Mini-ITX, New Intel Mobo, What about AM3?

[elerick]

Just like the title, I've seen a really awesome Intel I3/I5/I7 Mobo with 1 PCI-E X 16 slot, what about a AM3 with PCI-E X 16 slot?

Anyone know if CES has one displayed?

Bonus:
Anyone know of a DIY Laptop or something like asus for on the cheap good gaming graphics? Main game is WOW / LFD 2 / Call of Duty.

 

[Zap]

Welcome to Anandtech Forums. Oh wait, you're not new here, just a first post lurker, LOL.

DIY laptops probably end up costing more than a pre-configured laptop, but you get exactly what you want. Can't think of any "cheap" ones.

I also haven't seen any AM3 ITX boards. There is one AM2 ITX board on the market that has PCIe x16, the J&W MINIX. That company does not have any distribution in the USA. At one time Geeks.com had a batch, but RMAs are problematic as a friend of mine found out.

Seems like socket 1156 will be the popular one for having PCIe x16, probably because it only needs a one-chip chipset that is basically a Southbridge. While AM2 had only one board and 775 had two (but one was just a revision of the other), 1156 already has three (Intel, Zotac and DFI).

 

[elerick]

Zap,

Thanks for the reply that makes sense. With space being so cramped I forgot that AMD needs a southbridge chip and there just isnt much room. I saw a Gigabyte am2+ with a PCI-E. But when comparing with the DFI Intel Mini-ITX there isnt much comparison.

On the DIY Laptop I mainly just wanted a good gaming GPU but able to pair with a mainstream cpu and solid state drive which is why I wanted DIY instead of buying some expensive high end from a company.

 

[nenforcer]

No AM3, but there is an AM2+ with a PCI-Express 1x slot.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813500021

I just almost bought this board with a cheap Sempron for the same price as an Intel Atom ION motherboard but ended up going with the ION board for my first ITX build.

 

[Oxaqata]

Edit

 

[nenforcer]

Hadn't heard of that J&W board before but it looks like Amazon has a couple partners selling it new. Also the J&W website says it supports AM3?

 

[Zap]

Having trouble finding a beefy SFX PSU though

Yeah, that's been a pereninal problem.

Silverstone has announced a 450W SFX PSU that will probably be king of the hill when it comes out in Summer. It is made by FSP, like their current 300W that comes with their mini ITX cases. I think it comes with two PCIe plugs.

Seasonic makes the beefiest good SFX power supply that is available today. It is a 350W model with 60mm fans (usually a recipe for noise, but it is rather quiet unless loaded pretty highly). It does a solid 26A of combined +12v. They also make a 300W that is quieter (80mm fan) but it loses some +12v power.

You can also get the FSP power supply that is the basis for the current Silverstone 300W, but it doesn't include the PCIe 6 pin like the Silverstone version. It puts out a combined 22.5A of +12v power. There's also a 350W version (often branded "Sparkle") but I wouldn't recommend that because it uses 60mm fans and is indeed pretty noisy (unlike the Seasonic with 60mm fans) plus it has the same 22.5A for the +12v output because the extra power is on the minor rails.

Enermax made a 320W PSU that had 20A continuous and 24A peak, but it is now discontinued and was an older, less efficient unit. All the previous SFX PSUs I listed are around 80% efficient (whether 80Plus certified or not) but this Enermax was around 72-75% efficient.

BTW, I've owned all these SFX PSUs listed (plus several more).

There's also some "higher wattage" SFX units that don't seem so great. One is an Athena Power unit in the 400W+ range, but its percentage of +12v power is kinda low, plus reliability may be an issue judging from Newegg reviews for any and all Athena Power PSUs. There's two 400W-ish modular SFX PSUs made by Ultra and SilenX, but they also have fairly lwo +12v output. I have not used any of these, but have studied their labels and read reviews where available.

Hadn't heard of that J&W board before but it looks like Amazon has a couple partners selling it new. Also the J&W website says it supports AM3?

Availability is only part of the problem. The other part is... how will you get warranty service if it fails for any reason? Most resellers tell you to deal with the manufacturer as it is a manufacturer's warranty. J&W is in Taiwan, with no USA office AFAIK.

 

[Ayah]

Silverstone managed to fit a 5970 into one of their mini-itx cases btw..
They also managed to stuff a 600W PSU into the same case though.