VIA unveils Mini-ITX 2.0 platform

Today at Computex, VIA continued a string of announcements for its computer platforms with the launch of Mini-ITX 2.0, its latest standard for small form factor desktop PCs. Mini-ITX 2.0 retains the 17 x 17cm size of its predecessor, and though none of its features are particularly ground breaking they do set a new baseline that promises support for today’s increasingly media rich environment.

At the core of Mini-ITX 2.0 is a high-performance yet power efficient x86 processor – of course, VIA is hoping customers will opt for its own Nano processor. It also dictates a chipset capable of handling DirectX 9 graphics and hosting a PCI Express x16 slot for DirectX 10 support through an add-in graphics card. Other requisites include support for at least 2GB of RAM, VGA out with HDMI as an add-in option, 5.1-channel surround, two 3Gb/s SATA drives ports, a parallel ATA connector, and gigabit Ethernet.

Via reiterated the platform is capable of Blu-ray playback or even a game of Crysis when paired with a decent GPU, and they backed their claims by offering a short demonstration using a 1.8GHz Nano CPU and a GeForce 8600GT silent edition (watch the video here). This may not be a gaming beast by any stretch but it sure is impressive. VIA said it expects to see Mini-ITX 2.0 motherboards on store shelves in Q4.