Once you go mini...

[Peter Korsten]

Some of you may already have read this on Facebook, but last weekend I 
built my first Mini-ITX system.

Now, Mini-ITX is a motherboard standard, just like ATX and microATX. It 
uses the same back plate, fits in standard cases, but it only measures 
17x17 cm (6.7x6.7 inch). It's not the smallest form factor, but probably 
the smallest with such a large variety of manufacturers and feature sets.

This PC is specifically designed as a CCTV server, with IP-based 
security cameras connecting via a PoE (Power over Ethernet) network 
switch. So it needed decent processing power, plenty of memory and the 
capacity to add several hard discs. A second use is as a file server, 
and I plan to digitise all my CDs and store them on it, eventually.

Because it will be switched on 24/7, low power usage was a criterion, 
and also low noise. And I wanted a box that wasn't too big, yet still 
could house four to six 3.5" drives. That box I didn't get, yet, but 
that will be the next step. And these small boxes with many drive bays 
invariably require a Mini-ITX mainboard.

That mainboard is a Gigabyte affair -our third Gigabyte mainboard out of 
four PCs- and comes with an impressive array of connections. It has dual 
Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi (there's a non-Wifi version, but I couldn't find 
it anywhere), DVI, dual HDMI, six external USB (four of them USB3), six 
channel audio and an optical audio output. Internally it can connect six 
SATA drives. CPU socket is 1150, so you can put anything from a Celeron 
to a Core i7 in it.

For the CPU, I chose a 35W 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 (4360T), which still 
has 2/3rds the performance of my ageing 3.2 GHz Core i7 960 (at 130W). 
The low profile CPU cooler is nearly silent, and together with the 8 GB 
memory, the mainboard with everything on it isn't any larger than the 
width and the height of the back plate.

The power supply is 300W (but scales down if you use less) and mostly 
silent, or at least very quiet. It's actually smaller than normal ATX 
power supplies. The boot drive is a 64 GB Sandisk SSD, and the data disc 
is a 2 TB "green" HDD that we had lying around.

The case is a crappy 15 year old beige mini tower. I think there was a 
Pentium 3 in it, which I threw away, because certain things are simply 
not worth keeping (and we already have several old mainboards collecting 
dust). It's destined to one day be replaced by a Fractal Design Core 
304, a nice minimalist Swedish design for a reasonable price.

Now, what does this have to do with music? Let me get to the point: the 
box is really, really quiet. In a quiet room, you can just about hear it 
when you're a foot and a half away. And with the right enclosure, it's 
really small, too. So if you're looking for a PC based DAW, it might be 
something to consider.

Now I'm installing Linux (CentOS) and ZoneMinder, obviously everything 
the hardcore way, from the command line. Hours of fun... :)

- Peter