Posted on Thursday, January 07 2010 @ 21:57 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
Zotac introduced a Intel H55 based Mini-ITX motherboard for LGA1156 processors, the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi. Full specifications can be found
at Zotac.
Support for the latest generation of Intel® Core™ i3, Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 takes the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi to performance levels previously unattainable by the mini-ITX form factor. The ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi supports Intel® QuickPath technology for lightning-fast communications to high-speed dual-channel DDR3 memory for superior bandwidth and quicker memory access that delivers the chart-topping performance enthusiasts and performance-hungry users desire.
“Since Intel® announced its latest generation of Nehalem CPUs, there’s been great demand for a mini-ITX platform for the CPUs, unfortunately the power consumption and heat output of the original Intel® Core™ i7 900 series would’ve been too high for such a small form factor,” said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International (MCO), Ltd. “With the latest generation of Intel® Core™ i3, Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 processors, greater energy efficiency and improved thermal management, the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi is able to deliver a mini-ITX platform capable of accommodating the new high-performance processors with no compromises.“
Beyond the support for the latest Intel® Core™ i3, Core™ i5 and Core™ i7 processors, the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi supports the powerful Intel® HD Graphics processor integrated in the latest generation of Intel® Core™ processors. When the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi is paired with Intel® Core™ processors with Intel® HD graphics, the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi becomes a powerful home theater PC platform with premium Blu-ray playback capabilities.
Intel® Clear Video HD technology with AVC/H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 hardware decode delivers smooth video playback of high-definition sources, including Blu-ray, while new xvYCC color and HD sharpness technology delivers crystal clear visuals with stunning precise colors. New dual video decode technology enables the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi to decode Blu-ray picture-in-picture content using the graphics processor, freeing up the CPU for other tasks.
“Intel® Core™ processors with Intel® HD graphics and the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi platform is perfect for home theater PCs no matter what type of video formats the user may watch,” Mr. Berger said. “In addition to top-notch HD video playback capabilities, Intel® Core™ processors with Intel® HD graphics and the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi features technologies that enhance standard definition content such as enhanced DVD upscaling (8x8 polyphase), advanced de-interlacing, sharpness enhancement and noise reduction.”
Premium audio output is supported by the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi, enabling users to send raw Dolby® TrueHD and DTS®-HD Master Audio audio tracks from high-definition Blu-ray movies to an audio receiver over HDMI. High-definition 7.1-channel analog audio outputs are also available on the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi for top-notch analog audio quality.
For users that demand greater graphics power and want to take advantage of NVIDIA® CUDA™ and PhysX® technology, the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi features a full-speed PCI Express x16 slot for compatibility with the latest graphics cards.
“Combining the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi with a ZOTAC GeForce® series graphics card, users can have the best performance available from the processor and graphics processor that’ll take on anything you can throw at it including the most demanding games, applications and high-definition video playback,” Mr. Berger said.
Topping off the features and capabilities of the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi are six SATA 3.0Gb/s ports, one eSATA 3.0Gb/s, digital optical S/PDIF output, plenty of USB 2.0 ports and integrated 802.11n WiFi. The integrated 802.11n WiFi features dual-stream technology for wireless network transfers at speeds up to 300Mb/s – triple that of standard 100Mb/s wired networking – for wired performance without the wires.
It’s time to play with the ZOTAC H55-ITX WiFi.
