, data collection systems, NAS devices, and just about anything else you could think of.
While not quite as low power as the VIA EPIA EN12000E, nor as capable as a system built from mini-ITX boards with CPU sockets, Intel has hit a sweet spot, providing good performance while keeping power consumption low and bringing price down to a new minimum. The D201GLY2 is able to handle all but the most demanding high definition video playback, and had no troubles with normal use over a couple of weeks’ trial.
One concern is the high CPU temperature without active cooling. It’s clear that Intel intended for the board to be run passively, but there is no way to this in an enclosed environment. Some airflow is required to keep temperatures to a reasonable level. The EPIA is able to run passively, but then again, it draws just half the AC power of our D201GLY2 sample did at full load.
Intel has already surpassed expectations in low-cost, SFF computing, but there’s always room for improvement. Is there any chance the next gen mini-ITX from Intel will provide us with a dual core CPU? Better integrated graphics with HD capability, DVI and HDMI? Or will they drop power consumption even further? The options seem endless with a company as big and diversified as Intel.
The new D201GLY2 could well mark the start of a transformation in the mini-ITX scene, and an acceleration of the trend to small, low power, low cost computing. It could also stimulate more activity in the emerging markets. Only time will tell; we’ll be watching and reporting.
| PROS * Low, low price | CONS * Simplistic default BIOS |
Many thanks to Intel for the D201GLY2T sample.
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Articles of Related Interest
Albatron KI690-AM2: A Mini-ITX Powerhouse
AOpen i945GTt-VFA m-ITX C2D motherboard
VIA EPIA EN12000E: Today’s most efficient CPU & mainboard
Asus M2A-VM HDMI: AM2 mATX motherboard
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