Via Technologies, a known PC chipset and chipmaker, announced on Thursday its Via EPIA N700 Nano-ITX motherboard. The new board is the first to offer Via's latest VX800 chipset and is compatible with its 1.5GHz C7 and 500MHz Via processors. The new motherboard supports up to 2GB of DDR2 667Mhz system memory. Via claims that this combination of chipset, processor, and ultracompact design allows for a unprecedented balance between extreme miniaturization and uncompromising functionality.
Though tiny, measuring merely 4.7 inches by 4.7 inches, the Via EPIA N700 still manages to offer a variety of onboard ports including two S-ATA ports, a gigabit LAN port, a COM port, two USB 2.0 ports, and a VGA port.
Additional COM, LVDS and IDE support is also available through onboard pin-headers. As VX800 chipset offers an integrated DX9 graphics core with relatively high-quality hardware accelerated video playback, this new motherboard seems a very good solution for ultracompact, low-heat, power-efficient computers.
The Via EPIA N700 board is compatible with Windows XP, Linux, Win CE, and XPe operating systems. It's only available for developers at the moment but will be available for purchase by mid-September. Currently, it's unclear how much the board will be.