Hot for some: Cheap FlexATX motherboard (great for tiny cases or custom work) ~$25 shipped w/coupon

[k1114]

Someone posted a link to this place in a discussion over in the fs/ft section, and I gave them a shot. I have been searching for a FlexATX motherboard to build a tiny server system for quite some time (using a netvista case) and all I had found are horrid prices on ebay for decent boards, and those crappy pc chips no connections whatsoever models :|

Product Link

Radisys PW810V w/Intel 810 chipset (This manufacturer link is for a variety of PW810 models, the "V" has no LAN and no front panel usb header)
Supports PPGA and FC-PGA P3 and Celeron processors (And I am led to beleive up to "1.4"? tulatin with a bios update)
Onboard audio and video
2x sdram slots supporting up to 256mb each
2x usb ports
4x PCI slots <-- This is a big one for me, i've never seen another flex atx board with all four slots!

Board was shipped in an antistatic bag wrapped in thick bubble wrap and well padded with newspaper in a large box. I definately beleive that it was a new oem board, it was absolutely flawless although it lacked any sort of accessories. The manufacturer page lists this as a "server" board although it doesn't support ECC ram that I know if, but I would beleive it. There are tons of security and power saving options on the board and in the bios, and so far it's been rock solid with my FC-PGA celey 600.

Shipping prices are the killer, but still it's a good deal. The board is $14.25 + shipping, which is $12 to the usa, although much cheaper to canada if you live there. There is a coupon code "J2A1729" for $2 off 20, and all their codes are linear (J2A1728 is 1 off 10, J2A1730 is $5.75 of 50) so you might be able to guess different ones, although remember the coupons are canadian so they are more useful for small items but aren't a large discount for things like this.

 

[Kreggo]

That looks like a regular MicroATX board, not Flex. Flex is much smaller.

 

[k1114]

Nope, this is definately a Flex ATX board. I know it looks larger but it really is small when seen in person. Standard Flex ATX is 7.5x9, exactly what this board is.

In response to a PM I recieved: (I figured this might be a common question so I posted it here) I've got the board in a netvista case right now

Sadly you can only use one ram slot with a cd-rom, and it has to be a "short" drive (lite-on and btc both make them) and you will need to get an angled molex connector and really flatten the ribbon cable. This is a problem that almost all people encounter with the netvista case, and it usually solved by buying a laptop cd-rom and adapter. Here is the board with two ram sticks and a short btc 16x dvd-rom, you can see how I would need to remove one stick and use flat or angled plugs
Picture

As far as the cpu cooler, there is plenty of room for a normal sized one. I just threw in an old cooler from a k6/2 box I had and it works great. I do recommend finding a cooler chip if you can just because there isn't much room, I bought a 1.5v celey 600 and the heatsink never even gets warm. I know someone running a tbird 1.3 with a decent heatsink in there, but his board was really expensive and it gets very hot!

You can also ditch the pc speaker in the case and put a fan there, since this board has a built in pc speaker. The space it leaves would probably give you room to mod in a slot style cooler or just bolt in a 60mm fan, although remember to have it blow outwards, inwards will conflict with the draw of the psu fan and cause some cooling issues (others have tested this.)

Just one more thing, you'll need an atx extension cable since the plug on the netvista power supply is really short. They aren't expensive, under $6 shipped on ebay. I bought mine from this guy

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Sadly you can only use one ram slot with a cd-rom, and it has to be a "short" drive (lite-on and btc both make them) and you will need to get an angled molex connector and really flatten the ribbon cable. This is a problem that almost all people encounter with the netvista case, and it usually solved by buying a laptop cd-rom and adapter. Here is the board with two ram sticks and a short btc 16x dvd-rom, you can see how I would need to remove one stick and use flat or angled plugs

w/4 pci slots ..grab one of these and go hi-speed external.

 

[k1114]

Just a couple more pics for fun

Picture - This is the case cover sitting on top of the box, gives an idea of what the finished product will look like. At the time I didn't have it together because I was waiting on my flex atx cable, but that showed up today and it is completed (although I haven't taken any pics since)

Picture - The board in the case, I had to modify the NIC bracet to fit a low profile slot, worked out well. The board looks kind of big, I should have throw in a cd case or something to give an idea of size. That reminds me, another way to tell flex atx from micro atx is the mounting holes. The two on the left edge near the pci slots will always line up with the two on the opposite side on a flex board. With a micro atx board the one on the bottom right will be moved down about a cm.

Picture - Just another view of the same thing. I didn't bother cutting up a custom back panel sheild for it since none of thoese ports are used, i've got a power cable and network cable and thats it. I use remote desktop to access the machine from other systems (this is my file server).

 

[k1114]

Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon

Sadly you can only use one ram slot with a cd-rom, and it has to be a "short" drive (lite-on and btc both make them) and you will need to get an angled molex connector and really flatten the ribbon cable. This is a problem that almost all people encounter with the netvista case, and it usually solved by buying a laptop cd-rom and adapter. Here is the board with two ram sticks and a short btc 16x dvd-rom, you can see how I would need to remove one stick and use flat or angled plugs

w/4 pci slots ..grab one of these and go hi-speed external.

Not a bad idea, although that card is a bit big for a low profile case, and the cost doesnt justify it. You can get an adapter and decent laptop drive for a total of around $40 shipped, although you would have to find a way to mount it yourself. (The case sort of relies on a full size drive for the mounting brackets, hard to explain).

I do think a usb card is a good idea, since usb2.0 is useful and the front ports on a netvista case need something to hook up to. I'm currently searching for a cheap low profile card for mine

 

[ScrapSilicon]

dimensions are backplane=4 13/16" in hght..6 11/16" from backplane of card to end of PCB..3 7/8" hght of PCB from leading edge(pci contacts) of PCB to outside(hght as installed edge) edge of said PCB. .. made me open the pkg up ..card has a 5 yr warranty on it said nothing about that on the box tho. Goodluck on your project.

 

[JeffMD]

in the interest of others looking to make small box computers, I made a movie box for my entertainment enter that would be small and could sit on one of the component shelves. size wise, its about the same as the box above though I think its smaller in height. The one above can fit pci cards while mine does not (im not sure why there are those slots there, but they are about 1/3rd short of fitting a pci card). Its an asus nforce1 board so it dosn't need any pci cards anyways. It has a 1600xp and Pioneers 16x slot loading dvd drive. In the interest of keeping noise low, I underclocked the cpu to 1g and reduced the fan of the hsf to around 3k. The front thin 80mm fan (hidden) remains on but the back fans are not (small fans require high rpms for any push.. bad noise), instead I have a very low noise/rpm 80mm fan afixed to the outside of 2 of the pci slot to draw air out.

Picture can be found here (open case) and here (closed case).

not quite as attractive as the above box unfortunatly. controls are by a wireless thumb pointer. If I need to admin the box, I attach a usb wifi and connect via VNC on my desktop.

 

[Technogeek]

Nice project.. I know that This won't fit in there, but I am just letting others know about it. At $29.00 shipped, it's a good deal..

 

[k1114]

Originally posted by: JeffMD
in the interest of others looking to make small box computers, I made a movie box for my entertainment enter that would be small and could sit on one of the component shelves. size wise, its about the same as the box above though I think its smaller in height. The one above can fit pci cards while mine does not (im not sure why there are those slots there, but they are about 1/3rd short of fitting a pci card). Its an asus nforce1 board so it dosn't need any pci cards anyways. It has a 1600xp and Pioneers 16x slot loading dvd drive. In the interest of keeping noise low, I underclocked the cpu to 1g and reduced the fan of the hsf to around 3k. The front thin 80mm fan (hidden) remains on but the back fans are not (small fans require high rpms for any push.. bad noise), instead I have a very low noise/rpm 80mm fan afixed to the outside of 2 of the pci slot to draw air out.

Picture can be found here (open case) and here (closed case).

not quite as attractive as the above box unfortunatly. controls are by a wireless thumb pointer. If I need to admin the box, I attach a usb wifi and connect via VNC on my desktop.

That case is about the height of my netvista case mentioned above, those slots are for low profile pci cards Nice looking box!

 

[Clocker]

hey jeffmd can you also see the desktop when on the netwrok. have your tired remtoe desktop access and how would that work. also where did you get the remote i am thinking of building something similar. but i am thinking of buying the dell server for 225.oo.

clocker

 

[fishsauce]

What a coincidence. I just finished building a system with the same exact case today.
These are what I used:
matsonic ms8188e (VIA km400/a)
Aopen gf4 mx440 8x
Black Face Lite On 16x dvd-rom
1.4ghz Duron

Sorry I don't have pics to my system yet, but I'll post them as soon as I can.

I'd like to note that I could only fit one stick of ram due ide wire (from the dvd drive) obstructing the second ram slot.

Edit: I forgot to add a very important piece - The PSU

 

[k1114]

I was incorrect, it turns out you CAN use a cd-rom with this case! I just got my short btc (lite-on make some short ones too) running great! I didn't even notice earlier but one of the two molex power plugs on the netvista pwer supply is a right angle type plug so it will fit as long as you only use one ram slot.

 

[k1114]

Did that PSU fit without any modding? People over at the oc forums were searching for a psu solution for this case for quite some time! Anyway, I still say an amd setup is a bit much to cram in that case, how are your temps? Maybe on my next one i'll try going amd if my budget allows.

 

[fishsauce]

The psu slipped right in; however, there was only one spot for a screw (from the outside; no spots inside). I'll need to find another way to secure it.

As for temps, cpu runs about 40C and the case temps are ~35C idle, and i've only got the cpu temps up to 55C after watching some movies (i forgot what the case temps were). The psu does get really hot though. I'd recommend leaving the case upright so heat can leave the at top.

 

[k1114]

Did you put a fan in front? If you remove the pc speaker there is quite a bit of room to work with in that corner

I don't know what to do with mine now, I probably want to get an internal usb card, bigger stick of ram, and a short video card with tv-out so I can use it for emulation and movies, only problem is finding a card with quality tv-out that size! For now i'm using it as a file server that isn't serving anything, I use remote desktop to access it from other systems.

 

[Devistater]

Computer geeks usually has some inexpensive USB 2 cards. This one might be similar what you are looking for, I think its low profile, but not sure. Its a new 4+1 usb 2 PCI (via chipset)

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=A-6202-4

 

[fishsauce]

I'll probably add a fan where the speaker is later on after i go to the store to buy one. I have some pictures of the system, but no where to host it.

btw...The tv-out in my gf4 mx looks better than the one on my 9600p and it is equip with composite out as well as s-video.

 

[flynclippr]

fishsauce's netvista:

photo album

 

[JeffMD]

low profile pci slots? hmm they make a set of pci cards on a different face plate form? sounds expensive.

clocker, VNC IS a remote desktop application. Infact it is one of the oldest ones that you can get for free. Heck, before I got the thumb pointer, I was attempting to use my Pocket PC as a "very expensive remote" by using the vnc viewer for ppc2002. Saddly the viewer was unnescesarily slow, requiring 30+ seconds to initiate connection and download the primary desktop, and I couldnt link the long delay to network speed or lack of cpu power (speed was the same in 200 and 400mhz mode). The only reason the box isn't allways on the network is I don't have a dedicated usb wifi box for it (no reason really to keep it networked either). Btw the white cord you see coming up infront of the top shelf was a mouse I used for originaly testing and usage purposes. Right now you see no wires comeing from the box, also the vga to svideo (composit available) is handeld by that silver box. a portable scan converter, it is powered by the ps2 port. Im running windows 2k in 800x600. And the cdrom seems long because it is pushed back in its slot (not screwed in), this is so I could place the bay cover over it when not in use to keep up its clean look.

The wireless pointer was a ACOM data usb wireless laser pointer I lucked out and got at a compusa sale for $29. strange enough when I went to buy it, the only thing I could find was another brands pointer, but the device, shell, and logo placement (but not logo itself) were EXACT. Problem was it had no sale markings. I took it up to the counter and foudn it wasnt the one on sale, they did a stock check and we ended up finding what was left of the stock in the back. Was kinda stupid it was the same device remarked, and that one was more expensive then the other. Kinda made me wonder for what reasons really the acom one wasnt on the floor.

Also my temps are like fishes... they are a bit higher then normal desktop temps being so tight and poor fan coverage. my psu dosnt seem to get overly hot though. BTW I make it a practice to not watch non dvd movies (in other words, nothing. I use a standalone dvd player for that) straight from the cd drive. 2 reason, one is noise. The drive is very audible at full speed, I can use the drive speed program from nero to slow it down, but its a PITA to do it between watching movies and copying files. Second, the drive can create alot of heat. lastly, I have no blocking issues on my box. About the only issues is I have to remove the psu to clamp on the heatsink.

 

[CheetahMk2]

Eh.... I refuse to attempt a mini-tx box untill I can pull of something of this size or smaller: [there may be a way to squeeze in a a laptop DVD-RW drive in there somehow...



Linkie linkie (AmmoBox)

 

[JeffMD]

looks like plenty of room for a laptop drive. But I question the power abilities. Youll definetly need a new video card, but the low powered 1g is kinda slow, I mean this thing definetly wont compare to a duron/xp/p3 at 1g. also it looks like he used a full size psu, you can get a 250 watt psu thats half the size.

 

[flynclippr]

low profile pci slots? hmm they make a set of pci cards on a different face plate form? sounds expensive.

The half height geforce4 mx (came with both full and half-height face plates) is only 45 dollars, which is actually the second most inexpensive geforce4 mx at newegg.

 

[k1114]

Originally posted by: flynclippr

low profile pci slots? hmm they make a set of pci cards on a different face plate form? sounds expensive.

The half height geforce4 mx (came with both full and half-height face plates) is only 45 dollars, which is actually the second most inexpensive geforce4 mx at newegg.

How is the tv-out quality? On my gf2 mx cards it was complete crap

 

[flynclippr]

Originally posted by: fishsauce
btw...The tv-out in my gf4 mx looks better than the one on my 9600p and it is equip with composite out as well as s-video.

The nv17 has the tv encoder built right in so the tv output quality is not at the mercy of board makers. I believe it also can do overscan. The people over in the htpc avsforum seem to like it.