VIA EPIA PX10000 Pico-ITX motherboard gets reviewed

The Pico-ITX motherboard standard truly lives up to its name as the smallest regular commercial motherboard that money can buy. It's not hard to imagine why people would want a motherboard as small as VIA's PX10000: its low power requirements (the guys at Mini-ITX.com couldn't get it to draw more than 16 Watts under full load) and miniscule size (less than 4 inches long) make it perfect for really small enclosures. Unfortunately if you were hoping to make this into a high definition mini-media box to sit under the TV, you'll be disappointed. The 1GHz CPU isn't capable of running any popular video formats at an acceptable rate above 1024x768, so you'll have to stick with standard definition, if at all. VIA isn't particularly helpful when it comes to getting the motherboard to play nicely with Linux either, and haven't provided a central depository for Linux compatible drivers. There's also a lack of enclosures for the Pico-ITX motherboard size, where there's a Catch 22 situation of manufacturers unwilling to create cases for a limited market, and consumers unwilling to buy motherboards without a decent array of cases. Until these problems are sorted, the Pixo-ITX platform and this particular motherboard will fail to appeal to the general market: as if that was ever the target in the first place.

[James C @ Jun 3rd 2007 3:16AM]

I can't wait till this thing has a price. It has so many modding possibilities.

[Thomas Bags @ Jun 3rd 2007 3:48AM]

Who needs a GB of ram with 1ghz?

[paloooz @ Jun 3rd 2007 4:32AM]

Me.

[fist @ Jun 3rd 2007 4:58AM]

It's crazy when the CMOS battery is one of te biggest parts of a mobo.

[Blackster @ Jun 3rd 2007 5:09AM]

i want one. tiny pc for my incar-entertainmentpackage :)

[adaminc @ Jun 3rd 2007 6:31AM]

i think i'll save and get a toradex colibri

[BobTurbo @ Jun 3rd 2007 6:32AM]

What, don't tell me it can't model nuclear explosions in real-time or play nice with Irix.

Looks awesome, I want one.

[ty @ Jun 3rd 2007 7:15AM]

Imagine a huge beowulf cluster of these! it would conserve a lot of space.

[hackedbyjoe @ Jun 3rd 2007 7:16AM]

Wow, what a negative article. I think the glass is half full. I want it.

[Kamalot @ Jun 3rd 2007 8:57AM]

I want one. I'll make a pc on the back of an LCD monitor and hang the thing on the wall. It can read me RSS feeds and display the weather.

[Urza @ Jun 3rd 2007 9:00AM]

Who needs a gig of ram with 1GHz? Dude, I have 3.5GB of RAM with a 2GHz CPU. And yes, there are times when I use ALL of it, and some swap.

[john @ Jun 3rd 2007 9:31AM]

Cases? For a computing solution this size, you can make a case out of just about anything.

[XGM @ Jun 3rd 2007 10:22AM]

Uh yea, a mobo like this is for custom PC's...

[Blackster @ Jun 3rd 2007 12:14PM]

well it would even fit into a coke can! ;)

[Evan @ Jun 3rd 2007 10:47AM]

"consumers unwilling to buy motherboards without a decent array of cases"

More like consumers are unwilling to buy underpowered motherboards. However, I doubt this is aimed at consumers.

[Grey Acumen @ Jun 3rd 2007 10:50AM]

Is there any way to get into contact with these guys? cause I seriously have a design for a small portable computer that would totally be able to use something just like this.

[Samuel McConnell @ Jun 3rd 2007 10:51AM]

Screw it, I don't care. I'll build an enclosure out of a Radio Shack project box.

[Andy @ Jun 3rd 2007 11:06AM]

Anyone else annoyed by the fact that they said "central depository" instead of "repository?" Something tells me the person who actually wrote the article doesn't use Linux...

[kingu @ Jun 3rd 2007 1:16PM]

Yes, it annoys me to a degree im almost going emo

[Richard Lai @ Jun 3rd 2007 1:22PM]

Will it blend? That is the question.

[JohnTitor @ Jun 3rd 2007 2:27PM]

"The 1GHz CPU isn't capable of running any popular video formats at an acceptable rate above 1024x768, so you'll have to stick with standard definition, if at all"

seems like everyone is forgetting good old Enhanced Definition or 480P (DVD quality), the TVs never really took off when HD was introduced (even though no one really had any HD content to use it with)

[IsLNdbOi @ Jun 3rd 2007 4:54PM]

An altoids tin box would make a nice case for this.

[garver @ Jun 3rd 2007 5:15PM]

But can it play Doom?

[RijilV @ Jun 3rd 2007 5:18PM]

would be nice to somehow strap that to a LCD, a battery, and a keyboard. Would make for a very light do-it-yourself notebook.

I'm sure we'll see someone with true hardware skills doing that type of thing very soon.

[abigsmurf @ Jun 3rd 2007 5:37PM]

16Watts? That eliminates it as the base for portable gaming console. 4 high capacity AA's will give you... 1.5V @ 10000mah is 15Watt hrs... an hour of peak load usage and that's not including the screen.

[Jimmy C @ Jun 3rd 2007 10:17PM]

Three Words for you: In-Dash Computer.

Or two words, with the hyphen. Two-and-a-half.

Anyway, I can see this crammed into a standard DIN or double-DIN for a cool in-dash auto media/navigation center -- but not particularly appealing to the general market.

Maybe as a kit? Or a boutique product?

[Vexorg @ Jun 3rd 2007 10:50PM]

At that size, you could stick one of these behind a wall outle, although you'd still need to figure out what to do for a power supply...

[sillyrabbit @ Jun 3rd 2007 11:15PM]

Derek Zoolander: What is this? A Motherboard for ants?

Mugatu: Derek, this is just a small...

Derek Zoolander: I don't wanna hear your excuses! The motherboard has to be at least... three times bigger than this!

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Jun 4th 2007 1:38AM]

Will it blend, that is the question?

[kyle allen @ Jun 4th 2007 2:28AM]

dang! u could put that in just about any taxidermied animal you wanted to!

P.S. has Ben Heck seen this? he should make a portable and load it with emulators for like every system ever made!

[chris @ Jun 4th 2007 8:38AM]

Case?? The device this small can be put in anything. The no linux drivers thing is a no go for me though. I'm really looking for a low power, low impact option for a low traffic linux server at home. Attach this baby to an ssd or CFtoIDE/SATA setup and well... come on!!

Pricing? I don't see anything.

[chris @ Jun 4th 2007 9:29AM]

Well, I see it could be (by mini-itx store guesses) anywhere between 150 and 250 pound, which translates to a LOT of USD smackers... I think I'll keep looking. :(

[Craig Tucker @ Jun 4th 2007 12:12PM]

Jimmy C has it right. With a double-din dash kit you can fit a 7" touch screen and power supply and it gives you a few inches left over behind it. Not big enough for a mini-itx, and the nano-itx would be cramped, but the pico would fit perfectly. Less power usage/heat (16W compared to about 35-40W for the mini-itx), and you have yourself a nice little in-dash unit.

[ikyouCrow @ Jun 6th 2007 11:42AM]

WHS!! that is total Home Server material. i wonder how many hdds you can hook up to that? would be excellent if it did some kind of RAID or something...