Interesting ITX Socket G2 (laptop sandy) Dual Intel NIC, vPro: $55 shipped

Forgot to pass this on, found out about it on pfsense forum.

Specs here

I believe the one for sale is the dual intel nic QM67 version as it has the LVDS connectors and such. This could be a pretty sweet router, throw another nic in the x16 if needed. CF slot and mini pci-e underneath (not msata sadly) if you run a router OS with useful wireless drivers unlike me.

For reference the cheapest G2 cpu with vPro and AES-NI is i5-2520M at a nice low 35W TDP, can probably get one around $50. (ignore the BGA cpus on cards, those are crazy)
The 45W quads are still north of $150 and not worth it IMO. Also beware a lot of laptop listings are ES/QS, buy stateside

There are non-BGA G2 ivy bridge cpus out there but pricey and I don't see any bios updates for the board so at a minimum that means hacking in your own microcode update.

I might try one out...

 

Looks like they are all gone now.

Mine arrived this week, will check it out soon. Its definitely the QM67 board with dual intel NICs.

 

There's... more Advantech Aimb 272 Main Board | eBay

Tempted to get one to replace my Athlon 245 server. Aluminum, can you test do these boards support 8GB so-dimms?

 

Its socket 1155 which means memory support is 99.9% about the CPU, 8GB sticks work in tons of sandy bridge laptops. I'm actually going to use some 1/2GB modules left over from upgrading various laptops, 2/4 is plenty for pfsense duties.

Damn shipping went up $2, bfd lol. Still $100 cheaper than DQ77KB and vpro + aesni dual core 2520Ms are coming down to fitty bucks, only downside is need a regular PSU. (similar desktop 1155 are not as common and ~$150) If mine works this weekend buying another.

 

Hmm I'm actually tempted to gut my pcap box and build around this, quad core 45W are looking kinda cheap and maybe this things firmware won't be as retarded as intel's...

 

I picked up 4 of these and 4 x i5-2520M going to build me up a nice cluster. Been playing with them since he posted the original 5.

The microcode in the bios is pretty damn old. Not going to work with ivy bridge without injecting new code.

QS are ok as far as I have read for these quads in particular. ES don't have AES-NI until last revision. Lots of people didn't have any issues with last revision ES or QS on notebookreview. I decided on the dual cores and then when the quads are cheap enough huge upgrade. The quads without vpro are decently cheap.

 

The ES/QS aren't much cheaper for sandy anyways, and I always seem to need the annoying features intel uses to segment skus (ugh I ****ing hate it) so I never buy those. NBR has some people that know what they are doing but very few of them care about enterprise/server things, your typical DIY laptop guy just wants to be sure it clocks up and supports their ram timings etc. (1 guy might post a cpu-z screen and gripe, but then 10 will reply that none of his software needs aes-ni)

There are some full featured 2820QM listed that I might fish for price...pretty much equivalent to a desktop E3 1265L or 2770T if they existed.

I eyeballed some ES E5 V2s for a workstation recently but with my luck something basic like ECC won't work and they are still locked

 

Sick deal here 2820QM for almost $150 Genuine Intel Quad i7 2820QM SR012 2 3GHz Mobile Socket PGA988 Laptop Processor | eBay

I am just starting a new job tomorrow morning and I don't have any money for food. So someone else please buy it

 

Wow, how many does that guy have, posted yet another 10, thats 15 sold so far at least. Booted up my board, didn't have time to fool with it but ordered another.

I haggled and scored a 2820QM

If you don't care about vpro/aesni/etc there are bunch of $5~15 socket G2 celeron/pentiums that run 1.6~2.4Ghz, "35W" but probably a lot less in real world uses.
When you price out the typical underpowered pfsense appliances (old atoms or similar junk with 2GB of ram for like $500 = NOPE) these things are a steal.

 

Wow even one with 8GB of RAM and an i3 for $90! Advantech Aimb 270 A1 Main Board with i3 CPU and 8GB RAM | eBay

No vPro but that RAM makes it a good deal. I'm kinda interested in which one would be faster, this or like that Gigabyte board on the front page.

 

That is QM57 the mobile version of socket 1156, clarkdale core, but most i3 from that generation are clocked significantly faster than celeron 1007U even though its an ivy core. If its one of the 35W versions should be faster hands down.

Ram is pricey these days, 8GB of brand new ddr3 is nearly $90 by itself, if I wasn't a vpro/aes-ni freak I'd be all over that.

 

Do those motherboards come with the cpu cooler?
Virtualization enabled celeron cpus are between 5-10USD/pop and Pentiums go low as 20USD. Now i'm truly interested

 

Some appear to. Really gets to the question: how much does or should IPMI cost.

 

I could see in some instances where not supporting the vPro is a good thing, a router that bridges a bunch of WAN/untrusted LAN or an appliance going on a network you don't control for example.
(ffs intel, did you really need all those damn models of cheap ass mobile sandy bridge cpus? also WTF @ celeron supporting a feature pentium doesn't?)

I saw 2.4 Ghz G2 pentiums for $10 when I was hunting down my 2520M.

The ebay seller seems to just be dumping these to unload them, not going to the trouble to list detailed specs etc. I'm curious what industrial appliance or whatever these are coming out of.
Some of it you can figure out from pictures (e.g. the bundle is DDR3 1066) but I took a gamble on the 272 boards being the Q chipset version, no idea what cpu is with that 270+8GB bundle but if I were a betting man I'd say i3 330M/330E.

 

Yeah its a cooler master OEM unit, came with original board I think. The celeron having VT-x and pentium not = /facepalm

 

2020M has VT-d and it's pretty cheap

 

I picked one of these up and played with it a bit last night. I got a B830 Celeron for $5 and it booted up just fine with it and 8GB of spare memory. ESXi 5.5 install hung on "initializing AHCI" or something similar, but 5.1 installed fine. Both NICs work after installing the 82579LM modded e1000 vib that is floating around.

Now I just need something w/ AES-NI and VT-D to put in it

 

i5-2520m ~$50 seems to be the magic cheap processor with all the features. benchs about same as a Q6600 but way faster single thread I think

 

+1, one of my lenono thinkpads I used for at least 2 years has it, checks all the boxes, plenty snappy for a few light VMs. Probably stays at higher clocks longer on this board if it has decent airflow, heatsink is definitely better than those little blowers.
35W in a slim 12" pizza box gets a bit warm on the lap

 

more i3 kits

Advantech Aimb 270 A1 Main Board W Intel I3 AND 8GB RAM | eBay