Chip manufacturer VIA has just announced its VIA EPIA PX5000EG Pico-ITX motherboard, world's smallest unit of its kind, paired with an ultra-energy-efficient Eden ULV processor running at 500 MHz. Although the entire system is a little bit low on specifications, the Pico-ITX design is currently the industry's smallest and most energy-efficient design.

On top of its previous EPIA PX10000 Pico-ITX board VIA has built an extremely successful design that revolutionized the embedded industry last year. The new miniaturization techniques resulted in the world's smallest mass production x86 board ever, a system that draws maximum one watt of power.

"The introduction of the VIA EPIA PX5000EG elevates the VIA EPIA range of innovative embedded solutions to new heights of thermal and energy efficiency in an extremely miniaturized form factor", said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "The VIA EPIA Pico-ITX form-factor continues to evolve, addressing the embedded industry's needs for greater efficiency and miniaturization", Wu continued.

The Pico-ITX form factor is entirely designed and backed by VIA. The new motherboard is 10 x 7.2 centimeters large, but a fully functional system would easily fit into the palm of one's hand. VIA's new EPIA PX5000EG comes with both LVDS/DVI and VGA connectors. The diminutive motherboard design also integrates 5.1 channel audio, fast 100/10 Ethernet, IDE and S-ATA drive support, up to six USB ports, as well as a COM port.

VIA's new motherboard is extremely energy-efficient, which means that its cooling requirements can be reduced to a minimum. The EPIA PX5000EG comes with a fanless 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor. The absence of a bulky heatsink allows the motherboard to be crammed in extremely tight spaces, such as embedded slot machines, coffee automatons and point-of-sales terminals.