intruder (ITX Win XP Gaming)
Table of Contents
Summary
A mini-ITX Windows XP era gaming machine.
Notes
TODO
Hardware
| Make | Advantech |
| Year | 2009 |
| Model | AIMB-258 Motherboard |
| Chassis | Apex MI-008 ITX |
| Power Supply | 250W Allied SL-B250SFX |
| Processor | Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 |
| Memory | 4GB DDR3 1333 (2x 2GB Apacer 78.A2GC9.AF0) |
| Ports | PS/2 Mouse |
| PS/2 Keyboard | |
| 2x DB-9 Serial | |
| VGA | |
| DVI | |
| 2x RJ-45 LAN | |
| 4x USB A 2.0 | |
| 3x Rear Audio | |
| 2x Front USB A 2.0 | |
| 2x Front Audio | |
| DisplayPort | |
| HDMI | |
| DVI | |
| Graphics | ATI Radeon HD 5570 1GB |
| Storage | 240GB Inland Professional SSD |
| 1.5TB WD Green WD15EARX | |
| Asus DRW-1814BLT DVD±RW/RAM (over USB-SATA adapter) | |
| Display | - |
| Int. Peripherals | 2x Realtek RTL8111C Gigabit Ethernet |
| Realtek ALC888 Audio | |
| Ext. Peripherals | - |
| Dimensions | |
| Length/Depth | 34 cm |
| Width | 22 cm |
| Height/Thickness | 13 cm |
| Weight | kg (lbs oz) |
Software
| Operating System | |
| Unique applications |
Log
Modern-ish XP gamer
I collected an industrial ITX board with a Core 2 Duo, and PCIe, a small case, and a graphics card.
I bought the IO shield separately and had to modify a COM/VGA cutout to fit the DVI port. The board also came with a CompactFlash socket on the underside that had to be removed for my case's stand-off height.
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Different graphics card
I forget why, but I got a Radeon HD 5570 card instead. It certainly has some advantages compared to the previous Radeon HD 3650.
Pros:
- DirectX 11
- 1GB VRAM
- Only 40W TDP
Cons:
- Maybe less memory bandwidth
- No cool red heatsink with a sword-wielding lady
A better heatsink
The original heatsink was a nice copper chunk, but low profile with a whiny fan. I looked for a replacement to fit the mount and settled on this northbridge cooler photoed below. I was able to reuse the original CPU backplate and mounting screws.
Some build photos
Some instability
The System process keeps pegging half the CPU, and grinding to a practical halt. Currently suspecting the RTL8111C drivers that Advantech provides. I ran for an hour or so with them uninstalled, but it needs a more thorough test.
It also coincided with the SpeedFan utility I installed, but I'd rather go without NICs than have the fans blasting constantly.
I grabbed a much more recent (2018) driver from Realtek. So far after several hours I didn't hit the System process issue again.
Before I was also running into drive access failing on my secondary drive, but I thought it related to the first issue causing timeouts. Now it appears to be its own problem. SMART tests seem ok, but the drive just fails with "delayed write error" when doing things.
I tried this Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver. It didn't change the SATA controller driver.
After a long run with the drive disconnected I think it is the issue even though it doesn't have any SMART fail indicators. I'll swap for another one eventually.