VIA launches 'most feature-rich' Nano-ITX mobo

VIA will soon bring to the built-your-own PC community what it claims is its most feature-packed ultra-compact Nano-ITX motherboard yet: the 12 x 12cm EPIA NX.

Designed to work with VIA's 1.5GHz C7 chip or its 1.2GHz Eden processor, the NX backs up the CPU with up to 1GB of 533MHz DDR 2 memory and VIA's own UniChrome Pro II graphics core, built into the board's CX700M2 digital media chipset. The board also features an 720p and 1080i HD TV encoder chip.

The mobo provides a pair of SATA connectors and a parallel ATA port for storage, 100Mbps Ethernet - upgradeable to Gigabit - and a Mini PCI slot for expansion, perhaps to add an internal Wi-Fi adaptor. Connecting the board to the outside world are audio, VGA and a TV-out connector ready to be hooked up to s-video, composite-video or component-video ports. A single on-board USB connector can drive up to six USB ports.

VIA said the NX series' two members - the EPIA-NX15000G and the EPIA-NX12000EG - are available now to hardware manufacturers looking to evaluate the products, but it expects to make the part available to the rest of us soon.