Coding Horror: The Impossibly Small PC: Nano-ITX

January 05, 2006

The Impossibly Small PC: Nano-ITX

VIA's Nano-ITX fits an entire PC motherboard into an impossibly small 12 by 12 centimeter format:

This board has been gestating for a while at VIA, and according to the nanoitx blog, it's evidently because of interference and heat problems presented by the extremely small form factor. But a retail board was sighted in Japan's Akiba district in late November, so it can't be too far off now.

Format	Size in cm
Nano-ITX	12 x 12
Mini-ITX	17 x 17
Micro-ATX	24.4 x 24.4
Flex-ATX	22.9 x 19.1
Standard ATX	30.5 x 24.4

If you've ever purchased a motherboard, chances are it was standard ATX size. The ITX specifications are essentially a VIA creation, but detailed information on the other form factors is available at formfactors.org

The Nano-ITX will be available in two versions: fanless 800 mhz for ~$300 and a 1 ghz version that requires a small fan for ~$350. You'd need a few more pieces to make a complete mini-PC, though:

40gb 2.5" IDE drive, $65
512mb SODIMM, $45
Slim DVD drive, $45
Nano-ITX case and power supply, ~$100 (?)

It'd be easy to build a PC smaller than a Mac Mini using a Nano-ITX board. Just don't expect a lot of power; the VIA CPUs aren't exactly barn-burners. The VIA boards are fine for basic web browsing and productivity tasks with undemanding users, but if you need more than that, you'll want a Pentium M Mini-ITX motherboard.

Posted by Jeff Atwood View blog reactions

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Comments

Afraid to loose such a little piece of hardware ? Below is the solution ! :)

<a href="http://www.chippc.com/products/thinclients/jackpc/index.asp">http://www.chippc.com/products/thinclients/jackpc/index.asp</a>;

Laurent B. on January 7, 2006 03:56 AM

I've been waiting on one of these for a long time, to replace the miniITX form factor PC I use in my carputer project

http://www.thatstrife.com/carproject/

Peter Bridger on January 9, 2006 10:42 AM

Intel may kill VIA:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41824

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Because of its sales potential, the D201GLY board may prove to be a landmark product. Dell already uses a similar board in its EC280 desktop computer. If high channel sales doesn’t jack up the price, many will flow through there as well.

The D201GLY certainly fits the bill for those looking to build new or upgrade at minimum cost. For VIA though, the chip giant has certainly put the cat among the pigeons.
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SilentPCReview thread on the board, here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41171

Jeff Atwood on August 22, 2007 02:48 PM