Hi All, So what Mini ITX hardware would you all recommend for use at a remote repeater site. I've heard horror stories about systems overheating and failing and I would like to try and avoid that. Thanks, Scott KB2EAR
I am building 2 systems with Intel D945GCLF2D boards. I have not had them up long enough to say about longevity but the chipset ( the only fan) is of poor quality from intel and I have replaced mine with better aftermarket versions. I am experimenting with CF, Microdrives and SD card OS configs and dropped back to SATA 2 3.5 as it is just plain fast.... I also have a Jetway 945GC board and it has a couple slots and extra usb ports compared to the Intel board... albeit a little larger.. all around 80w power consumption with a sata drive There is a CF embedded install for the D945GCLF2 board and I was able to get it working.. a little learning curve due to the ram based loop file system and remembering to save the configs to make them persistent as save to ram and save to disk are different things ... I am also playing with a ASUS Netbook 900 series and have Allstar loaded on it.. A solid state HD and 3 usb ports allow up to 3 repeaters... 199.00 refurb.. and no UPS needed to keep it alive .. No dragging a monitor and keyboard to do local edits.. It is not deployed yet but operational.. It idles at 13% CPU with the 900 mhz celeron M processor... so probably would not run much more than 2 or 3 repeaters that were busy.... Later Netbooks with SSD and an Atom CPU would probably do better with 230 or 330 cpu's.... The Intel board is about $69.00 and 1gb ram is $29.00 or so... Case and CPU vary....I found a nice little rack on Ebay a while back but have not seen them listed lately.. it was about 9 inches deep that I want to order but no experience yet.. about 169.00 with PSU... but tiny...... Alternate to that I found some smaller Mini ITX cases from GEEKS for $37.00 ea that come with a 380w PSU and are 13 " deep, not rack but small enough to fit in my station.. Doug KD8B At 11:47 PM 9/21/2009, Scott Weis wrote:
Hi All,
So what Mini ITX hardware would you all recommend for use at a remote repeater site. I've heard horror stories about systems overheating and failing and I would like to try and avoid that.
Thanks, Scott KB2EAR
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Correction; The Geeks.com case Ark PI-01 is now 42.99 or so.. I bought 2 on a special last week.... Doug KD8B At 09:34 AM 9/22/2009, Doug Bade wrote:
I am building 2 systems with Intel D945GCLF2D boards. I have not had them up long enough to say about longevity but the chipset ( the only fan) is of poor quality from intel and I have replaced mine with better aftermarket versions.
I am experimenting with CF, Microdrives and SD card OS configs and dropped back to SATA 2 3.5 as it is just plain fast.... I also have a Jetway 945GC board and it has a couple slots and extra usb ports compared to the Intel board... albeit a little larger.. all around 80w power consumption with a sata drive
There is a CF embedded install for the D945GCLF2 board and I was able to get it working.. a little learning curve due to the ram based loop file system and remembering to save the configs to make them persistent as save to ram and save to disk are different things ...
I am also playing with a ASUS Netbook 900 series and have Allstar loaded on it.. A solid state HD and 3 usb ports allow up to 3 repeaters... 199.00 refurb.. and no UPS needed to keep it alive .. No dragging a monitor and keyboard to do local edits.. It is not deployed yet but operational.. It idles at 13% CPU with the 900 mhz celeron M processor... so probably would not run much more than 2 or 3 repeaters that were busy....
Later Netbooks with SSD and an Atom CPU would probably do better with 230 or 330 cpu's....
The Intel board is about $69.00 and 1gb ram is $29.00 or so... Case and CPU vary....I found a nice little rack on Ebay a while back but have not seen them listed lately.. it was about 9 inches deep that I want to order but no experience yet.. about 169.00 with PSU... but tiny......
Alternate to that I found some smaller Mini ITX cases from GEEKS for $37.00 ea that come with a 380w PSU and are 13 " deep, not rack but small enough to fit in my station..
Doug KD8B
At 11:47 PM 9/21/2009, Scott Weis wrote:
Hi All,
So what Mini ITX hardware would you all recommend for use at a remote repeater site. I've heard horror stories about systems overheating and failing and I would like to try and avoid that.
Thanks, Scott KB2EAR
_______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@qrvc.com http://qrvc.com/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users
_______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@qrvc.com http://qrvc.com/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users
Doug Bade wrote:
Correction; The Geeks.com case Ark PI-01 is now 42.99 or so.. I bought 2 on a special last week....
Doug KD8B
At 09:34 AM 9/22/2009, Doug Bade wrote:
I am building 2 systems with Intel D945GCLF2D boards. I have not had them up long enough to say about longevity but the chipset ( the only fan) is of poor quality from intel and I have replaced mine with better aftermarket versions.
I am experimenting with CF, Microdrives and SD card OS configs and dropped back to SATA 2 3.5 as it is just plain fast.... I also have a Jetway 945GC board and it has a couple slots and extra usb ports compared to the Intel board... albeit a little larger.. all around 80w power consumption with a sata drive
There is a CF embedded install for the D945GCLF2 board and I was able to get it working.. a little learning curve due to the ram based loop file system and remembering to save the configs to make them persistent as save to ram and save to disk are different things ...
I am also playing with a ASUS Netbook 900 series and have Allstar loaded on it.. A solid state HD and 3 usb ports allow up to 3 repeaters... 199.00 refurb.. and no UPS needed to keep it alive .. No dragging a monitor and keyboard to do local edits.. It is not deployed yet but operational.. It idles at 13% CPU with the 900 mhz celeron M processor... so probably would not run much more than 2 or 3 repeaters that were busy....
Later Netbooks with SSD and an Atom CPU would probably do better with 230 or 330 cpu's....
The Intel board is about $69.00 and 1gb ram is $29.00 or so... Case and CPU vary....I found a nice little rack on Ebay a while back but have not seen them listed lately.. it was about 9 inches deep that I want to order but no experience yet.. about 169.00 with PSU... but tiny......
Alternate to that I found some smaller Mini ITX cases from GEEKS for $37.00 ea that come with a 380w PSU and are 13 " deep, not rack but small enough to fit in my station..
Doug KD8B
At 11:47 PM 9/21/2009, Scott Weis wrote:
Hi All,
So what Mini ITX hardware would you all recommend for use at a remote repeater site. I've heard horror stories about systems overheating and failing and I would like to try and avoid that.
Thanks, Scott KB2EAR
_______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@qrvc.com http://qrvc.com/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users
App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@qrvc.com http://qrvc.com/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users
_______________________________________________ App_rpt-users mailing list App_rpt-users@qrvc.com http://qrvc.com/mailman/listinfo/app_rpt-users
It's been my experience that most cases for Mini-itx motherboards are poorly designed from a thermal standpoint. The best thermal design I've seen to date is the Casetronic C137 case. It has plenty of ventilation holes on the top and sides as well as a case fan near the PSU. Steve WA6ZFT
Scott and Steve; One of the things I was looking for is no holes on the top of the case as we have mice nesting issues and holes on top equals eventual use as potty stop in our sites :-) I also tried using a Supermicro 1u rack case that looked good but way louder than I want to use even at my site... There is a version of the SC512 that has a 200w PS that might be a lot quieter according to the docs.. but SuperMicro cases and no SM motherboards need some special attention.. The ARK case has holes on both sides, the back and in front behind the panel. It also has a pretty blue light fan on the back of the front panel just inside in front/under the HD bay... blowing through (quietly) to the rear over the motherboard..it is taller than the C137 but quite a bit narrower by the looks... and 13 " deep or so which was an issue in my Quintron 900 ex-paging station Cabinet. The power supply is only 300w on the ARK case so I will correct that... . At 10:21 AM 9/22/2009, Stephen Rodgers wrote:
It's been my experience that most cases for Mini-itx motherboards are poorly designed from a thermal standpoint. The best thermal design I've seen to date is the Casetronic C137 case. It has plenty of ventilation holes on the top and sides as well as a case fan near the PSU.
Steve WA6ZFT
Here is one I would like some input on if anyone has tried it... RM-1U102ITX25 Athena Power; RM-1U102ITX25 It looks site tight and looks like it was made for the D945GCLF2 motherboard.... anyone tried one???? Doug KD8B At 11:05 AM 9/22/2009, Doug Bade wrote:
One of the things I was looking for is no holes on the top of the case as we have mice nesting issues and holes on top equals eventual use as potty stop in our sites :-)
participants (3)
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Doug Bade -
Scott Weis -
Stephen Rodgers