Conclusion:

In the end, the most appealing thing about the Intel D510MO Mini-ITX motherboard with 1.66GHz Intel Atom dual core processor was that it could be used as the core of a completely silent system. Since the board is passively cooled, you can pick other passively cooled or solid state components for a build that generates absolutely zero noise.

To complement the silence, a system including the D510MO can also be quite compact and draw minimal electricity. The test system drew between 19W and 29W, which is a mere fraction of what a typical desktop computer might draw.

Silence and energy efficiency are nice, but if a motherboard is an absolute dog to work with, who really cares? While the D510MO won't win any awards for processing power or 3D gaming prowess, it does pack enough power and expandability to make for a decent system that is enjoyable to use. The dual core processor handles your every day computing tasks with ease, and by adding a solid state drive for storage and 2GB to 4GB of memory, the system should zip right along. It performs well as a desktop replacement, but could also be well suited for industrial, commercial, or automotive applications, too.



There isn't a whole lot to say on the downside for this motherboard, but a few little things could make it alot more appealing. For example, the integrated video might not be particularly powerful, but including a DVI or HDMI connection instead of a 15-pin VGA connection would make it seem far more modern. Similarly, while having two memory slots is a nice feature for maximizing capacity, making the memory controller dual channel would provide a welcome performance boost.

Mini-Box.com sells the D510MO for $79.95, which is an attractive price for a board like this, as well as being very competitively priced when compared to other stores. Newegg.com sells the D510MO for $5 more, and the value from Mini-Box.com gets even better when you start to accessorize it with other Mini-ITX components. For example, you could obviously connect this board to any power supply, but the picoPSU is really the way to go in order to maintain the extremely compact size. From Newegg.com, you'd wind up with an ATX or mATX unit that would be far too bulky and have more connections than you could possibly use.

The Intel D510MO Mini-ITX motherboard is impressive for a variety of reasons, an din the end it earns the Bigbruin.com "Whisper Quiet" and "Recommended" awards.



Pros:

» Extremely low power - system tested at 19W idle and 29W load
» Can be used to create a completely silent / passively cooled system
» Expandability: Two memory slots, two SATA ports, PCI slot, Mini PCIe slot, USB SSD header
» Attractively priced

Cons:

» Video:
   » Not for gaming or multimedia
   » HDMI or DVI onboard would be nice
   » DirectX 9
» Memory
   » Make sure the memory modules are popped in properly - slots are tight
   » Two slots - but single channel controller

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