14 DAY TRIAL // Shortly after introducing a series of motherboards targeting the embedded device market, VIA has announced the release of the Nano X2-equipped VE-900 mini-ITX board which was specially developed for being used in media PCs.
VIA's latest creation is built around an 1.4GHz Nano X2 dual-core processor which is paired with the company's VX900 chipset including Chrome9 HD graphics and the ChromotionHD 2.0 video engine.
This media system hub, as VIA likes calling it, sports hardware acceleration support for various HD video formats, including MPEG-2, H.264, VC-1, WMV9 and HDCP for Blu-ray content.
Users have the option of pairing the Nano X2 processor with a maximum of 8GB of system memory that can be installed in two standard sized DDR3 sockets.
The rest of the expansion capabilities of the VIA boards include support for a single 32-bit legacy PCI add-on card, while storage devices can be connected to a pair of SATA 3Gbps ports.
On the rear I/O panel we see a basic set of connectors including four USB 2.0 ports, two PS/2 ports, an Ethernet connector, a COM port as well as 5.1 channel audio driven by a VT1708S HD audio codec.
A pair of D-Sub and HDMI video outputs are also provided, but sadly we don't get any USB 3.0 ports, even though these have pretty much become mainstream by now.
"November 6th marked the 10 year anniversary of the Mini-ITX form factor which spurred a revolution in the modding community," said Richard Brown, Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc.
"The VIA VE-900 delivers an affordable, high performance Mini-ITX mainboard that will spur a new wave of inspiration and innovation in the next generation of enthusiasts," concluded the company's rep.
The VE-900 motherboard should already be available from the company's distributors, but VIA hasn't disclosed any information regarding pricing.
