Mini-ITX Server Components for Workstation

[tacho]

Need a little bit of advice here. I've got two configurations, each with their own problems, so any advice anyone can offer would be most appreciated.

My workstation is designed for my engineering work. No gaming, no video editing, just a strong computer with ECC support that has support for dual monitors.

I already own the case (Antec ISK 300), storage, optical drive, and video card (Radeon 6450). What I need help picking out is the motherboard and possibly a sound card. Here are the following components that I need to purchase.

1. Intel Based System
Motherboard: Intel S1200KP C206 Mini-ITX Motherboard
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230 (3.2GHz)

Advantage: It can be bought for ~$170, which is within my budget.
Disadvantage: It has no on-board audio. This is a killer for me since I need audio. The PCI-Express slot is taken up by the GPU.

2. Portwell Based System
Motherboard: Portwell WADE-8011 C206 Mini-ITX Motherboard
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1230 (3.2GHz)

Advantage: Includes on-board audio and more features than the Intel board has.
Disadvantage: Portwell wants $390 for this board (!!!). Also, I have no experience with Portwell or this board, so dropping $390 on an "unknown" worries me.

What recommendations do you all have? I really like the "spec" sheet for the Portwell system, but the price is pretty high and I haven't heard anything about the board. The Intel system I feel more comfortable about, but the missing features are borderline a deal-killer. I guess, what I want is the Portwell system for the Intel price, but I'm not sure how to make it (or something like it) happen.

 

[rivet62]

How about an external USB sound card? They're not terribly expensive, and several on the Egg are supported for Windows/Linux/MacOSX, if that's a consideration.

 

[avddreamr]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102032

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102035

However, these may prove to be so expensive, what speakers are you going to be using, or headphones for that matter?

If you just need some sound, then any working usb sound card will do the trick, if you need quality for a - b - or c and your equipment will resolve it.. then get the above. Granted you could just buy a benchmark dac1-pre... but that would be 2k

 

[tacho]

USB is not a bad idea. I'll be running the audio through a set of Sennheiser HD555s. Extremely precise audio is not a requirement. The audio requirement is just for the occasional music and videos (DVDs, Hulu, etc.).

Are these two boards the only two options for a C20x board with ECC support for the Xeon chips or are there any other boards that I have overlooked?

Thanks everyone.