More Sub-US$300 Mini PC to run LAMP

My ideal hardware to run ZurmoCRM for 4 concurrent users shall be less than US$300. After I publish ECS LIVA is a Cheaper, Smaller, and Quieter Solution to ZurmoCRM than NAS,  some reply there are many products similar to ECS LIVA mini PC.

Low Price x86 Series Mini PC

Intel NUC series and GIGABYTE BRIX are both mini PC. The later only offer Intel Core Processor Family and all above my US$300 limit. But if you have more budget, it’s worth to take into consideration.

I made a comparison table of Intel NUC Kit DCCP847DYE and DN2820FYKH. I also add LIVA and QNAP TS-269L for reference. All benchmark are collect from PassMark. Price are from Amazon at 2014/4/10 and may be differ when you read this. A detail comparison of these processors can be found here. Even with optional 2GB RAM and 60GB SSD, both NUC are still withing US$300.

Comparison Table of Intel NUC Kit DCCP847DYE, DN2820FYKH,ECS LIVA, and QNAP TS-269L.

DCCP847DYE is the fastest but mSATA are more expansive than eSATA SSD. The lack of USB 3.0 also make it slower connecting to external storage. DN2820FYKH is the best balancing price and storage expansion capability. It also removes my worry about eMMC in LIVA.

Compared to TS-269L, they are all much cheaper and faster. For those who don’t want to install TurnKey Linux Zurmo from scratch, NAS is still a good choice with better interface and support.

Low Price ARM Series Mini PC

Raspberry Pi is an interested product with powerful Broadcom BCM2835. Utilite is beautiful and has three models. There are many more ARM based products available. Because of following reasons, I don’t use them to run ZurmoCRM.

1. Incomplete PHP Library packages.
2. Not enough information on LAMP benchmark.
3. Not as popular and more difficult to buy.

Although Marvell 88F6281 is slow, Marvell ARMADA XP is almost as fast as Intel Atom Processor D2701 in QNAP TS-269L as a LAMP Application Server Performance Report. If you may compile PHP libraries on your own, they are worth a look.

For those who want to run ZurmoCRM, I suggest to get a board with at least 1GB of RAM and ARMADA XP or even faster processor.

Resource for ARM

ARM Vs. x86: The Secret Behind Intel Atom’s Efficiency from Tom’s Hardware is a great post if you want to learn more about the difference between ARM and Intel Atom Processor.

For those who is looking for Linux on ARM, 4 Fine Linux ARM Distros from Linux.com is a good introduction. You might be interested on How To Install Debian on the QNAP TS-209 Pro by SmallNEtworkBuilder which is a good reference for those who want to give it a try.

Reference

1. ZurmoCRM
2. liliputing: ECS LIVA mini PC: Tiny Bay Trail desktop for under $200
3. ECS LIVA is a Cheaper, Smaller, and Quieter Solution to ZurmoCRM than NAS
4. Intel: NUC Boards and Kits
5. GIGABYTE: BRIX
6. Intel: Intel Core Processor Family
7. Intel: Intel NUC Kit DCCP847DYE
8. Intel: Intel NUC Kit DN2820FYKH
9. QNAP: TS-269L
10. PassMark CPU Benchmarks – Low Mid Range CPU
11. Amazon: Intel Next Unit of Computing Kit, Black/Grey BOXDCCP847DYE
12. Amazon: Intel NUC DN2820FYKH with Intel Celeron N2820 , 2.5 inch HDD support
13. Amazon: QNAP TS-269L 2-Bay NAS, SATA 3Gbps, USB 3.0
14. Wiki: USB: USB 3.0
15. Wiki: MultiMediaCard: eMMC
16. TurnKey Linux: Zurmo
17. Raspberry Pi
18. Broadcom: BCM2835
19. Utilite
20. Utilite: Utilite Models
21. Marvell: Marvell 88F6281 SoC with Sheeva Technology
22. Marvell ARMADA XP
23. Intel Atom Processor D2700
24. QNAP TS-269L as a LAMP Application Server Performance Report
25. Tom’s Hardware: ARM Vs. x86: The Secret Behind Intel Atom’s Efficiency
26. ARM
27. Intel: Intel Atom Processor
28. Linux.com: 4 Fine Linux ARM Distros
29. SmallNetBuilder: How To Install Debian on the QNAP TS-209 Pro