Posted on Monday, September 17 2007 @ 20:38 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
VIA today announced the VIA EPIA SN, a new series of mini ITX motherboards based on the VIA CN869 IGP chipset. The firm claims this Windows Vista certified solution is the fastest ever EPIA motherboard.
Powered by the 1.8GHz VIA C7 processor, the VIA EPIA SN provides a performance boost of up to 30% over previous VIA EPIA mainboards, while a fanless 1GHz sku is ideal for Network Attached Storage and other applications requiring passive cooling. The VIA EPIA SN is also the first to provide the added flexibility of a 16-lane PCI-Express port for bandwidth-intensive graphics cards. With four Serial ATA II ports, an Ultra DMA port, a Compact Flash connector, dual-LAN ports and wireless support, the VIA EPIA SN has the storage and network versatility to suit developers of NAS, digital signage and POS units alike.
The VIA CN896 chipset has been certified by Microsoft to guarantee a reliable and trouble free installation of Windows Vista, with its VIA Chrome9 HC integrated graphics core, designed for high performance in 2D, 3D and DirectX 9 applications, bringing MPEG-2 acceleration to deliver smooth DVD playback while minimizing impact on system resources.
Capable of supporting an unprecedented 4GB of energy-efficient DDR2 667 system memory, the VIA EPIA SN takes compact computing to new levels of system performance. Digital signage and POS developers can take advantage of expansion cards supporting DVI and LVDS displays, while the option of an additional four COM ports and a native LPC bus is important to POS vendors. Multiple native RAID configurations through 4 S-ATA channels and VIA V-RAID within the VIA VT8251 south bridge, and the inclusion of a Gigabit Ethernet port as standard make the EPIA SN series a strong contender in NAS system development.
"With the VIA EPIA SN-series we have listened to our customers and delivered a number of key technology firsts to the Mini-ITX form factor," said Daniel Wu, Assistant Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "I am proud to say that VIA has again raised the bar to develop a Vista-ready mainboard that meets the ever-increasing demands of the embedded industry."
