First Glimpse at Intel’s New Mini-ITX Platform: D945GSEJT
These are exciting times. Intel is planning to offer a Mini-ITX mainboard that suits our customers’ requirements. Intel’s new Mini-ITX form factor mainboard, the D945GSEJT (expected release mid Q2’09), is a low-profile, super-slim platform featuring an Atom processor and mobile chipset.
So far, the engineering sample we have offers DVI, VGA, onboard LVDS, Gb LAN, 2 SATA connectors, and a PCIe Mini Card slot for wireless connectivity. What really is neat about this board is the footprint—onboard power and a low-profile design (~20 mm from the bottom of the PCB to the highest point on the board).
Intel, however, does fall slightly short (in my opinion) with the processor/chipset combination. Our customers are waiting (pleading) for a dual core atom paired with a mobile chipset. We could even settle for Intel designing this board with the new Atom N280 (FSB 667) and the GN40 chipset (better graphics support) and really deliver a premium solution for our embedded and industrial customers.
Not officially announced yet, but it is available on Intel’s Web site here: http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/eng/385826.htm.
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It’s clear Intel doesn’t want to kill sales of their higher up cpus. I wish this board had the GN40 though. And I wish Intel wouldn’t be such a jerk with the Ion platform.
I’d put one of those mini pci-e ssd cards on it. Can you see if that works? I’ve heard of BIOSes not liking SATA through the mini slot.
Hi Joe,
Yeah, it would have been nice to see the Johnstown have better graphics support. But, it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer for that. This seems to be the trend with Intel and its Mini-ITX boards. Since the Little Valley (which was uATX, but close enough), we keep getting just a little closer with each new successor to a really excellent board that matches our customers’ needs. It’s not like the technology doesn’t exist, it comes down to Intel not wanting to cannibalize certain product lines, which makes sense from a business perspective.
The Ion is a whole other story, and quite a touchy one, too. We are very excited to get our hands on an actual Ion mainboard, and hope to test out Zotac’s and Pegatron’s offerings. I am getting the feeling, though, that most manufacturer’s don’t want to even touch the thing. Which, is unfortunate. We’ll see what happens.
We don’t stock PCIe SSD cards, so we won’t be able to confirm compatibility. But, if anyone else gets those two items working, I would definitely like to know, too.
[…] Via: logicsupply […]
OK,
I have to say i cant wait to get one of these, i build pcs for people to order and folks want pcs in small places, the current atom boards are very popular ( more useable than the via boards ) so this will just it to the next level.
no fan = no pico-psu = no noise = no height = cool.
How about some more boards like this with four SATA ports? I’d like to start building some ultra low power Windows Home Server boxes, but the choices are limited. The same goes for suitable hot swap cases with four drive capacity.
I also happen to be in Australia where basically nothing is available and the exchange rates and shipping costs from the USA make it a too expensive proposition.
The estimated system TDP for D945GSEJT is 11.8W
The estimated system TDP for D945GCLF2 is 33.5W
The new board uses ~65% less power than the old board.
http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=35553
Just remember that the -SEJT is a single core part. The CLF2’s are dual core and have significantly better performance than the 230’s. I’m sure the 280 is a speed bump from the 230 (duh), but performance from an in-order processor is all about multi-threading. And the 330 supports 4 threads …
Ubuntu 8.04.2 is not recognizing the NIC on this board. Anyone else experiencing this? Intel states that 8.10 should work, but testing here indicates that Ubuntu finds the interface (eth0 shows with netstat -i) but can’t bring up the stack on it (fails to obtain DHCP address). 9.04 works OK. All tests using USB key created with unetbootin from the desktop ISO images.
Some notes:
– This board fits in a Morex T-3310 case, but watch the backplate. The first time I put it in, the I/O plate on the back wasn’t fully in place and prevented the motherboard from lining up with the case’s screw holes correctly. I pulled everything out and clipped off the little metal tabs that stuck out from the I/O plate, then pushed it in more firmly than before. Everything fit fine after that.
– Mine didn’t come with a manual. You’ll have to download it from Intel:
http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gsejt/sb/e5941301us.pdf
– The RAM requires a firm hand when installing. Mine wasn’t seated quite properly when I first put it in, and the system refused to POST till I pushed it in more firmly.
– FreeBSD 7.2 does not recognize the network card on this board. Apparently the Realtek chipset it’s based on is currently giving FreeBSD problems. It’ll get fixed eventually, I’m sure, but there’s no telling how long it’ll take.
– I installed Ubuntu Server 9.04 with no problems. I presume the assorted 9.04 desktop variants of Ubuntu would work also.
– It’s dead silent and uses very little power. I’m using mine as a file server and web development sandbox on my home network, and so far it’s working out great!
Does this board provide the ability to boot from SCSI, if a PCI SCSI card is present?
I just received a sample board from my Intel Field Rep. I’m most interested in the LVDS interface. Are you guys going to be offering any solutions for that. Intel doesn’t seem to have any other information on it. (Not surprising).
And what about the wireless leads to external antennas? The backplate seems to have the three holes pre-drilled for the antennas.
I’m using this board as a home automation controller and was excited to see two serial port headers on board!
@Graeme: Your best bet right now is a Chenbro ES340069 case with an MSI 9832 mainboard. The Casetronic TE-1160 also supports 4 hot-swap HDDs, but it’s a bit overkill for most home projects.
We should be getting two more boards with 4 SATA ports in the next few weeks. The first will be the Pegatron ION board, although it’s unclear at this time whether or not the BIOS will support RAID. The second is an AMD-based board with a lot of very unique features. Check back regularly for more details on both.
Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about the shipping or exchange rates. If you want to buy me a plane ticket to Oz I’ll be happy to bring you a home server.
@Dan and Julie: This board uses the Atom N270 with the 945GSE chipset, which is a very different beast from the Atom 230/330 and 945GC chipset found on the Little Falls boards. They’re all clocked at 1.6GHz (the upcoming N280 will be 1.66), but they have very different performance, power, and intended uses. Throw the Z-series Atoms in the mix, and you’ve got a lot to keep track of – check out Intel’s ARK for more info: http://ark.intel.com/ProductCollection.aspx?familyId=29035
@Garrett: If you purchased the board from Logic Supply, please have your order number ready and call our tech support. It’s after hours right now so I can’t check with them, but I bet they can point you in the right direction since we’ve tested Ubuntu 8.04 with a lot of different hardware.
@Will: Thanks for the great comments! Some of those I/O shield/case combos are tighter than others – it sounds like you got an exceptionally tricky match. Regarding the manual, this is intended as an OEM/ODM board, so it is only sold in bulk packaging without a manual. Thanks for posting the link!
@mjl: I don’t know, and have no way to test it. I’ll inquire with Intel and post back.
@Jay: Regarding the LVDS, please check with your Intel rep – we just received some preliminary documentation on the LVDS today. Unfortunately, since it’s not a final document, I can’t just post it here for you.
We sell several different wireless antennas that are all bundled with the necessary pigtail (bottom of the page): http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/networking
Whew…Guess I should check in on these posts more frequently.
Cheers,
Tony
found some info on LVDS:
http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gsejt/sb/CS-030675.htm
There’s a downloadable PDF describing pinouts and jumpers, and a lot of legalese stating that EMI compliance / EMC certification is the responsibility of of the system integrator and/or reseller.
“System integrators (or resellers) enabling the LVDS interface as part of their product lineup own the support and EMC certification of such system (or potential system) for end-users”
Whatever…
pinout/jumper info:
http://download.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gsejt/sb/e77911001.pdf
Thanks so much for following up, Bryan!
[…] ITX e acessórios, possui foto e detalhes da futura placa-mãe D945GSEJT. A empresa cita em seu blog que a Intel ainda não anunciou oficialmente este […]
What about LVDS? Any news?
It would be a good idea if LogicSupply could sell a LVDS Kit for D945GSEJT motherboard.
– Laptop LCD Panel (7″, 10″, 14″ and/or 15″)
– Inverter
– Cables for LCD Panel and Inverter
I can provide LCD kit and integration services for the D945GSEJT .
Email lcdking@earthlcd.com with lcd size and requirements for quotation.
Based on the specifications for LVDS it states that the it is configured to support 18 bpp LCD. Will that support 19″ LCD or larger?
Is there a 24 bpp option?
Have you successfully changed the pinout to support 24 bpp LCD’s? What were the results?
What include LVDS & inverter?
(what actuate this port?)
PS read .pdf about lvds, has not found about this nothing concrete
thx
@MarcosMAA,
There are so many variables for requirements that this simply isn’t feasible for us to do as a standard stocking product. We can certainly assist project customers with integrating a specified LCD with our mainboards, but because most of our customers come to us with a panel already selected for their project it doesn’t make much sense for us to have a preconfigured solution.
@mroberson: If you need 24bit LVDS, I would recommend the Jetway NF95A instead.
@soad-ru: This is really intended for OEM integration. It is assumed that the OEM integrator has the in-house expertise to accomplish this. If you have a project that requires this but don’t have the resources, please contact our Sales department for information on our engineering services.