Oh So Quiet with VIA 1GHz Mini-ITX

VIA today announces a 1GHz C3 processor version of its Mini-ITX mainboard. And it has set its sights on an application and a place for the little beast - Digital media centres and little PCs in the home.

The company reckons the VIA EPIA M10000 Mini-ITX Mainboard, to give the mini-mobo its full title, is 50 per cent quieter than an "average" PC, citing an independent test which recorded 25dBA at one meter. According to VIA, the average PC noise ranges between 35dba and 50dba (the A weighted decibel scale is, as you well know, logarithmic) and "and can be equated to the noise made by an old refrigerator".

The Mini-ITX incorporates what VIA calls a “fansink” (heat sink and fan combination); used in conjunction with "fanless small form factor cases and external AC power adaptors like those used with notebooks" OEMs can reduce system noise even further. This will enable system builders to overcome a major consumer objection in putting PCs in their sitting room, VIA says. Over to Richard Brown, marketing veep, for the quote.

“The background noise from the loud cooling fans running in most of today’s PC systems has become a very real problem, and is the single most important concern raised by our customers developing systems targeted at the living space.”

And on to the press release for a fuller spec. ®