Article: Computer Audiophile Pocket Server C.A.P.S. v3 Topanga

[Krisbee]

Good specs, I like the the simple but functional LGX MC500 case. But with delivery it's over £50 in the UK. For an extra £20 I think others might choose one of the basic Streacom cases.

 

AFAIK all cederview CPUs (N2xxx) have a 3rd party PowerPV sgx 545 integrated graphics core (aka Intel GMA 3650). There are no 64bit drivers for these, hence Intel quotes memory support on the DN2800MT as 4GB.

 

But you can install 64bit Windows on this platform and use more memory if you are happy to run with a standard (VESA?) MS graphics driver and a non-optimal video display. The sort of thing you'd see if you installed Windows on your regular PC but never installed your graphics card drivers.

 

Some analysis over at silentpcreview would suggest that without the proper 32bit Intel graphic drivers installed a DN2800MT cannot operate with maximum power savings.

 

SPCR • View topic - Intel DN2800MT hands on...Single digit world?

 

But the difference is likely to be measured in a few watts, and in any case, “audiophiles” will probably turn Intel's SpeedStep (EIST) off, although I 'm not sure why.

 

Anyone prepared to use Linux OS and apps can make some savings here. Potential Linux users will I'm sure be capable of deciphering information at http://openbenchmarking.org/system/1208316-SU-SCIMARK2T59/Intel%20Atom%20N2800 which shows Linux running on a DN2800MT system. There's limited graphics support, but that doesn't matter as you're likely to run this headless. You can see that acpi-cpufreq is loaded which means frequency scaling is under your control.

 

Which Linux would you use? VoyageMPD is known to work on the DN2800MT and as a further cost saving you can use a CF card in an adapter rather than the more expensive mSATA card. I believe Idolse's mdpPUP should also work on the DN2800MT but may need tweakng, or is awaiting a fix. Otherwise it's the lightweight Linux distro of your choice operating in text mode.