Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: Getting the most from VIA EPIA 533mhz mini itx

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Lancashire, UK
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Getting the most from VIA EPIA 533mhz mini itx

    I have a a beautifully quiet little box in my hifi rack which is based on a passively cooled 533mhz VIA EPIA motherboard and 512MB of RAM. It's all fairly low spec and I wonder if I can do anything to help it out?

    It's running a Web Service and Web Site using Windows XP Pro's built in IIS. It only ever has one user of the site (me) as its just an MP3 player into the hifi. I know is alot to ask of such a modest setup but it's coping admirably most of the time. The processor does seem to spend a lot of its life at 100% though, can I do anything to help it cope better?

    The web servivce and web site are pretty easy going so I think it's mainly windows background/admin processes that are putting the heavy demands on it. Can I stop anything unnecessary..

    Your thoughts are appreciated.

    (Apart from the board & memory there's a seagate hard disk, a terratec sound card and a belkin USB 802.11g device)

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Posts
    223
    Thanks
    3
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    If you could add a PCI graphics card that will help your CPU abit but that already has the Sound card in can you buy an adapter to allow 2 pci cards?

    Thats about all you can do. Or switch to a different OS like Windows 2000 (or Linux) as they are less graphically intensive.
    Vorsprung Durch Technik

  3. #3
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Posts
    1
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    The only thing you can really do is disable all unnecessary services.
    Plenty of guides on the web to tell you what to close.

    Change Windows to prioritise services over applications (in My Computer->Properties)

    Only other thing that could make a difference is HD speed make sure it's a 7200RPM one.

    If your just using if for MP3 playback consider running SlimServer (http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html)
    It's cross platform and open source and will stream to your player application of choice.
    Particularly the DSL (damn small linux) based SlimCD if you want to get best performance http://www.herger.net/slim/detail.ph...kategorie=slim.
    It's a live cd so fairly easy to test

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Posts
    193
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    I had one of these running 24/7 for about 2 years for video/music/internet. It worked great in Windows 98, but when I 'upgraded' it to XP it broke down. Much slower and wouldn't play video's anymore. I don't think XP gets on well with these boxes

    It's too quiet...

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Lancashire, UK
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by arlanda
    The only thing you can really do is disable all unnecessary services.
    Plenty of guides on the web to tell you what to close.

    Change Windows to prioritise services over applications (in My Computer->Properties)

    Only other thing that could make a difference is HD speed make sure it's a 7200RPM one.

    If your just using if for MP3 playback consider running SlimServer (http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html)
    It's cross platform and open source and will stream to your player application of choice.
    Particularly the DSL (damn small linux) based SlimCD if you want to get best performance http://www.herger.net/slim/detail.ph...kategorie=slim.
    It's a live cd so fairly easy to test
    Thanks Arlanda - The HD speed is a very good point, it's got my old Laptop drive in at the momenty and I'll bet it's only 5400 with hardly any cache.

    Thanks for the link to Slimserver, I'll have a look at what it does but I still need to have the web service/web server combo to do everything I want to achieve.

  6. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Lancashire, UK
    Posts
    145
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts
    Quote Originally Posted by Oakleyb
    I had one of these running 24/7 for about 2 years for video/music/internet. It worked great in Windows 98, but when I 'upgraded' it to XP it broke down. Much slower and wouldn't play video's anymore. I don't think XP gets on well with these boxes
    And there I was thinking I was the only person ever to have bought one! Thankfully I'm still just about managing with XP so fingers crossed..

    Dod you upgrade to another fanless setup? I'd be interested to know what alternatives you found.

  7. #7
    Gordy Gordy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    Bristol
    Posts
    3,805
    Thanks
    63
    Thanked
    72 times in 50 posts
    I have one in an old setup and its not the quickest thing in the world but seems to go ok in windows xp.

    You could try several things. Firstly make sure you have at least 512mb of ram in there. Also running windows 2k might be a better option of xp for this type of box

    The hard disc will definitly not be helping things, I would get a standard 7200rpm drive and try that

    If your still having problems look at the newer mini-itx boards they are much better. The 1.2ghz one in particular is very nice.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. EPIA MII-12000 ITX - CPU Fan
    By milanlad in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 28-02-2005, 01:57 PM
  2. VIA Dual C7 Processor Mini ITX
    By Steve in forum HEXUS News
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 22-01-2005, 08:37 PM
  3. Mini ITX
    By Scott in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 23-06-2004, 08:11 AM
  4. Mini ITX pah thats massive
    By Gordy in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 24
    Last Post: 26-09-2003, 07:19 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •