This blog item is not about performance, it's only about hardware and BIOS. You can find some performance numbers here.
VIA VB8001-16 is a mini-itx motherboard (17x17cm). It is powered by VIA Nano L2200 1.6GHz 64-bit CPU. It also has two DDR2 667 memory slots (up to 4GB), PCI-Ex16 slot for additional video card, 2xSATA ports, 1xIDE port and one mini-pci slot at back side. Northbridge is CN896 (integrated VIA Chrome9 HC graphics), southbridge - VT8237S. There are COM, VGA, 2xUSB, PS/2 keyboard & mouse, RJ-45 Gbit and audio ports. It sure looks quite empty :). I don't know why they didn't included two more USB ports. But it is embedded board so it's understandable. As you can find in the forum above you should be aware of mini-usb headers on the motherboard. Standard header to attach front panel USB won't fit without adapter. You can have additional six USB ports with them (three headers). One of the headers (12-pin) can be used for VIA wlan usb module. There are more headers on the motherboard but I won't go to the details about them. You can find description on the user manual if you need to. Motherboard still uses electrolytic capacitors instead of solid ones which became popular in many current motherboards. CPU and northbridge are covered by one "big" heatsink and they are actively cooled. Once again PicoPSU hits one of the capacitors but it is better situation than in VT310-DP. It fits almost by 100%. Fan is quite loud imho... This is there I hate VIA the most :). They've never done such things right (ok, it is my opinion too as I had only two mini-itx motherboards from them).
Enough about hardware which is as it is. I want to talk a little bit about disappointing points of BIOS. It is quite a standard AwardBIOS. However, it has some specific problems. Firstly, it sees only 3GB at boot (if you have 4GB. OSes see all RAM). Then you enter BIOS you find some more unpleasant surprises:
1. VIA CPUs have a feature called PowerSaver (or longhaul earlier) which has somehow similar purpose to Cool'n'Quiet and SpeedStep technologies accordingly in AMD and Intel CPUs. Theoretically you can choose between Thermal Monitor 1 (on-die throtting) and Thermal Monitor 2 (Ratio&VID transition) in BIOS (Advanced BIOS features->CPU Feature). You can find even a description of both options in BIOS. However, in reality you can't choose Thermal Monitor 2 for some reason (there is now such option to select). So once again I can't use PowerSaver at all (like it was in VT310-DP). CPU always works on full frequency.
2. There is no CPU temperature in PC Health Status. I need to use programs which aren't always accurate.
3. Boot from CD-ROM doesn't work with SATA CD/DVD-ROM. It wouldn't be an issue as it appears as separate device and you can choose it in boot priority, however there is a problem here. You can choose it in device priority only if boot(?) CD/DVD inserted (it didn't appeared with just simple data dvd inserted). Otherwise dvd-rom just disappears from devices. So, if you want to install a new OS from CD you always need to insert disk, go to BIOS and set a priority to newly appeared device.
4. SATA devices is not viewable in Standard CMOS features. It was so with old motherboards. So no progress here with VIA.
5. Overclocking options doesn't exist (only some voltage tweaking). However, it is not a big deal with such system.
Other problems aren't confirmed. I don't know if SMART working properly. There is no options to enable/disable it for hdds and applications doesn't detect any SMART values for my current hdd (but it might be other problems (for example, with hdd itself as I bought it used recently)).
I have read about issues with virtualization. BIOS doesn't have a feature to enable/disable it. Once again it might be a problem with software which doesn't know about such CPUs and its capabilities (update 2009.12.27. According to wikipedia virtualization is disabled before stepping 3. My both VIA Nano boards have CPUs with stepping 2) . And there is no clear option to disable integrated video if it is possible at all. I didn't try to disable shared memory as I was afraid that it might lead to the same situation as in VT310-DP (BIOS hangs and you need to clear it to boot).
So it is the start. I may update this blog with new problems in the future if I'll find/remember them.
VIA VB8001-16 is a mini-itx motherboard (17x17cm). It is powered by VIA Nano L2200 1.6GHz 64-bit CPU. It also has two DDR2 667 memory slots (up to 4GB), PCI-Ex16 slot for additional video card, 2xSATA ports, 1xIDE port and one mini-pci slot at back side. Northbridge is CN896 (integrated VIA Chrome9 HC graphics), southbridge - VT8237S. There are COM, VGA, 2xUSB, PS/2 keyboard & mouse, RJ-45 Gbit and audio ports. It sure looks quite empty :). I don't know why they didn't included two more USB ports. But it is embedded board so it's understandable. As you can find in the forum above you should be aware of mini-usb headers on the motherboard. Standard header to attach front panel USB won't fit without adapter. You can have additional six USB ports with them (three headers). One of the headers (12-pin) can be used for VIA wlan usb module. There are more headers on the motherboard but I won't go to the details about them. You can find description on the user manual if you need to. Motherboard still uses electrolytic capacitors instead of solid ones which became popular in many current motherboards. CPU and northbridge are covered by one "big" heatsink and they are actively cooled. Once again PicoPSU hits one of the capacitors but it is better situation than in VT310-DP. It fits almost by 100%. Fan is quite loud imho... This is there I hate VIA the most :). They've never done such things right (ok, it is my opinion too as I had only two mini-itx motherboards from them).
Enough about hardware which is as it is. I want to talk a little bit about disappointing points of BIOS. It is quite a standard AwardBIOS. However, it has some specific problems. Firstly, it sees only 3GB at boot (if you have 4GB. OSes see all RAM). Then you enter BIOS you find some more unpleasant surprises:
1. VIA CPUs have a feature called PowerSaver (or longhaul earlier) which has somehow similar purpose to Cool'n'Quiet and SpeedStep technologies accordingly in AMD and Intel CPUs. Theoretically you can choose between Thermal Monitor 1 (on-die throtting) and Thermal Monitor 2 (Ratio&VID transition) in BIOS (Advanced BIOS features->CPU Feature). You can find even a description of both options in BIOS. However, in reality you can't choose Thermal Monitor 2 for some reason (there is now such option to select). So once again I can't use PowerSaver at all (like it was in VT310-DP). CPU always works on full frequency.
2. There is no CPU temperature in PC Health Status. I need to use programs which aren't always accurate.
3. Boot from CD-ROM doesn't work with SATA CD/DVD-ROM. It wouldn't be an issue as it appears as separate device and you can choose it in boot priority, however there is a problem here. You can choose it in device priority only if boot(?) CD/DVD inserted (it didn't appeared with just simple data dvd inserted). Otherwise dvd-rom just disappears from devices. So, if you want to install a new OS from CD you always need to insert disk, go to BIOS and set a priority to newly appeared device.
4. SATA devices is not viewable in Standard CMOS features. It was so with old motherboards. So no progress here with VIA.
5. Overclocking options doesn't exist (only some voltage tweaking). However, it is not a big deal with such system.
Other problems aren't confirmed. I don't know if SMART working properly. There is no options to enable/disable it for hdds and applications doesn't detect any SMART values for my current hdd (but it might be other problems (for example, with hdd itself as I bought it used recently)).
I have read about issues with virtualization. BIOS doesn't have a feature to enable/disable it. Once again it might be a problem with software which doesn't know about such CPUs and its capabilities (update 2009.12.27. According to wikipedia virtualization is disabled before stepping 3. My both VIA Nano boards have CPUs with stepping 2) . And there is no clear option to disable integrated video if it is possible at all. I didn't try to disable shared memory as I was afraid that it might lead to the same situation as in VT310-DP (BIOS hangs and you need to clear it to boot).
So it is the start. I may update this blog with new problems in the future if I'll find/remember them.
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