My latest project.

[someinterwebguy]

My good friend and I were talking on the phone recently when he inquired as to whether I could build a mac mini clone. Not a "hackintosh" mind you, sticking with Windows 7 as an OS. Though the intel version, when it finally works (more on that later), could easily be used as the basis for one.

I also happened to want a computer that I could UPS to my mom and her husband without much worry. I also wanted it to be portable and could be used on their big screen HDTV. It was going to be AMD based to keep it as inexpensive (not cheap) as possible.

I would show off great pictures of the intel based one smashing benchmarks, complete with wattage and º info, but after my first reboot, the Zotac board went belly up. I'm in the process of getting in touch with their RMA department.

The good news, is that my AMD-based clone of the clone, so to speak, is up and running, though I am looking at replacing the stock cooler with a good quality low profile one. The clearance needs to be ~40mm to be used in this small of a case. In the meantime, I'm going to hook up a 40mm fan to blow air into the case to see if that keeps temps down. This is a Zotac AM3 board, but seems to be doing fine 20 minutes into Prime95. I never even got that far with the intel-based one, though I do have a picture of the limited info I got before rebooting.

I'm looking forward to doing more with the intel-based once I get a replacement, as the wattage was really low and the chipset fan helped keep the whole unit much cooler than the AMD-one that only has the CPU cooler at the moment.

Will update as I continue on...





Intel running at stock, Windows Experience Index running.

Intel - everything but the Pico Power Supply/SSD installed.


Compared to CD.




AMD version transferring a large video over Wi-Fi


​

AMD Version
Zotac WIFI AMD 880G SB850
AMD Athlon X4 610e 45w TDP
8GB DDR1333 Corsair RAM
64GB Crucial M4 SSD
Pico PSU - 120w
M350 case

Currently running the AMD unit through the gauntlet...

 

[someinterwebguy]

AMD - Prime 95 @ 20 minutes.


AMD - Idle @ 15 minutes.


Playing 720p HD content​

 

[someinterwebguy]

Running F@H SMP client 4 cores 100%
​

 

[someinterwebguy]

Ordered a replacement HSF for the CPU, as the temps are higher that I would like.

Ordered a gigabyte micro-atx motherboard so I could run the 2400S and get performance info while the RMA process with Zotac takes place.

 

[snowbrd]

Jeez man thats pretty tiny. I'll take one if you can pack in more powa xD

 

[someinterwebguy]

Jeez man thats pretty tiny. I'll take one if you can pack in more powa xD

Once I get a replacement motherboard, I'll be able to finish my tests on the 2400S. Plus, Ivy Bridge is coming up. Even though the TDP limit for the case is technically 65watts, I might try to use a 77w Ivy Bridge with an aftermarket CPU cooler.

 

[someinterwebguy]

I've been using the machine to fold 24/7 since I took that photograph of its energy consumption while folding. It hasn't skipped a beat, although I look forward to the replacement low profile heatsink/fan's arrival. I'm not looking to overclock, just keep this setup as cool as possible.

I'm in the process of getting a replacement for the defective 1155 board mailed to me. Then I'll run the same tests on the resulting rig.

 

[someinterwebguy]

2400S tested solid and stable in temp home on Gigabyte motherboard. Temps inside much larger temp case are colder, and there is more airflow. Will remount into case as soon as the replacement arrives.

 

[Pinky]

This is the future of computing. Basically a cross between a media device and desktop.

 

[someinterwebguy]

Changing from the default HSF to a $9.95 Cooler Master model helped a bit with air distribution within the case. Still, based on my testing, it will be the Intel i5-2400S and future IB CPU's in this rig. Mailing off dead motherboard by itself, hopefully they're not wanting the 20 things that come with this.

 

[Diggrr]

Having built a couple ITX's myself, I'd have to recommend the Dynatron 1U cooler.
My socket 775 one kept my 65W E8400 nicely cooled for over a year until I moved to a Lian-Li tower and changed for a much bigger cooler.
Mine was 37mm chip to top, and they do have a socket 1155/1156 flavor now, with push pins to avoid back bracket worries:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...cket_11551156.html?tl=g48c373s955&id=5LjBwvjE

Nice to see a write up with wattages, thanks!

 

[someinterwebguy]

Having built a couple ITX's myself, I'd have to recommend the Dynatron 1U cooler.
My socket 775 one kept my 65W E8400 nicely cooled for over a year until I moved to a Lian-Li tower and changed for a much bigger cooler.
Mine was 37mm chip to top, and they do have a socket 1155/1156 flavor now, with push pins to avoid back bracket worries:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...cket_11551156.html?tl=g48c373s955&id=5LjBwvjE

Nice to see a write up with wattages, thanks!

Thanks for the link. I'll have to give those a try.

Once I get the replacement board, then I'll be able to do an Intel writeup in the same fashion. I'm curious about its power consumption when running Prime95.

 

[someinterwebguy]

I've been running the 2400S through its paces on an ASRock board after two tries with the $230 Zotac board ended with me sending in the board for a refund.

I must say that the good things I've been reading about ASRock are true. Solid board for ~33% of the price of the Zotac board.

I bought an Airlink mini-usb wifi 150 dongle to offset the loss of the onboard wifi. Performance is great so far.

Will be taking KillaWatt pictures in the next day or so. It uses more electricity than the AMD build, but it also feels a heck of a lot faster, using the same RAM/HD.

Temps have yet to break 63ºC despite hours of Prime95.

 

[someinterwebguy]

After Processing 2 videos via Handbrake.


While encoding video via Handbrake.


While running Prime95.


After running Prime95 for 30min.


Idling after 15min.


Idle Power Usage


Power usage while encoding video via handbrake​

 

[Pinky]

That's pretty good, considering the horsepower.

 

[someinterwebguy]

It's really quite fast overall. I'm going to upgrade to an IB CPU once they are released. I, for one, am curious as to how Intel's HD Graphics 4000 handles.

The temps under Prime95 were higher than I'd like, but real world usage shows they are more than acceptable.

 

[someinterwebguy]

So I hooked up the AMD mini-computer to my Mom's 55" Samsung TV last month while visiting Reno. It was hassle free and, paired with a Microsoft Wireless keyboard/mouse combo, was a pleasure to use. Pictures are below, though I did uninstall google desktop and used the Windows 7 gadgets instead.

Part of that decision, is the result of increasing the magnification (my mom and her husband had a hard time seeing things at 100%) which caused problems like full screen flash video not getting "in front" of the taskbar and google gadgets. I read about it and it's something that's been a bug for a while and doesn't look to be fixed anytime soon. I also set the taskbar to auto-hide, which allows full screen flash video to fill the screen.

Overall though, the unit worked even better than I could have hoped for. They bought an external 1TB Western Digital Mybook Essential drive to store music and video, since I used a 64GB SSD in this particular unit.

With SSD's getting under $1/GB, future units will have a 120/128GB SSD instead.

In addition to setting things up so they can watch online video (Russia Today, Amazon Prime, Hulu), I also setup SABnzbd so that I could introduce them to Usenet.

Watching several movies (Primer, Puss in Boots, The Rum Diary); some files, some online, and at various quality levels, was very nice.

The Intel version will likely hook up to their 48" TV in their bedroom.

I will be making an Ivy Bridge version sometime in the next few months and will, of course, post pictures.

 

[billly29]

Wish you all the best for your new project. i hope you will greatly doing this.