[Server-devel] small form factor XS options?

[Bryan Berry]

On Wed, 2008-11-26 at 09:39 -0200,
> 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!

Will do, tks for the heads up

I definitely need at least 1 Ghz processor because we intend to host an
offline E-Library on the XS. Even w/out the E-Library we want to host a
lot of content cached from the broader Internet and that will require a
good bit of RAM and some CPU.

I have looked at the Excito and they are impressive but do not offer a
fast enough processor and the price is higher than I would like. 

> > 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?

This is very true. Small form factor isn't actually that important.
Low-Power is much more important. I have to say I am still leaning
towards the Shuttle X2700N. It seems to have adequate cooling features
compared to other small form-factor PCs

Perhaps my best option would be to purchase an Atom CPU, appropriate
motherboard, and fit into a regular PC chassis . . . But I still haven't
checked out the Via CPU options ;)


-- 
Bryan W. Berry
Technology Director
OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org