Intel Halts Shipments of Sandy Bridge Chipset
Reports are abound that Intel has halted shipments of its Cougar Point chipset for the Sandy Bridge platform and will be issuing recalls of the affected chips. Apparently, Intel has discovered a design flaw in the Series 6 chipset the affects the SATA II 3Gbps controller. Intel says that temperature and voltage will cause the link to degrade over time. They are expecting a 5% failure rate over the next three years. Enthusiasts who utilize multiple SATA ports and push heavy workloads are most likely to be affected. Intel expects motherboard manufactures to have the new silicon by February and be fully recovered by …
MSI Reveals AMD Fusion E350IA-E45 Mini-ITX
MSI has released the details for their upcoming E350IA-E45 mini-ITX motherboard. The board is targeted for the HTPC builder and due to its integrated AMD Fusion APU; it’s also suitable for light gaming. MSI has also included a PCI Express x16 slot, a feature that was not included on its Sandy Bridge mini-ITX offering, but it’s limited to x4 speed. The E350IA-E45 uses the AMD ‘Brazos’ E350 Accelerated Processing Unit that combines a dual-core 1.6 GHz processor and a DirectX 11 Radeon HD 6310 GPU. Video outputs include an HDMI port and VGA connector. Memory support is provided via two …
Gigabyte to Release a P67 Mini-ITX Motherboard?
It’s no secret that Intel’s decision to hamstring the overclocking abilities of the H67 chipset has proved to be a big disappointment to enthusiasts. For most system builders, it means choosing between having on board video support with the H67 chipset or foregoing video for overclocking support with the P67-based boards. For ITX system builders, we have no choice. We are limited to boards with H67 chipsets and have no hope of serious overclocking. That is, unless Gigabyte makes true on their promise. A few readers have pointed us to a report out of CES 2011 from techreport.com that claims …
Overclocking the H67-based Mini-ITX Intel DH67CF
Overclocking is a common practice in the gaming world. With the cost of high end gear being so high, the ablility to coax as many MHz as possible out of your equipment can help gain free performance. Although the debate will continue on about whether there is any real need to overclock, many users will still try to push the limits of their hardware. Intel’s recent H67 chipset is at the heart of all the current mini-ITX motherboard options and users are already clamoring to know what overclocking capabilities this chipset has. I’m not much of an overclocker, but even I can tell, …
Lian Li PC-Q08: A Not-So-Mini Mini-ITX Chassis
A user emailed me a few days ago with a problem. He needed a case for a new build and he was having trouble finding one he like. This is not an uncommon problem. While a wide assortment of mini-ITX cases are available, very few of them are suitable for a gaming system. To be suitable for a mini-ITX gaming system, a case must have two specific features. First, it requires two expansion slots to allow the use of double-wide video cards which have become the standard. Second, the case must have the ability to utilize an ATX power supply …
Intel DH67CF: Unboxing and First Impressions
I received the first of what I hope will be many 1155 mini-ITX motherboards today in the form of an Intel DH67CF. We’ve had a lot of discussion on the site concerning this board and it’s apparently limited Sandy Bridge processor support. It seems that Intel is concerned about heat issues when using 95w processors in mini-ITX cases, so the official specs indicate support for only 65w Core i3 and i5 processors. We’ll get into heat issues and 95w processors on the next page. First, let’s have a closer look at the new DH67CF. Unboxing: I’ve always been a fan …
Official ITX Product Pages Go Live! With Misprints?
Official product pages are starting to appear for upcoming Sandy Bridge LGA1155 mini-ITX motherboards. Full specifications are up for the Intel DH67CF, Foxconn H67s, Zotac H67ITX-A-E and the ECS H67H2-I on their respective websites. As excited as we are to see official specs, we couldn’t help but notice a few misprints. Memory Mix-ups: In our preview of the Foxconn H67S, we noticed that the product page listed support for four DDR3 DIMMs when the motherboard clearly only supports two. Intel has also made the same blunder. The official specifications for the DH67CF state it too supports four memory modules. As interesting as it would be to …
ASRock E350M1 AMD Fusion Mini-ITX Motherboard
We bent the rules a couple of days ago to show you a preview of the new Gigabyte E350V-USB3 motherboard for the new AMD Fusion Brazos platform. While they’re still bent, we’re going to sneak in another preview, this time from ASRock, that they’re calling the E350M1. Although this motherboard won’t be on any enthusiasts short-list for a new mini-ITX gaming system, these new Fusion-based boards are surprisingly capable for a low power solution. The ASRock E350M1 popped up on a Vietnamese website about a month ago, complete with multiple photos and a few benchmarking results. The site claimed 3798 …