Commell LV-671..

**Giuliano** · 01-19-2005, 07:42 PM

Well, I bit the bullet and placed an order for a Commell LV-671 motherboard from BWI, and I'll probably get it in about 3 weeks.

The board is an Intel Pentium M based, with MiniPCI, CF, PC Card (PCMCIA) slots, and LVDS, to name a few tidbits.

Shown here:
http://www.commell-sys.com/Product/SBC/LV-671.HTM
And here at the Taiwan site, with more details:
http://www.commell.com.tw/Product/SBC/LV-671.HTM

I ordered it from BWI.com for about $350 including shipping, which does not include a processor in the cost.

A Pentium-M CPU costs anywhere from $100 to $500, depending on the speed.

A Intel Pentium M processor 715 at 1.5 Ghz w/2MB L2 cache runs about $220, but I've seen older slower versions for less.

Should be interesting, I'll take pictures when it arrives..

**TruckinMP3** · 01-19-2005, 07:46 PM

That is a lot of money, I hope it is worth it.

**Scouse Monkey** · 01-19-2005, 07:46 PM

Nice! But not a cheap way to go!!! Should make a pretty quick PC for its size. those new pentium-M's pack a good punch.

Are you going 7" screen - fingers crossed you can get an intel extreme 2 driver that does 800x480 if you are.

Also, you reckon a 90W M1-ATX will power that? should do.

**Giuliano** · 01-19-2005, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Scouse Monkey

Nice! But not a cheap way to go!!! Should make a pretty quick PC for its size. those new pentium-M's pack a good punch.

Are you going 7" screen - fingers crossed you can get an intel extreme 2 driver that does 800x480 if you are.

Also, you reckon a 90W M1-ATX will power that? should do.

I'm not planning on a limited budget for this thing, so money is (relatively) not a problem.

I'm actually going to bypass the whole 800x480 problem by going for an 8.4" LVDS LCD panel that does 800x600, and will be hooking it up directly to the LVDS transmitter on the board.

I've got the LVDS cable, connectors, parts, and pinouts all laid out.

I also know that the Intel Extreme graphics drivers are MS Media Center certified, so I should have no problem running MCE 2005 if that's what I choose to actually use..

The motherboard does have the capability to run on 12V or 19V DC, so I was more thinking of a DC-DC regulator, such as one of the CarNetix ones on the store here.

Commell does make an AC-DC 12V power supply for this board, and here's the operating specs I need to match:
http://www.bwi.com/scripts/show_document.php/id/1378

Basically 12V regulated, 6.6 Amps at 80 Watts max.

**BeaverWise** · 01-20-2005, 03:03 AM

What does the board offer that justifies the cost increase from a Via MII 10000 or the like? Thats a heafty jump from $160 for the Via style boards...

**Giuliano** · 01-20-2005, 05:10 AM

Originally Posted by BeaverWise

What does the board offer that justifies the cost increase from a Via MII 10000 or the like? Thats a heafty jump from $160 for the Via style boards...

More on-board options, I think..

The closest board in comparison is the MII 10000, but the MII doesn't have:

MiniPCI or MiniAGP option (I ordered MiniPCI)
Built-in LVDS (not an optional accessory board)
on-board 12V power supply/regulator

It's also my opinion that the Pentium M-based board would give me more processing capability than the Via boards.

That, and I'm probably also a little biased against Via-chipset boards, but that's just me.

**rando** · 01-20-2005, 10:01 AM

This system will be substantially faster than any of the C3 based systems. Depending on what software you throw at it, that might be apparent or completely transparent.

I can't wait to read your review about how this works out for you. I think another member had this board and then eventually sold it a few months ago. I never did see a review from him though.

**Giuliano** · 01-20-2005, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by rando

This system will be substantially faster than any of the C3 based systems. Depending on what software you throw at it, that might be apparent or completely transparent.

I can't wait to read your review about how this works out for you. I think another member had this board and then eventually sold it a few months ago. I never did see a review from him though.

I think the big kicker is that I can get Pentium M cpu's that have 2MB of L2 cache on them - I can get a 1.5Ghz 2MB Cache model for about $220.

The 2.0 Ghz 2MB cache ones run about $500, which is more than I want to spend on a single CPU at this point.. I can upgrade later, I can always re-use the slower CPU elsewhere.

I think the Via systems have L2 cache somewhere in the range of 32K-64K or so, possibly larger.. but not close to the 1M or 2M cache options on the P4M.

**ryuandwings** · 01-20-2005, 10:30 AM

Wow, I want to hear its review, too.

I think I read somewhere that other person who got Commell board
said OPUS modified for free to fit that board requirements.
If you already have a OPUS, you might want contact OPUS.

**Giuliano** · 01-20-2005, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by ryuandwings

Wow, I want to hear its review, too.

I think I read somewhere that other person who got Commell board
said OPUS modified for free to fit that board requirements.
If you already have a OPUS, you might want contact OPUS.

I've been contacted by one other mp3car.com forum member that has an LV-671, so I'll be getting his opinion on the board too.

And I might even make an LVDS LCD cable for him, too, to save him the trouble.. I have the parts I need.

At this point, I don't have a power supply, either a Carnetix nor an Opus, but I'll look into the Opus supplies too.