14 DAY TRIAL // There used to be a time when mini-ITX motherboards really couldn't do much of anything, but now all but the strongest hardware parts are small enough to settle into the various ports and slots of things like Advantech AIMB-274.
Advantech AIMB-274 is a mini-ITX motherboard whose Q87 chipset provides support for Intel's Core i-series processors.
And not just any processors, but even the latest collection of CPUs, the fourth-generation Core i-line, codenamed Haswell.
Backing up said CPU are two memory slots, which can hold up to 16 GB of RAM. Specifically, they are made for DDR3/DDR3L-1600 (1.5V) 204-pin SODIMM slots.
There is one PCI Express x16 slot available, for high-end graphics cards, as well as a pair of mini PCIe sockets, four USB 3.0 ports and six USB 2.0 connectors.
Furthermore, Advantech included two COM ports, 8-bit GPIO, and four SATA III ports (SATA 6 Gbps, for HDD/SSD storage).
Dual PCI Express-based Gigabit Ethernet ports are part of the spec sheet as well, enabling up to 1,000 Mbps (each).
You could easily use this thing to create an overpowered HTPC, or a light gaming desktop you could take to LAN parties.
That's not what Advantech aimed for though. Instead, it intends for the AIMB-274 mini-ITX motherboard to be employed in automation, ATM/Kiosks, medical equipment, home “cloud” servers, etc.
“The blend of Advantech hardware and value added smart software now brings the benefits of cloud computing within reach of many embedded applications,” is how the company put it.
To that end, the SUSIAccess and iManager 2.0 intelligent system management tools can be used to remotely manage the motherboard. Sadly, not price was mentioned anywhere in the announcement, which isn't that shocking really, since this is a product meant to ship to other enterprises, whose barter tendencies will certainly not be put aside when negotiating a contract.