14 DAY TRIAL // VIA is preparing to release a new Pico-ITX motherboard. The new EPIA PX sports a revamped pico-ITX form-factor that measures only 3.9 x 2.8 inches. This is approximately half the size of VIA's former smallest nano-ITX form-factor. VIA initially demonstrated the EPIA PX at its yearly Lunch@Piero's event held during the Consumer Electronics Show.
The picture provided here stages preliminary VIA C7 processor clocked at 1 GHz powering the EPIA PX. The people at EPIACENTER were kind enough to provide some photos of this model, but, despite the leaked information, they are still unsure which chipset the EPIA PX contains, presuming it is either the VX700 or CX700M. Most likely, the EPIA PX features the previously released UMPC oriented VX700 due to the sheer size of the board.
Being such a small motherboard, the EPIA PX features very limited connectivity options. Thus, we can only detect a VGA and a LAN port as far as external connectivity goes. There are plenty of internal headers and connectors, though EPIACENTER does not mention what the headers are for.
Concerning new motherboard form factor standards, AMD recently announced its plans to pursue development of the DTX form factor. DTX is considerably larger than pico-ITX, though all formats are essentially derivatives of the ATX standard. "We're not trying to eliminate ATX," an AMD product manager cleared things up at the Consumer Electronics Show. "But we believe that continued growth in the SFF market can be accelerated with a mechanical interoperability standard." AMD's DTX boards are said to include two expansion slots-one of which will be a PCIe slot-along with an XpressCard slot to provide Bluetooth and/or WiFi connectivity. These motherboards are designed to be compatible with lower-power CPUs that have a maximum TDP of up to 65w, while using active cooling solutions such as low-RPM fans. AMD also announces a mini-DTX board that will be able to handle CPUs with a maximum TDP of 35w.