Recommend a mini-ITX
 

So I'm pretty confident that the motherboard in my Acer Homeserver H340 has finally bit the bucket. It seems to be a fairly common issue with this machine, so I'd might as well at least replace it. However, I've no idea what to replace it with as I've never even looked into mITX boards until a few minutes ago.

I'd just like to get your guys opinion.

Here's the existing specs for the machine.

im not sure but i think the homeserver you have has the processor solder onto the motherboard? so you will need to replace the motherboard and cpu.

Yeah these often have the CPU and RAM soldered onto the board, better take it apart to check

In any case, you'll probably want to upgrade the CPU... the Atom is insanely slow and underpowered.. But I guess it depends on what you want to do with it.

I will be reviewing what is possibly one of the coolest m-ITX boards out there, the Z77 Stinger. Drooling looking forward to that one :)

From what I have read you can't just replace the motherboard. It has some proprietary connections.

9 page read on replacing the motherboard: H340 Motherboard Swap - We Got Served Forums

5 years ago I was interested in making a mid level mtx gaming computer. I did make one with custom heat sink fans on everything. The thing is with these small boxes cooling is crap unless you go liquid and you really need to hack the thing up if you want to upgrade stuff like psu.

However, if you're not really interested in upgrading or gaming and only care about the small amount of space I'm sure it'll be fine. These new cpus probably don't heat up as much.

You might as well replace the entire system. You just need a board and a case with power supply.

I wont lie; half of that thread went waaaay over my head. :lol

But yeah, it's looking like I'm going to need to build a new server. Crap.

Funny enough, even with four hard drives and the tower being powered on 24/7 for 3'ish years now, I've never once had a cooling issue with it. The MB dying is the first issue I've ever had with it.


So since it's obviously going to be easier to build a new system, what parts would you guys recommend picking up? I use it as both a backup space for all of my work projects (1080p raw video files) and as a media server for my TV via my PS3 and computer.