ZOTAC GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi

God damn it! I just got one of their ITX 7100 boards for my KPC too.... Time for an upgrade then! :D
 
Antec is coming out with three new mITX cases as well, the mITX Skeleton, ISK 400 and the 300-65. On top of that, you have the 65W C2Q quad cores Intel is releasing soon. Very good time to be building a superpowered mini machine right now.
 
King of Heroes said:
http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=299&Itemid=1

So far its looking pretty damn slick. My only concerns are whether the x16 2.0 slot is x16 electrically or not, and if the two memory slots are dual-channel or not.
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Oh, the 9300 is a dual channel chipset, no way they can really make it a single channel one (thank god) and, based on the pictures, the PCIe slot is full x16.
http://www.zotac.com/images/stories/products/Mainboards/9300-wifi/9300-itx-wifi-4.jpg
 
Man, one of these, an E0 9550, the new SG5, and a Swiftech Apogee drive kit would be a beastly little LAN machine. I think a 4850 would work in there, too. :eek:
 
http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/16200

zotac-board.jpg
 
Flyboat said:
That is expensive, for a mITX motheroard?
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actually that might be below average, considering this is a 9300 board, the matx variants go for like 120, and this is ITX.

look at the intel g45 itx board, it cost 150 dollars when it first came out and this has more features.
 
Flyboat said:
That is expensive, for a mITX motheroard?
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Have you seen the price tag on some ofthe ITX boards with a full PCIe slot? And support a desktop CPU? Easily twice as much as what Zotac is offering. This is a fantastic bargin!!.
 
i want one!!! i was looking for something like that, with Wi-fi, and pciex16. Wi fie because it would be far away from the ethernet connection, and pciex16 for ocasional gaming.
 
I kind of wish they sold it without wifi; I already have a USB N dongle that I'm using. :(
 
I'm in the midst of rebuilding my NAS/Server box, which I'd also like to have some power for when its needed. This looks like a great board, provided it has high quality Linux support. I have a Q6600 and 4gb of ram just sitting around now, so when this is released that will create the core of my mini-itx system.
 
oh man that looks so sweet.... pair this with a low power Q9300s and 4850 for awesome mini-ITX gaming build. Or pair it with the half-height 9800gt from Sparkle(?) for sizable punch in smaller form.
 
Its... beautiful.

Hell, its almost got more features than some boards twice as big as it (or however much bigger mATX is).
 
it could be like a Wii but with windows , and i guess better graphics even withouth a discrete solution.
 
Subscribed. This one is SOOOO sweet!

Now, can anyone make one of those without the extra bells and wistles so it could be cheaper and become a WICKED NAS mobo? hehehehe

Cheers.

Miguel
 
__Miguel_ said:
Subscribed. This one is SOOOO sweet!

Now, can anyone make one of those without the extra bells and wistles so it could be cheaper and become a WICKED NAS mobo? hehehehe

Cheers.

Miguel
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By "bells and whistles", you mean HD-capable graphics and Wifi? Check out Zotac's current offerings. They already have sub-$100 boards based on the 630i/7100, and even sub-$50 boards with 610i/7050.
 
mavalpha said:
By "bells and whistles", you mean HD-capable graphics and Wifi? Check out Zotac's current offerings. They already have sub-$100 boards based on the 630i/7100, and even sub-$50 boards with 610i/7050.
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Basically, there are only two things I'd like for a mini-ITX board to have for me to consider it a blast for the NAS market: low power draw and a good SATA port count/Ethernet controller combo.

I am aware of those boards. However, let me point out the 630i/7100 is uATX, not Mini-ITX (I was referring to Mini-ITX only, bigger boards are easier to find); and the 631i/7050 only has two SATA and one 10/100 Ethernet PHY, while also totally lacking STR (Suspend-to-RAM) capabilities (here). So that hardly makes it a good NAS candidate...

But yes, give me G31-like power draws (G31 is currently the Intel low power champion, with 30W idling at stock, over at Tom's Hardware, if memory serves me right), four or six SATA ports (not ICH7, please, those ports share bandwidth), mini-ITX form factor, and an underclocking/undervolting-friendly BIOS and I'm all for it. Like the GA-G31M-S2L in Mini-ITX form factor (and the new power circuitry switch from the "E" series while we're at it), with a €50~€60 price tag, and that's just GREAT!

Oh, and btw, AMD or Intel is just fine (though lowest power draw scores are still from AMD-based systems running at 1GHz with Abit 6150 boards and 4x50e CPUs; shame it's not mini-ITX...)

Cheers.

Miguel
 
King of Heroes said:
Antec is coming out with three new mITX cases as well, the mITX Skeleton, ISK 400 and the 300-65. On top of that, you have the 65W C2Q quad cores Intel is releasing soon. Very good time to be building a superpowered mini machine right now.
Click to expand...

Link? or pics?
 
http://www.portwell.com/products/detail.asp?CUSTCHAR1=PEB-7607VG2AR

This is the one I bought in December for $245. I didn't have time to build it yet but I will start on it when I get back from my tour. I am going to be putting in: Q9650, 48701GB, 4gb of ddr2 800, Seasonic sfx 350watt power supply, 1Tb hdd, and an internal or external blu-ray player. I will be building the case for it and haven't decided to go with either fiberglass or carbon fiber. Can't wait to get back so I can build it.
 
BravO))) said:
http://www.portwell.com/products/detail.asp?CUSTCHAR1=PEB-7607VG2AR

This is the one I bought in December for $245.
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Nice choice, and sweet parts. Btw, is the BIOS UC/UV-friendly?

However, that is one heck of a large price tag... :eek: About half of that should be just fine, thank you... lol (which is about the price for the 9300 ITX, the whole point of my OT was to ask for a cheaper alternative to the 9300ITX... :p)

Anyway, thank you for your input, and good luck with the tour and the build.

@King of Heroes: Nice pics. The Skeleton case always weirded me out a little, the mini-ITX also weirds me out, just a little bit less (yes, pun intended... :p). It does seem a nice case, too!

Hmm, it's interesting to see the 300 will have an embedded DC-DC converter. Those seem like A LOT of connectors for such a small case, though... won't it be too cramped with all those wires?

Cheers.

Miguel
 
CrimandEvil said:
They make them, two actually; I know, I own one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500012
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500020
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Oh, that's news to me. Never thought Zotac made more models, the site doesn't show those...

The first one is rather "heh" because of the 10/100 connection and two SATA ports. The second one is better, but I'd really like two extra SATA ports... My small, low-power, high-capacity NAS idea (4TB or more, using 4xWD10EADS or bigger, powered from a PicoPSU :D) needs more ports, and those SATA controllers are generally 5W+ parts, which sucks big time when we're talking about a 120W max Pico...

Nice findings, though. Thanks!

Cheers.

Miguel


[To Admin: sorry for the OT]
 
That Zotac ITX is nice, but why do they need the IGP when they have that 16x PCIe 2.0 slot?

Edit:
NVM. Forgot about Hybrid SLI.
 
Let me get this straight, this board as it is (without a dedicated gfx card) would be ideal for HTPC use? Whack in a couple of drives, CPU and RAM and you're good to go for HD video and Blu-Ray playback?
 
__Miguel_ said:
Nice choice, and sweet parts. Btw, is the BIOS UC/UV-friendly?
Click to expand...

I haven't got to check yet, but when I was talking to the rep before I ordered it, i asked a lot of question and one of the things he said was the the bios is unlocked and the bios I believed is one from pheonix. The board itself is rated only for 95watts or below cpu's. The reason I went with portwell is because it is a industrial grade motherboard, which means that the hardware is built to higher standards than most and should serve as a good lan box.
 
Syphon Filter said:
Let me get this straight, this board as it is (without a dedicated gfx card) would be ideal for HTPC use? Whack in a couple of drives, CPU and RAM and you're good to go for HD video and Blu-Ray playback?
Click to expand...

Yes. Granted they got the BIOS options squared away (and did some kind of decent fan control) then yeah, it'll make for a great little HTPC mobo; their 8300 mobo already is.
 
Syphon Filter said:
Let me get this straight, this board as it is (without a dedicated gfx card) would be ideal for HTPC use? Whack in a couple of drives, CPU and RAM and you're good to go for HD video and Blu-Ray playback?
Click to expand...
As CrimeandEvil just said, yes, this one alone with just a Blu-Ray drive, CPU, memory stick, HDD (or CF card, if you're in the mood for some OS hacking... :D) and PSU tucked away in a smallish case (the Blu-Ray drive makes it bigger :p) are just about what you need for FullHD playback.

You can probably go even smaller when Ion launches, though I don't really know if anything short of an Atom 330 (end even that one is a big "?") would handle high-bitrate FullHD encrypted Blu-Ray disks streams.

BravO))) said:
I haven't got to check yet, but when I was talking to the rep before I ordered it, i asked a lot of question and one of the things he said was the the bios is unlocked and the bios I believed is one from pheonix. The board itself is rated only for 95watts or below cpu's.
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That is nice, though industrial boards and "unlocked BIOS" usually don't fit in the same sentence. Let's just hope it wasn't marketing hype :p

As for the low maximum TDP, that is to be expected. mini-ITX boards usually go into very space and airflow-constrained boxes, which wouldn't be nice for big-power CPUs. Also, higher-TDP CPUs usually need cleaner (and beefier) power regulators, which adds price (more voltage regulators, extra traces, and possibly more PCB layers).

That TDP is actually a very good one, only the QX9770 should be out of the equation. The Intel G45-based mini-ITX board has a max TDP of 65W, meaning no quads are supported (unless something changes with the new low-power "S-series").

Cheers.

Miguel
 
__Miguel_ said:
The Intel G45-based mini-ITX board has a max TDP of 65W, meaning no quads are supported (unless something changes with the new low-power "S-series").
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Now, this is something I don't totally understand; if you take a look at their Q45 board it supports Quads and it looks pretty much the exact same as the G45 version. I can't see anything functinally different between them but lists Quads as supported while the other does not. :confused:
 
__Miguel_ said:
As CrimeandEvil just said, yes, this one alone with just a Blu-Ray drive, CPU, memory stick, HDD (or CF card, if you're in the mood for some OS hacking... :D) and PSU tucked away in a smallish case (the Blu-Ray drive makes it bigger :p) are just about what you need for FullHD playback.

You can probably go even smaller when Ion launches, though I don't really know if anything short of an Atom 330 (end even that one is a big "?") would handle high-bitrate FullHD encrypted Blu-Ray disks streams.
Click to expand...

Whilst this board may be fine I highly doubt that an Atom based system can decode HD videos, most people are saying that netbooks struggle with regular video playback (DivX etc) and are they not Atom powered (330 is 1,6Ghz right?).

Either way, with this board supporting C2D I guess it will be just fine. It's a very enticing proposition.
 
Syphon Filter said:
Whilst this board may be fine I highly doubt that an Atom based system can decode HD videos, most people are saying that netbooks struggle with regular video playback (DivX etc) and are they not Atom powered (330 is 1,6Ghz right?).

Either way, with this board supporting C2D I guess it will be just fine. It's a very enticing proposition.
Click to expand...

The 9400 IGP supports hardware acceleration of H264 content; the 945G that the Atom is gimped with is just barely enough to do acceptable acceleration of DVDs. That's why most Atom systems struggle with HD content.
 
Syphon Filter said:
Whilst this board may be fine I highly doubt that an Atom based system can decode HD videos, most people are saying that netbooks struggle with regular video playback (DivX etc) and are they not Atom powered (330 is 1,6Ghz right?).

Either way, with this board supporting C2D I guess it will be just fine. It's a very enticing proposition.
Click to expand...
no 230/n270 are 1.6ghz single core which is for netbooks while the 330 is 1.6ghz dual core, which should be able to handle HD content with a good igp.
 
CrimandEvil said:
The 9400 IGP supports hardware acceleration of H264 content; the 945G that the Atom is gimped with is just barely enough to do acceptable acceleration of DVDs. That's why most Atom systems struggle with HD content.
Click to expand...

vertigomhs said:
no 230/n270 are 1.6ghz single core which is for netbooks while the 330 is 1.6ghz dual core, which should be able to handle HD content with a good igp.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for shedding some light on that for me, much appreciated. I'm feeling a little unfulfilled at the moment and I was toying with the idea of knocking together an HTPC.

Another issue though is I cant find a UK (r)etailer that sells Zotac boards, plenty of people selling Zotac graphics cards but not the boards...will have to google a little harder!
 
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