Looking at the third picture for the BIS-6922 the PCIe connectors seem to be along the left side of the motherboard, one complete x4 and one complete x16. My question is, how is one supposed to use them? First, the PCIe x16 is blocked by a heatpipe. Also, there is little to no clearance between the connectors and the chassis side, so I don't see how a PCB riser would work but maybe one would be thin enough. Maybe there's a flexible riser...ok, either way, where do you mount the card? There isn't an external slot for anything with outputs, but even for internal cards there isn't a mounting mechanism...not very sturdy for industrial use. I looked on Habey's website quickly and didn't find anything under accessories.
There are two mini-PCIe slots on the board, one on the top, one on the bottom. If you need additional expansion or need full size slots, you can use the gold finger (PICMIG standard) that you see on the left side of the board. The nice thing about the board used in this system (MITX-6922) is that it is expandable to accommodate more than one full size PCIe slot with a raiser (passive backplane). However, the BIS-6922 case is not able to take full advantage of the expansion capabilities of the board to to reasons you've pointed out. To utilize the expansion feature of the MITX-6922 board, a different fanless case or 2U case is required to accommodate this setup, which Habey USA does offer depending on the needs of the application or project.
Quick manufacturer reply, great! I did miss the mini-PCIe slot shown in the picture. I understand that making one motherboard for different enclosures or use needs makes sense, thanks for explaining.
The mini PCIe slot is the white connector towards the top center of the board that has the bar code on top of it. There's also one on the underside as well as an additional SO-DIMM slot and a SIM card slot.
Just 1xMiniPCIe it seems. There's not much room for anything else though; atom only gives a total of 4 lanes to play with. the miniPCIe took 1; the twin realtek ethernet is probably taking 1 lane per port, and the RS232/GPIO ports/hardware watchdog controller is probably consuming the 4th.
Sorry, this is just a pre-release (for the BIS-6636). A full release with additional pictures and video will follow in the next week or two. Stay tuned!
I just notice the BIS-6636 is running Realtek RTL8xxxx.... would have liked to see Intel NICs instead.
Everyone should note that the GMA3650 is really just a licensed PowerVR SGX545. Intel/PowerVR have only provided a Win7/8 32-bit GPU driver and will probably never provide any other video card drivers. That means you can only use basic generic drivers for Windows 64-bit, XP, and any other OS.... so that means no hardware acceleration and low-resolutions for Linux or 64-bit OSes.
Our BIS-6630 is a very similar model using dual Intel® 82574 Gigabit Ethernet ports. You are correct about the GMA 3650, however we have a solution for Linux users in place and will release more information about it when our official release for the BIS-6636 drops in the next week or two. It really is some pretty exciting stuff and it addresses the graphics issue of the GMA 3650 on a Linux platform.
We've just shot a quick video of the full HD graphics on a Fedora based OS. We were able to get 1920x1080 Resolution and play full HD videos with no problems. Take a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-UcU1YtxRE
The Habey site has six pages of models to choose from, is there a way to sort them by features? I was interested in finding a sealed unit with at least three serial ports on it(the BIS-6636 is promising, but it looks like it's vented), but sifting through them all manually is a little daunting.
We understand that our website is currently a bit difficult to navigate. We are working on fixing the shortcomings of the current site. While I do not have a specific model in mind, I am pretty sure we will have a model that suits your needs, if not, we can always just custom build it. In addition to providing commercial off the shelf products we specialize in OEM/ODM with full customization. Your best bet is to give us a call and talk to a sales engineer that will be able to find the right product for your needs and application.
I welcome this new part, having used a dual-core Atom-based Habey for three years in a public art installation. The Sandy Bridge CPU will be significantly more powerful than the Atom, especially for floating point. Plus, these cases are terrifically sturdy, and the hardware is durable---ours have survived unharmed even when left in an enclosure with a 20k lumen projector and a broken A/C unit. One quirk that I'd like to see addressed by Habey is the lack of any visible indication that the unit is on. Maintenance people will either assume that the computer is off, or bump it and fear that they turned it off, and will toggle the power button. Would one LED hurt? I'd also like to ask the reviewers if the hard drive mounting bracket is as hard to use as they were a few years ago: I had to carve plastic off the SATA connector on the hard drive side because the bracket had a piece of metal that protruded into the connector's space. Thanks for paying attention to this product space!
Always good to hear positive feedback from a customer! As far as I know, all of our current cases and systems will have a power indicator light. If you could let me know which system it is you are currently using we should be able to get you more information. We might even be able to send a different power switch that has an integrated indicator light. Shoot us an e-mail, we'll take care of you.
I must admit I'm a bit impressed, these are definitely a step above the products I currently have to use in one of my projects and the pricing on the BIS-6922 is certainly reasonable.
I was wondering, is there (or will there be) a non-barebone version of the 6922 (with an i5 cpu, hdd or ssd, preinstalled windows)? I searched the website a bit but could only find versions with the older cpus or atoms.
The problem is that we design systems but we can't actually buy the hardware for the client. Personally I wouldn't mind a barebone version and some assembly but I can hardly expect the guys over there to be able to do it.
Thanks, we appreciate the positive feedback from the community. As to your question, yes we will be offering non-barebone configurations. We're actually in the process of getting it finalized, so we should have these systems up ready to order on Amazon within just a few weeks. Also, the actual price is much lower than the initially projected price we provided to Anandtech, I think you'll be quite surprised!
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MadMan007 - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
Looking at the third picture for the BIS-6922 the PCIe connectors seem to be along the left side of the motherboard, one complete x4 and one complete x16. My question is, how is one supposed to use them? First, the PCIe x16 is blocked by a heatpipe. Also, there is little to no clearance between the connectors and the chassis side, so I don't see how a PCB riser would work but maybe one would be thin enough. Maybe there's a flexible riser...ok, either way, where do you mount the card? There isn't an external slot for anything with outputs, but even for internal cards there isn't a mounting mechanism...not very sturdy for industrial use. I looked on Habey's website quickly and didn't find anything under accessories.HabeyUSA - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
There are two mini-PCIe slots on the board, one on the top, one on the bottom. If you need additional expansion or need full size slots, you can use the gold finger (PICMIG standard) that you see on the left side of the board. The nice thing about the board used in this system (MITX-6922) is that it is expandable to accommodate more than one full size PCIe slot with a raiser (passive backplane). However, the BIS-6922 case is not able to take full advantage of the expansion capabilities of the board to to reasons you've pointed out. To utilize the expansion feature of the MITX-6922 board, a different fanless case or 2U case is required to accommodate this setup, which Habey USA does offer depending on the needs of the application or project.MadMan007 - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
Quick manufacturer reply, great! I did miss the mini-PCIe slot shown in the picture. I understand that making one motherboard for different enclosures or use needs makes sense, thanks for explaining.HabeyUSA - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
The mini PCIe slot is the white connector towards the top center of the board that has the bar code on top of it. There's also one on the underside as well as an additional SO-DIMM slot and a SIM card slot.DuckieHo - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
No internal shots of the BIS-6636?DanNeely - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
Just 1xMiniPCIe it seems. There's not much room for anything else though; atom only gives a total of 4 lanes to play with. the miniPCIe took 1; the twin realtek ethernet is probably taking 1 lane per port, and the RS232/GPIO ports/hardware watchdog controller is probably consuming the 4th.HabeyUSA - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
Sorry, this is just a pre-release (for the BIS-6636). A full release with additional pictures and video will follow in the next week or two. Stay tuned!DuckieHo - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
I just notice the BIS-6636 is running Realtek RTL8xxxx.... would have liked to see Intel NICs instead.Everyone should note that the GMA3650 is really just a licensed PowerVR SGX545. Intel/PowerVR have only provided a Win7/8 32-bit GPU driver and will probably never provide any other video card drivers. That means you can only use basic generic drivers for Windows 64-bit, XP, and any other OS.... so that means no hardware acceleration and low-resolutions for Linux or 64-bit OSes.
HabeyUSA - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
Our BIS-6630 is a very similar model using dual Intel® 82574 Gigabit Ethernet ports. You are correct about the GMA 3650, however we have a solution for Linux users in place and will release more information about it when our official release for the BIS-6636 drops in the next week or two. It really is some pretty exciting stuff and it addresses the graphics issue of the GMA 3650 on a Linux platform.HabeyUSA - Friday, November 30, 2012 - link
We've just shot a quick video of the full HD graphics on a Fedora based OS. We were able to get 1920x1080 Resolution and play full HD videos with no problems. Take a look! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-UcU1YtxREMr Perfect - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
The Habey site has six pages of models to choose from, is there a way to sort them by features? I was interested in finding a sealed unit with at least three serial ports on it(the BIS-6636 is promising, but it looks like it's vented), but sifting through them all manually is a little daunting.Mr Perfect - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
Wow, I take it back, there are eight pages of industrial PCs, not six.HabeyUSA - Monday, November 19, 2012 - link
We understand that our website is currently a bit difficult to navigate. We are working on fixing the shortcomings of the current site. While I do not have a specific model in mind, I am pretty sure we will have a model that suits your needs, if not, we can always just custom build it. In addition to providing commercial off the shelf products we specialize in OEM/ODM with full customization. Your best bet is to give us a call and talk to a sales engineer that will be able to find the right product for your needs and application.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
Okay, thanks for the reply.markstock - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
I welcome this new part, having used a dual-core Atom-based Habey for three years in a public art installation. The Sandy Bridge CPU will be significantly more powerful than the Atom, especially for floating point. Plus, these cases are terrifically sturdy, and the hardware is durable---ours have survived unharmed even when left in an enclosure with a 20k lumen projector and a broken A/C unit.One quirk that I'd like to see addressed by Habey is the lack of any visible indication that the unit is on. Maintenance people will either assume that the computer is off, or bump it and fear that they turned it off, and will toggle the power button. Would one LED hurt?
I'd also like to ask the reviewers if the hard drive mounting bracket is as hard to use as they were a few years ago: I had to carve plastic off the SATA connector on the hard drive side because the bracket had a piece of metal that protruded into the connector's space.
Thanks for paying attention to this product space!
HabeyUSA - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
Always good to hear positive feedback from a customer! As far as I know, all of our current cases and systems will have a power indicator light. If you could let me know which system it is you are currently using we should be able to get you more information. We might even be able to send a different power switch that has an integrated indicator light. Shoot us an e-mail, we'll take care of you.Kerdal - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
I must admit I'm a bit impressed, these are definitely a step above the products I currently have to use in one of my projects and the pricing on the BIS-6922 is certainly reasonable.I was wondering, is there (or will there be) a non-barebone version of the 6922 (with an i5 cpu, hdd or ssd, preinstalled windows)? I searched the website a bit but could only find versions with the older cpus or atoms.
The problem is that we design systems but we can't actually buy the hardware for the client. Personally I wouldn't mind a barebone version and some assembly but I can hardly expect the guys over there to be able to do it.
HabeyUSA - Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - link
Thanks, we appreciate the positive feedback from the community. As to your question, yes we will be offering non-barebone configurations. We're actually in the process of getting it finalized, so we should have these systems up ready to order on Amazon within just a few weeks. Also, the actual price is much lower than the initially projected price we provided to Anandtech, I think you'll be quite surprised!