Consumers interested in building a compact gaming LAN party box or an HTPC system based on Intel's Sandy Bridge processors now have a new motherboard to check out as ASRock has just announced the mini-ITX Z68M-ITX/HT based on the Z68 PCH.
This is only the third mini-ITX Intel Z68
motherboard scheduled to make its appearance in the retail market, the other two options are built by Zotac, and is also expected to be the cheapest.
That said, ASRock's Z68M-ITX/HT does however carry all the features that one would expect from such a solution, including dual full-sized DIMM memory sockets, as well as a PCI Express x16 slot, which can be used for adding a dedicated graphics card.
The rest of the motherboard PCB is pretty bare and the only point of interest is represented by the four SATA ports placed to the right of the Intel chipset.
Two of these support SATA 6Gbps speeds and a fifth port has been routed by
ASRock to the back of the board, where it is used as an eSATA connector.
Also on the rear I/O bracket, users will find a pair of USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port, a Gigabit Ethernet connector and 7.1-channel audio driven by a Realtek ALC892 audio codec with optical S/PDIF out.
As most other
Intel Z68 solutions, the Z68M-ITX/HT also carries DVI, D-Sub and HDMI video outputs.
In addition to all the usual cables and accessories that are bundled together with motherboards, ASRock's latest creation is also paired with a Windows MCE compatible remote, a nice bonus considering its target market.
ASRock hasn't provided us with any information regarding the release date, or the pricing, of the Z68M-ITX/HT motherboard. (via
VR-Zone)
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