14 DAY TRIAL // The USB 3.0 technology has only just managed to start on its journey and most new, large and mighty motherboards revealed at CeBIT had, fortunately, this functionality built in. Besides this new interface, however, there has been another type of products that has yet to see widespread adoption but that is rather aggressively marketed. These products are the mini-ITX motherboards and they are known for their small form factor that can still pack quite a punch if designed properly. Gigabyte, for one, seems to want to show just how strong a punch that is by building one such mainboard with USB 3.0 capabilities.
So far, Intel Atom-powered systems have been the only devices that use mini-ITX motherboards, at least on the consumer market. Despite this, hardware makers seem to think the form factor has high chances, which is why products such as Zotac's and ASUS’ motherboards, along with SilverStone's surprisingly spacious case, have been created. Gigabyte is now adding to the functionality of the form factor by giving it the aforementioned USB 3.0 capabilities. The product is known by the name of H55N-USB3.
Unfortunately, the most that can be said about the board is what can be deduced from a photo. As its name implies, the board is based on the Intel H55 chipset and, besides the two USB 3.0 connectors, it has four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port, an eSATA connector, Gigabit Ethernet and 7.1 channel audio (most likely) and, for video output, D-Sub, DVI and HDMI.
There are also four SATA connectors, two memory slots and even a PCI Express x16 slot for advanced graphics. Finally, the product seems to be built with a six-phase power-regulation design, which makes it suited for overclocking, though overclocked mini-ITX boards aren't exactly common.
The mainboard's price is still unknown at this time, but stores should be ready to welcome it by the middle of April.