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In Embedded Solutions

I have a quiet case fan, which seems enough to let it run all 4 cores at over 2.2ghz, nonstop if needed. It took a settings fiddling and a fine cord, but that gigabit port hauls 130~140 megabytes per second. Came back from a long trip, and yeah, web server and file server still happily running. Boots in 5 seconds to a cheap ssd, and there's 3 more ports for a big raid array--really good!!!

It works for the special purpose I got it for. To be a media server. I had been wanting a server for quite a while, since I have a large network. Then I was gifted one from a small business owner who upgraded. I found that it was just a desktop being used as server. It made me think that I could use desktop Linux with a GUI. I like command line a little, but really want a GUI. The board I was given was quite old, so I saved it for another project and bought this new combo to upgrade the device. I installed Linux Mint and installed server apps and like the speed. I chose this board over the mini ITX choices because I wanted to be able to install expansion cards like a RAID controller and a USB 3 ports card. That has worked out great. Very good for the price, and the CPU is fast enough for my purposes.

I'm using this as a linux-based HTPC with XBMC/MythTV. I'd been waiting for a silent, low-wattage multi-core CPU board (a real one - not an Atom!) with capable on-board graphics. With an SSD this boots in several seconds and UI performance and HD video are great. I fashioned a servicable case out of the box this thing came in. The direct DC connection is icing on the cake.