Mini-ITX Questions

[Spaceninja]

If anyone here has a mini-itx motherboard or keeps up with the rumors and such please try to answer my questions..

I am thinking about building a little system to run linux. All it is going to do is surf the net, check e-mail and fold when sitting idle.

On to the questions.

I haven't seen anything about the release date for the dual processor boards. Anyone have links to an article, or can answer it for me?

I want to use one of the external powersupplys and I am having trouble findind them in the states. I have found them on UK sites. A link would be great.

Last thing, what kind of preformance can I expect out of these boards? Even though I am not going to be doing much with the system I can't stand slow systems. I work on them all day, I don't want to come home to one and wait on the stupid browser or e-mail client to launch.

Thanks.

 

[heelix]

I've got a fanless 533mhz itx board. All the Linux distros I tried (Suse, RH9, Gentoo) worked just fine and picked up the hardware. I use it as the base to my car-pc (mostly an MP3 player), so headless. I'm sure something more than the built in video would go a long way. From a speed perspective, with win98 and 512M ram it could run Diablo II at a playable level.

 

[xonik]

I don't know about any dual processor Mini-ITX boards...

On the other hand, I have a Pentium M based motherboard in Mini-ITX form factor. Since it has its own proprietary "mini-AGP" slot with a custom made ATi Radeon 9600, it is a fairly well rounded performer. It's paired with a Pentium M "Dothan" 735, clocked at 1.7 GHz at the moment. Performance is roughly on par with the Athlon 64 3400+. Other features include gigabit ethernet, onboard CompactFlash Type I/II, Cardbus/PCMCIA Type I/II, and an onboard dual-channel LVDS LCD controller. Cost for the motherboard was a staggering $325, but the whole system stayed under $1000. It's even housed in a tasteful black-anodized aluminum case that's about the size of a small VCR.