[Server-devel] small form factor XS options?

[Martin Langhoff]

On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 9:11 AM, Bryan Berry <bryan at olenepal.org> wrote:
> I am shopping for some XS options to test out ahead of our spring
> deployment.

Good idea!

> I have looked at the MSI Wind PC, Eee Box, and the Shuttle X2700N. All
> have nice small form factors, low prices, and Atom chips.
>
> I am focused on Intel Atom-based PC's because they seem to be dropping
> in price the fastest and there are a number of different vendors selling
> atom-based pc's. Also, they are low-power.

If you look for machines with VIA CPUs, they are low power
dissipation, and often cheap too. We have a few samples at 1cc with
heatsinks - no fans!

> Eee Box - more expensive but doesn't seem to have the same cooling
> problem

I talked with Asus engineers who assured there's a version of it with
no fans, and a heatsink. Not sure if it's in the catalog though :-/

> Unfortunately, none of these have a spare PCI slot that I can use for
> the XS's 2nd NIC card. We are considering using a USB NIC for the eth1.

That'll hurt if you have significant traffic. In fact, I'd recommend
using the usb nic for eth0 which is guaranteed to have less traffic
;-)

> Does anyone know of similar small form factor PC's that do have an extra
> PCI slot? Or other good XS choices?

Small form factor gets you into hard-to-cool-down devices. Can you
handle a large box with a good heatsink? The dusty humid env you
describe in Nepal there is going to murder fans quickly...

cheers,



m
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