DailyTech - VIA Launches Powerful EPIA EN-Series Mini-ITX Motherboard with Onboard C7 Processor

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Hardware VIA Launches Powerful EPIA EN-Series Mini-ITX Motherboard with Onboard C7 Processor
Brandon Hill (Blog) - March 13, 2006 11:36 AM

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38 comment(s) - last by Clauzii.. on Mar 15 at 9:02 PM

VIA steps up its efforts in the ultra-compact sector

VIA has announced its new EPIA EN-Series Mini-ITX motherboard which features a built-in 1.5GHz VIA C7 or 1.2GHz VIA Eden processor. Both processors are built on 90 nanometer technology and do not require fans. Both also feature average power consumption of less than 1 watt.

As for the VIA EPIA EN motherboard, it features a VIA CN700 IGP chipset which supports full hardware HDTV encoding up to 1080i, 720p output, hardware MPEG-2 acceleration, VIA Vinyl Audio, support for up to 1GB of DDR2 400/533MHz memory, SATA II RAID, an LVDS connector and Gigabit LAN.

“The VIA EPIA EN mainboard presents a tremendous opportunity for our customers to take a powerful yet highly efficient all-in-one platform and create their next generation systems quickly and easily,” said Jerry Yeh, Associate Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. “Easy-to-use small form factors are driving the proliferation and diversity of the x86 platform into new and exciting markets, and our VIA EPIA mainboards continue to be an integral part of this evolution.”

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Impressive

By MrKaz on 3/13/2006 12:47:55 PM , Rating: 3

But when VIA goes the Uli/NVIDIA route, and get the north and south bridge on a single chip?

They need to put all that in the smallest space possible.

RE: Impressive

By cubby1223 on 3/13/2006 6:25:45 PM , Rating: 2

Actually, they're going the other route - combining the cpu & northbridge into one chip in their new nano-itx boards.

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RE: Impressive

By Lonyo on 3/13/2006 8:39:06 PM , Rating: 2

They have.
Length and width are basically as small as it looks they can be while retaining regular DIMM and PCI slot support.
Unless you can make smaller DIMM's and smaller PCI cards, you can't get much smaller.

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RE: Impressive

By MrKaz on 3/14/2006 11:53:47 AM , Rating: 2

Yes you are right, but even so, there is too much chip on it, the design could be simpler (cheaper) to do.

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RE: Impressive

By mindless1 on 3/14/2006 11:28:28 PM , Rating: 2

Given that they (Via) do this for a living, I'm sure they've weighted the pros and cons.

A few things you might not be considering-

- How much they can put on a single chip is a limit, this has dual video among other things.

- It can be useful to NOT overly integrate in a SFF to the point where one chip has high heat density and then can't be easily cooled passively.

- It can be higher expense to make only one chip with features the entire market doesn't want, rather than mix-n-match NB/SB functionality.

This isn't completely constrained by the PCI and memory slots though, the board could've been 1/2" shorter or had a SODIM slot. One thing it would be nice to see is more boards with integrated onboard step down conversion for power so they run from a single ~ 12V supply. THAT could also lower total system costs and make it more easily integrated in many uses.

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something is missing

By lucyfek on 3/13/2006 8:05:22 PM , Rating: 2

i used to have epia (1000m or so) and have to admit that while i had bought this as my second system, it became my first (when frequency of use counts). simply it was much more quiet than my gaming rig and my pattern of use changed in the meantime towards web browsing/reading/and tv (vivo). yet this system had always been lacking a bit of extra (neccessary) power and the biggest drawback was and is (look at the picture) single pci slot. agp (at least) or pcie would be much smarter choice. also there's no floppy connector - it may be a problem to install windows onto a sata drive. anyway, via needs to act more quickly, the better processors (to include dual-core), better chipsets (with better 3d core) and so on, had been introduced some time ago, and stayed on paper (or in news only). competition does not sleep.
still, it's fun to have something nobody else seems to have.

RE: something is missing

By nlr_2000 on 3/14/2006 12:02:47 AM , Rating: 2

Anybody heard if VIA would move the C7 to dual-core?

This review over at epia center had me thinking two of those but dual-core each = 4 cpus. :D http://www.epiacenter.com/modules.php?name=Content...

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RE: something is missing
By mindless1 on 3/14/06, Rating: 2

By mindless1 on 3/14/2006 11:36:04 PM , Rating: 2

Considering that their primary shortcoming is poor performance at even single threads, dual core would make no sense at this point in time.

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RE: something is missing
By The Cheeba on 3/14/06, Rating: 2

By The Cheeba on 3/14/2006 3:06:18 PM , Rating: 2

closing bold tag

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RE: something is missing

By Clauzii on 3/15/2006 9:01:34 PM , Rating: 2

Capital letters after punktation. It´s really hard to squint through a text with all smalls.... ;)

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Thank you, VIA

By segagenesis on 3/13/2006 12:56:24 PM , Rating: 2

They continue to impress me on the SFF market with these devices. 1.5Ghz on only 1W? Would this be comprable to a P3 1.5Ghz if such a thing existed (performance wise?)

As for the VIA EPIA EN motherboard, it features a VIA CN700 IGP chipset which supports full hardware HDTV encoding up to 1080i, 720p output

I certainly hope this means for display purposes. No need for a video card = bonus.

RE: Thank you, VIA

By scabby on 3/13/2006 6:20:26 PM , Rating: 2

In answer:
a) Typically, the VIA Eden chips have stacked up OK when it comes to multimedia, but very short when it comes to pure processing power. Good mp3 player / dvd player, really poor gaming rig. A "p3 1.5" would tear right through one of these, IMO.

b) Yeah, video card comes onboard. They are literally full computers on a board. Add ram and hard drive, and you have a nice little computer... emphasis on little. If you want a nice tiny computer, wait until the nano-ITX boards hit. They make the mac mini mobo (alliteration anyone?) look fat.

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RE: Thank you, VIA

By mindless1 on 3/14/2006 11:34:22 PM , Rating: 2

It's not that impressive, consider running only one transistor at that speed, that it'd be far far under 1W. They simply use smaller cores and targeted this market but there is no question it's not performance competitive with a P3 1.5.

It'll mean no need for a video card, but the funny thing is more and more when I hear of someone wanting HDTV, HTPC, as an afterthought they'll write something like "oh yeah, and I want it to play DOOM3 at 2,000 FPS too!", as if it wasn't the primary constraint in parts selection.

Even if it can output 1080, that doesn't necessarily mean it has the horsepower to get modern compressed formats to the northbridge at sufficient rate... partly why press releases are nice but benchmarks are a better lie/fudge/etc detector.

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hahahaha

By Westfale on 3/13/2006 3:16:09 PM , Rating: 2

"VIA Launches Powerful EPIA EN-Series Mini-ITX Motherboard"

lol via and powerful in the same sentence...

i don't quite understand why people who want media PCs don't just get a much cheaper and more powerful old AMD K7/P3 and stick a giant quiet heatsink on it. much more power, much less money, same (or even better) quiet.

RE: hahahaha

By Westfale on 3/13/2006 3:29:13 PM , Rating: 2

in the above article, it is claimed that the AVERAGE consumption is just 1W for the processor, however via's own site claims that the 1.5GHz C7 has a max consumption of 12 watts, not 1W. so how exactly do they calculate that average? by switching the chip to a lower speed a la speedstep and then letting it sit idle?

here's that link to via's C7 page:
http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/c7/

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RE: hahahaha

By masher2

(blog) on 3/13/2006 11:17:31 PM , Rating: 2

You can't compare an old K7 or P3 with these boards. They're far smaller, use much less power, much more integrated, and-- with multimedia at least, more powerful.

I have three of the fanless EPIA boards now, mounted in the walls of the house. Two of them control lighting, HVAC, and the security system, while the third acts as a server.

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finally

By cubby1223 on 3/13/2006 6:22:23 PM , Rating: 2

I've been waiting a long time for these new boards. I've got an EPIA-M as a htpc and it has all the power I need for video recording and playback. It just doesn't have hdtv support (though I only have a 480p tv right now, that's still a huge step up from s-video).

So I'm definately looking forward to these new EPIA boards. But I am dissapointed in no sata ports. Would have liked 1 pata & 2 sata ports.

Soon via is releasing the EPIA-SN boards which are very similar, but offer hdmi output with hdcp instead of component video. So you have to make the choice one or the other.

So I'm not sure what I want to upgrade to now, I want component video now for what I have, but I want hdcp support for later when the whole blu-ray / hd-dvd crap gets resolved... Somehow I don't think the MPAA is going to be nice and drop the hdcp crap.

RE: finally

By NFS4 on 3/13/2006 6:35:31 PM , Rating: 2

I see two SATA ports and two PATA ports onboard...

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RE: finally

By cubby1223 on 3/13/2006 7:32:08 PM , Rating: 2

I stand corrected.

I was looking over their product brochures on via's website a few days ago, and they made no mention of sata in the specs, just ata133/100 support. They also don't have any images you can enlarge like this one, so there was no way to see them from their website.

So this is an added bonus then. Good times.

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malthusian economics

By logeater on 3/13/2006 10:17:39 PM , Rating: 2

VIA is notorious for exploiting the end consumer for profits. Buying this product simply adds fuel to the corporate machine.

RE: malthusian economics

By Pythias on 3/13/2006 11:20:51 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
VIA is notorious for exploiting the end consumer for profits. Buying this product simply adds fuel to the corporate machine.

Unless you're posting from an abacus, you're fueling the "corporate machine". =D

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RE: malthusian economics

By mindless1 on 3/14/2006 11:37:55 PM , Rating: 2

So how many times have they *TRICKED* you into buying?

This is a very small market segment, odds are anyone buying these boards are doing so not because they're exploited but primarily due to limited cost-effective alternatives.

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too slow

By sprockkets on 3/13/2006 1:10:48 PM , Rating: 1

they took over a year to get the nano itx boards to retail, I wonder how long these will take. They said it would even beat a pentium m, but most likely not conroe.

I like those boards, and can build a small system out of it, but it is expensive. Might as well get a mac mini nowadays.

RE: too slow

By Homerboy on 3/13/2006 3:00:55 PM , Rating: 2

does Macmini do hardware encoding?

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RE: too slow

By Clauzii on 3/15/2006 8:54:32 PM , Rating: 2

Dont think so - but the faster CPU makes up for that :)

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Hmmmm...

By AnaxagorasZeres on 3/13/2006 1:21:36 PM , Rating: 2

1 watt on average is a miracle.

They make Intel's claims of focusing on performance per watt look pretty weak (To be fair, of course, Intel's chips are probably much more powerful).

RE: Hmmmm...

By Clauzii on 3/15/2006 8:55:51 PM , Rating: 2

But as You said: Performance pr. Watt - it´s neither or AMD holding the crown here I think ;)

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weird

By aggie02 on 3/13/2006 7:59:00 PM , Rating: 2

what's with the "REMOVE STICKER AFTER WASHING" sticker on the upper right corner?

RE: weird

By hyperbolicparody on 3/14/2006 3:04:26 PM , Rating: 2

Likely a sticker someone forgot to remove after washing =P

I can't think of many boards like this that are hand-soldered, and I believe that most wave-style soldering machines nowadays require some components be coated to avoid messiness, or depending upon the exact implimentation, require that excess joiner compound be removed. Or it might be a post-production step to remove any dust/chemical residues from other steps. It wouldn't suprise me for the board to get washed...from a scientific standpoint you can "wash" most electronics fine, just not with tap water (I think Radio Shack stil sells their version of "Component Cleaner" which is glorified rubbing alcohol + distilled water).

Of course, I could be way wrong. Other ideas?

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Ick, not that great...

By Fox5 on 3/14/2006 12:05:35 PM , Rating: 2

In the past, VIA's cpus have been equivalent to a Pentium 3 of about 1/3rd the speed, so these are more like a 500mhz Pentium 3. Just barely getting to the usable level of performance there.

Besides that, their power consumption isn't great, there are ultra low voltage Pentium M's that use something like 1W-3W under load and will have much higher performance. VIA's chips are fairly cheap though, and come with the equally chip motherboard. They're also very available.