Mini-ITX mainboards target consumer electronics

VIA's EPIA EX-Series of Mini-ITX mainboards are the first of the company's compact platforms to feature the new VIA CX700M2 system media processor. Powered by the highly efficient 1.5GHz or fanless 1.0GHz VIA C7 processor, the VIA EPIA EX has an average operating power consumption of just 13.6W. Specifically designed for the fast-growing x86-based consumer electronics market, the VIA EPIA EX mainboard features full consumer I/O, including ports for composite, component and S-Video, S/PDIF audio, and onboard connectors for LVDS and DVI displays, with USB2.0 and IEEE1394 peripheral connectivity, full featured SATA II RAID, and 10/100Mbit/s Fast Ethernet for seamless broadband connectivity, with a gigabit Ethernet option.

The VIA EPIA EX also boasts the VIA CX700M2 advanced system media processor, an all-in-one digital media IGP chipset integrating the VIA UniChrome Pro II 2D/3D graphics core and an extended array of high end video and audio technologies, including hardware decoding acceleration of MPEG-2/-4 and WMV9 video, a built-in HDTV encoder up to 1080i, 720p output, and VIA Vinyl Multi-channel HD audio for a richer listening experience.

'We see the consumer electronics market increasingly adopting the x86 platform for the extra performance and comprehensive compatibility with all popular media formats, and the fully integrated, off the shelf VIA EPIA EX fills this need perfectly', said Daniel Wu, Assistant Vice President, VIA Platform Solutions Division, VIA Technologies.

'Leveraging the power efficient VIA processors and the extensive feature set of the VIA CX700M2 media system processor, the VIA EPIA EX speaks directly to the demands of CE developers'.

Designed to meet the increasing demands of consumer electronics-style digital media computing and communications devices, the feature-packed VIA EPIA EX Mini-ITX mainboard is available with either the 1.5GHz or fanless 1.0GHz VIA C7 processor supporting the highly efficient VIA V4 bus interface, combined with the VIA CX700M2 system media processor with its support for a wide range of digital media technologies appropriate for the consumer electronics market.

The VIA EPIA EX Mini-ITX integrates advanced digital media features that include a HDTV encoder which utilises an advanced ASIC with VIA's Advance ProScale Technology to scale the input resolution for 640 x 480 up to 1024 x 768 encode for 1080i, 720p standard HDTV resolution output; the VIA UniChrome Pro II integrated graphics processor (IGP) that supports hardware MPEG-2/-4 and WMV9 acceleration and includes the Chromotion CE engine for crystal clear video, VIA Vinyl eight-channel HD audio, LVDS and a DVI module connectors, S-video, component, composite and RCA outputs for unparalleled connectivity.

Also supported by the VIA EPIA EX Mini-ITX mainboard is up to 1Gbyte of DDR2 400/533MHz memory, a full featured native SATA II RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and Gigabit Ethernet as an option.

The VIA EPIA EX-Series Mini-ITX mainboard is available now for developers, and will be available in limited quantities through authorised distributors in late January 2007.