Sam's PCp

Twilight Wolf said:
Either way, avoid it. You can get MUCH better.
No. No you cant. Not in the form factor. (less than 4x3" + tiny heatsink) The only other possibility is a VIA based board, but I cant find much on their gaming performance, and I doubt its pretty; All their video stuff is hardware optimized codec support. Not to mention theres no games optimized for em. But its a possibility. We shall see.

Anyway, GMA isnt truly that bad for old stuff. I can play the real version of pirates, civ 3, quake 3, and plenty of that era stuff just fine. Plus I hear morrowind functions, and thats all that really matters.

Take a look at this list and then consider the fact that I have my ion+330 performing better than any benchmark Ive seen by a minimum of 25%. I also intend to try overclocking past what GMAbooster does. ;)
 
Have you looked into premade UMPCs like the Viliv S5? There are lots of others, BenQ, UMID, and WiBrain are a few other brands I know of. ASUS also has a few, like the R2H.
 
Presumably, editing what GMAbooster does shouldnt be that hard. Decompile the .exe and edit the speed string it injects. recompile. Win. Course its all hypothetical. (not to mention the board I am looking at has a GMA 500, which isnt GMAbooster supported. same technique should still apply though)

Also, utilizing some intel design resources, I can get a d510 atom on a pico-ITX board with an x3150, using some.... shall we say, "creative omission" of certain components. Which is to say theres an LVDS header, 4 USB 2.0 headers, HDaudio header, a power header and Ram (ddr3 laptop sodimm) and a mini PCIe slot. NOTHING ELSE. Still, according to their documentation, its perfectly possible. Combine it with some other specialized stuff (A good screen for instance, and an ION2 chip instead of x3150) and you have the makings of a Heck of a mobile device. There is the whole issue of actually designing the PCB, and the startup cost (my math puts its at about 1 mil for 1000 devices in a non production capacity), but, no guts no glory.

Dang Im good at dreaming.
 
GMABooster can only go so far. GMA 950 only supports Shader Model 2.0 and does at least some of the rendering work in software.

My "if I had the money" concept goes something like this.

AMD Fusion processor. E-350 would be nice but would probably suck the battery dry instantly. Might have to step down to the C-50 or some kind of special in-between processor. RAM on board, probably 2 or 4 GB. That board is on the very back, nestled between the batteries with a cooling fan that sucks air in and blows it out the top and bottom.

64 or 128 gigabyte SSD, on a second board in front of the first. That board also takes care of the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G wireless. I think the ports would be on that board too, as would the screen and power circuitry.

On the front is a four to five inch touchscreen, preferably OLED. 800x480, RESISTIVE touch or the kind that works with a pen anyway. Two flat analogue sticks, four face buttons and a d-pad as well as four multipurpose buttons. Two shoulder buttons and two small triggers round out the controls.

As for ports, it would have to ditch a lot of the standard ports you'd see on a normal PC. SD slot for storage expansion, just one. Power jack, because that's pretty much necessary. Same goes for the headphone jack, maybe a microphone or multipurpose jack as well. Mini-HDMI only for video out. One USB OTG mini-AB and one standard USB A port.

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This concept drawing sucks for several reasons.
-It's poorly drawn, but that's kind of a given considering who drew it.
-It's the wrong colour, should be a nice matte black. This was done for clarity.
-Wrong shape and size. Should be a bit smaller, and curved toward the back.
-Ports are screwed up. Ditch the dock connector, the others are the wrong shape and size, and there should be vents in the bottom.

Of course, this would be even more expensive to build. It could potentially compete with the PSP2 and 3DS, though, and make the Pandora obsolete. Battery life would be nearly non-existent, though.
 
You could probably underclock the E-350 to 1.3ghz and get better battery life.
 
You have no idea how close that concept is to my own, XCVG. As for the shortcomings of GMA, I know, but it will be tiny. And in no way will it stop the E-350 based build. Power draw shouldnt be bad either.

PS. GMA 500 supports shader model 4.1, and is considerably more advanced hardware wise. Bout the same power wise.
 
What the *Can'tSayThisOnTV* kind of lineup is that where the lower number is superior?

Anyway, if you can pull of either one, you are a god. My design is more of a commercial product than hobbyist project. Being able to custom-design boards that integrate several functions would reduce size significantly. Now that I think of it, even the controls can probably be mounted to the front board. So the thing would only have two circuit boards, not counting the shoulder button assemblies.
 
Believe me, I have looked into the commercial product idea. Custom board, etc. Problem is Intel has a 1000 piece minimum order, and most other relevant parts are similar. Casing is easy, theres a local shop that can mold cases for 3 cents less than china with large production runs (not bad on small runs either, really). controls, the suppliers are out there, so thats not really an issue. The biggest issue is money. And it always will be. Some days I dream of building what I can and then pitching it to a company for support or something, but its all moot till I build something. So that is what I am focusing on for now.

As for GMA 500 vs 900/950 etc, the 500 is more advanced, but not really more powerful. Unlocked, the performance is about the same. But the 500 is way lower power draw, and has some nice things like openGL of a higher caliber and shader model 4.1, DX 10.1, and some other stuff.
 
Have you seen the controls on that monstrosity?! Not to mention that the overhead with win7 on that chipset will kill it, and its battery life will be anus. The GMA 600 is no improvement, really. Id be willing to bet that I can push the 500 past the performance they get on there. Still, its nice to see there are companies trying it, even if they are awful.
 
I can't really disagree with the fact that the controls leaves alot to wish for,
but I personally like the form factor.

And yes, the hardware/software combination is not a big hit either... 3h battery life,
but with better controls and battery it would be quite interesting.

If you want it done right you'll have to do it yorself, I guess
 
Dont get me wrong, I love the form factor, and I aim for something VERY similar. I have thought about the screen sliding up for keys and everything, but if I were gonna custom design and have something manufactured, I would use controls that actually make sense, along with a more powerful board. (At LEAST Ion+270+ddr3) Additionally, I would try for some bigger batteries. You would be surprised what can be squeezed into something that size.

I also realized that I was reading some info on Intel's site very wrong, and its price per 1000, not price per 1 with quantity of 1000, meaning the potential price of a starting up has SIGNIFICANTLY dropped. ($100 for 1000 chips, not $100 each with 1000 min order)

I also should hear from my source on that nano-itx e-350 board today.
 
AMD's solution consumes less power than ION and is faster. I think it's bigger, though.

That thing looks like a total piece of flax, but it's a step in the right direction. I would rather have something a bit bigger with Fusion or ION, though.
 
Ok ;)

Sadly, the few products in this segment which seems interesting feature wise look like crap, and vice versa
I guess there isn't a big enough market

Will be very interesting to see what you end up with
 
I am annoyed kinda. I havent been able to get back in contact with the company that was gonna sell me that E-350 board. Attempting drastic measures soon.
 
Things just got official:
One of these is on its way to my house.
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E-350, nano-ITX, 4gb ddr3 1333.
 
You wouldnt believe me if I told you, and honestly, Im not even sure I am allowed to say. $260
 
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