Have you ever wondered if your dual-slot M-ITX chassis could be used more effectively? Wondered what the M-DTX boards that are listed on the chassis specifications sheet look like? Read on…

AMD revealed the DTX and M-DTX in 2007 to answer the call for small form factor motherboards, and to compete with Intel’s BTX and M-BTX (2005). Both disapeared quickly though, with only OEMs soldiering on. With only the limited OEM boards available, neither form factor really took a foothold in the enthusiast market.

Various manufacturers have produced a smattering of M-DTX boards for retail, with Zotac being the only notable one until now. The main issue was the fact they they almost always had Intel Atom or equivalent processors embedded. What the community wanted was upgradability, and support for the latest processors from either AMD or Intel.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) have just released this board, the H61H2-MV. Featuring the Intel H61 chipset for Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge Intel Celeron, Pentium, i3, i5 and i7, this board offers more upgrade options than you may expect. This board is aimed at corporate system builders and smaller shops selling pre-built systems, and carries a MSRP of under US$100.

Features and Specification

The board comes in a cardboard box, with ECS’s unique marketing designs on the exterior, which looks quite nice.

On the back it lists all the features:

Inside the box you will find a clearly written English Manual (with quick start guides in other languages), a rear I/O shield, a pair of red SATA 2 cables, and a DVD featuring drivers and the above bundled software.

A Closer Look

The rear I/O area of the ECS H61H2-MV features a pair of PS/2 ports for older keyboards and mice, 4x USB 2.0 ports, and a DE-15 port for VGA output from the Intel integrated graphics from the processor. It also features a RJ45 LAN port, connected to either a Realtek Gigabit controller, a Realtek 10/100 controller, or a Colay 10/100 controller. The model supplied for review has the Realtek 8105E 10/100 controller.Next to this is the 3 ports for 5.1 channel audio. While this may appear to be sparse, it’s the expandability that this board features that will more than make up for this.

This is the Pièce de résistance of this board – the expansion slots. Featuring a PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot as well as a PCI Express 2.0 (3.0 with an Ivy Bridge processor) x16 slot, this board will definitely make good use of your dual-slot M-ITX chassis. You could use a single slot, air cooled or watercooled, graphics card as well as your choice of sound, RAID, USB 3.0 or LAN card to fully customise the system to your needs.

The board features quite a bit of room around the CPU socket, spacing it further away from the RAM and expansion slots than most of the contemporary M-ITX H61 boards. This enables the use of ‘fatter’ tower coolers, or ‘beefier’ top-down, low profile coolers. This is a welcome change to the norm, and one that our community has been wanting for quite some time. The board has a 3+1+1 phase PWM power supply with all solid capacitors for the CPU, more than enough for the 95w maximum TDP supported. With little ability to overclock, this choice should offer a stable, long working life.

To add to the rear I/O options, the board features 2 USB 2.0 headers, enabling you to run 4 USB ports to wherever you desire in your chassis. As well as this there is a FP_Audio header at the bottom of the board, which lets you route the audio cable neatly behind the card using the x16 slot, making for a cleaner, tidier chassis. I do have one issue with the board layout – the clear CMOS header is in an awkward position under the x16 slot. While the chipset offers little by the way of overclocking options, be prepared to remove an expansion card if you manage to incorrectly set an option in BIOS. This is negated somewhat with the use of the PgUp key on a PS/2 keyboard to clear BIOS, but the manual is lacking in information on this aspect.

The board has a 4-pin PWM CPU fan header located at the very top of the board, with a 3 pin chassis fan header located next to it. The 24-pin and 4-pin power sockets are well placed, at, or near the edge of the board, making sure you can have a neat internal cable layout, which is a boon for airflow. The 4 SATA 2 ports are placed near the centre of the board. This could cause issues with large coolers, but coolers like the Prolimatech Samuel, orientated with the gap over the chipset, should clear this acceptably.

Final Thoughts

ECS is pioneering the new generation of M-DTX boards, and we applaud this. Small Form Factor is all about using the space available in the best way possible, and this board will enable you to do exactly this. With excellent expansion capability, this board could be what you are looking for for a highly capable HTPC, home server, or a budget gaming rig.

Pros:
-M-DTX!!!
-Lots of room around the CPU socket for larger coolers
-Colour scheme (black, grey, white) is excellent, and will make for some excellent builds
-Price (under US$100 MSRP when released)

Cons:
-The CMOS header is impossible to get to with cards installed
-The SATA ports could cause conflict
-Sparse rear I/O
-Board is more of a brown than a black, but this is to be expected at the price point

Overall though the experience with this board was pleasant, and has given me many ideas for custom rigs. In the next article, we will look at benchmarks for this motherboard. I give this board a

LOSIAS/ITXGAMER Recommended Award

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Grand Prize of approx. $33,333 USD and trip to Taiwan

As those of you who frequent out forums will no doubt have noticed, ITXGamer has been acquired by LOSIAS Technologies. I was hoping we would have the transfer complete a week ago so the announcement would coincide with ITXGamer’s second birthday (Sept. 19 for those who are counting) but a few technical hurdles required some extra time to complete the switchover.

However, the move is complete and ITXGamer is now the newest addition to the LOSIAS family. You can read the official press release here, and you can read my thoughts about it below.

I started this blog two years ago with no sense of direction. It was simply a way for me to share my passion for ITX gaming computers. Being one of the very few sites dedicated to this rapidly growing segment of gaming systems, the site took off. The community grew at a fantastic pace as ITX gaming enthusiasts flocked to the only forum where they could freely indulge in their passion.

The growth of ITXGamer and the subsequent demands that were placed on my time managing such an active community proved to be more than I had planned on, and certainly more than I could handle by myself. I knew the site had strong potential to grow into something great, but I also knew it would take more than I could offer to get it done.

Fortunately through the forums, I was able to develop a relationship with the good folks over at Losias.net. I approached them about acquiring the ITXGamer property. I felt it would be a great addition to their community of small form factor modders and enthusiasts. It would add a new dynamic to the Losias brand and add the final piece to make Losias.net the most complete resource on the internet for SFF enthusiasts.

Things went pretty quick from there.

I want to thank all of you who helped build ITXGamer into the community that it is today. Your passion and enthusiasm for these systems has spread and encouraged others to discover the advantages (and challenges) of building in this form factor.

It is my hope that all of you will embrace the move to Losias and continue to communicate, share and develop ideas that will push the design of SFF systems to a new level. The Losias team has the knowledge and expertise to continue growing this community and take it to a level far beyond what I could have managed by myself.

There are more changes coming in the near future. I’m excited to see the full integration of the ITXGamer and Losias brands. The complement each other perfectly and together will truly be something great.

I intend to continue sharing my enthusiasm for ITX gaming systems. I’ll remain as active as I can on the forums and contribute as many new articles as I can. With the operations of ITXGamer now falling to the staff at Losias, I’ll have more time to do what I love, build ITX gaming systems and share my discoveries with you.

Once again, thank you for all your support.

Steve.

When the temptation strikes me to build a new ITX rig, the first thing I look for is a case to house it. There’s new mini-ITX hardware dropping regularly these days and it’s fast becoming a viable format for many PC gamers. Sadly, finding a quality case with the features most gamers want is still a tall order. Aside from the staple PC-Q series from Lian-Li and the SG series from SilverStone, finding something different to handle a high-end ITX build with double-wide GPU’s is a challenge.

Whilst perusing various sites reading up on forthcoming Trinity APU’s, I came across a review on AnandTech for a new case model from Cool Master. They call it the Elite 120 Advanced. After reading AnandTech’s excellent review and checking out the features listed on the official Cool Master website, I think this might be the home for my new build.

There are several features on this case that I really like, one I don’t. There’s a single USB 3.0 port on the front, yet it uses the entire header on the motherboard. Why not just put two ports on the front? Seems like a bit of a waste. As for the rest of the front, the styling will be hit-or-miss. I find it subdued and functional, but there’s a lot of negativity regarding the design. To each his own.

The standout feature so far is the mount for a full-size ATX PSU. There’s an extension on the rear of the case that allows the PSU to stick out of the case slightly, freeing up room inside the case. Many other ITX models require careful sizing of the PSU and optical drive depths to ensure that they will both fit. The design of the Elite 120 Advanced should allow for wider selection of components. Cool Master claims 180mm deep PSU’s. That’s 30-40mm deeper than most other ITX cases. The mount can also be inverted, allowing the builder to position the PSU fan to pull air from inside the case or outside.

Cool Master has also left room in the Elite 120 for full-size video cards. They claim even HD7990’s and GTX690’s will fit. I’ll take their word for it. That too much horsepower for any build I’m about to do. The specs list the maximum GPU length at 13.5” (343mm).

The case measures 9.4” x 8.2” x 15.8”. It houses one 5.25” drive bay and three internal 3.5” bays. Two of those can be converted into four 2.5” bays. Along with the aforementioned single USB 3.0 port, the case offers two USB 2.0 ports and the standard microphone and audio output on the front panel.

Conveniently, the specs also list the maximum available height for the CPU cooler, 65mm. A listing that I think every mini-ITX case manufacturer should include.

Upon first glance, it appears that the Cool Master Elite 120 Advanced is a capable case for a mini-ITX gaming system. I’ll see about picking one up for a test build in the near future.

Check out the ITXGamer forums and share your thoughts on the Cool Master Elite 120 Advanced.

And also let me know if I should put Ivy Bridge or Trinity bits inside.

Zotac was one of only two manufacturers who brought the overclockable Z68 chipset to the mini-ITX platform (ASRock was the other). Their attempt, the Z68-ITX, was met with decidedly mixed results. Some boards were highly overclockable and stable. Others, not so much. Not wanting to leave ITX overclockers out in the cold when Ivy Bridge drops, Zotac has added to their promised mini-ITX line up with the addition of a Z77-based mini-ITX motherboard that was shown off at CES.

On first glance, the board appears to be built to live up to the large uppercase “SUPER OVERCLOCK” label printed on the PCB. The board features an 8-pin EPS connection to provide plenty of power to the upcoming unlocked Ivy Bridge processors. This ITX motherboard also features DriverMOSFETS that are cooled by a heatsink and with a heatpipe that connects to the Z77 heatsink to assist in cooling. The processor socket itself is powder coated, presumable to assist with cooling.

Most of the other features are similar to those found on its H77 siblings. Two DDR3 dual channel memory slots, single PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, two SATA III 6Gbps, two SATA II 3Gbps and one mSATA. Display connections are handled by HDMI and DVI. Rounding out the features list is 8-channel HD audio, Gigabit LAN, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and USB 3.0. The board is also said to feature a UEFI BIOS.

The board has yet to be officially named, but as with most Zotac motherboards, it not much of a stretch to assume that the board will be released as the Z77-ITX Wifi. Hopefully we’ll know for sure sometime soon. When we do, we add the new Zotac to the ITX Gamer Motherboard Comparison Tool so you can see how it stacks up against other mini-ITX gaming boards.

Source: TechPowerUp

I’ve had my ThermalTake Element Q Llano ITX build on the back burner for a while owing to the need to find a low profile CPU cooler that would fit under the SFX power supply. Mini-ITX cases with the PSU directly over the CPU are quite common, but as most are designed to be used with Atom and Brazos motherboards, CPU heatsink fit is usually not an issue. However, for those select few who feel the need to cram a full size gaming rig into a mini-ITX enclosure, we need a better solution.

Enter the Scythe Kozuti low profile cooler. At a mere 40mm in height, it easily fit under the SFX power supply. The trade-off for the low height is the lateral area of the cooler itself. It measures a whopping 110mm by 103mm. Huge, especially considering the motherboard is only 170mm by 170mm. The Kozuti eats up a good portion of the available real estate. It even required the removal of the heat spreaders from the inside memory module to allow room for the tips of the heat pipes that protrude from the edge of the cooler.

Instead of a full review (many good ones are already available), I thought I’d offer some tips for those of you who want to install this cooler in your mini-ITX rig. There are several things you should watch out for:

Right tools for the right job!

I can’t stress this enough. This heatsink requires some assembly and attaches directly to the motherboard with screws.  The most common complaint about this cooler is that the screws will easily strip the soft metal. A conventional screwdriver allows too much torque to be applied which can worsen the problem. If you don’t have a set of jeweller’s precision screw drivers, go and get one. I got my set of six at Wal-Mart for $0.98. They’re perfect for this job (and most other computer tasks) and the miniature design makes it almost impossible to put enough torque to over tighten and strip the screws.

Don’t force the issue!

Two of the four screws that hold the mounting brackets onto the heat sink jammed about halfway into the holes. Don’t force them. Back off half-a-turn or so and try again gently. Eventually the screw will get past the obstruction and turn securely into place. Use a gentle touch and you wont have to worry about stripping screws.

Remember, you’re going to have to dismantle your system!

Unless your case allows you access to the back side of the motherboard (not likely with ITX) you’re going to need to remove your motherboard to install the Kozuti. You can’t just pop it in place of your old cooler. You need to actually remove the clips on the motherboard that hold a standard cooler in place and the Kozuti will attach with screws through the open holes. Its more complicated than just clipping it in, but it does offer a very secure mount once installed.

Don’t forget the rubber washers!

Assemble these first. Scythe has included two sets of four rubber washers that need to be placed onto the main mounting screws before you attach the heatsink. Save yourself a bit of hassle and get these four screws ready to go. Chances are your going to need one hand to hold the heatsink in place and another to operate the screw driver. You won’t have a free hand to put the washer on the screw should you forget to do it first.

There you have it folks. A few handy tips to help you get your new Scythe Kozuti installed with a minimum of frustration.

If you have any other thoughts or questions about this cooler or any other mini-ITX suitable coolers, head on over to the ITX Gamer forums to share your comments with our community.

Once again Zotac is showing the love for the mini-ITX format. Their recent display at this years’ CES included not just one, but two, H77-based mini-ITX motherboards. These socket LGA1155 boards are based on the upcoming “Panther Point” chipset from Intel and will pave the way for the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors to find their way into our mini-ITX gaming boxes.

The two H77 ITX boards showcased do not have official model numbers as of yet (dare we guess at H77-ITX WiFi and H77-ITX Supreme?) but nonetheless, we can at least have a quick look at the features that will be offered.

Both models feature dual-channel DDR3 that support DDR3-1600 MHz modules, a PCI Express 3.0 x16 expansion slot, Gigabit LAN, 802.11b/g/n wireless, DVI, HDMI, 8-channel audio and USB 3.0.

The apparent less-expensive model (H77-ITX Wifi?) offers two SATA III 6Gbps and two SATA II 3Gbps connectors and a single mSATA port. The apparent more-expensive model adds a third SATA II 3Gbps connection as well as DisplayPort.

Source: TechPowerUp

Expected to be available this week for about $150, the Zotac A75-ITX Wifi is the second mini-ITX FM1 motherboard that we’ve previewed with built in WiFi support (the other being the ASUS F1A75-I). Clad in trademark yellow and orange, the A75-ITX is priced at the higher end of the Llano mini-ITX range, but upon first look, appears to offer the features to back up the asking price.

At first glance, it appears that the FM1 socket on this board is further away from the PCI slot than the socket on any other ITX board we’ve seen. But its proximity to the DIMM slots and the height of the motherboards heatsinks might negate any benefits the socket placement has for a larger cooler.

Speaking of DIMM slots, the Zotac A75-ITX has two (no surprise) full-size slots with support for DDR3-1866 with a maximum capacity of 8GB (bit of a surprise). The requisite PCI Express x16 slot is present and the board has four SATA III 6Gpbs drive connectors. As customary with Zotac, 802.11n WiFi is included as is Bluetooth 3.0.

The A75-ITX had plenty of connections for devices and periperhials with a total of 8 USB 3.0 ports (6 on the rear panel and an internal pin header for 2 more) and only 2 USB 2.0 ports via header. This marks the first occasion of a mini-ITX motherboard that has dropped USB 2.0 ports from the rear panel. It makes sense given the backwards comparability of USB.

The rear panel is also home to DVI and HDMI connections (VGA via included adapter), dual Gigabit LAN, optical SPDIF and six analog outputs. It appears that eSATA is not offered on this motherboard.

Zotac has packed a lot of features into the A75-ITX Wifi. The eight USB 3.0 ports and the dual LAN are standout features that are sure to make this board very popular.

Compare the rest of the boards features to the Llano FM1 mini-ITX offerings from ASRock, ASUS and Gigabyte on the ITXGamer Motherboard Comparison Tool page.

Source: Zotac

With a model from ASRock already on the table and a preview from ASUS circulating, it was only a matter of time before Gigabyte dropped hints about their upcoming mini-ITX socket FM1 mini-ITX Llano motherboard. Announced months ago as the GA-A75N-USB3, a few images and some specifications have begun to appear for Gigabyte newest mini-ITX gaming motherboard.

Upon first glance, the GA-A75N-USB3 offers the now familiar FM1 socket for the new AMD Llano series of APU’s beside a pair of Dual Channel DDR3 DIMM slots. The standard PCI x16 expansion slot is present, as are four SATA III 6Gbps drive connectors.

Interestingly, it appears that only a single header is present for USB 2.0 meaning once again, front USB 3.0 via internal connectors is out. So far only the ASUS F1A75-I has offered an internal USB 3.0 header. USB 3.0 is covered on the Gigabyte by four ports on the rear panel, along with a pair of USB 2.0.

The rear panel is also home to DVI and HDMI connections, Gigabit LAN, analog and digital audio outputs and an eSATA port.

I have added the Gigabyte GA-A75N-USB3 to the ITXGamer Motherboard Comparison Tool. Head on over and see how it compares to the ASRock A75M-ITX and the ASUS F1A75-I.

Source: Ascii.jp

Good reviews on mini-ITX hardware are hard to come by. Not only is the format always the last on the list for the ‘big’ sites to review, but when they do get around to reviewing, the first thing they do is compare the mini-ITX offering to larger formats and find the mini-ITX model lacking in some way. It’s rare to find a review on a ‘big’ site that actually compares apples to apples.

However, there are exceptions…

TweakTowns’ Shane Baxtor has recently posted a thorough review of the ASRock Z68M-ITX/HT and it’s worth the read for anyone interested in building a high-end mini-ITX gaming system. In addition to putting the ASRock Z68M-ITX/HT through its paces, he offers up comparisons with an ASUS P8H67-I to see how each of the chipsets handles the powerful Intel i7-2600K. It’s an excellent apple to apple comparison.

Overall, both boards put up similar numbers on the benchmarks but the overclocking ability of the Z68M-ITX/HT shows its usefulness when the i7-2600K is overclocked to 4.09GHz. It easily pulls ahead of the P8H67-I while consuming less power and running only slightly warmer.

The only issue with the review is the inclusion of the benchmarks for the ASRock A75M-ITX motherboard with the A8-3850 Llano APU. This is where the apples are now being compared to the oranges.

While commendable that the review includes an offering from AMD, it’s frustrating to see the A8 constantly being compared to high-end Intel processors. Even though the Llano APU holds its own in gaming tests (except for a slight bottleneck on Metro 2033 at lower resolutions) it simply cannot compete with the i7-2600k in any other performance area.

Forums are awash with users putting down the Llano FM1 APU’s due to the fact that they cannot compete with the i5’s and i7’s that are experiencing such popularity. People are assuming that because the A8-3850 is the shiny new top-of-the-range AMD FM1 processor that it should compete with the top-of-the-range Intels. They don’t stop to think that the Llano APU’s are not meant to compete with the i5’s and i7’s. The Llano APU are mid-range chips at best, maybe even entry level, targeted more at the i3 than anything else.

After reading a 13-page review where the A8-3850 gets slammed by an Intel chip it’s easy to understand why most users believe that the A8 is not an option for their systems, even though the Intel costs more than twice as much.

Mr Baxtor, however, isn’t fooled and shows that although the AMD gets beaten handily, it’s not unexpected. Focus your attention on the final page of the review, third paragraph down:

The mITX Z68 offering we have here today is overall faster than the A75 one we looked at just the other day. The A75 one, though, shines in other areas and as silly as it sounds, for low end to mid-range systems, the A75 option is fantastic thanks to the GPU capabilities embedded into the A8-3850 APU.

He specifically states that the Llano A8-3850 is designed for low-end and mid-range systems, but after 12 pages of benchmarks showing the AMD trailing far behind, how many readers ar egoing to notice this small saving grace tucked away on the last page?

It’s not silly at all, Mr Baxtor. The A75 is exactly what it’s supposed to be and shines where it needs too.

Nonetheless, it is a great review of the Z68M-ITX/HT and shows a solid comparison with a leading H67-based mini-ITX motherboard. Not once does it mention a comparison to any other form factor, a refreshing change from most other mini-ITX reviews.

As a counterpoint to the disparity of the A8′s performance, anyone considering a Llano mini-ITX gaming build should not be put off by its performance relative to the considerably more expensive i7-2600K. For a more appealing comparison, check out AnandTech’s CPU Benchmarks and see how the Llano FM1 A8-3850 compares low-end and mid-range processors from Intel. May I suggest the Core i3 2100 for starters?