Page 2: BIOS, Testing, Conclusion
BIOS:
The motherboard is a pretty standard Intel motherboard and the BIOS has the basic options. Nothing too fancy on this one, but you didn't expect to be able to overclock this, did you? The board is indeed running a 1.2GHz Celeron 220 which is based on the Core 2 architecture. This CPU is 64-bit capable.
Testing:
Since this motherboard is really targeted at the small PC crowd, I'll forgo the array of benchmarks normally given to them. I will provide a subjective review of the motherboard.
The testing setup consisted of:
D201GLY2
1GB Kingston Value RAM
160GB WD HDD
Ubuntu 7.10 (Release Version, no updates)
The first thing when you install Ubuntu is the lack of proper video drivers for the motherboard. This is really due to Intel not using its own graphics chipset. The SiS driver that is shipped with Ubuntu doesn't work well at all. A quick search on the internet and a proper patched driver was found. The 2D video works properly with it. Don't expect to use Compiz-Fusion with this motherboard, the driver just doesn't support it.
What is it useful for, then? A regular PC. It handles internet tasks, word processing, spreadsheets, email, music, watching Youtube and all that with no problem. This isn't a high-end gaming machine, that's just not the target market. What the board does is provide a great entry level system for the small PC market.
I did do some comparison between this board and the VIA M2-12000 which is also an ITX motherboard. Needless to say, the Intel counterpart runs circles around the VIA board due to the CPU being wholly better. The only thing that is similar is the video chipset.
For glxgears, the VIA board scored 275 and the Intel scored 303. These scores are fairly close, but I'm also assuming that the SiS driver is still messed up since the gears were choppy. I figure that with new drivers, this board can do 3D with no problem.
For testing the entire subsystem (CPU and Disk I/O) I gzipped a 700MB tar file. The Intel board completed this task in 2 minutes and 11 seconds while the VIA board took 6 minutes and 40 seconds. While the comparison is unfair due to different hard drives, it clearly shows that the Intel board is superior to the VIA board in raw speed.
Conclusion:
I've seen the board for around $70 which is a damn good deal for what you are getting. Let's make no mistake on what this is, though. The product description says it is for the "sub-value" market which means that it is catered for the emerging marketplace. That should sway your decision to purchase this product. Despite the flaws such as the chipset and memory limitation, the motherboard does serve its purpose. It brings a good and cheap ITX motherboard to the masses. You're better off buying this one than the VIA solution if you don't need the VIA features. Intel has really come through lately. I'm glad to see they are branching out into more markets like this.
The motherboard is a pretty standard Intel motherboard and the BIOS has the basic options. Nothing too fancy on this one, but you didn't expect to be able to overclock this, did you? The board is indeed running a 1.2GHz Celeron 220 which is based on the Core 2 architecture. This CPU is 64-bit capable.
Testing:
Since this motherboard is really targeted at the small PC crowd, I'll forgo the array of benchmarks normally given to them. I will provide a subjective review of the motherboard.
The testing setup consisted of:
D201GLY2
1GB Kingston Value RAM
160GB WD HDD
Ubuntu 7.10 (Release Version, no updates)
The first thing when you install Ubuntu is the lack of proper video drivers for the motherboard. This is really due to Intel not using its own graphics chipset. The SiS driver that is shipped with Ubuntu doesn't work well at all. A quick search on the internet and a proper patched driver was found. The 2D video works properly with it. Don't expect to use Compiz-Fusion with this motherboard, the driver just doesn't support it.
What is it useful for, then? A regular PC. It handles internet tasks, word processing, spreadsheets, email, music, watching Youtube and all that with no problem. This isn't a high-end gaming machine, that's just not the target market. What the board does is provide a great entry level system for the small PC market.
I did do some comparison between this board and the VIA M2-12000 which is also an ITX motherboard. Needless to say, the Intel counterpart runs circles around the VIA board due to the CPU being wholly better. The only thing that is similar is the video chipset.
For glxgears, the VIA board scored 275 and the Intel scored 303. These scores are fairly close, but I'm also assuming that the SiS driver is still messed up since the gears were choppy. I figure that with new drivers, this board can do 3D with no problem.
For testing the entire subsystem (CPU and Disk I/O) I gzipped a 700MB tar file. The Intel board completed this task in 2 minutes and 11 seconds while the VIA board took 6 minutes and 40 seconds. While the comparison is unfair due to different hard drives, it clearly shows that the Intel board is superior to the VIA board in raw speed.
Conclusion:
I've seen the board for around $70 which is a damn good deal for what you are getting. Let's make no mistake on what this is, though. The product description says it is for the "sub-value" market which means that it is catered for the emerging marketplace. That should sway your decision to purchase this product. Despite the flaws such as the chipset and memory limitation, the motherboard does serve its purpose. It brings a good and cheap ITX motherboard to the masses. You're better off buying this one than the VIA solution if you don't need the VIA features. Intel has really come through lately. I'm glad to see they are branching out into more markets like this.