VIA EPIA EX Mini-ITX Mainboard The multimedia Mini-ITX platform based on VIA C7 CPU and all-in-one CX700M2 chipset with an amazing variety of video outputs
We find only one possible use for the EPIA EX platform for common peoples. You may find it useful for assembling the small and relatively cheap mediacenter which can distribute multimedia content in your local network and plays MPEG2 videos from DVDs as like as MPEG4 and WMV9 samples from HDD. If you even have a wide and glorious HDTV plazma screen but do not want to invest your money into buying an HD DVD or Blu-Ray player so far, you can attach it to the system powered by EPIA EX plartform and watch videos in the conventional formats.
[dmitry.l]
Rating
PRO
CONTRA
+ wide selection of video outputs
+ modern interfaces support (FireWire, SATA II, DDR2)
- low performance
- HD Video decoding not supported
- system monitoring not supported
Estimation
Appropriateness
Data Processing
Expansibility
Noise
Power Consumption
Equipment
o
+
+
++
+
Utility
CAD/CAM
Gaming
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-
-
OS Support
Recommended Application Fields
Windows XP Pro
Kubuntu Linux (6.06 LTS)
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+
Office and Internet
Multimedia
Workstation (CAD/CAM)
Gaming
HTPC (Home Theatre PC)
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+
-
-
+
Improvement Suggestion
Improve the system performance (at least by increasing memory bandwidth) and the performance of the integrated graphics for the HD Video hardware acceleration.