We have fallen in love with Intel’s Atom 230 processor, a tiny powerhouse delivering 1.6GHz of power on a motherboard the size of an open DVD case. It shows a lot of promise for the future of home computing: at last a media centre-capable PC in a small enough form factor that won’t look andu https://SlotsPalace.id https://dafabets.id https://1xbets.id https://Bk8bet.id https://tgcasino.id https://pokerist.id https://Cobrabet.id https://slotstemple.id https://bets365.id https://Betinasia.id sound like you’ve got an electricity substation sitting next to your TV.
But the Atom-powered board isn’t without a key problem – in that it only has support for the positively Neanderthal PCI graphics slot, as opposed to the far more modern PCI-E. It is a serious, deliberate hobbling of the platform by Intel that does affect its performance as a media centre PC: it couldn’t handle recent games, and could only run 1080p video with a firm overclocking boot up the processor’s behind.
Enter Via’s Nano processor and Epia mini-ITX board. It’s the same size as Intel’s, but the chip runs at 1.8GHz, and – crucially – includes a PCI-E slot. It puts Intel’s board to shame; but there’s a catch in that it’s not actually available yet, and Via have yet to finalize the form it’s going to come in. However, we’d never let that stop us putting the pre-production model through its paces.
Admittedly, we were slightly skeptical about Via’s latest venture: the company has a spotted history, to say the least. From severe technical problems using their previous processors with AGP graphics cards, to an almost-company-destroying patent wrangle with Intel; suffice to say Via is at the infamous end of chip companies.
Thankfully, the Nano looks set to