Items tagged with Mini-ITX
by Shawn Sanders - Sat, Jan 06, 2018
MSI Announces Mini-ITX B350I PRO AC Motherboard For Ryzen Muscle In Small But Mighty Form Factors
More AMD RYZEN love is being announced at CES 2018, this time from prominent motherboard maker MSI. Small form factor (SFF) PCs can be fantastic build projects. They significantly decrease the footprint of your PC, often without compromising performance, whether it's to accommodate confining dorm-living or a convenient portable build for LAN and eSports gaming. But first you need a strong but diminutive foundation. Enter the MSI Mini-ITX B350 PRO AC motherboard for RYZEN. The Mini-ITX B350 PRO AC is an AM4 socket motherboard for RYZEN processors and is packed with a surprising array of features for its super small Mini-ITX stature. It features a powerful 9-phase PWM design (6+2+1), which... Read more...
by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Oct 17, 2017
Classic Amiga Gets Modernized With Custom Amy-ITX Motherboard Project
For long-time enthusiasts that were around during the ascent of personal computers, the Commodore Amiga remains one of the most beloved systems of all time. When it was originally released back in the mid-80's, the Amiga could do things that no other consumer-class computer could – its graphics, sound, and multi-tasking capabilities were simply unmatched at the time. That initial sense of amazement at the Amiga's unique capabilities is one of the reasons why the platform continues to have rabid fans some 30+ years later and why a small group of skilled enthusiasts have designed and manufactured a brand-new circuit board, dubbed the Amy-ITX, that brings actual Amiga hardware to the current mini-ITX... Read more...
News, Misc
by David Murphy - Wed, Mar 16, 2016
Digital Storm Bolt 3 SFF Gaming PC: A Compact Powerhouse
Face the facts: if you want a pre-built PC that can play virtually any game at high resolutions with high-quality settings, you're going to have to pay a princely sum. While you could probably build your own PC for less than a pre-built system, boutique builders typically offer a number of benefits in the form of guaranteed overclocks or custom component. Or maybe you just have no interest whatsoever spending all that time installing parts and hiding cables in your case. Though Digital Storm's Bolt 3 isn't the highest-end gaming PC we've tested, it holds its own for its not-so-insignificant price—delivering gaming performance that fits its cost, all built within a beautiful, small form factor... Read more...
Features, News, Desktops, Gaming
by Marco Chiappetta - Tue, Sep 15, 2015
AMD Radeon R9 Nano Review: Small But Mighty Fiji Unleashed
Information about the AMD Radeon R9 Nano has been trickling out for months. Even before it was officially shown off at a swank event adjacent to E3 earlier this summer, some pictures and preliminary details regarding the R9 Nano leaked to the web. Since its official unveiling, we've also revealed a plethora of information about the latest Radeon R9 300 series and the other products in AMD's current line-up—the Radeon R9 Fury and Fury X—that are powered by the same Fiji GPU as the Radeon R9 Nano. And yet, the diminutive card still has a bit of mystique around it and the hardware community at large is interested in what AMD's little half-length Nano card can really do.Today, we can finally... Read more...
Features, News, Graphics/Sound, PC Components
by Dave Altavilla and Marco Chiappetta - Wed, Sep 09, 2015
Alienware X51 R3 Review: Console-Sized Gaming PC Gets Skylake Infusion
The last time we looked at Dell's Alienware X51 series of console-sized gaming PCs was back in mid-2013. Back then we were working with Intel's 4th generation Haswell Core Series processors and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 600 series GPUs based on their Kepler graphics core. Our man Paul, frankly, was spouting off a bit wildly about aliens serving humans for dinner and, well, let's just say it made for interesting reading. But that was so 2013, and like anything in life, seasons change and architectures evolve. Paul is still nuttier than a fruit cake but that's a different story all together, so we'll just stay on task. The Alienware team has been relatively quiet for the past 18 - 24 months or so with... Read more...
Features, News, Desktops, Gaming, Small Form Factor
by Seth Colaner - Fri, Jan 03, 2014
Velocity Micro's SmallBlock Desktops Pack Big Punch In A Tiny Package
Velocity Micro announced a line of tiny "SmallBlock" desktops that promise performance capabilities that are not commensurate with their size. The mini-ITX systems include gaming, workstation, and home office configurations within a chassis size of 12.75 x 8 x 9.1 inches (HxWxD). "The SmallBlock platform is the culmination of six months of obsessive development and constant refinement from our team," said Velocity Micro president and CEO Randy Copeland. "I believe this footprint is the future vision of desktop computing. Fitting full sized graphics card options and a real ATX power supply in an extremely compact package is a tremendous engineering accomplishment... Read more...
by Joshua Gulick - Fri, Apr 19, 2013
Lian Li Announces Two New Brushed Aluminum Mini-ITX Chassis: PC-Q27 and PC-Q28
Boutique builders like AVADirect, iBUYPOWER, and Maingear have introduced some killer Mini-ITX gaming systems this year, and Lian Li now has some sharp-looking new Mini-ITX cases for us DIYers. Starting in May, the popular PC chassis maker will be launching the fanless PC-Q27 and the fan-bearing PC-Q28, which has a larger footprint. Both cases are constructed with Lian Li's hallmark brushed aluminum. Aimed at everything from office use to gaming and being a home theater PC (HTPC), the PC-Q27 is tiny. It's only 7.8 inches wide x 11.8 inches tall x 9.4 inches deep, and relies on vents in the back and bottom of the chassis. The PC-Q27 is pretty flexible, as far as stocking it goes, but... Read more...
by Marco Chiappetta - Thu, Mar 14, 2013
Maingear Potenza Super Stock Review: Cool and Quiet
There's a lot to love about a mini-ITX gaming PC. Portability is a big draw, of course: carrying your computer through the parking lot to a LAN party is much easier if it happens to be an SFF system. Reclaiming desk space is another reason to go small. And some of us just take a lot of pleasure in knowing that our tiny, unassuming PC will drop a few jaws when it's game time. With an Intel Core i7 3770 and an MSI GeForce GTX 660 at its heart, Maingear's mini-ITX Potenza only looks mild-mannered. In fact, Maingear offers the system with up to a Core i7-3770K and a GTX Titan, but Maingear sent us a slightly tamer unit to show what it can do in the $1600 range... Maingear Potenza... Read more...
by Joshua Gulick - Thu, Mar 14, 2013
Maingear Potenza SS: A Cool, Quiet, SFF Gaming PC
There's a lot to love about a mini-ITX gaming PC. Portability is a big draw, of course: carrying your computer through the parking lot to a LAN party is much easier if it happens to be an SFF system. Reclaiming desk space is another reason to go small. And some of us just take a lot of pleasure in knowing that our tiny, unassuming PC will drop a few jaws when it's game time. With an Intel Core i7 3770 and an MSI GeForce GTX 660 at its heart, Maingear's mini-ITX Potenza only looks mild-mannered. In fact, Maingear offers the system with up to a Core i7-3770K and a GTX Titan, but Maingear sent us a slightly tamer unit to show what it can do in the $1600 range. As configured,... Read more...
Features, Systems, Small Form Factor, Gaming
by Seth Colaner - Fri, May 25, 2012
BitFenix Announces Prodigy mini-ITX Chassis
We've seen firsthand how tiny motherboards can pack a serious punch, and BitFenix appears to feel the same way. The company announced the Prodigy mini-ITX chassis, which is designed to accommodate five HDDs or SSDs, a removable 5.52-inch drive bay, up to five 120mm fans, and with the FlexCage removed, a 240mm radiator for liquid cooling. The case is long enough to fit graphics cards up to 320mm long, and the dual PCI slots enable you to squeeze in a bigger card, too. The motherboard tray is set to allow for taller CPU coolers, and you can use a standard ATX PSU inside. There are a pair of USB 3.0 ports on the front panel, which is a nice touch. The Prodigy chassis has a little something... Read more...
by Seth Colaner - Tue, Apr 10, 2012
ZOTAC Outs Two Intel 7-Series Mini-ITX Boards
There's a pair of new Intel 7-Series motherboards out from ZOTAC, and they're both in the mini-ITX form factor. The ZOTAC Z77-ITX WiFi and H77-ITX WiFi support LGA1155 3rd-generation and 2nd-generation Intel chips, and although both are equipped with a PCI-E x16 (3.0) slot, they're also Intel HD 2500/4000-ready. The boards have a pair of DIMM slots that support up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 (2133MHz OC) RAM, as well as four USB 3.0 and eight USB 2.0 ports, onboard 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0, 8-channel HD audio, and HDMI audio output. The Z77-ITX WiFi sports dual Gigabit Ethernet ports; two SATA 6Gbps ports, two SATA 3Gbps ports, and one mSATA slot; and two HDMI ports and one mini-DisplayPort.... Read more...
by Marco Chiappetta - Fri, Jan 13, 2012
Zotac Showcases New ZBOXes, mini-ITX Motherboards at CES 2012
Our coverage of the latest technology on display as CES continues today, with some goodies from Zotac. In addition to offering some hot graphics cars, Zotac has also been innovating in the small form factor and mini-ITX motherboard markets, especially over the last couple of years. As such, it should come as no surprise that Zotac had a number of their diminutive ZBOX systems on display, along with a handful of new / upcoming mini-ITX motherboards. Zotac ZBOX Nano ID61 Plus Two new ZBOXes were on display in Zotac's suite, more specifically, the ZBOX Nano ID82 Plus and the ZBOX ID61 Plus, both of which are based on Intel platforms. The ZBOX Nano ID61 is a Sandy Bridge-based machine... Read more...
by Seth Colaner - Wed, Nov 30, 2011
A VIA Mini-ITX Retrospective, Via VIA
Back in 2001, VIA introduced the mini-ITX form factor, and modders everywhere had a nifty little platform upon which to build interesting projects, both for fun and for profit. VIA is commemorating the mini-ITX's 10th anniversary with an ebook retrospective, which is a free download for all interested. The ebook features the history of the platform, descriptions of how it affected the industry, and a number of the most interesting mini-ITX-based mods they could find. And of course, there is a look ahead at the future of the platform. VIA Celebrates 10 Years of Innovation Inspired by the Mini-ITX with the Launch of "Small is Beautiful: 10 Years of Mini-ITX" eBook "Small is Beautiful: 10... Read more...
by Paul Lilly - Tue, Aug 02, 2011
Asus Thinks Big with Mini-ITX F1A75-I Deluxe Motherboard
Asus is apparently looking to make a big splash in the mini-ITX market with the launch of its F1A75-I Deluxe motherboard. This is the same board Asus showed off at the Computex trade show earlier this year, only now it's official. Despite its diminutive size, Asus managed jam a whole bunch of features into this tiny slice of silicon, starting with the connectivity ports. There are four SATA 6Gbps ports, a PCI-Express x16 slot, eSATA port, two USB 3.0 ports on the rear I/O (and two more via header), several more USB 2.0 ports, optical SPDIF, GbE LAN, three display outputs (DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort), and a few other odds and ends. Other features include built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, 6-channel audio... Read more...