need a tiny MBoard

[djlins]

Hi there,

I am jumping into this now and starting off with a new tiny cabinet build (project announcement here if your interested  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=115421.msg1223245#new  )

Anyway, while shopping around I see that most Atom chip boards and most tiny ITX boards are all over 6 inch squared.
I have a space of
h: 3.5"
w: 8.5"
d: 4.5"

with which to stuff in a MBoard.
Does anyone know of any boards that might have a depth of less than 4.5" that I can take a look at?

Cheers,

L.

[bkenobi]

If you are really that limitted, how are you planning on getting a hard drive in there?  Between an all-in-one mobo and hard drive, you will be REALLY hard pressed to find a solution.  Beyond that, you have heat to deal with!

Irregardless, wiki has a list of all mobo form factors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factor

h: 3.5" / 889mm
w: 8.5" / 2159mm
d: 4.5" / 1143mm

A quick list of possibilities:
Mini-ATX
Nano-ITX
Pico-ITX
Mobile-ITX
PC/104 (or any variant)

There are severe processing power limitations on many of these.  If I had to pick and it would actually fit, I'd go with a Mini-ATX since I think it will give you the most powerful processor and also probably cost the least.

Good luck!

[Vigo]

A mini ATX would not fit fit in that space. They are 6" X 6" I think you might be missing the decimal point on those metric measurements?

Maybe something like this?
http://www.e-itx.com/p720-10el.html

Hard drive is not a big space  issue, you can use usb drive or sd card.

[djlins]

Hiya - yeah I have been looking around a little more today.

As mentioned a Mini wont fit, so I would go for a Nano rather than a Pico to try and maximise performance.

As for hard drive if I get a Nano with a Sata socket then I would fit an SSD in there. That would also minimize moving parts and therefore heat.

The case is fairly wide 8.5" so I have space behind where the monitor would go to place PSU, SSD etc.

Oooh thats good then So I guess now my question would be.
I see with the Mini ITX there was talks that the bottleneck with an Intel was the bus speed that made it as sluggish as an old Pentium 3. They reccomended going for a Zotak.
So is it the same with a Nano? Are there better ones out there with known faster bus speeds?
It would be nice if I can get a rig that at least plays games like Outrun and Chase HQ smoothly.

[equlizer]

you might be able to use a portable game system with a tv out (psp, gpwiz)

[djlins]

Yeah - thanks for the ideas. I love all this thinking outside of the box.

However I am a software engineer by trade and I like the fact that I can tailor it myself. I want to customise the interface rather than be bound to other companies gaming interfaces.

If I had it as a Nano Board running Linux or Windows then theoretically I could run loads of different emulators to have access to all of the driving games.
Things like the Genesis, N64, Snes, MAME, FinalBurn all running through my own menu system.
Plus if I can get a little bit more knowledge on what the OnLive crew are doing then theoretically at some point I would like to run a video player on there and stream full HD PC games like need for speed hot pursuit, or Driver San Francisco to it from my main gaming rig.
But that may come later on.
For now I just want a fully configurable Linux or Windows system so it leaves my future options open.

Cheers again,

L

[gonzo90017]

Plus if I can get a little bit more knowledge on what the OnLive crew are doing then theoretically at some point I would like to run a video player on there and stream full HD PC games like need for speed hot pursuit, or Driver San Francisco to it from my main gaming rig.
But that may come later on.

Interesting. Keep us posted.

[bkenobi]

nm

[404]

Yeah - thanks for the ideas. I love all this thinking outside of the box.

However I am a software engineer by trade and I like the fact that I can tailor it myself. I want to customise the interface rather than be bound to other companies gaming interfaces.

If I had it as a Nano Board running Linux or Windows then theoretically I could run loads of different emulators to have access to all of the driving games.
Things like the Genesis, N64, Snes, MAME, FinalBurn all running through my own menu system.
Plus if I can get a little bit more knowledge on what the OnLive crew are doing then theoretically at some point I would like to run a video player on there and stream full HD PC games like need for speed hot pursuit, or Driver San Francisco to it from my main gaming rig.
But that may come later on.
For now I just want a fully configurable Linux or Windows system so it leaves my future options open.

Cheers again,

L

I'm currently in the planning phase of an ITX Mame bartop. Your biggest issue with these form factors is going to be raw computing power. Inherently VIA units lack the raw computing power you may need for some of these emulators, in particular Mame. They serve a completely different purpose in the PC ecosystem. You may want to rethink your plans if you want to do so much with this little computer.

[Turnarcades]

We also work with tiny solutions a lot with experimental compact designs. As stated above, the problem you will get is that anything smaller than Mini-ITX is designed with minimal, functional applications in mind and will be mostly underpowered and have poor on-board graphics and sound capabilities, whereas Mini-ItX's tend to have decent on-board solutions for compact but more fancy terminal uses and compact projects. Running Linux is one solution (although it limits your choice of emulation software) but unless you are going for simple classics, I'd say to use something intended for compact designs but with a bit more grunt, so that's either bigging up with a Mini-ITX or using a mobile solution like a Wiz, Dingoo or PSP hack. Of course then you're looking at a lack of configurability so be careful.