Folks, I'm trying to find the Best Mini-Itx Motherboard with a Built In CPU. I built a Mini ITX PC with Win 7 Pro for a friends 42 foot sports fishing boat a little over 3 years ago as a gift for taking me fishing. I left it to him to mount and load it with Navigation, Engine, and Weather software. Well he never got around to it and when I finally went over to help him late in the summer it wouldn't boot. The Asus AT3IONT-I was dead. I took it back to where I bought it but there was nothing they could do as it was a couple weeks out of warranty. Same thing after numerous emails to Asus. It's too bad because I've been an Asus fan for ages. Anyway, I'd like to get it going so I need to replace the motherboard (MB). I'd like to reuse the case, PSU, RAM, etc., if possible. But most MBs of this type seem to have moved to SO-DIMM and not DDR3 Ram so I may have to go that way too. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks for the assist.
Whoa, maybe that one is a little over the top. First of all there will only be on SSD hard drive. No Optical or any other extras. I'd like to keep it simple and not too much $$ as I've already built this thing once. Thanks for the effort.
Thanks EFA11, That's definitely more in the Ball Park. I should advise the rest of the Bits & Pieces as size was definitely a consideration. (It was going to be mounted in the Helm Consol.) The old build used picoPSU-160-XT, OCZ SSD, Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G PC3-10666 4GB DDR3-1333 CL9 240 PIN RAM, and a MINI-BOX M350 case. I wonder if the Fan on the ASRock QC5000-ITX would make it too high?
I wonder if there are any other suggestions? Hi Alice, Thanks for posting. I have thought about going to more typical ITX MBs but when you add their cost (say $100 like this H77N-WIFI) with an i5 or i3 (say another $150 or so) now, it's getting up there. Of course I'd have to get a special profile Fan for the Heat sink to fit in the Mini-Box ($15?) but it is doable. Of course one of these CPUs is far more capable than one with an embedded chip, but the costs go up more than double. More like triple. That's why I'm looking for the Best Mini-Itx Motherboard with a Built In CPU. I have emailed Mini-Box to ask if the ASRock QC5000-ITX would fit as I could re-use the existingDDR3 Ram. (I also have a surplus Asus USB Wireless N Stick if I want to go there.) That seems to be about the Best one so far. I wonder if there are any other suggestions?
Hi, Mini-Box emailed back that the ASRock QC5000-ITX would fit into the case with no issues. Are there any other good suggestions, or should I go off & buy the QC5000-ITX ? Thanks for the assist.
Amazon fails to deliver on time... Just a Quick update on the PSU. The 10A 120W AC to DC PicoPSU Compatible Switching Power Supply from Amazon which was supposed to be delivered in 5-10 days was late. Amazon had emailed me saying it was packed and shipped within 1 day of order. I contacted the Seller (HitechSolution) who advised: "Dear valued customer, The item is being on the way to you from Asia, Dued to Christmas shopping season the logistic part will be affected to some extent, we will make sure you recevie it. Will that be ok? It normally take 20-30 business day from Asina to Canada." I wrote them back, and eventually said: "I have decided not to continue with this fraudulent transaction. You have not lived up to your promised delivery time. Please refund my money back onto my Credit Card ASAP and cancel my order." I ordered a new Dell Optiplex DA-2/DA-3 AC Power Supply for $17 delivered on eBay. It came in 5 days from Texas => even faster than promised. It's over at my Mom's place (I was out of town on business) so I haven't seen it yet but I'm eager to get it and see just how this new Rig performs.
Is he planning on taking the computer out when he is not using the boat? I ask because that case does not look ideal for marine use. The moisture, and the temperature changes, will kill the components quickly. Something fanless and enclosed would be ideal.
My Buddy's boat is a Cabo 42 foot Sportsfisher and the PC mounts in the Helm Consol. The environmental conditions inside the consol are warm and dry. The existing PC is a Nauticomp ( in reality just a 7 year old Dell mounted in a smaller case - not "marinized" in any significant manner other than loaded with related software. It has both a CPU & Case Fan.) which was installed by the OEM during manufacture. I was headed for a Fanless design but the QC5000-ITX/WiFi was such a deal, I decided to make it a Home Theater PC. The Boat PC needs now much more horsepower for 3D rendering for the new Nobeltec Navigation Software (think i5) that a complete redesign is in order when my Buddy finally moves to a new PC.