Intel Atom setup - so far so good

[Kangum]

recently i picked up a 1.6 ghz intel atom cpu / mb combo for 79.00 new from newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121342

so far everything is great. no problems with the install process of any kind. the case i used was a morex 3777 mini itx case.

http://www.logicsupply.com/products/3777_80w

this case came complete with its own external power brick 80 watt power supply. as well as a ton of useful items like a pci riser card. a slim cd rom adapter, and a 2.5 inch ide adapter(unused).

for memory i am using a kingston 2 ghz ddr 2 667 stick. The hard drive is a serial notebook drive. When booting the computer i hit f2 and went straight into the bios. most settings were adequate for my needs. there has been spotty problems with the onboard lan so it was disabled. a wireless g card was used with the morex supplied pci riser instead.


no boot problems were present and the slim cd rom started right up with my install disk. the serial notebook drive was recognized immediatly and required no additional drivers to get it to install windows. after windows installed i used the supplied disk with the motherboard to install the remaining drivers. again no problems of any kind.

Overall my experience was pretty good. some random connectors was still needed for the project. I had to use a molex to 4 pin p4 adapter wich is an optional item with the case. p4 motherboards require a addtional 4 pin power adapter and this allowed me to use a molex. I also used a 3 way power splitter. it only supplys 1 molex connector so a $5 dollar 3 way splitter was needed. since i was using a serial drive a molex to serial power adapter was needed.

i think using a serial hard drive drive with  a ata adapter for the slim cd rom drive is the easiest way to go. the intel atom board only supplys 1 ata slot and a master slave cable proved difficult if not impossible to install due to drive positioning. you just save yourself alot of agravation using a serial hard drive. also its easier to remove the cd rom brace portion of the case until the very end. you will need to take it off temporaraly to install the motherboard then again to install the hard drive then yet again to fix cables. so yea just leave it off until last.

so far she proves to be very reponsive system. i know its not going to be the fastest system in the world but for the price i am curretly very happy with it.