| Intel BOXD945GCLF2D Atom 330 mITX Motherboard |
| Reviews - Featured Reviews: Motherboards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Written by Hank Tolman - Edited by Olin Coles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wednesday, 15 July 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intel D945GCLF2D MotherboardFor years, the focus on computers has been on faster, better performing systems. Recently, however, with rising energy costs and more environmentally conscious consumers, computer manufacturers have turned to designing machines that use less energy, cost less, and still have many of the advantages of modern computer systems. In the realm of mobile and energy efficient computing, two real competitors have recently emerged. Via, with their Nano chipsets named after biblical references, has dominated the field until recently; at least as far as pure statistic performance is concerned. Intel is the other name, and with that name they have competed quite fiercely for the lion's share of the mobile and ultra-economic computing market. But name is all they had to go on, since their products, the Atom series, have fallen short of the standard set by Via. With the release of Intel's newest Atom, though, that has all changed. Benchmark Reviews is bringing you the down and dirty on the first ever dual core processor made specifically to combine improved performance with low energy consumption as we test the Intel BOXD945GCLF2D Atom 330 Intel 945GC Mini-ITX Motherboard/CPU combo kit.
Here at Benchmark Reviews, we got our hands on the new Intel 945GC Mini ITX Motherboard with Intel Atom 330 dual core processor. Reviews are abound comparing this new processor to the latest and greatest quad core, core i7, and even core 2 duo machines, which isn't fair. Knowing that this new Atom is focused on environmentally conscious and mobility computing tells us immediately that the Atom 330 will not come close to the performance of any of those other processors. Why waste time proving that a processor made to cost less and use less power doesn't play high end games or render at high frame rates? What Intel has done with the Atom 330 is provide everyone who has been looking for an inexpensive upgrade an opportunity to turn in their ancient Pentium or Athalon computers. The purpose of this review will be to show a comparison to those consumers debating the economic feasibility of upgrading to a new dual core machine. Even if you are not one of the millions of consumers still waiting until the price is just right to upgrade your computer, you may have been contemplating building a home theater PC for storing all your media. You may want to build a machine to stream video to your TV from Hulu, Netflix, Fancast, or any number of sites. You may be like me, and enjoy the idea of putting an inexpensive computer in your car, rather than spend the same amount of money on a simple GPS only system. But whether you are upgrading the family homework and internet computer or making yet another addition to your network of cubicle desktops for your company, this review will help you see a new, cheap, and fast alternative to supplement your plan. The introduction of the new dual core Atom chipset has catapulted Intel into the clear lead in the economic computing market. We aim today to answer a few questions you are sure to have regarding this new chipset. We will explore every option to ensure you have all the ammunition you need to make a choice for your computing needs. Going for just $79.99, the Intel D945GCLF2D motherboard/cpu combo is destined to move the market. Is it headed in your direction? Read more to find out. About Intel CorporationIntel Corporation is the world's largest semiconductor company founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove. Intel combines advanced chip design capability with leading-edge manufacturing capability. Originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, Intel's successful "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names. Intel pushes the boundairies of innovation so our work can make people's lives more exciting, fulfilling and manageable. And our work never stops. We never stop looking for the next leap ahead - in technology, education, culture, manufacturing, and social responsibility. And we never stop striving to deliver solutions with greater benefits for everyone. Intel is making PCs more accessible and affordable through innovative PC purchase programs. Through public and private collaboration, Intel has worked closely with government and industry leaders to develop more than 200 programs in 60 countries. With the onslaught of wireless broadband communication technologies like WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and 3G and wireline ADSL and cable, Intel, in collaboration with local governments, is connecting more people in more places than ever before - no matter how remote. Intel is committed to improving education on a global scale. With an ongoing focus on students and teachers, we're making an impact with technology solutions that support the development of 21st Century skills, including digital literacy, problem solving, and critical thinking. As citizens use the internet, the need to create localized content is the key. Intel-sponsored programs provide localized content and services to connect technologies to villages, suburbs, and cities around the world to deliver access to community information, education, and healthcare. Intel 945GC Atom 330 FeaturesThe Intel Atom processor is Intel's smallest processor, built with the world's smallest transistors and manufactured on Intel's industry-leading 45nm Hi-k Metal Gate technology. The Intel Atom processor was purpose-built for simple, affordable, netbooks and nettops. Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and nettops offer both an easy-to-use mobile device with simple interfaces and targeted performance for a good online experience. They are rugged and compact in design, and offer the freedom and flexibility of wireless connectivity. Great for Internet, these devices are an affordable option for education, photo and video viewing, social networking, voice over IP, e-mail, messaging, browsing, and numerous other Internet activities and basic applications. Features and benefits
Power Management
Supported Operating Systems
Low TDP Low Thermal Design Power enables smaller internet-centric desktop computing devices due to the lower cooling requirements. Power optimized front side bus
Minimizes power needed to transmit data to the processor, resulting in significant power savings and enabling longer battery life - all without impacting performance. Anticipates data the processor is likely to need and stores the information within the processor's L2 cache, resulting in improved performance since the processor doesn't have to wait as long for data. Intel Advanced Smart Cache Cache & bus design for efficient data sharing, providing enhanced performance, responsiveness and power savings. Integrated DX9* graphics core The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 provides 3D graphics performance for a good visual computing experience. Intel High Definition Audio 5.1 Integrated audio support enables quality home theater sound and delivers advanced features such as multiple audio streams and jack re-tasking. BOXD945GCLF2D Specifications
Closer Look: Intel 945GCIntel has coined the name "nettop" for a computer costing under $299, and has designed the Atom processors with this in mind. The nettop machine is ideal for exactly what it sounds like, surfing the net. Asus made a similar series of machines known as the netbook. Nettops and Netbooks don't perform very well for playing games that require heavy duty graphics cards or low FPS rates. They do great, however, for surfing the web, listening to music, watching videos, posting to your blog, youTube, MyFace, SpaceBook etc., and even streaming media. These systems are extremely inexpensive and don't use a whole lot of energy. This makes them a great alternative for Home Theater PCs as well. It's something you can leave on all the time without worrying about sending your electricity bill through the roof.
The Intel BOXD945GCLF2D is the bottom end of the Atom 330 CPU/Motherboard combos. Its sole purpose is to provide a very inexpensive system for internet browsing and media playback. With that in mind, it isn't surprising that the box doesn't come with a lot in it. In fact, all you get is a driver disk, a quick reference guide, a rear I/O panel shield for your case, an IDE cable, and a SATA cable.
The board is tiny. I knew I was getting a mini ITX motherboard, but being the first I have ever used, I was quite surprised by the size. It's barely larger than the I/O panel and completely square. On the alternate version of this board (the BOXD945GCLF2) there is an S-Video out connector between the LAN/USB ports and the Audio Ports. This might make TV-Out an easier option, but then again, most HDTVs now come with a VGA port.
The tiny design for this and other ITX motherboards is perfect for home theater enthusiasts and has allowed for the recent design of many extremely small cases. One turn-off of the older HTPCs is that they took up far too much room and were harder to hide away. Also, they often created a lot of heat. The low power usage of the new Atom processor has eliminated that worry. In fact, as you can see, the processor uses only a heatsink for cooling, while the GPU uses a heatsink and fan.
The rest of the board is pretty simplistic in its design. There is moderate room for expansion using the single PCI slot. The provided Intel GMA 950 GPU is about the extent of the graphics capabilities with this board, however, because the PCI slot is not PCI-Express. You can use it to add in a Wi-Fi card, an eSATA card, or even a better sound card if that's what you're after. There is a single IDE channel and two SATA ports. There is even a little plug for an extra fan, just in case the 8W of power is overheating you. I find that quite unlikely, but extra cooling can't hurt. BOXD945GCLF2D DetailsNow it's time for some of the down and dirty on the Intel D945GCLF2D motherboard. The board comes with only a single DDR2 DIMM slot that supports up to a meager 2Ghz of memory. This is a major drawback. Another DIMM slot would easily fit on the board and would allow the user up to 4Ghz. Although that amount is not necessary for basic web browsing and media playback, it is almost a must-have for Windows Vista. Hopefully Windows 7 will be less demanding on the RAM front. The RAM bus speed can be 533Mhz or 667Mhz, but since the front-side bus speed is only 533Mhz, it won't make a huge difference either way. Of course, at that $79.99 price tag, I am really just nitpicking here. That the board does offer use of the higher speed 667Mhz DIMM modules is a step in the right direction. A lot of Atom boards only accept the 533Mhz RAM.
Another bothersome point is on the rear I/O panel. There are only 4 USB ports, no eSATA or 1394 ports, and no DVI port. Given that this was built to be a mobile or nettop computer, the connectivity is very limited. There is still plenty of room on the I/O panel for some of these amenities, but you will have to look for a more expensive board to find them. There are two USB pin sets on the motherboard for up to four more USB ports, but what ITX case offers four USB ports on the front? I say stick two more on the back and leave only one pin set for the two ports that will inevitably come with the case. And while we're back there, how about getting rid of the out-dated parallel port and adding a DVI port instead? The board only offers one option for sound enthusiasts, the standard 5.1 channel ports. Again, you will have to find a seperate card, or go with a more expensive motherboard to find S/PDIF or Optical out ports. This one just doesn't have them.
The actual processor, the Atom 330, is really an amazing piece of architecture. It, like its predecessor, is built using a 45nm production and each of the two processors has about 50 million transistors. Really, the dual core Atom 330 is just two single core Atom 230 processors put onto the same substrate. It is quite a shock to see just how small these processors are, but they do pack quite a punch. You can see the size of the single core Atom 230 processor compared to a quarter.
All said and done, this motherboard has a lot to offer and asks for little in return; it's cheap, it's power efficient, and it's a dual core. As we mentioned before, this machine won't do very well on the gaming market. FPS will not be a strong point. But for home theater media playback, internet browsing, office tasks, homework, and any other daily common task, the computing market has just seen a fresh overhaul. This makes affordable home or office PCs come to the tune of under about $250. Test MethodologyBenchmark Reviews has pitted the new Intel Atom 330 Motherboard/CPU combo against two last generation laptops and a low end Core 2 Duo machine in order to present the feasibility of an upgrade. The last generation laptops represent current HTPC configurations as well as the basic family internet/homework computer. Since the Atom 330 is intended for systems under $300, this provides a good look at how it compares to machines whose job it will be competing for; and at a fraction of the cost. Intel Atom ProcessorsIn the chart assembled below, Benchmark Reviews has organized the various Intel Atom processors released as of July 2009 for comparison. The NVIDIA ION is the only platform which supports EM64T instructions, for 64-bit Operating System compatibility, a feature that will prove invaluable with the upcoming Microsoft Windows 7 O/S release.
Testing SoftwarePassMark PerformanceTest v7.0 - A PassMark score is a benchmark of your CPU performance across a variety of common tests such as a math integer test, a compression test, a prime number test, an encryption test, a floating point math test, and a SSE/3DNOW test. Lavalys EVEREST Home Edition - Everest provides accurate low-level information motherboard, CPU and bios, including chipset details, DMI enumeration, AGP configuration information, SPD memory modules list, DRAM timing information and CPU instruction set support. SiSoftware SANDRA - System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant, is an information and diagnostic utility that provides most of the information you need to know about your hardware or software. Test SystemsIntel Atom 330 System
Pentium 4 Laptop
AMD Athlon Laptop
Core 2 Duo
Performance Test ResultsThe first test we conducted was the PassMark CPU test. This gives the system an overall score based on eight tests made to push the CPU to it's limits. 
As you can see above, the Atom 330/Intel D945GCLF2D machine fared very well agains the Athlon 64 machine and even outperformed the Pentium 4. This shows that pure CPU power is very close to that of a Pentium 4 laptop, proving that Atom could perform the same functions just as well. The next test is the Everest Home Edition benchmark. This benchmark gives a good overview of the machine's ability to read and write to memory, and the latency, or the delay between the time the command is given until the machine begins processing it. 
The Atom 330 lagged behind the laptops a little on read test, but made up for it by nearly doubling the Pentium 4 in write test. Overall, the test shows the Atom's suitability to the common tasks performed by the laptops. 
The Atom machine disappoints a little in the latency, but remember, this is measured in nanoseconds, so the difference between the Atom and the two laptops is actually unnoticeable without the use of these tests. Next we use SiSoftware SANDRA to compare the Arithmetic, Multi-Media, and Cryptographic Processes of the systems.
Again in these tests, the Atom 330/Intel D945GCLF2D squeezes ahead of last generation's laptops. Not bad for a machine intended to cost under $300. 
The multi-media scores show the Atom pulling ahead of the competition even further. It looks like I may be replacing my HTPC laptop after all.
And finally, the cryptography scores further solidify the lead that the Atom 330 processor has built over the two laptops. I have been using the Athlon FX laptop as my HTPC, and it has performed outstandingly. Now I can see that the Atom 330 would make quite a feasible upgrade. Intel Atom 330 Final ThoughtsIn summary, the Intel BOXD945GCLF2 Motherboard/CPU combo has met or exceeded all the standards we had expected of it. It won't replace a Core 2 Duo or better machine, but it will provide a cost effective upgrade for last generation computers. It also has great potential for becoming mainstream in the HTPC market. As for me, I have installed it into my car. I may be looking into another one in the near future, though, for an HTPC. This board has the potential to become my entire home media center. As good as the Intel D945GCLF2D motherboard is for its $79.99 price tag, there are a few things that I would have liked to see a little differently. For one, another DIMM slot for a total of 4Gb of RAM is a must. Even today's operating systems are requiring that much RAM now. 2Gb just won't cut it anymore. There also needs to be a better GPU, or a PCI-E x16 slot. The GMA 950 is a very old GPU in this market. It does the job, but it's not going to give me that crisp clear 1080p picture that I'm looking for. Granted, to keep the price as low as it is, the graphics are going to suffer. That's why I propose a PCI x16 slot, so I can spend as much or as little for the quality of graphics that I want. Also, get rid of that parrallel port in the back and give me a DVI port. I mean, come on, a parrallel port? Seriously? Besides that, and a few extra USB or an eSATA port, I can't complain about the board. Really, those items are pretty trivial too once you consider the price. I don't know where else you will find a dual core motherboard/cpu/vga combo for that cheap. And it works perfectly for it's intended purpose. It can browse the internet like nobody's business. It can play music, videos, slideshows with ease. It works great for homework, emails, small business offices. And for all that, it only asks for 8W of power at full velocity. All around, this is one of the best deals you will find for a basic, entry-level computer. I highly recommend it.
BOXD945GCLF2D ConclusionIf you are in the market for an upgrade for your last generation computer or HTPC, this is the board for you. If you are looking for an inexpensive alternative to a laptop for your office, kid's room, or anywhere else, this is the board for you. If you want to play all the latest games, design your own 3D animation movies, or anything of that nature, this is not the board for you. The D945GCLF2D motherboard is slightly smaller than the box it comes in. The entire package is pretty plain and simple. It comes with all the desired documentation; everything you need to hook it up and get started. The Intel Motherboard/CPU combo is definitely a no frills event. There are other boards from a variety of manufactures using the Atom CPU that are colorful, full of eye-catching features, and really just prettier than the Intel board. You won't find anything unexpected (other than a parrallel port) on the I/O panel or the board itself. The IDE, SATA, and DIMM slots are black, the board is green, everything is the color is should be and in the place it should be. No surprises here. The Intel D945GCLF2D is very well put together. It has got to be hard to fit everything you need for the computer onto such a tiny surface. The machine hold up very well under difficult circumstances as well. I have had it bolted into the back of my car for a couple weeks and it hasn't had any problems. You can tell that this product was made to be affordable, but it is sturdy enough to handle the job. Performance for it's intended use is no problem. Made specifically for "nettop" systems, this motherboard/cpu combo rises above its humble expectations and truly shines where it counts; performance. While it doesn't support all of the fun gadgets and gizmos that more expensive boards do, it functions perfectly doing what it was made to do. As of mid-July, you can pick up the BOXD945GCLF2D motherboard/CPU combo at NewEgg for $79.99. While you are there, try finding another dual core motherboard/cpu/vga combo for less. It won't happen. This board is an amazing value. Of course, there are some good deals on the web when you use the Benchmark Reviews Price Shopping Tool. I stated some of my disgruntlements and suggestions for the board earlier, but that in no way diminishes the excellent product for the price. In the world of ultra-mobile, energy efficient computing, Intel has set the bar very high with this one. Pros:
+ Very Inexpensive, a Great Value! Cons:
- Only 1 DIMM Slot, 2Gb RAM Max Ratings:
Final Score: 8.65 out of 10.Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.
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