As I mentioned before, the Intel Atom is a fascination of mine. It’s small, it has low power requirements, and it’s cheap, yet it’s still a 64-bit dual core 1.6GHz processor (with hyper-threading) with a fair amount of utility. The Atom processor comes soldered to the motherboard, which blocks future upgrades, but at their price point it’s hard to argue on value.

To give some real world examples, let me put together three different computers using different components and yielding different capabilities: server appliance, thin client / light workstation, and home theater PC (HTPC).

Yes, that’s a lot of information to absorb, but let’s break it down. First, right off the bat, the Atom 330 processor used in all of the above combinations is capable of running Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and (supposedly but not personally verified) Windows 7 on 2GB of RAM. It’s not a bolt of lightning and it shouldn’t be heavily tasked (compute Pi on something else), but it will handle most any task. Using Linux these machines really shine, but do be aware of the Windows capabilities.

[edit 18DEC09] I just installed both Win2003 Std and Win2008 Std (both 32-bit) on a stock 1.6GHz clocked Atom (SuperMicro 5015A-H) with 2GB of RAM, and I have some impressions to share. First, Win2003 ran like a charm. Second, Win2008 was borderline, but once I added it to the domain the lack of performance only grew worse. Maybe once overclocked with 4GB of RAM it’d be reasonable? [/edit]

Note that all of the RAID capabilities are software based. This shouldn’t be a shock, but I’ll say it anyway.

Server appliance #1 is a perfect firewall with it’s dual gigabit network cards. Physical space to house hard drives is limited, though the ability to accommodate a full height PCIe card (using a riser) could be valuable; maybe add another NIC and provide a DMZ? The unit’s rack mount design yet small form factor are extremely appealing for a variety of installation scenarios. I’d recommend Untangle or pfSense, if you’re interested. Need a web server? This box will do that with ease.

Server appliance #2 is a great file server with four hot-swap bays, an overclockable motherboard, and four gigabytes of RAM. This box will handle just about anything, especially overclocked, and in a small environment (medical office, home office, repair shop, <20 employees) I’d consider putting Windows Server and Active Directory on it. Two high speed OS drives (mirrored), two high capacity storage drives (mirrored), and you could easily build a primary domain controller/file server/print server/web server box. Just a file server? Put in four 2.0TB SATA-II drives in RAID5 and have 6.0TB of useful storage.

The thin client with WinXP would be an excellent choice for heavily web-based tasks. It should run the MS Office or OpenOffice suites, though performance would be a bit lacking. The bright spot for this configuration is the bottom line price: $200 each with a small hard drive and no optical drive.

Finally, the HTPC, which could also double as a full-use workstation. Again, four gigs of RAM plus an overclocked processor plus HDMI, but also plus 6-channel audio plus Bluetooth plus eSATA. Add a BluRay drive, a pair of decent hard drives, Windows Media Center or Mythbuntu, shake well and serve. I’ve personally used this motherboard at stock clock speeds as a Windows Vista Ultimate media center PC without any difficulties.

Obviously, mixing and matching the individual components above may be your solution.