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Intro:
When people think about ITX, there are a few stigmas that come to mind. The first is that there is limited choice. The second is that performance is lacking. While these two points may have been true in the past, no longer is ITX relegated to the specific niche crowd. Intel has been releasing ITX boards for a long time and their latest releases have come a long way. The DG45FC is an ITX board that accepts 45nm CPUs. Pairing this board with a Core 2 will give you performance of a full sized desktop in a tiny package.
Box:
This is considered a media series board and you'll see what new things come on these highly integrated boards.
Parts:
Hilariously, the board includes a floppy disk with the RAID driver on it (for Windows, I assume). The board doesn't have a floppy connector so unless you use a USB floppy drive (which does work), you are SOL. Regardless, there are no drivers required for use with Linux. There are two SATA cables included since that's the only type of drive connection. A Windows software CD and the I/O shield is included as well. Intel always includes a very handy sticker to show the various connections and headers on the board. fakeRAID is supported by dmraid on Linux.
DG45FC:
The DG45FC is a nice and small board since it is ITX. As a refresher, ITX is about the same size as a normal CD case and is aimed at small and (hopefully) quiet PCs for use in embedded or entertainment systems. There is a single 1x PCI Express slot for adding functionality to the board. You probably won't be running any sort of high end graphics on this board, but there are good 1x graphics cards you can get if you don't want to stick with the integrated video. There is no active cooling on the board. You will probably be pairing this with an actively cooled CPU, though. Basically, the board is silent for itself.
The »previous ITX board from Intel that I took a look at contained all these crazy arbitrary restrictions. This board will handle anything you throw at it. Interestingly, the memory is DDR2 which lends to having a cheaper overall build and that's good when building a system like this. Make sure your case has an AUX12V connector as well as a 24 pin ATX connector. It even includes a speaker. Not many boards include a speaker anymore. Even though the board may look cramped, it is a very nice layout.
The board supports 4GB of DDR2 running at 800MHz which is excellent for an ITX board. Make sure you pair it with a 64-bit OS if you use over 3GB of memory. The board supports dual channel as well. Nothing is wasted on this board. The 24 pin ATX connector is located next to the CMOS battery. The large passive heatsink is on top of the northbridge.
The area around the CPU is clear enough for most heatsinks. You should stick with the low profile heatsink that comes with the new 45nm CPUs. This board can handle 1333MHz 45nm CPUs from Intel. Throw a Core 2 in there and you have performance in a pint sized package. The CPU fan and an additional fan header are located next to the memory slots. This board will not support quad core processors.
Finally! No PS/2 ports and NO VGA PORT! Instead, you get the assortment of modern ports including DVI and HDMI. eSATA is included as well. This board supports sports a G45 chipset so the graphics can handle some 3D tasks including light gaming and compositing effects for your operating system. This board is an all in one media type which is good.
Intro:
When people think about ITX, there are a few stigmas that come to mind. The first is that there is limited choice. The second is that performance is lacking. While these two points may have been true in the past, no longer is ITX relegated to the specific niche crowd. Intel has been releasing ITX boards for a long time and their latest releases have come a long way. The DG45FC is an ITX board that accepts 45nm CPUs. Pairing this board with a Core 2 will give you performance of a full sized desktop in a tiny package.
Box:
This is considered a media series board and you'll see what new things come on these highly integrated boards.
Parts:
Hilariously, the board includes a floppy disk with the RAID driver on it (for Windows, I assume). The board doesn't have a floppy connector so unless you use a USB floppy drive (which does work), you are SOL. Regardless, there are no drivers required for use with Linux. There are two SATA cables included since that's the only type of drive connection. A Windows software CD and the I/O shield is included as well. Intel always includes a very handy sticker to show the various connections and headers on the board. fakeRAID is supported by dmraid on Linux.
DG45FC:
The DG45FC is a nice and small board since it is ITX. As a refresher, ITX is about the same size as a normal CD case and is aimed at small and (hopefully) quiet PCs for use in embedded or entertainment systems. There is a single 1x PCI Express slot for adding functionality to the board. You probably won't be running any sort of high end graphics on this board, but there are good 1x graphics cards you can get if you don't want to stick with the integrated video. There is no active cooling on the board. You will probably be pairing this with an actively cooled CPU, though. Basically, the board is silent for itself.
The »previous ITX board from Intel that I took a look at contained all these crazy arbitrary restrictions. This board will handle anything you throw at it. Interestingly, the memory is DDR2 which lends to having a cheaper overall build and that's good when building a system like this. Make sure your case has an AUX12V connector as well as a 24 pin ATX connector. It even includes a speaker. Not many boards include a speaker anymore. Even though the board may look cramped, it is a very nice layout.
The board supports 4GB of DDR2 running at 800MHz which is excellent for an ITX board. Make sure you pair it with a 64-bit OS if you use over 3GB of memory. The board supports dual channel as well. Nothing is wasted on this board. The 24 pin ATX connector is located next to the CMOS battery. The large passive heatsink is on top of the northbridge.
The area around the CPU is clear enough for most heatsinks. You should stick with the low profile heatsink that comes with the new 45nm CPUs. This board can handle 1333MHz 45nm CPUs from Intel. Throw a Core 2 in there and you have performance in a pint sized package. The CPU fan and an additional fan header are located next to the memory slots. This board will not support quad core processors.
Finally! No PS/2 ports and NO VGA PORT! Instead, you get the assortment of modern ports including DVI and HDMI. eSATA is included as well. This board supports sports a G45 chipset so the graphics can handle some 3D tasks including light gaming and compositing effects for your operating system. This board is an all in one media type which is good.
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BIOS:
The BIOS is pretty standard for Intel. It gives very minimal customization and no overclocking options. I wouldn't be overclocking this type of setup anyway. As you can see, the board has been installed with 2GB of memory and a 3GHz E8400 CPU.
Testing:
As with all the ITX boards I do, since this is a very specific setup, I'll forgo any standard testing and instead rely on the subjective approach.
Test setup:
DG45FC
OCZ DDR2-800 2GB
1TB Western Digital HDD
Ubuntu 8.10 with no updates
Intel is a big proponent of open source and it shows since this board works perfectly well out of the box with Ubuntu 8.10. You get the nice Compiz enabled effects for those smooth transitions and 3D effects on Gnome. The GMA X4500HD chip for graphics is completely open and well supported. The networking works fine as does all the other components of the board as it should be with Linux.
You won't be doing any high end gaming with this board, but it is very useful for light gaming (you can play Nexuiz in a light session, if you want) and general computing duties. It is also good for a fast and quiet PC. You can easily make this a front end box for MythTV and it will handle anything you throw at it. If you like glxgears, it pushed more than 1200 FPS which is pretty good. It is no speed demon in 3D, but it can get the job done.
The board is a tight fit, especially with the CPU fan. On the »AOpen S150, the PSU is flush with the fan. Actually, it is a bit more than flush as you have to force it a bit to get to to lock in place. It doesn't bother with the operation of the unit and with the 45nm CPU, the system is fairly quiet.
The only thing that you might have an issue with is the lack of high end graphics options. I don't think this is a big problem for most people that will be picking this board up since the CPU support is excellent and you can throw a fast processor to make up for it. The onboard solution handles compositing well enough for most people anyway.
Conclusion:
This board »retails for about $150 at the time of this review date. At this price, it is in-line with other ATX sized boards with the same feature set. As an ITX board, it is an excellent price and a complete media package. Pair this with a nice CPU and you've got a powerful media center or server type of system ready to go. I believe Intel has made strides into additional markets and this board is a nice example of that.
The DG45FC gets my recommendation if you need a good ITX board and want to pair it with a fast CPU. Think about the possibilities with a small and quiet system that has the power to get the job done. That's the DG45FC in a nutshell.
BIOS:
The BIOS is pretty standard for Intel. It gives very minimal customization and no overclocking options. I wouldn't be overclocking this type of setup anyway. As you can see, the board has been installed with 2GB of memory and a 3GHz E8400 CPU.
Testing:
As with all the ITX boards I do, since this is a very specific setup, I'll forgo any standard testing and instead rely on the subjective approach.
Test setup:
DG45FC
OCZ DDR2-800 2GB
1TB Western Digital HDD
Ubuntu 8.10 with no updates
Intel is a big proponent of open source and it shows since this board works perfectly well out of the box with Ubuntu 8.10. You get the nice Compiz enabled effects for those smooth transitions and 3D effects on Gnome. The GMA X4500HD chip for graphics is completely open and well supported. The networking works fine as does all the other components of the board as it should be with Linux.
You won't be doing any high end gaming with this board, but it is very useful for light gaming (you can play Nexuiz in a light session, if you want) and general computing duties. It is also good for a fast and quiet PC. You can easily make this a front end box for MythTV and it will handle anything you throw at it. If you like glxgears, it pushed more than 1200 FPS which is pretty good. It is no speed demon in 3D, but it can get the job done.
The board is a tight fit, especially with the CPU fan. On the »AOpen S150, the PSU is flush with the fan. Actually, it is a bit more than flush as you have to force it a bit to get to to lock in place. It doesn't bother with the operation of the unit and with the 45nm CPU, the system is fairly quiet.
The only thing that you might have an issue with is the lack of high end graphics options. I don't think this is a big problem for most people that will be picking this board up since the CPU support is excellent and you can throw a fast processor to make up for it. The onboard solution handles compositing well enough for most people anyway.
Conclusion:
This board »retails for about $150 at the time of this review date. At this price, it is in-line with other ATX sized boards with the same feature set. As an ITX board, it is an excellent price and a complete media package. Pair this with a nice CPU and you've got a powerful media center or server type of system ready to go. I believe Intel has made strides into additional markets and this board is a nice example of that.
The DG45FC gets my recommendation if you need a good ITX board and want to pair it with a fast CPU. Think about the possibilities with a small and quiet system that has the power to get the job done. That's the DG45FC in a nutshell.
