Intel Essential D945GCL Desktop Motherboard - 945GC Express Chipset - Socket 437 - 1 x Retail Pack

Good low power system base

Strengths: mini-itx board, low power draw, quiet

Weakness: noisy fan, slower CPU speed, has issues with Linux

First, this is combo is NOT designed as powerful desktop replacement. If you want to do some web surfing, a little Word Processing, and watch some DVDs, it works great. I put a 1GB stick of RAM in, loaded Vista, and got a Vista Experience of 3.1, so not too shoddy. I'm actually running this board as my firewall, using Linux, and had some issues getting even the boot CDs to load from various...
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First, this is combo is NOT designed as powerful desktop replacement. If you want to do some web surfing, a little Word Processing, and watch some DVDs, it works great. I put a 1GB stick of RAM in, loaded Vista, and got a Vista Experience of 3.1, so not too shoddy.

I'm actually running this board as my firewall, using Linux, and had some issues getting even the boot CDs to load from various distributions. Once you disable the NIC from the BIOS, installation goes without a hitch - other than the fact that you don't have a network card any more. I'm still working on resolving this, and by now, newer distributions may have support for the NIC built in - Vista loads first time, without issues.

I do like this board, and I'm probably going to purchase another couple for some specific, non CPU intensive, tasks.

I suspect that this board would make a good base for an HTPC, as long as you weren't trying to do BluRay, HD-DVD, or 1080 with it. And for the price, it's a good cheap system to start playing with an HTPC (for less than the cost of the CPU in most other cases).

By gmitch64 - Sep 2, 2008

Intel's cutting edge low power CPU & one of their oldest chipsets...?

Strengths: Intel Atom CPU

Weakness: Old chipset

I picked this up as a replacement for an aging Via mini-itx carputer & I'm not disappointed at all. Performance is significantly better with slightly less overall system powerdraw. It is important to note in considering the Atom cpu that it is not meant as a desktop replacement processor - clock for clock the Atom doesn't keep up with a Pentium M or even Socket A era Athlon XP cpus. But for...
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I picked this up as a replacement for an aging Via mini-itx carputer & I'm not disappointed at all. Performance is significantly better with slightly less overall system powerdraw. It is important to note in considering the Atom cpu that it is not meant as a desktop replacement processor - clock for clock the Atom doesn't keep up with a Pentium M or even Socket A era Athlon XP cpus. But for running regular definition DVD ISOs, GPS navigation software, music, & accessing the internet, it works great.

My only complaint is that Intel chose to pair their first retailer available Atom cpu with such an old chipset. The hsf you see in the picture isn't for the Atom, it's for the chipset! The Atom itself has a much smaller passive heatsink (no fan) that's more than adequate. In a less than ideal environment (car ambient temps), the cpu itself stays cool.

By gigantopithecus - Jun 27, 2008

Nice compact board

Strengths: All-in-one

Weakness: Everything is basic

This is the first mini-itx board I owned. It is nice to have everything built-in, but that is where it stops. This board will not be able to upgrade much. With only one pci slot, its use is limited.

By alasam - Sep 24, 2008

Intel D945GCLF Motherboard Review

Intel D945GCLF Motherboard Review
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By legitreviews.com - Sep 8, 2009

Intel D945GCLF

Testseek.com has collected 4 expert reviews for Intel D945GCLF and the average expert rating is 75 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use Testseek.com to see all ratings, product awards and conclusions.
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By testseek.com - Oct 31, 2008