Board Layout
The lone PCI-E slot means that DFI needed to provide reasonable onboard sound and a desirable LAN solution. What you get is the Realtek ALC885 teamed up with Creative X-FI drivers and the Intel 82578DC for LAN duty.
Most of what you'll need is available on the rear I/O panel. You've got 6 USB connectors (one is eSATA combo), together with analog and digital audio outputs. There's also a CMOS clear switch available which comes in handy when OC recovery fails to work.
There are cutbacks in the VRM department. CPU VCC (VCore) is limited to 150W max on the current BIOS (future BIOSes will see OCP limited to around 90amps with a maximum VID of 1.40V). There is no cooling over any of the FETs either.
150w is just about enough to support a very mild overclock on a 750 CPU long term. 860/870 CPUs are probably best left near stock if you run heavy loads. Over-current protection should kick in if you push things a little too far, although we often find that it's better not to test the limits of OCP in the first place. DFI will be releasing BIOS shortly that limits OCP to around 110W, which is a smidgen above stock TDP - basically, you'll be limited to near stock operating frequency on all CPUs.
You get 3 SATA ports courtesy of the Intel P55 PCH. Front panel I/O for audio, USB, IrDA, and power are all placed above or to the right of the PCI-E slot together with the CMOS battery holder, allowing access to all connectors when the PCI-E slot is occupied. A hex post code display is placed to the right of the DIMM slots for debugging purposes.
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DigitalFreak - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
If DFI provides the BIOS update, you can use the new Clarkdale Cire i3 & i5 CPUs with this board. You obviously can't use the onboard video, but the CPU should work fine.I would expect to see H57 / H55 mini-itx boards in the next couple of months.
ScavengerLX - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
I'm using this board with a 5770 and a 860 in a Silverstone SG-06 case. I love it! I overclocked the bclock to 150 (w/ HT on) while leaving all of the voltages on Auto and its perfectly stable. Pushing beyond 150 bclock causes system instability. With 8 threads running in prime95 Vcore is at 1.15V (3.3GHz on 4 cores, 3.7GHz on 2 cores). Idle temps are in the upper 20s with all of the power saving features on. I'm using a Coolermaster GeminII S with a 120x20mm Yate Loon and it barely fits.I'm running all of this on the stock 300w PSU!
stefi - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
Great, I was thinking of using SG-06 with HD 5750 and i5-750 :)) Do you have some pics to post? What brand of 5770 do you have? Is it quiet enough when idle? Do you have any aditional fans on the case?Mr Perfect - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Nice build! That's about what I'm eyeing myself, assuming nothing new pops up at CES. :)It's impressive to see someone push the 300watt supply too. 1KW+ PSUs have been the norm for so long, that everyone automatically assumes you can't do jack with anything lower then 600 or so. That said, hopefully the 450(http://www.sffclub.com/index.php?option=com_conten...">http://www.sffclub.com/index.php?option...amp;cati... replaces the 300 in Silverstone's cases.
fr500 - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
How!!!I mean, the GeminII does not have mounting options for 1156 chips
I'm waiting for the 450w psu for the SG05, anyway my Zotac 9300-D-E with an e8500@3.7Ghz and a GTS250 overclocked is enough for most console ports :D and HTPC duty
fr500 - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Edit: Duh I just realized you said GeminII S. My badGeorgeH - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
On the board features page, it lists 6x SATA ports from the chipset and 4x from a JMB322. If there are only 4 ports on the board, what's the point of the JMB322? And isn't the JMB322 a 1 or 2 port part?Also, did DFI say who the target market was? Without an IGP and with limited SATA ports I'm having trouble thinking of any good usage scenarios for this board.
Rajinder Gill - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
Hi George,That was my mistake on the SATA ports. I used a template XLS and forgot to delete some of the cell data. It's fixed now.
thanks!
Raja
tomoyo - Monday, January 4, 2010 - link
I was really hopeful for some good clarkdale mini-itx mobos, with only one chip in addition to the processor, it makes for better board layouts. I hope we'll start getting more case choices also, especially a few in server config. I'd love to make a mini-itx Raid box that can outdo the pre-built raid machines out there.zer0sum - Wednesday, January 6, 2010 - link
That is already possible using ion 330 based boards like the POV.4 x sata and 1 x esata, 1Gb NIC supports jumbo frames with 7200 MTU under linux
Then just add a Chenbro ES34069 chassis with 4 x hot swap sata bays.
I can't seem to get Freenas working with jumbo frames as I suspect the NIC driver is not quiet up to speed under FreeBSD.
Ubuntu works perfectly though and I can easily get 80-100Mb/s off a 2 disk mirror.
Just waiting on more disks to see how raid 5 speed works out.
It is an expensive little chassis but it is also damn cool
Z