Mini-ITX: Two Cases And Four Motherboards Compared

Features
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Comparison Table And Test Setup

Comparison Table

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ManufactureriBaseIntelZotacZotac
ModelMI950AFDQ45EKGeForce 9300 ITX WiFiGeForce 8200 ITX WiFi
SocketLGA 775LGA 775LGA 775Socket AM2+
allowed CPUsup to QX9000 Series65W TDPup to QX9000 Seriesup to Phenom II X4 955
Voltage Regulators4 Phase3 Phase4 Phase3 Phase
ChipsetIntel Q45 + ICH10DOIntel Q45 + ICH10DOGeForce 9300GeForce 8200
RAM2 x DDR32 x DDR22 x DDR22 x DDR2
Ethernet IIntel 82567 Gigabit LANIntel 82567LM Gigabit LANRTL8211CL Gigabit LANRTL8211CL Gigabit LAN
Ethernet IIIntel 82574L Gigabit LANRow 7 - Cell 2 Row 7 - Cell 3 Row 7 - Cell 4
WiFiN/AN/A802.11b/g via USB VIA VT6656802.11b/g via USB VIA VT6656
Panel Connectors2 x  Ethernet6 x USB1 x RS2321 x eSATA1 x DVI-I1 x Sub-D1 x Ethernet6 x USB1 x eSATA1 x DVI-I1 x DVI-D1 x Ethernet6 x USB1 x PS/21 x eSATA1 x DVI-I1 x Sub-D1 x HDMI1 x Antenna1 x Ethernet6 x USB2 x PS/21 x DVI-I1 x Sub-D1 x Antenna
Expansion Slot1 x PCI1 x PCIe x11 x PCIe x161 x PCIe x1
Onboard Connector4 x SATA4 x SATA2 x SATA4 x SATA
Pin-Header4 x USB3 x RS2324 x USB6 x USB1 x RS2324 x USB
AudioALC8887.1 Channel3 x RCA Jacks1 x Front Panel AudioADI AD18825.1 Channel3 x RCA Jacks1 x Front Panel AudioALC6623 RCA JacksSPDIF Optical + Electrical1 x Front Panel AudioALC6623 x RCA Jacks1 x SPDIF Pin-Header1 x Front Panel Audio
Accessories2 x SATA1 x RS232 Bracket2 x SATA1 x DVD-I, 2 Sub-D2 x SATA2 x SATA1 x SATA Power1 x DVI-to-HDMI

Test Setup

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System hardware
HardwareDetails
Performance Benchmarks
AMD Platform I(Socket AMD2+)Zotac GeForce 8200 ITX WiFi (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: Nvidia Geforce 8200 BIOS: 2K090202 (02/02/2009)
Intel Platform I(LGA 775)iBase MI950AF (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: Intel Q45 BIOS: 1.42 (09/08/2009)
Intel Platform II(LGA 775)Intel DQ45EK (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: Intel Q45 BIOS: 0101 (09/28/2009)
Intel Platform III(LGA 775)Zotac GeForce 9300 ITX WiFi (Rev. 1.0) Chipset: Nvidia Geforce 9300 BIOS: 1.42 (09/08/2009)
CPU AMDAMD Phenom II X2 550 (45nm, 3.1 GHz, 2 x 512KB L2 and 6MB L3 Cache, TDP 80W, Rev. C2)
CPU IntelIntel Core 2 Duo E8600 (45nm, 3.33 GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, TDP 65W, Rev. E0)
RAM DDR2 (Dual)2 x 2GB DDR2-1200 (Apogee AU2G732-12GH001)
RAM DDR3 (Dual)2 x 2GB DDR3-1600 (Corsair CMD4GX3M2A1600C8)
Hard DriveWestern Digital VelociRaptor, 300GB (WD3000HLFS) 10,000 RPM, SATA/300, 16MB Cache
Blu-ray DriveLG GGW-H20L, SATA/150
Power SupplyEnermax ERP425AWT (Pro 82+)
System Software & Drivers
Operating SystemWindows Vista Enterprise Version 6.0 x64 Service Pack 2 (Build 6000)
Drivers and Settings
AMD Chipset DriversRadeon 9.4
Intel Chipset DriversChipset Installation Utility Version 9.1.1.1020
Intel Graphics DriversVersion 15.13.6.64.1908
Intel storage DriversMatrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.8.0.1009
Nvidia 8200 Chipset DriversNforce 15.49
Nvidia 9300 Chipset DriversNforce 20.14
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3D Games Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarksDetails
Far Cry 2Version: 1.0.1 Far Cry 2 Benchmark Tool Video Mode: 1280x800 Direct3D 9 Overall Quality: Medium Bloom activated HDR off Demo: Ranch Small
Grand Theft Auto IVVersion: 1.0.3 Video Mode: 1280x1024 - 1280x1024 - Aspect Ratio: Auto - All options: Low - View Distance: 1 - Detail Distance: 1 - Vehicle Density: 1 - Shadow Density: 0 - Definition: On - Vsync: Off Ingame Benchmark
Left 4 DeadVersion: 1.0.0.5 Video Mode: 1280x800 Game Settings - Anti Aliasing none - Filtering Trilinear - Wait for vertical sync disabled - Shader Detail Low - Effect Detail Low - Model/Texture Detail Low Demo: THG Demo 1
Audio Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarksDetails
iTunesVersion: 8.1.0.52 Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min., Convert to AAC audio format
Lame MP3Version 3.98 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert wav to mp3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 kbps)
Video Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
TMPGEnc 4.6Version: 4.6.3.268 Video: Terminator 2 SE DVD (720x576, 16:9) 5 Minutes Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-Kanal, English Advanced Acoustic Engine MP3 Encoder (160 kbps, 44.1 KHz)
DivX 6.8.5Version: 6.8.5 == Main Menu == default == Codec Menu == Encoding mode: Insane Quality Enhanced multithreading Enabled using SSE4 Quarter-pixel search == Video Menu == Quantization: MPEG-2
Xvid 1.2.1Version: 1.2.1 Other Options / Encoder Menu - Display encoding status = off
MainConcept Reference 1.6.1Version: 1.6.1 MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264) MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG2) Audio: MPEG2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16 Bit, 224 kbps) Codec: H.264 Mode: PAL (25 FPS) Profile: Settings for eight threads
Adobe Premiere Pro CS4Version: 4.0 WMV 1920x1080 (39 sec) Export: Adobe Media Encoder == Video == H.264 Blu-ray 1440x1080i 25 High Quality Encoding Passes: one Bitrate Mode: Vbr Frame: 1440x1080 Frame Rate: 25 == Audio == PCM Audio, 48 kHz, Stereo Encoding Passes: one
Application Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarksDetails
Grisoft AVG Anti-Virus 8Version: 8.5.287 Virus base: 270.12.16/2094 Benchmark Scan: some compressed ZIP and RAR archives
Winrar 3.9Version 3.90 x64 BETA 1 Compression = Best Benchmark: THG-Workload
Winzip 12Version 12.0 (8252) WinZIP Commandline Version 3 Compression = Best Dictionary = 4096 KB Benchmark: THG-Workload
Autodesk 3D Studio Max 2009Version: 9 x64 Rendering Dragon Image Resolution: 1920 x 1280 (frame 1-5)
Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64-bit)Version: 11 Filtering a 16MB TIF (15000x7266) Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark sysmbol) Median (Radius: 1px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar)
Adobe Acrobat 9 ProfessionalVersion: 9.0.0 (Extended) == Printing Preferenced Menu == Default Settings: Standard == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu == Encrypt all documents (128 bit RC4) Open Password: 123 Permissions Password: 321
Microsoft Powerpoint 2007Version: 2007 SP2 PPT to PDF Powerpoint Document (115 Pages) Adobe PDF-Printer
Deep Fritz 11Version: 11 Fritz Chess Benchmark Version 4.2
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
BenchmarkDetails
3DMark VantageVersion: 1.02 Options: Performance Graphics Test 1 Graphics Test 2 CPU Test 1 CPU Test 2
PCMark VantageVersion: 1.00 PCMark Benchmark Memories Benchmark
SiSoft Sandra 2009Version: 2009 SP3 Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwith
Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos