[Ashex]

Currently in my apartment I have a file server and HTPC with this setup:

File Server

• Intel D945GCLF2
  
• 2x 2TB Sata Hard Drives Striped
  
• 1x 40GB IDE Hard Drive
  

HTPC

• Zotac GF9300-D-E
  
• Intel E7200 Processor
  
• 1x 80GB 2.5" Sata Hard Drive
  
• 90W PicoPSU
  

I would like to consolidate the two into one machine to reduce clutter, save power, and make things easier for myself. My only problem is finding an Intel Mini-ITX board that is guaranteed to work completely in linux and has HDMI that will work.

Only real requirements are Working HDMI, at least 3 Sata ports (4 is preferable to so I can connect a DVD drive), and a graphics chipset comparable to the 9300.

My ulterior motive for all this is that I'll be moving out of the country so I would like to be able to combine the two machines and also potentially use it as a desktop pc (wouldn't do much on it, mainly photo editing with digikam and maybe Lightroom in a VM/dual-boot).

Anyone have a suggestion for what motherboard I should get?

[cowfodder]

Most of the Zotac ionitx mobos have 4 sata ports. I have the IonITX-G-E and it works great under Linux.

[Ashex]

I was going to go for an embedded board but I think that if I'm going want to use it as a desktop too for photo-editing I'll want to use the E7200 processor to avoid performance issues outside of XBMC.

Reason for using it as a desktop tooo is that my current desktop is a Quad-core Phenom with 4GB of memory, and while it works beautifully it uses quite a bit of power, and where I'm going that will become an issue.

[poofyhairguy]

Ouch, tough set of requirements you have there.

I mean, the above poster is right: a IonITX-G-E has four sata ports.

The problem you are going to run into is that the ION will be not even half as fast as that E7200 you have there.

A ZOTAC G43ITX-A-E has 5 Sata ports and would allow you to use your E7200, but its onboard Intel Chipset is garbage.

So you have a decision to make:

Can you get by on an Atom? It would be rough for a Desktop PC (especially VMWare), but it would do the mediaserver/XBMC tasks nicely.

Can't get by on an Atom (and by your needs I don't think you can): Get the G43ITX-A-E, get a LIAN LI PC-Q08, get a 210 GT PCI Express Graphics card and put them all together (aka give up on using an onboard HDMI).

Good luck!

[Ashex]

Thanks for the advice!

You are right that an atom proc wouldn't cut it for me, I used digikam for editing RAW images on my laptop which has a Pentium M 1.7Ghz and while it was slow it worked. I pulled up a benchmark and it looks like the Atom 330 is a good bit faster than it but I do believe I'll want to either dual-boot or use VMware to use Lightroom since it has some options I prefer to use.

Thanks for the parts list, the Lian Li is more then I need and the big fan in front may be problematic as I'm moving out to Sudan where there is extreme amounts of dust, and I've only got 120mm dust covers. I would prefer to not use add on a video card to cut down on power but if that's my only option I'll go for it. The 210 isn't very expensive anyways, I'll just have to check the power draw with my Kill-A-Watt after I assemble it.
Ideally I would keep the power draw below 80W but I don't even know what the power draw will be with 3 drives in one machine, presently the htpc and file server draw 30-50W depending on usage.

Thanks again!

[poofyhairguy]

Ok, looking at it more, the newer 9300 mobos DO have 3 sata ports:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

You probably can't get more than 3 drives going on a 90watt power supply anyway, so this makes sense.

Only reason I pointed to the Lian Li case was for a Mini ITX case that support a real GPU, but if you can get by on 3 sata ports it gets much easier.

So my official advice now: Hawk the old 9300 board on Ebay, and get a newer model.

[Ashex]

Excellent! I was looking but missed that board. I'm going to use the power supply from the file server to check the power draw then depending on what it is I'll either buy a 120W PicoPSU or use a standard Mini-ITX 200W power supply (I spotted one by FSP on newegg). As for DVD drive I'll just buy an external USB drive and cannibalize it (hook it up to the internal USB header).
I want to keep the average power draw below 60% of the PSU capacity to avoid burning out the power supply as if any of the hardware fails in Sudan I am more or less screwed.

I'll go ahead with hawking the board, I'm sure I can manage without an HTPC for a week or so.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to help me out