The W555 is designed to accommodate overclocking to begin with, and with that many PCI expansion slots, who knows how far you can push it. Actually, hopefully we'll all know sooner than later. It won't be available until later this year, but for now, it's time for all you performance junkies out there to start salivating. [bit-tech via Engadget]

But it's a perfect base for a custom home theater in any case. The board has a 1.2GHz U2500 VIA Nano processor with 2GB of DDR2 system memory, a VIA VX855 Media System Processor—which can decode any 1080p codec you can throw at it—and a VIA Chrome9™ HCM 3D integrated graphics core with full DirectX 9.0 support.

The best thing is that this 10 x 7.2-centimeter board fits perfectly in the aluminum VIA Amos-3001 chassis, alongside a I/O daughter board with HDMI, VGA, Gigabit LAN and two USB 2.0 ports. The whole packaged is capable of outputting DTS audio through S/PDIF, and connect to an additional four USB ports, IDE, and Serial ATA.

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]

Intel's Ion also runs HD video pretty nicely, but Via's really paying attention to media playback. Via's EPIA-P710 motherboard, a Pico-ITX, is the first to pack the VX855 Media System Processor, which allows some of that 1080p HD output despite needing only a heatsink and not a fan. Look for this combo to start popping up in higher-end netbooks soon—a wimpy Atom just isn't going to cut it anymore with this on the market. [Engadget]

Asus has yet to announce pricing and release date information, and no benchmarks have been carried out. Early adopters are going to be disappointed with the lack of available hardware capable of harnessing USB 3.0's super speeds—but they can take solace in the sweet blue color scheme of the new ports while looking down at the masses' blah gray connectors.

[Everything USB and XFastest]

[Chris Harrison via Neatorama]

The gadget plugs right into your motherboard, which means you'll have to do a bit of internal jiggery, but makes your life easier in the end. The plumber spends most of his days being active (fixing your toilets), where the gamer just sits there. Whose ass would you rather see? We thought so. Available soon for 15 Euros ($22) [Sharkoon]

Still, beats having your battery powered car's cell run dry; how are you supposed to move that trunk of junk? ...My humps, my humps, my hu—sorry. If you have $799.00 burning a hole in your wallet, may we have your cash carrier? Failing that, why not get yourself a Motorboard 2000XR and dilly-dally into the sunset, Mr. Moneybags? [Product Page via Red Ferret]

It has a 1GHz C7-S CPU with a reduced CX700 north and south-bridge chipset. It will come with 256MB or 512MB of soldered RAM, but the most important impressive thing is that Via has managed to shoehorn a CDMA processor in the package along with an on-board DC-DC converter. The Mobile ITX motherboard powers the Nanobook, which you can see in the gallery and our previous coverage. – Jesus Diaz

Via debuts tiniest motherboard yet [Windows for devices]
CNET Gallery [CNET]
Via mobo is smaller than a business card [The Inquirer]

The two pricier models have a Asus ScreenDuo, which means it supports a secondary display connected by USB that runs its own OS off of Vista's SideShow features. Presumably these boards will have Vista-ready drivers, which is nice, so you won't have to dig around for hours on the internet (not on Asus's own site, mind you) to get your audio to work. That was fun. – Jason Chen

Asus Announces Vista-Optimized Motherboards [Extremetech]

Now if they would just bring on the CableCard support (or even better, CableCard 2.0 if it's ever finished), this might make a good foundation for pretty good Vista-supporting digital video recorder. Turns out the near-future is pretty soon, with company insiders saying we'll be seeing retail availability next month, at an as-yet-undetermined price.

Universal Abit First Out the Door With HDMI Motherboard [Daily Tech]