Introduction:
Package:
After a long wait, i finally got the Atom from Delta Peripherals
Not much that you should expect in such a small package
Specifications:
Form factor
|Mini-ITX / micro-ATX compatible (6.75 inches by 6.75 inches [171.45 millimeters by 171.45 millimeters])
Processor |Integrated Intel® Atom™ processor with a 533 MHz system bus @ 1.6GHz
Memory |One 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets (Support for DDR2 533/667 MHz Upto 2Gb)
Chipset |Intel® 945GC and ICH7
Audio |Realtek* ALC662 audio code (2+2 channel HD audio)
Video |Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
I/O Control |SMSC* LPC47M997 based Legacy I/O controller for serial, parallel, and PS/2* ports
Lan Support |10/100 Mbits/sec LAN subsystem using the Realtek* LAN adapter device
Peripheral interfaces |Six USB 2.0 ports
|Two SATA ports (3.0 GB/s)
|One parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support
|One serial port
|One parallel port
|PS/2* keyboard and mouse ports
Expansion capabilities |One PCI Conventional* bus connector
[BREAK=Board Layout]
Layout:
Pretty small but powerful. Something amazing is that the cpu is passively cooled while the 945 Chipset has been given active cooling. Not something you generally come across.
Back Panel I/O
A one rupee coin in comparison with the Atom Heatsink
(that's the only solid state capacitor onboard.)
20-pin main power connector instead of the 24-pin
The southbridge
2 fan headers, one being used by the chipset.
Expansion options are very limited with one PCI slot
PCI express, would be "asking for too much", although it can be of great use for HTPC's
Board in comparison with a cd case
[BREAK=Bios and Hardware]
Bios & Hardware:
Its same as what you generally expect from an Intel board. The only disadvantage, not being able to overclock from BIOS.
Hardware Setup:
Windows XP with SP2
Installing:
Right from the time it says copying files, till its ready for use.
Time taken for Installation: 25m, 15s
Windows installed with no issues. Drivers had to be installed, the generic ones don't work well.
The GPU was running the graphic interface at 800x600 without the driver being installed. After installation it could manage 1680x1050.
No lag is seen during normal usage, works well with most applications running(office, messengers, A/V, Firefox and media players).
CPU-z
[BREAK=Tests]
Tests
I wished I had a system to compare this with, nevertheless i tried to get some results to give you some idea of its performance.
Super-Pi -1M
1m,33.484s
Stress Test and Temps:
43C was the max it would touch.
Cinebench R10
(default settings)
Open GL standard Test:273
Single CPU Render Test:547
Multiple GPU Render Test:835
Unigraphics NX4
Well believe it or not, this CAD/CAM software runs smooth as silk.
I'm not saying that it can do all possible stuff, but beginners modelling can be done pretty easily.
Creating the model was a cake walk, but rendering with textures/matetials using RayTraced/FFA took 18.2sec (which is quite bearable as rendering is not what you would do all the time).
[BREAK=GPU]
GPU
The CPU seems to have done whats it says, but a performance drop is seen due to the 945 chipset. The IGP does not perform in line with the CPU.
Its quite primitive, from the standpoint of the CPU
GTA San Andreas
Just for the fun of it, At first I tried running it at 1680x1050
It loaded the game, but really sucked. The game was moving frame by frame.
I then tried it at resulotions 800x600 and 640x480.
It wasn't all that great, but playable. The image quality was pathetic.
|
800x600|640x480Looking at the GPU performance i gave up the idea of trying Need For Speed Most Wanted and running 1080p videos.:ashamed:
[BREAK=Vista?]
Now comes the interesting question.
Will it run Windows Vista with all its bells and whistles?
Installing Windows Vista Ultimate
Right from the time it says copying files, till its ready for use.
Time taken for Installation: ~26mins
Installation+Initial Benchmarking Tests: 37mins
Now that its installed, the drivers are required before conducting the next benchmark test.
Before installing the drivers, I got a lowest rating of 2.3.
here's what I get now:
Its quite obvious that the GPU is not meant for any kind of gaming.
But is it capable of eye-candy?
Atleast the sidebar and Windows flip work smoothly. (at 1680x1050:hap2
So as long as you stick to using it for office work, some music, a couple of videos and internet. It should work great. (I don't recommend Vista though)
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Knowing that you can get a Celeron+nForce610 combo for almost the same rate, its difficult to convince people to buy this, as it doesnt have the advantage of the nvidia chipset. But this combo comes in a total different category. Its main purpose being compact, having almost no moving parts, and low power consumption.
As I mentioned the GPU/CHIPSET is pathetic, but it gives the option of other desktop features, like having SATA drives and other stuff. The 945 Chipset itself consumes more power than the processor, so until a better chipset comes out, its application in laptops will be the only best option. As for desktops its limited to NAS Drives, Car PC's, Office PC's.
The most suited Operating system would be Windows XP, which works flawlessly(as long as you dont play the new 3D games and watch HD videos).
As for linux, I'd say throw any distro, it will run just fine.
Pro's
RAID and Gigabit LAN would be an added bonus.
Well this was my first review, please throw in your comments.. whatever it may be.!
-regards
-Wikipedia
In short: A 45nm processor, 47 million transistors, 26mm² in area, 2.5W TDP and a whole lotta power savings!
Package:
After a long wait, i finally got the Atom from Delta Peripherals
Not much that you should expect in such a small package
- Intel Atom+D945GCLF
- 1x SATA 1xATA connectors
- Back I/O Panel
- Driver CD
Specifications:
Processor |Integrated Intel® Atom™ processor with a 533 MHz system bus @ 1.6GHz
Memory |One 240-pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets (Support for DDR2 533/667 MHz Upto 2Gb)
Chipset |Intel® 945GC and ICH7
Audio |Realtek* ALC662 audio code (2+2 channel HD audio)
Video |Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
I/O Control |SMSC* LPC47M997 based Legacy I/O controller for serial, parallel, and PS/2* ports
Lan Support |10/100 Mbits/sec LAN subsystem using the Realtek* LAN adapter device
Peripheral interfaces |Six USB 2.0 ports
|Two SATA ports (3.0 GB/s)
|One parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support
|One serial port
|One parallel port
|PS/2* keyboard and mouse ports
Expansion capabilities |One PCI Conventional* bus connector
[BREAK=Board Layout]
Layout:
Pretty small but powerful. Something amazing is that the cpu is passively cooled while the 945 Chipset has been given active cooling. Not something you generally come across.
Back Panel I/O
A one rupee coin in comparison with the Atom Heatsink
(that's the only solid state capacitor onboard.)
20-pin main power connector instead of the 24-pin
One IDE and 2 sata connectors capable of connecting upto 4 Drives
The southbridge
2 fan headers, one being used by the chipset.
(but it doesn't seem like the cpu even needs one)
Expansion options are very limited with one PCI slot
PCI express, would be "asking for too much", although it can be of great use for HTPC's
Board in comparison with a cd case
[BREAK=Bios and Hardware]
Bios & Hardware:
Its same as what you generally expect from an Intel board. The only disadvantage, not being able to overclock from BIOS.
Hardware Setup:
- Intel Atom (1.6GHz)+ D945GCLF
- 1Gb Corsair Value Select @ 667 Mhz
- 80 Gb Seagate HDD
- Dell SP2208WFP (1680x1050 via analog cable) *cant help it, I don't have a smaller monitor..:ashamed:
- LG IDE DVD-RW Drive
- Generic Cabinet and PSU
Windows XP with SP2
Installing:
Right from the time it says copying files, till its ready for use.
Time taken for Installation: 25m, 15s
Windows installed with no issues. Drivers had to be installed, the generic ones don't work well.
The GPU was running the graphic interface at 800x600 without the driver being installed. After installation it could manage 1680x1050.
No lag is seen during normal usage, works well with most applications running(office, messengers, A/V, Firefox and media players).
CPU-z
[BREAK=Tests]
Tests
I wished I had a system to compare this with, nevertheless i tried to get some results to give you some idea of its performance.
Super-Pi -1M
1m,33.484s
Stress Test and Temps:
43C was the max it would touch.
Cinebench R10
(default settings)
Open GL standard Test:273
Single CPU Render Test:547
Multiple GPU Render Test:835
Unigraphics NX4
Well believe it or not, this CAD/CAM software runs smooth as silk.
I'm not saying that it can do all possible stuff, but beginners modelling can be done pretty easily.
Creating the model was a cake walk, but rendering with textures/matetials using RayTraced/FFA took 18.2sec (which is quite bearable as rendering is not what you would do all the time).
[BREAK=GPU]
GPU
The CPU seems to have done whats it says, but a performance drop is seen due to the 945 chipset. The IGP does not perform in line with the CPU.
Its quite primitive, from the standpoint of the CPU
GTA San Andreas
Just for the fun of it, At first I tried running it at 1680x1050
It loaded the game, but really sucked. The game was moving frame by frame.
I then tried it at resulotions 800x600 and 640x480.
It wasn't all that great, but playable. The image quality was pathetic.
|
800x600|640x480
[BREAK=Vista?]
Now comes the interesting question.
Will it run Windows Vista with all its bells and whistles?
Installing Windows Vista Ultimate
Right from the time it says copying files, till its ready for use.
Time taken for Installation: ~26mins
Installation+Initial Benchmarking Tests: 37mins
Now that its installed, the drivers are required before conducting the next benchmark test.
Before installing the drivers, I got a lowest rating of 2.3.
here's what I get now:
Its quite obvious that the GPU is not meant for any kind of gaming.
But is it capable of eye-candy?
Atleast the sidebar and Windows flip work smoothly. (at 1680x1050:hap2
So as long as you stick to using it for office work, some music, a couple of videos and internet. It should work great. (I don't recommend Vista though)
[BREAK=Conclusion]
Knowing that you can get a Celeron+nForce610 combo for almost the same rate, its difficult to convince people to buy this, as it doesnt have the advantage of the nvidia chipset. But this combo comes in a total different category. Its main purpose being compact, having almost no moving parts, and low power consumption.
As I mentioned the GPU/CHIPSET is pathetic, but it gives the option of other desktop features, like having SATA drives and other stuff. The 945 Chipset itself consumes more power than the processor, so until a better chipset comes out, its application in laptops will be the only best option. As for desktops its limited to NAS Drives, Car PC's, Office PC's.
The most suited Operating system would be Windows XP, which works flawlessly(as long as you dont play the new 3D games and watch HD videos).
As for linux, I'd say throw any distro, it will run just fine.
Pro's
- Compact.
- Efficient and low power consumption.
- Price (Rs.3350/-@ Deltapage.com)
- Almost no moving parts (by using flash disks and passive cooling)
- 945 Chipset
- A PCI-e Slot could make a great HTPC
- Poor 3D performance
RAID and Gigabit LAN would be an added bonus.
Well this was my first review, please throw in your comments.. whatever it may be.!
-regards
