Via Debuts Mini-ITX 2.0

DeviceGuru writes "Via Technologies has launched the second generation of its signature mini-motherboard standard. Mini-ITX 2.0, an evolutionary update to the seven-year-old 170×170mm form-factor, introduces new and emerging buses and interfaces such as PCI Express, SATA, Gig-E, and HD A/V, while preserving backwards-compatibility with the original standard. Mini-ITX has been a popular form-factor for a range of space-constrained hobbyist and commercial applications."

Comments

Space-constrained?

[ThePhilips]

Mini-ITX has been a popular form-factor for a range of space-constrained hobbyist and commercial applications.

I have one at home not because I'm "space-constrained" - but because it really nice and small Linux server which does everything I nee from it.

Thanks to fanless design, loudest part of the rig is hard drive. That, along with minimalistic power consumption, makes it very suitable for always-on system. I use it for back-ups and some performance-oriented development and it is just bliss.

The only downside of buying Mini-ITX, is that it's very hard to find suitable components as well as good case. Selection isn't very wide and prices often bite.

Re:Space-constrained?

[Collective 0-0009]

it's very hard to find suitable components as well as good case. That is the great thing about ITX, all you need for a case is an old VCR, old Hummer RC car, or I even made a computer out of an old CRT monitor shell, and put an LCD in the front.... sort of an iPC.

ITX is designed to think outside the box (case).

Re:Space-constrained?

[Dwedit]

That has more to do with using crappy chipsets in the motherboard than the form factor itself.

Re:Space-constrained?

[Joe The Dragon]

older boards used pci for the gig-e ports newchips have gig-e as part of the chip set or are running it over pci-e.

Re:Space-constrained?

[billcopc]

The reason they use crappy chipsets is because they're cheaper than the good stuff, and Mini-ITX is primarily about money, secondly about size.

I mostly stopped caring about Mini-ITX when I realized I could gut a low-end laptop for less money and better performance than Via's offerings. Their prices just aren't in line with my perception of value. There are also several alternatives on the market, most of them based on Intel mobile chipsets, like the Arcom Apollo.

If I wanted something even smaller, there's the Gumstix/Netstix. This Mini-ITX 2.0 seems like a whole lotta nothing, too late to market, too costly to care.

Re:Space-constrained?

[billcopc]

Actually, if the chipsets were any decent, people would build file servers around them. The biggest (*rimshot*) thing going for Mini-ITX is the low power consumption. If I could replace my two home servers with smaller machines that draw a third of the power, yet can adequately serve my media and backup needs, I would spend the money.

The problem is Mini-ITX does everything poorly. Terrible performance, overpriced accessories, usually lots of modding work to get things fitted, and you have to pay a premium for the privilege of being mediocre.

Re:Space-constrained?

[confused one]

There are mini-itx boards using intel and other non-via chipsets. You don't have to buy a via mini-itx board. MSI, Jetway, Intel, Commell and others make mini-itx boards and they are available several different cpu socket / chipset combinations, just like ATX boards are. There are limits of course, some things just dont's fit on a 7"x7" board, not to mention power and cooling requirements for some chips would be difficult to accomodate.

Re:what about big ones?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a bit nostalgic too. I missed the old turbo button from the clone war days, so I spliced together a few case wires and velcroed my leaf blower in there.

Re:media centre

[smertens]

I'm doing just fine with MythTV on a 1.0Ghz fanless board. I can record two SD shows at once while watching a third, all from a single hard drive. Just be sure to use the Openchrome video driver if you want playback to be watchable.

Still not legacy free

[jabuzz]

What is the point in shipping it with a PS/2 keyboard and mouse port. Complete waste of time. The space would be far more usefully be taken up with some more USB ports.

Also how about some BIOS serial redirection on these things, so you don't have to plug in a monitor to configure these babies.

Re:Still not legacy free

[Anonymous Coward]

A PS/2 KVM switch is common when one uses more than one of these convenient little boards. USB KVM switching is not nearly as ubiquitous.

Re:Still not legacy free

[kriston]

If you get the boards based on the ATOM reference platform you will notice that it contains both serial and, get this, a PARALLEL port.

Seriously, the parallel and serial ports are for embedded applications. It's much easier to use those 8 bits on the parallel port for dry contact control. And most small embedded controllers have serial interfaces.

Why does it have to be legacy free? This is not supposed to be JUST a consumer computer platform.

It's supposed to be both a consumer platform as well as an embedded platform and you can't be an embedded platform if you're legacy free.

Re:Only problem is the PCI-E

[KillerBob]

AverMedia M780 is a dual-tuner PCIe X1 card whose driver allows it to be used as a hardware MPEG decoder for DVD or Blu-Ray. Coincidentally, it gives the best reception of any card I've ever used. Unfortunately, as of right now it does not work under Linux, but a 1.5GHz C7 w/ 2GB of RAM and the onboard Via graphics is powerful enough to run Vista Ultimate edition with Aero turned on at S-Video or component video 480p resolution. Not that you'd actually use that particular OS. (Well, my HTPC is running it, but I got a free copy through my work MSDN subscription.) It's probably not powerful enough for 1080p, but you can install a discrete graphics card if you prefer.

The processor is near the top right

[kriston]

Amazing. At first I was wondering if the 45-degree offset component would allow good airflow, thinking it is the processor, but it is not.

After downloading the Image Kit I noticed that the processor is actually the little tiny component with "nano" stamped on it near the top right side of the board.

Re:media centre

[CastrTroy]

Remember to get a TV Tuner that does MPEG encoding onboard. For recording two shows at once, you'll need something like the Hauppauge WinTV PVR 500. With a card like this, your processor will hardly get used at all in the encoding process.