Zotac jumping in Ion-filled waters with new Mini-ITX motherboards
By Darren Murph 
posted April 21st 2009 9:53AM
posted April 21st 2009 9:53AM
We'd heard a few whispers rolling through the gentle breeze that Zotac would be hopping on the Ion bandwagon early on, and sure enough, it looks like said firm is indeed latched on. Reportedly, the outfit will be producing a few Mini-ITX motherboards in the near future that support Intel's Atom 230 / 330 processors and come loaded with NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M G chipsets. The mobos would also include all of the basic amenities: Ethernet, two RAM slots, HDMI / DVI / VGA outputs, a trio of SATA ports and a WiFi module. There's still no word on what system maker is looking to slap these into their next-generation nettops, but who knows, maybe this will end up being the first standalone Ion-based board for the DIYers in attendance.[Via Expreview, thanks Shawn]
While these Atom boards may be interesting, the real gem from Zotac is their new LGA775 m-ITX boards, complete with PCI-E x16 and the aforementioned wifi module.
Put aQ 660 along with a low profile 9800GT and you've got yourself a hell of a gaming machine that can fit in your backpack. Best part is, it's in stock at Newegg! Move over Atom, I'll take a desktop chip (even a low power one at that) for HTPC useage any day of the week.
Did you mean Q6600? I think those quad cores generate far too much heat for the mini-itx form factor.
Yeah, good luck finding a mini-ITX cooler that can handle a Q6600. The point is still valid though - a slower, more efficient dual-core combined with a slightly slower 9-series would make an excellent machine for playing Steam games.
Sure, even something like an E6350 or other 6 series dual core would do fine.
In regards to the cooler issue - I'm not saying the cooler has to be under 20mm high - stick with the stock intel cooler and you would be fine (not for overclocking, but stready T nonetheless).
you forget that even with a single cell Celeron you need to buy a top notch quiet heatsink and a quiet PSU... or there is always the alternative of a loud HTPC -- we all love to hear the humming of a computer while watching a movie!!
here you get a FANLESS system complete with PSU with a dual core that can play full HD!! all you need to add is a hard drive (preferably 2.5" about 100$ for 500GB) a case(50$ or build one yourself) memory (50$) a quiet fan (20$) and maybe throw in one of those remotes.
even if they sell it for 300$ you get a QUIET FULL HD capable HTPC for 500$!! ah and did i mention its tiny?
on the other hand you can have the acer hornet -- single core but cheaper and got out of the box functionality...
@ Doug.. I think if people are going to get the 775 socket board for a 6600 cpu or simpliar they wont be using it as just a media center
both board have different uses in the same size package
Guys, i have a core quad in my latest ITX build.
It just takes some alteration, i moved the graphics card to install a fullish height cooler and its a beauty.
I hope vendors other than zotac get onbaord, I have heard many horror stories about their almost absent customer service and technical support departments.
Give me gigabit and four SATA ports and that's my NAS.
I have been wishing for the same exact thing. I would love to be able to replace the P3 currently running my FreeNAS box, all I'm asking for is a cheap atom board with 4 sata connectors (gigabyte nic would be a plus as well). PCI sata cards are just too much of a bottleneck, especially with 3.0 sata drives.
The Intel chipset has been what's holding back more than 2 SATA ports. Now with the Ion platform we should see that limitation eliminated. Unfortunate that they went with one 3 ports, but I guess they're milking it.
Looks like 3 SATA + 1 eSATA. Get an adapter cable, and run it back into the case through the slot that won't be occupied since there's no PCI slot on the mobo.
If you want something low power that can support up to 8 sata drives and 2 gigabit network ports then VIA have an awesome solution
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/motherboards.jsp?motherboard_id=610
Costs a bit more, but will suit the purpose much more. Even has enough processing power to run windows home server.
That's jsut what I'm looking for, Tristan! It says it has a proprietary form-factor (similar to optical drives) to support drive-sized boxes. Do you know if it still fits in any of the standard motherboard configuration such as Mini-ITX?
By the looks of it, it doesnt use standard mount points (ie the top left screw hole is not set back like on atx) but this could be fixed with a $10 tapping kit.
Personally I want to build my own case about 4" wide and 10 drives deep with enough room for the board and an energy efficient psu, install utorrent on it and PS3 media server and leave it on 24 for serving, downloading and streaming.
Unfortunately that VIA board is just for OEM bulk orders. I am trying to see if they will email me a sample board.
I would be cautious with the VIA board. The specs seem good, but the last VIA system just left me out in the cold because the networking was CPU driven. Trying to do raid 5 and pushing files over ssh was too much and it would cripple the bandwidth.
This is definitely nice, but i wish they still at least one original PCI Slot.
still have*
still had*
303$ for dual core atom? ahaha rip off price!
I bought (here in europe) zotac 9300 itx wifi mobo for 123euro + e5200 56euro - total 179euros = 231usd
where di you find that price?
In Poland
Mobo: http://www.kuppc.pl/index.php?action=product&pid=10032 (was 545plz three weeks ago
CPU (on auction site) : http://www.allegro.pl/item599688308_procesor_intel_dualcore_e5200_nowy_box_gw_36_mc.html
Now i'm waiting for lian li pc-q07 case :D
that picture looks like a miniature shopping mall :)
heard this chipset could play games like L4D and Bioshock to some extent. i guess it's just really easy to make boards that comes w/ good chipsets
lulz @ the q6600 idea (e7000-8000 ftw) also the one pci-e slot from one of their miniITX lga775 i saw looks like x16 but only goes upto x4 and only houses 2xsata.. dun cry plz
p.s. L4D Pack Out Today Download It !!!!!
I was gonna say it looks like Sim City :P
I've been waiting for this to make it run Ubuntu+XBMC+VDPAU drivers booting from a 4GB memory stick
Yea William.finlay - this is what we are trying to achieve - instant-on, low power - thus heat; and xbmc on Linux. Perfect hassle-free Media. Only problem seems to be 7.1 sound driver under Linux.. Discuss?
Zotac 9300-D_E wifi mini-itx
Celeron whatever for low heat
Passive heat-sink cooling in A-tech case
Sony slot-drive Bluray Internal
2.5" HD (or SDD) w ubuntu
Clip-on case for 2 x SATA 1TB HDs in hot-swap bays
We wanna manufacture 15 of these as a test.
The big difference is this is Mini-ITX and what you bought is standard ITX...big difference in size. Mini-ITX is a lot smaller. Smaller = more expensive.
how big is itx compared to mini-itx as far as i know mini-itx is 17x17cm while itx ... .well i didnt know it had its own form factor
As far as I know, there is no "ITX" standard. There's ATX, Micro-ATX, Mini-ITX, Pico-ITX and Nano-ITX but no ITX.
That said, I'd love to get an Ion motherboard. I already have a case in mind. It's not going to supplant the primary HTPC in the living room, but it should be a nice replacement to the Popcorn Hour in the bedrooms. Maybe I'll install one in the kitchen, too. Pricing is insane, though. They need to get the dual-core version in the less than $200 range. The one thing the Atom had going for it was price. I bought the Intel D945GCLF2 dual-core Atom board for $85. True an Ion is more powerful, video-wise, but the CPU's still paltry and very few programs can leverage CUDA.
Yeah theres no such thing as ITX,
ATX
FlexATX
uATX
BTX
Mini BTX
Mini ITX
Nano ITX
Pico ITX
Mobile ITX (rumour)
ATX: 305 × 244 mm (12″ × 9,6″).
Mini-ATX: 284 × 208mm (11,2″ × 8,2″)
Micro-ATX: 244 × 244 mm (9,6″ × 9,6″)
Flex-ATX: 229 × 191 mm (9″ × 7,5″),
Mini-ITX: 170 × 170 mm (6,7″ × 6,7″)
Nano-ITX: 120 × 120 mm (4,7″ × 4,7″)
Pico-ITX: 100 × 72mm (4″ × 2,8″)
E-ATX-Format: 305 × 330 mm (12″ × 13″)
the e-atx just killed it for me dude.. could have been on the top X . X
thought so :D no "itx"
This is where I scratch my head. Clearly you can make a low power device with this, but I just don't see the point of a making an Atom powered net top device. Sure the nVidia graphics core can hardware accelerated a lot of formats, but there are lots it can't like flash for Hulu and Youtube. So you're making a net top device with limited capability. Battery life isn't a concern, so what exactly does saving a few watts get you other than limited computing capability?
Now you're talking about a limitation of the software :-P
The whole "saving a few watts" makes a big difference in different parts of the world. I've retired to the Philippines... heat generated by pc's becomes a big issue when the ambient room temperature is 30C with high humidity. Also electricity is quite a bit more expensive here compared to North America. Leaving a regular pc on all day can cost you the equivalent of $1 or $2 a day on your electric bill... it adds up.
Sure, but would you rather have a PC that can do everything you want, or save a few watts of power? There's a whole lot of options between this and a high end heat producing PC with quad core CPU's and SLI graphics rigs.
It's also a question of heat, space and noise. If all you need is a desktop replacement for your office, then yeah doesn't make sense. If you want to put it somewhere out of the way, say the kitchen or perhaps your bedroom or behind your TV on the wall, then these small "nettop" devices are the only way to go.
Release date? I'm building a motorcycle computer and I WAS going to buy an Intel GMA950/Atom330 combo for $106CAD (~$80USD), but now I'm seriously reconsidering.
The Ion platform uses significantly less power than the GMA platform, and I need to squeeze every watt I can with a motorcycle computer (including switching lights to LED from incandescent, not including the headlights)
dude please, please dont operate that thing whilst biking.
I know that porn at 150mph is exhilarating but dont become another statistic.
@roboDan
thats a very good point actually take note stereodude. Mini-itx motherboards are the computers of cars 95% of the time. if not more. Fanless, Less heat and less battery consumption will mean alot.
Zotac make the best ITX boards.
The end.
Agreed. Love my latest build.
What did you go for?
My favorite combo is:
9300 Wifi with
3.3Ghz Core 2
4Gb DDR2 800 OCZ Gold
CompuCase 8K07
1Tb HDD
32Gb SLC SSD for OS (If i can be affording it...)
Slot loading mashita DVDRW
unforantently not at the best price though
the intel atom 330 is a great board. and cheap to at around £70 if only they built a ion based atom itx board but they never will :(
can the 330 handle hd hulu?
no it cant
Re William.finlay - this is what we are trying to achieve - instant-on, low power - thus heat and xbmc on Linux. Perfect hassle-free Media. ONly problem seems to be 7.1 sound driver under Linux.. Discuss?
Zotac 9300-D_E wifi mini-itx
Celeron whatever for low heat
Passive heat-sink cooling in A-tech case
Sony slot-drive Bluray
Internal 2.5: HD (or SDD)
Clip-on case for 2 x SATA 1TB HDs in hot-swap bays
We wanna manufacture 15 of these as a test.
XBMC for Linux on this would make the perfect media center:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC_Media_Center
Put that together with OCZ's new Mini-PCIe SSD in 16GB or 32GB capacity:
http://hothardware.com/News/OCZ-Technology-Introduces-MiniPCIExpress-SSDs/
XBMC Media Center for Linux supports VDPAU decoding:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDPAU