Manufacturer: Asrock Price: $ N/A US Author: Steve Date: 06/21/2010

[ Mini-ITX Form Factor History ]

Introduced by chipset manufacturer VIA Technologies back in 2001, the Mini-ITX form factor measures a mere 17 x 17 cm (6.7 x 6.7 in). It was designed to promote VIA’s low power C3 processor, which they acquired from Centaur Technology. Despite its miniature size, the platform had little impact on the computer world and manufacturers never really embraced the technology. Eventually it became clear that VIA was struggling to get third-party manufacturer support for their chipsets and embedded CPUs. A reworked strategy dictated to employ an in-house motherboard division, aimed to get these products direct to market. VIA's key focus became to standardize low-cost compact computing using their own technology. The company's first attempt, known as the VT6010 Mini-ITX, and later the EPIA 800 and EPIA 5000 motherboards, failed to make any serious inroads into the market. Having spent years trying to flog off Mini-ITX solutions, VIA was trumped by Intel once all the leg work had been completed. Many years after the VIA C3 and C7 had been introduced, Intel came up with the Atom CPU, which arrived as a significant leap forward. Call it perfect timing or massive guaranteed partner support, the Atom Z series saw the light on April 2008. Code-named “Silverthorne”, it was a single core processor using a 45nm design process and an impressive thermal envelope of just 2.4w. Soon after Intel updated the Atom with the “Diamondville” architecture, better known as the Atom N series. The Atom processors became widely used, enabling the widespread use of Netbooks. Asus played a big role with their Eee PC series (originally Celeron based). With the rest of the industry playing a quick game of catch up, it wasn't long before Netbooks loaded with Atom processors flooded the market. With the introduction of the dual-core Atom 300 series, manufacturers started to look beyond the Netbook, as compact desktop computers became another potential market to tackle. For years Shuttle pushed their compact XPC computers, with some obvious disadvantages inherent to the times. However, Shuttle XPCs cost more, and even though they can be configured to be powerful smallish PCs, they also consume more power, generate more heat, and as a result make a lot more noise.

<- Previous Page Table of Contents Introduction >>> Mini-ITX Form Factor History <<< Unveiling the Asrock Core 100HT Taking apart the Core 100HT Test System Specs Benchmarks: Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks: CPU Performance Benchmarks: Synthetic Performance Benchmarks: Gaming Performance Benchmarks: HD Playback Overclocking Performance Power Consumption & Temperatures Conclusion Next Page ->

Lagga

Posted on: 06/23/2010 10:09 AM nice indepth review and what can I say? I want one

ProX	Posted on: 06/23/2010 10:41 AM Now that's cool a real Mini-ITX system. Powerful but also low powered and quiet, I like it.

JustBecause

Posted on: 06/23/2010 10:23 PM This thing is great. Do you know when it will go on sale? Thanks for the review and good work as always.

Richie

Posted on: 06/24/2010 09:41 AM I agree this thing rocks!!! I would love to see how it goes with a Core i7 CPU.

Bowser

Posted on: 07/12/2010 03:21 AM I have the original version and it is still going strong but I have to say the extra horse power is much needed!

Chootia

Posted on: 07/21/2010 10:11 PM This is awesome ... sooo compact. Still they dont want to start making these to much more expensive or you might as well buy a laptop and get the screen as well.

stevephillips79 Posts: 2 Joined: 2010-08-27

Posted on: 08/27/2010 05:57 AM hi, the asrock core 100ht nettop its now powerful but also low powered and quiet, I like it till i dont want to buy a laptop and get the screen. thanks.

ProX	Posted on: 09/02/2010 01:13 PM Who said $350 US? The review said they expect them to be at least $650 US in barebone form. They reviewed these before they came out.

ThaDraGun Posts: 2 Joined: 2010-09-01

Posted on: 09/03/2010 03:38 AM "Pricing for this incredible little computer was very reasonable, with the base unit priced at just $350 US, while the more upscale model, with features such as the MCE remote controller, WiFi 802.11n and more, cost $440 US. Finally there was also a version featuring a Blu-ray drive, costing about $500 US, which was starting to get up there." I guess they must be talking about the Asrock Ion 330 eh. I really wish the 100HT was a little cheaper. Or at least available at more stores. Soon I hope.

ThaDraGun Posts: 2 Joined: 2010-09-01

Posted on: 09/02/2010 03:56 AM $350 US? Where?? I've been looking everywhere online for this thing and I can't find that price anywhere. I've found only 2 sites that sell this and they are both $750 for barebone!! Great review by the way.