Gizmodo: motherboards

Via Mobile-ITX Platform is Half the Size of the Pico-ITX, Still Powerful

Rosa Golijan — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:59:00 EST

Via's Pico-ITX motherboard was small and powerful to begin with, but their new Mobile-ITX platform is about half the size and supposedly still packs a punch while keeping power consumption low.

Because of that low power consumption and tiny package, the Mobile-ITX should be great for always-on devices and even smaller gadgets. As far as whta features it brings to the table, it looks like there's support for "core CPU, chipset and memory functionality and I/O that includes the CRT, DVP and TTL display support, HD Audio, IDE, USB 2.0, as well as PCI Express, SMBus, GPIO, LPC, SDIO and PS2 signals." Wowza. Quite a lot for such a small fellow. [Hot hardware via Engadget]

ASUS Motherboard Can Be Tweaked With A Bluetooth-Enabled Phone

Rosa Golijan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:02:11 EST

Looks like ASUS' newest Maximus III Extreme motherboard brings Bluetooth control.Yes, you read that right. You'll really be able to tweak settings and parameters such as speeds and temperature using a Bluetooth-enabled phone.

Aside from the phone-control feature, this motherboard will come with support for up to 5 PCIe x8 connections, SATA 6G, and USB 3.0 technology. Unfortunately there's no release date or pricing information yet. [Asus via PC Perspective via Engadget]

This Is the First USB 3.0 Motherboard

matt buchanan — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:59:00 EDT

Intel might be dicking around on USB 3.0, but Asus ain't. The Xtreme Design P7P55D-E is apparently the very first USB 3.0 motherboard. It's an Intel P55-based mobo that uses a third-party USB 3.0 controller for a pair of ports.

It has 10 USB 2.0 orifices too. Personally, I'd just wait for a full USB 3.0 board, where every port's USB 3.0. Otherwise, you're just gonna feel cramped and then dumb, when you have to buy another board. If you must have the 3.0 now this slab supports CrossFire and SLI with a pair of PCIe x 16 slots, a pair of Gigabit ethernet ports, and eSATA. Of course, there's no price or date for this thing yet, which makes it a little less exciting, perhaps. As exciting as gimped USB 3.0 motherboards can get, anyway.

[Register]

Nvidia's Nforce Chipset Is Dead in the Water

matt buchanan — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:29:44 EDT

I used an Nvidia Nforce-based motherboard in the first computer I ever built, so I'm a little sad to see that Nvidia's freezing all development on their Nforce chipset because of licensing issues with Intel, primarily over whether or not Nvidia's license covers chipsets for Nehalem-based processors. Nvidia's not developing new chipsets for AMD's processors, either. Lame-o. [PC Mag]

What Is This?

Danny Allen — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:10:00 EDT

Doc Brown's flux capacitor? A blinged-out religious relic from the future? A Tron 2.0 prop?

Nope, though that last one was close. What you're looking at is the Illuminato X Machina, a modular motherboard prototype. Each square cell has its own storage, processor, and memory, allowing them to operating independently or as part of a networked cluster.

Instead of having an entire system crash if a component experiences a fatal error, failure of a single cell can still leave the rest of the system operational. It also has the potential to change computing by ushering in machines that draw very little power.

David Ackley, associate professor of computer science at the University of New Mexico, is one of the contributors to the project, as is Justin Huynh. You may remember them as the brains behind the peer-to-peer borrowing and lending Open Source Hardware Bank.

Hive mind mobos, open-source lending? Sounds like socialized medicine to me. (I kid). [Wired]

Asus Marine Cool Motherboard Fights Heat with Ceramic Plates

Mark Wilson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:40:00 EST

Ceramic isn't just for pottery. It's used in military armor to stop bullets and the Space Shuttle to thwart heat. Now, Asus is reintroducing the material in its sci-fi-tastic Marine Cool motherboard.

If our best guess is correct, not only is the board built on a ceramic underplate, but all of those off-white structures on the board are "micro-porous ceramic" heat sinks as well. But not only do they dissipate heat from board components while looking ever so evilthe ceramic also improves the structure integrity of the board itself.

The only catch to performance clockers may be the inclusion of SO-DIMM slotssmall form memory slots generally reserved for notebooks.

As of right now, the Marine Cool is a concept. But like their dual-screen laptop, if Asus actually brings this model to market, we'd all remember that the company is capable of creating a lot more than just netbooks. [Softpedia via Engadget]

LED Motherboard Menorah Is Hanukkah 2.0

Jack Loftus — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST

The Christmas ads are already hitting the airwaves, so it's only fair that we bring you this LED motherboard menorah way too early too. There are few surprises with this 5.5-inch tall by 9-inch wide menorah, other than the geek factor that comes alongside celebrating eight crazy nights with a motherboard and some LEDs. For $25 you too can celebrate Hanukkah 2.0. [Fred Flares via Technabob]

Motherboard Walls Add That Special Something To Your Next Remodeling Project

John Mahoney — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:30:00 EDT

These are the walls of a Human-Computer Interaction Institute lab at Carnegie Mellon, and as you can see, they provide plenty of opportunities to create such interactions on the fly when you snag your sweater on some spiky solder leads or that ZIF socket handle. Chris Harrison, a PhD student, bought old motherboards on eBay by the pound to completely adorn the lab in mo-bos. And while this is great for the computer science lab and maybe OK for the garage (maybe), don't even think about doing this in your bedroom if you ever want to have sex again. It does look pretty sweet, though.

[Chris Harrison via Neatorama]

VIA's Tiny Pico-ITX Motherboards Get Even Smaller

Sean Fallon — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:46:35 EDT

The Pico-ITX motherboards were already small, but they are getting another downgrade in size thanks to the EPIA PX5000EGa 500MHz board that can be cooled without the bulky fanwhich helps bring the form factor down to a minuscule 3.9" x 2.8." As you might have guessed, the drop in processor speed from 1GHz means that this board won't be tearing up any substantial software, but it should prove extremely popular with the embedded market.

If you were wondering what the board was capable of, you will be happy to know VIA is holding a contest where competitors must guess how long the PX5000EG can survive running Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and playing an MPEG-4 video without any cooling whatsoever. Entries are being accepted today through the 21stthe winner will receive an ARGO builder kit.
[VIA and Naked Pico Contest via TechnoVoyance via BoingBoing Gadgets]

MSI Motherboard Fan Powered Without Electricity

Sean Fallon — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 21:00:09 EST

Fans of green technology will undoubtedly be glad to hear that MSI has developed a working concept design that utilizes Stirling Engine Theory to power a motherboard fan. Instead of conventional electricity, the fan will harvest heat emanating from the processor to function.

Interestingly enough, during a recent visit to their HQ in Taiwan, MSI told TweakTown that they "would probably end up adding the world's first powerless air cooler to an Nvidia motherboard." Nvidia? No wonder MSI boards suck. [TweakTown via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Eight-Core Intel Skulltrail Motherboard Gets Official, Is the Biggest, Baddest, Gaming Motherboard Around

Adrian Covert — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 17:08:44 EST

Speaking of crazy motherboards, Intel's absolutely insane Skulltrail motherboard officially launched at the Game Developers Conference today, renamed the Intel Dual Socket Extreme Desktop Platform (blah). The Dual Extreme supports dual quad-core processors, and both ATI (Crossfire) and NVIDIA (SLI) graphics cards. In addition, the motherboard has a 400 MHz front-side bus and a hefty $649 pricetag, double the price of a high-end Core 2 Duo motherboard. A handful of PC makers are said to be offering configurations around the Dual Extreme beginning today, including Voodoo, Falcon and Digital Storm, among others. [Intel via PC World]

MSI Readying Its Own Ultra-Low Cost Laptop

Sean Fallon — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:30:10 EST

If you prefer MSI boards over brands like Asus (although I certainly do not fall into that category), you will be happy to know that MSI is planning on throwing its hat into the increasingly crowded ultra-low cost laptop ring. MSI is hard at work on the new device and they are betting on Intel's upcoming Diamondville microprocessor to give it an edge over devices like Asustek's Eee PC. According to an MSI executive, the product should be out sometime in July or Augustjust a few months after Diamondville is slated to be unveiled at the Intel Developer Forum in Shanghai. [PC World]

Asustek P5E3 Motherboard Features Embedded "Splashtop" Linux Variant

Sean Fallon — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 20:20:01 EDT

If you are not familiar with it, Splashtop is a Linux variant that provides basic functionality like wired and wireless connectivity, Firefox, Skype and simple games. What's unique about the software is that it runs entirely in RAM. That means you don't have to wait for your computer to boot in order to surf or chat on the internet. With the release of the P5E3, Asustek has become the first manufacturer to implement Splashtop in a motherboard.

What does this mean for you? It could definitely be useful if you are extremely impatient or want to save a few bucks on your energy bill, but the fact that Splashtop can't save anything locally could prove problematic. However, future upgrades to the software could add this functionalityamong other things. In the meantime, the specs on the P5E3 are worth checking out: Intel X38 chipset, DDR3 1800MHz dual-channel memory support, Dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 lanes, ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) allows users to monitor and change CPU power supply, and 802.11n WiFi support. [Asus and Information Week]

Via Epia SN Delivers Unparalleled Speed in Tiny Frame

ybaranovsky — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 22:00:55 EDT

The Via Epia SN is one of the smallest and definitely one of the fastest motherboards around, and it's guaranteed to give every gamer a triple orgasm. The first model of this type to have a 1.8GHz CPU and a 16x PCIe slot, the Epia SN also has four SATA ports, a CF card connector, dual-LAN network ports, an Ultra DMA port and WiFi.

The prize here is the Via C7 CPUwhich, when combined with a high-end video card, will make you drool in gamer-delight. The Epia SN should be available in November for businesses and hopefully to consumers shortly thereafterno word on the price yet, but I'm thinking it'll hurt. [Via via Wired]

Skype Motherboards From Asustek Lets Even Your Mom Skype

Jason Chen — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:06:28 EST

Like Skype? Asustek is about to release two motherboards that with Asus TeleSky adapters that let you plug in any old analog telephone and use that to make Skype calls. Different from the USB Skype phones we've been seeing, this lets you salvage all those old cordless telephones you've had sitting around since the nineties.

The best part, besides supporting SkypeIn, SkypeOut, conference, call waiting, speed dial, and three way calling, is that even your parents will be able to figure this one out. Maybe. Jason Chen

Asustek to launch Skype motherboards [InfoWorld via Digg]

ASUS P5N32-E Motherboard: Gaming Hydra

kthompson — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 18:05:17 EST

ASUS knows, like you do, that you can never have too many graphics cards. In a day and age where double- and quadruple-SLI graphics solutions are commonplace, ASUS saw a weakness in traditional motherboards that only house a couple of your $800 GPUs. That's why the NVIDIA-based P5N32-E comes equipped with not one or two but three 16x PCI Express slots: because more is always better. Read about more additions to the ASUS line after the jump.

How many graphics cards do you really need? With the P5N32-E, you can run two cards in SLI and use the third slot to fill up to two separate monitors on another card. Necessary? I doubt it. Cool as hell? Maybe. Justification for picking up two more sweet LCDs? Now you're speaking my language. Alternatively, you could use the third slot for a physics processor card and rock out on the two games that support the hardware.

The new ASUS board also sports a redesigned heatpipe chipset cooling system for noise reduction and an upgrade to Intel's integrated audio with the 7.1-ready SupremeFX sound card. They've also released a new on-the-fly overclocking system called AI NOS which reads system temperatures and performance load and overclocks your system automatically to achieve peak performance. No word on whether or not the NOS system requires you to be a jerk about your computer or challenge other gamers to benchmark competitions for pinks.

For $300, you can bring one home in time for the holidays. Karson Thompson

The ASUS P5N32-E Gaming Motherboard [via Electronista]

Asus All-Water-Cooled/All-Dancing Motherboard

johnb — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:52:57 EDT

Asus showed off its next-gen motherboards at Computex, including a fully-watercooled model as well as an unusual model with built-in LCD for on-the-fly diagnostics. Once the machine boots, the LCD displays the time (???). They've also changed around their ports to make room for the display and make things generally easier to unplug on the motherboard's IO riser. John Biggs

Watercooled motherboard from Asus [RegHardware]

AN8: Hotter Than A Crack Pipe

Travis Hudson — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 11:08:00 EDT

ABIT is experimenting with a pipe to diffuse the heat from it s A8N motherboard. The advantage is that this is a much quieter solution than those noisy fans, which always interfere with the sound of frag grenades exploding. The pipe leads to a heat sink located on the rear of the motherboard, where the I/O shield and ports are. One of the possible downsides is that the size of the heat sink leaves less room for expansion ports. ABIT has included three standard PCI slots, one 16x PCI Express and two 1x PCI Express slots. The shorter 1x PCI Express slots are in place to compensate for the size of the chipset. Seems like a pretty solid board and especially nice for those cooling junkies out there.

ABIT AN8 Ultra - Passively Cooled Motherboard [TrustedReviews]