Aleutia Relia Industrial PC Review: Ivy Bridge & Q77 in a Fanless Chassis
by Ganesh T S on December 4, 2012 10:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Industrial PC
- HTPC
- Ivy Bridge
- Aleutia
Introduction:
Industrial PCs come with stringent requirements that are not satisfied by generic PCs. It is customary for builders to use active cooling in order to ensure that the components are in proper working order. Ventilation slots are also provided to keep airflow up. Chassis size is also not always a concern. However, these flexibilities are not always possible in industrial PCs. Operating environments for such systems usually call for passive cooling, dust resistance, rugged nature and minimal size (read, mini-ITX).
We have already covered the launch of a few industrial PCs including that of the Aleutia Relia which is being reviewed today. The specifications of the Aleutia Relia also make it attractive to users who are picky about having a completely silent machine in their media center.
The Aleutia Relia is a fanless mini-ITX system based on the Q77 desktop chipset. The Q77 chipset enables business / enterprise oriented features such as dual GbE LAN ports, Intel Active Management Technology (for remote troubleshooting and recovery), PXE network boot and auto-boot after power loss. A point to note about the Q77 Express chipset is that it comes with a long life cycle (with assured support at least through 2017).
Before proceeding with the rest of the review, let us take a look at the configuration of the review system.
| Aleutia Relia Industrial PC Specifications | |
| Processor |
Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7-3770T (4 x 2.50 GHz (3.70 GHz Turbo), 22nm, 8MB L2, 45W) |
| Chipset | Intel Q77 Express |
| Memory | 2 x 4GB DDR3-1333 |
| Graphics |
Intel HD Graphics 4000 650 MHz / 1.15 GHz (Turbo) |
| Disk Drive(s) | 128 GB mSATA SSD + 2 x 500 GB 7200 rpm 2.5" HDDs |
| Networking |
2 x Gigabit Ethernet 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz 1T2R) |
| Audio |
Microphone and headphone/speaker jacks Capable of 5.1/7.1 digital output with HD audio bitstreaming (HDMI / DP) |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (Retail unit has choice of OSes including barebones option) |
| Pricing (As configured) | $1458 (cheapest configuration is $638) |
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Sikku - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - link
http://www.mini-box.com/DC-DCganeshts - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - link
The DQ77KB mITX board has a DC input (mentioned in the review). So, only a AC - DC adapter is needed and no explicit PSU.We have the Streacom Nano150 in-house for use in our upcoming HTPC testbed. It looks very similar to the pico PSU that you have linked below.
Sikku - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - link
Ok.. Waiting for that review.. :)Hood6558 - Wednesday, December 5, 2012 - link
I don't get it, what's the point of buying a fast CPU installed in a case that takes it to max temp in 3 minutes under any kind of load, and then throttles it back to a lousy 900 MHz? This is "industrial" design? I wonder how long the CPU actually survives under that kind of stress. My guess is a lot of heat-related failures are in the near future of anyone foolish enough to buy one of these somewhat expensive doorstops.ganeshts - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
It really depends on the workloads. I doubt users purchasing this unit are going to run Prime 95 + Furmark as their daily workload 24 x 7.Rollo Thomasi - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
But then what is the point of an i7 if you are not going to use it?Why not go for a cheaper cooler running CPU?
The only point would be if you have a need to do a lot of short intensive bursts Wright? Then the CPU could work at top speed without throtteling.
Notmyusualid - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
And I shall buy one to make a bad-ass wifi AP & caching server (when I get the time).Lowest-end i3, an old SSD,and Squid running on some linux distro, and that should do the trick I reckon. I also have a 3x3 MIMO Card lying around so would likely install a 3rd antenna.
With my ISP now 100M/10M, I've been reluctant to try this without dual GigE ports, and a completely passive cooling solution, AND without looking like an eye sore in the living room.
But the price man...