Via Artigo Pico Kit

**sxott** · 12-07-2007, 01:28 PM

Link

Initially available in the US from December 14th, the VIA ARTiGO Builder Kit includes a VIA EPIA PX10000 Pico-ITX board, chassis, power adapter and related accessories. All this will set you back around $300.

That could greatly speed up an in dash PC building process. It is too bad that it is IDE though. I think IDE SS HDD's are cheaper than SATA though so it could be a win from that perspective. Just thought I would mention it.

Edit:
It has SATA connection on it, but the adapter to fit the SATA in there snugly with no work does not exist. For IDE there is a PCB bridge between hDD and mobo.

**Defiler** · 12-07-2007, 10:16 PM

Beat me to it.

Here is a video of it being put together with a pico MB, ram, and HD.

http://www.technovoyance.com/index.p...id=63&Itemid=1

**MinnesotaFats** · 12-11-2007, 01:13 PM

Does anyone think this is going to be worth while? I am piecing my system together and it looks as though this would do the trick of exactly what I was looking to put together.

**sxott** · 12-11-2007, 01:17 PM

Originally Posted by MinnesotaFats

Does anyone think this is going to be worth while? I am piecing my system together and it looks as though this would do the trick of exactly what I was looking to put together.

What does that mean?

Worthwhile depends on what you want it to do. If you want a monstrously powerful system no. If you want a tiny system you can stick in the void behind the LCD screen yes. You will have to determine your needs and whether it will meet them. When I first did this I would have bought the kit in a second, but then such a thing did not exist. I gave up and used a microatx Mobo and now would not switch b/c parts are dirt cheap and I can just use old stuff I have lying around. It takes pci cards, pci express and has good video. Upgrades are easy etc...

But it is huge and takes up all the room under my passenger seat. Everything is a tradeoff. Its $/size, performance/size, time/size etc.. and all of the combinations in between.

**MinnesotaFats** · 12-11-2007, 05:19 PM

Sorry about that I should have been a little more specific. I am looking for a "basic" system that will run movies (I know I need an external drive), music, GPS, and bluetooth. I am not looking for the most powerful system in the world. I am currently looking to build a starter system to get used to car computing and eventually with time and money I will build bigger and better.

My first list consisted of a mini-itx board with a 1Ghz processor and 1G of ram, both of which are available on this one. I was also planning on running the Opus 150W power supply, which I am not sure will fit in this case. Lastly the other main parts were a 100+G HD and a Lillyput screen.

**carabuser** · 12-11-2007, 06:20 PM

I'm really surprised this kit didn't get a lot of attention on these boards. To add to sxott's reply, you might also consider what software you will use on this kit.
Currently I am running a 1.5ghz processor and to tell you the truth, certain applications are touching the limits of the hardware (try a Flash-based skin for a Front End). While mp3 playback should not be a problem, you might want to double check GPS software specs. And of course there are start-up times...

carabuser.

**-zip-** · 12-11-2007, 07:54 PM

Had a similar MII 10000 Via mobo, just not powerful enough. Yep music, movies and GPS is fine. Bluetooth... maybe voice was garbled in my system. Visuals forget about it. Flash forget about it. I also found screen changes slow, they should be instant but they were not.

If you want to expand down the road you will be limited. You will have to be creative with the case and it will be slightly bigger to accommodate the opus.

As an option look into the Intel Little Valley mobo. much faster and around 80bucks. I am running the opus 150 on that system. Everything runs fine after some tweaking.

**sxott** · 12-11-2007, 08:48 PM

Unless you have space constraints I would not get it. If you do have space constraints though I would heartily reccomend it. It even looks like an M2 power supply might fit in there which would be awesome.

If I had the money for a SSD IDE hdd I would probably get the kit just for the convenience as I do not use my system for video. I only use it for gps and music. My system is way faster then I need, but it is nice as the bootup was very quick from hibernation (time it takes me to pull out of parking space) and 25ish from cold boot. I cannot use mine now though b/c it is too cold for the hdd to work here in the winter.

For all the stuff you are talking about I think you would be disappointed with the kit. You can go mini-itx with amd or intel chips for a reasonable price now, or you can got micro-atx for like $30 for a great board. Micro-atx is the cheapo way, but like I said it is fairly large.

**FusionFanatic** · 12-11-2007, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by sxott

too bad that it is IDE though. I think IDE SS HDD's are cheaper than SATA though so it could be a win from that perspective. Just thought I would mention it.

from the VIA Artigo's FAQ section:

Q: What sort of hard disk drive should I use with the VIA ARTiGO?
A: You can use the IDE adaptor board with an IDE hard drive. There is also a SATA connector on the EPIA Pico-ITX mainboard, so you can choose to install a SATA hard drive externally. (SATA cable is not included in this package.)

it says "externally" but you could easily fit a 2.5" SATA drive inside it. I assume the reason they state externally is because of the SATA connector (there is enough room for the drive, but not the connector). you could try a right-angle connector or mod the case a little.

**sxott** · 12-13-2007, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by ComputerGeek

from the VIA Artigo's FAQ section:

it says "externally" but you could easily fit a 2.5" SATA drive inside it. I assume the reason they state externally is because of the SATA connector (there is enough room for the drive, but not the connector). you could try a right-angle connector or mod the case a little.

Thanks for clarification. I will edit first post.