My very neat little Commell LS-372 Mod.

mrbean_phillip · 01-08-2008, 12:28 AM

Earlier I mentioned that I was busy modding a little Commell LS-372 motherboard into a dual 3.5" harddrive cage.

I wanted this specific model cage, as it looks Apple G5, and I recently picked one up in Bangkok at IT Fortune City, where I got a single-bay version a few months back.....

Here it is stripped down, USB/Firewire electronics removed, and lid off - the front reminds you a bit of a G5, doesn't it?

Nice, here is a few shots of the top, and side, one of them cut away to allow for fitment of the IO-ports.....

and side, with cut-outs done....

Here's a few shots showing how I fitted the motherboard, and (temporary) harddrive into the space available - the harddrive is for testfitting only, I am awaiting arrival of my Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 2.5" disk....

I also made a new back-plate, to replace the crappy stock galvanized-metal one....

And here, with the cover fitted, compared to a standard DVD...

a shot showing the io-plate area, which is only temporary, and will get a lasercut custom aluminium one.....

and here, resting inside my G5 case, nice and cosy, ain't it?

It is very powerful, sports a T7300 Socket-P Core-2-Duo processor, 2gigs of SODimm ram, and a very nice 4gig 233x CF bootable card - as mentioned, I am still awaiting the harddrive, and won't be fitting a DVD multiburner, as it won't be needed for this application - just something I am developing for a Industrial solution.

Let me know what you think.

Rob Withey · 01-08-2008, 01:18 AM

Very nice.

galvitron · 01-08-2008, 03:45 AM

Dude that is soooo ******* sweet.

galvitron · 01-08-2008, 03:58 AM

I forgot to mention that these boards are indeed snappy! Any plans on getting an SSD?

BTW, I posted a 800X480 driver for this on the Intel945 thread...

galvitron · 01-09-2008, 05:27 PM

How are you powering it?

mrbean_phillip · 01-10-2008, 03:34 AM

Thanx for the info re the driver, Galvitron, will try it out soon

Due to this being developed for an industrial application (and most likely not for my car) it will have a std external power source - if I do use it in my car, I will use the spare carnetix I have for it ....

How's your system progressing?

_dopehead_ · 01-10-2008, 11:12 AM

How much did you pay for the ls-372 ?

widefault · 01-10-2008, 07:07 PM

Nice, I like it. I built something similar using a Commell LE-370Z with 600MHz Celeron. Lot less stylish, though.

I've been playing with an LS-372 since last November, great little board. Pretty sure I got an early one, came with a burned CD-R of drivers and has a two pin connector for power instead of the P4 connector I see on yours. Strange. It also died the last week of December, hoping I'll get it back from Commell soon. Now I'm wondering if I'll just get a new board. If so, I hope they throw in the right power cable.

mrbean_phillip · 01-12-2008, 05:37 AM

@ Dopehead: It was around $389- Aud from a local company in Queensland, Australia - Synrax - you should get it somewhat cheaper directly from China though, speak to Ben at Commell.

@ Widefault: Mmm...your 370Z doesn't look bad either

Like what you used for a cover, good for breathing! Hoping you get your LS-372 sorted soon, keep us posted.

@ Galvitron: Soz, I missed your question about SSD - I will get one pretty soon, will have a chat to a freind or 2 in China - maybe I can get a decent price on something 4-8 gigs....will keep you posted.

How's yours running btw?

galvitron · 01-12-2008, 06:24 AM

My LS-372 is running as clear as an azure sky on a summer morn'

Quite a board and I'm sooo about to declare this board the champ!

mrbean_phillip · 01-12-2008, 11:56 PM

Yeah, I am very happy with mine - starting to do an Embedded XP image for it, and I want to run it off CF pretty soon.....

widefault · 01-13-2008, 12:07 AM

I've got systems based on the LE-370Z, the LE-370, the LS-371, and will eventually have one with the LS-372. It's just a fun form factor, can build a fairly powerful system in such a small space.

I'm hoping Commell will support the T8xxx and T9xxx series Core 2 Duos coming out in a week or so. Lower power and better performance, would be very nice.

Hopefully I won't have too long a wait for my board. Shipped it back about a week ago, so should have something back in another week or so if all goes well.

galvitron · 02-10-2008, 05:53 AM

Commell always seems to be first to bat on these tiny monsters. Beating out the big boys like MSI. Go Taiwan :taiwan flag insert here:

_dopehead_ · 03-27-2008, 04:48 PM

I am looking at this for my next carpc, and then the lv-677dc is gonna be converted to a media center at home :-) What kind of PSU would you suggest, i think the carnetix 12VDC series 1290/1260 looks great, but kinda big, so the other one i think is a bit smaller is the Mpegbox DSX12VD,,,what do you guys think ?

galvitron · 03-27-2008, 05:28 PM

The Mpegbox DSX12VD is absolutely perfect for the Commell boards that have only the P4 4-pin connector. If the Commell has a full ATX 20-pin then you may want to use a M2-ATX.