how about this motherboard

"Built in the mini-ITX form factor, Intel® Desktop Board DG45FC is a small but powerful desktop board with integrated HDMI display output and hardware accelerated decode during high-definition playback. With support of Intel® Core™2 Duo processors and up to 1333 FSB, you can expect a lot from this tiny desktop board! "

I believe we can run HTPC with this w/o debut on performance & power consumption..??

Home Theater system motherboards are a dieing need already

The new wave of Blu-ray home theater systems have wireless connections that stream from your main PC and in the long run cheaper than making a home PC and power consumption. If the first wave of these are here now they`ll be the only choice in a year....

HT-BD1250R
http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/detail/spec.do?group=homeenterta...ent&type=homecinema&subtype=homecinema&model_cd=...[g.com]

Soundwave: Superior. Zotac's IONITX-A: Inferior

Soundwave is back!

Ravage...eject...operation...destructioin [/Frank Welker's vocoder]

If you want PCI-Express x16 slot with your Mini-ITX sized ION solution, here's one potential candidate. :)

=> http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1...

Costs about...
=> http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1...

$139 UK pounds for Dual core Atom 330 version.
$129 UK pounds for Single core Atom 230 version.
(Prices include VAT)

Are there any good cases for a motherboard like this? On Newegg, all of the ITX cases I found either had a power supply included or had a big gaping hole for one. Since this motherboard has it's own power supply and it's external, it'd be nice to have a smaller case that didn't devote any space to house a PSU.

Barring that, you could probably troll eBay or a pawn shop and find an old cable box or something and hack it apart to make decent case for this.

No attempts at overclocking? ;)

If it had a second Ethernet port or a PCI-E slot, this little gem would make a perfect gateway/router box.

I would have really liked one PCI-e slot for a TV tuner board such as Hauppauge's WinTV HVR-2250.

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hvr2250.html

That'd make this board perfect. Without that, I think the Core2 Zotac board previously reviewed by TR is a better choice.

$180 seems a little steep, but meh, it is pretty feature packed.

I'd take the 775 based ITX every which way over this thing, and putting the two side by side, I just do not understand why someone would choose the Atom, unless power draw was an /extremely/ important issue.

Now if this thing was cheaper, like $100, then I would be more than amused, I might just be interested.

I like the Ion - a low power and capable integrated solution. What is not to like about that...

Do the SATA ports support port multiplication? Most of the NASes are moving to be Atom (or Geode) based. With the exception of a few pricey industrial Atom motherboards, there isn't anything in the DIY market that could support building a 5-bay RAID box.

The only thing really missing from the IONITX's port cluster is a PS/2 mouse port that might've come in handy for those using older KVM switches.

Surely folks still needing PS/2 will just spend $2.56 on a PS/2 to USB adapter : http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1440

I'm curious about the PSU that comes with it, especially since you're forced to use it with the board (OK, maybe you could get a more powerful brick but then would the onboard section make that moot or not handle it?) Anyhow, I'd like to see it hooked up with 3 7200 RPM desktop drives, or with an optical drive too which is a given for an HTPC system assuming you aren't going to break the DMCA :p By my figuring, 3 HDs at spinup plus the board could overload the PSU. Aside from the lack of even a PCIe 1x slot the PSU is the other major downside to this design.

Were those temperatures with a heatsink fan on or off? I'd only consider getting this board if it could run completely fanless, or with a very silent 120mm case fan.

One of the worst review ever read. How can you compare a system with XP with one with Vista? a 1024x600 resolution with a 1280x1024 one?? Different HDD? Didn't say a word on Wi-Fi card?!
E--

Fsck the mobo!...
I want the Transformers (Soundwave)!

Thanks for the article. What do we know about Zotac? Are they a reliable brand? Easy to find? How is their support?

reply button is my friend...

ignore this.

*Hugs his dv2*

i believe N330 do not have speedstep but N270.
so the average power consumption is higher.
not better useful for 24 hrs uptime.
am i correct to say so??

Woohoo thanks for the Quake Live results! Not as good as I was hoping for, but still not bad! :)

A 30GB OCZ vertex would pair well with this.

Interesting article!
With the Intel G45 ITX and a Celeron 430 (35watt rated) with a 2.5" drive using a pico psu, the draw was about 40 watts from the wall while installing Linux.
What I'd like to see is Intel putting out low powered dual cores for desktops (the E5200 is rated as 65w but seems to run quite a bit lower). e.g. Something like a 2GHz 45nm C2D 30 watt rated at around $100 could be quite popular with a board like the 9300 for an ITX based system.

mmm, lovely. :)

I'm a little sad that it beats the pants off of the NC20, but here's hoping that someone puts out an ION2 board before the end of the year.

I hooked the power supply up to our trust watt meter to measure total system power draw

I think you're missing a 'y'

185.43?
Haven't seen that GeForce version before. What was the driving reason in picking it over the latest v185.85 WHQL released for ION?