VIA EPIA EN15000 Reviews
Forum: Hardware Talk
Topic: VIA EPIA EN15000 Reviews
started by: dougz
Posted by dougz on May 23 2006,15:53
Interesting review & comparison to other CPUs.| Quote |
| Conclusion VIA’s EPIA EN15000 is a product that impresses yet disappointed depending on the type of user you are. If you’re a performance junky or would like the best performance for your money than the EPIA EN15000 isn’t for you. However if you want mini ITX for your car, custom case, or some type of project and willing to pay, the EPIA EN15000 brings welcomed performance enhancements over the existing Nehemiah C3 based EPIA’s. While its no match for AMD’s low end Sempron it does get the job done and VIA has come a long way with their processor development. When VIA launched their first processor since they took over Centaur and Cyrix, the performance was very disappointing. Now with the C7 performance has been improved dramatically. It’s no competitor for Intel and AMD on the desktop front but may be what VIA needs to steal away market share from AMD’s Geode and Intel’s ultra low voltage Core processors. Overall if your mind is set on mini ITX than the EPIA EN15000 is the fastest EPIA you can buy. If you can swallow the $269.99 price tag than the EPIA EN15000 may be worth it. Don’t expect to build a home theater PC around the EPIA EN15000 if you want something to accompany your HDTV as the EN15000 simply does not have the graphics power to process high definition video footage. However, if you need a board for a KIOSK, thin client, servers, robots, etc than the EPIA EN15000 should have plenty of power for such tasks. < SFFTech Review > |
From Epiacenter
| Quote |
| The VIA EPIA EN Mini-ITX mainboard is the first to feature the VIA C7 and VIA Eden processor with the new VIA V4 bus. The new VIA CN700 digital media IGP chipset features unprecedented CPU bandwidth, full DDR2 memory support, and integrated VIA UniChrome™ Pro 2D/3D graphics with MPEG-2 decoding for smooth digital video playback, while the HDTV encoder provides display flexibility. Also supported is a series of advanced storage and connectivity options, including full LVDS support for seamless integration into LCD panels, S-Video and RCA output, IEEE 1394, USB 2.0 connections and a Gigabit LAN connection for high-speed transmission of data. 24/7 operation is guaranteed with the VIA FliteDeck suite of features that includes an integrated watchdog timer, remote LAN management and a host of monitoring tools.... Noise: After some 3 years of EPIA mainboards VIA finally attached a fan that you can barely hear. I still believe you don't need to use it with that massive heatsink but hey, it's your own board... ;) .... < Epiacenter Review > |
Posted by faroutscience on May 26 2006,14:59
I have heard that the EN1500 will become available in June. I hope DSL-Store decides to carry this product line. I understand it has even lower power consumption than the N10000 and therefore less heat.Jeff
Posted by humpty on May 27 2006,05:11
tks for this post.The graphics core is a good idea, but only for redhat? I wonder
if there's an XFree86 driver? wonder why it needs a hefty heatsink? those portable DVD players seem to do alright without one.
Again, with these boards, I'm not sure if they come with a fanless power supply, or how to match one up.
Attaching a fan is a mistake. To pull away from the crowd VIA needs to be different as much as it can. Yea, they need fans, but not the hardware type.
Posted by dougz on May 29 2006,10:49
Re: Fanless VIA C7Check out -- < SPCR Review of VIA EPIA EN1200E >
Re: Fanless Power
Check out this little gem -- < PicoPSU >
Posted by humpty on May 30 2006,06:46
hah! the power supply is a bit of cheat, though a good idea using apower brick.
I was thinking, if I bought a regular mini-case power supply and disabled the fan, would it melt?
Posted by dougz on May 30 2006,12:41
| Quote |
| if I bought a regular mini-case power supply and disabled the fan, would it melt? |
Melt? No. Fail or shutdown? Yes.
There is a lot of discussion about quieting power supplies in the articles and forums at < Silent PC Review > The technical quality of the articles & posts is uniformly high. You would do well to read more there.
Bottom line for passively (or just quietly) cooled systems at affordable prices:
- Select very low power parts like Via mobos (or notebook CPUs), notebook drives (cfdisks or pendrives), and embedded video
- Use highly efficient power supplies like the PicoPSU
- Use external power bricks
Commercial examples: Apple's Mac Mini (Intel or PPC), AOpen's clone of the Mac, Shuttle's forthcoming < X100 > and the < ASUS Pundit >
Think about it; you're really building a desktop with the power requirements of a laptop. Use the appropriate parts and you can have a fanless system. Not rocket science™.
