Optimized for Digital Media Playback

VIA Technologies Inc. has carved out a healthy hobbyist and living-room-appliance niche for its Mini ITX ultra-small-form-factor motherboards and cool-running, fanless-design-compatible C3 processor. Now the Taiwanese company aims to expand its presence in digital media devices such as personal video recorders with the latest Epia M10000 mainboard, featuring the new 1GHz C3 based on the “Nehemiah” core.

Optimized for digital media playback applications such as personal video recording, the M10000 platform has the same compact (17cm square) size as previous models, but takes 10 percent less power and makes 50 percent less noise thanks to a low-profile “fansink.” In addition to DDR266 memory and an available PCI slot, it offers IEEE 1394 FireWire, ATA/133, 10/100Mbps Ethernet, S-Video and RCA TV-out, and S/PDIF digital audio interfaces and up to four USB 2.0 ports.

VIA’s UniChrome CLE266 chipset offers an integrated 2D/3D graphics core with high-quality, 30-fps DVD playback, accompanied by Vinyl Six-Trac audio with 20-bit sampling, a home-theater-ready 5.1 interface, and audio driver with Sensaura positional sound technology. Unlike previous C3 processors, the 1GHz “Nehemiah” version incorporates a full-speed floating-point unit, SSE instruction compatibility, and 64K Level 2 cache with high-performance, hardware-based random-number generator for increased data protection.

Compatible with Windows XP, Me, and 2000 and a variety of Linux operating systems, the Epia M10000 is now available in volume for an estimated price of $199.

Categories: Technology