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Pico-ITX

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In computer design, Pico-ITX is a PC motherboard form factor announced by VIA Technologies in January 2007 and demonstrated later the same year at CeBIT. The formfactor was transferred over to SFF-SIG in 2008. The Pico-ITX form factor specifications call for the board to be 10 × 7.2 cm (3.9 × 2.8 in), which is half the area of Nano-ITX.

ITX motherboard form factor comparison

EPIA PX

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The EPIA PX10000G, Rev B.
Top view
Bottom view

PX10000G

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The first motherboard produced in this form factor is called EPIA PX10000G. It is 10 × 7.2 cm (3.9 × 2.8 in) and the printed circuit board is 10 layers deep. The operating temperature range is from 0 to about 50 °C (32 to about 122 °F). The operating humidity level (relative and non-condensing) can be from 0% to about 95%. It uses a 1 GHz VIA C7-M processor, a VIA VX700 chip set, and is RoHS compliant.

It has onboard VGA video, VIA VT6106S 10/100 8P8C Ethernet, UDMA 33/66/100/133 44-pin ATA (1x), and SATA (1x) I/O. DVI and LVDS video-out, USB 2.0, COM, PS/2 Mouse & Keyboard, and HD 5.1 channel audio (supplied by a VIA VT1708A chip) are supported through the usage of I/O pin headers and add-on modules/daughter cards.[1][2][3]

It has been demonstrated running Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista. older versions of major Linux distributions, including Fedora Core 6 and Ubuntu 7.10, will also run on it.[4] It is available as a single board, as well as part of a barebones package, the Artigo, a small form factor complete computer.

PX5000

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This model is similar to the PX10000G, but uses the 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV CPU.

There are two versions of this model, the PX5000G, which has a fan-assisted heatsink, and the PX5000EG, which has a fanless heatsink.

Add-on modules

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(Note: Either the VIA PX-O add-on module or 4 USB 2.0 I/O are supplied in retail packages.) The VIA PX-O daughtercard supplies access to:

  • 1 RCA-out for S/PDIF usage
  • 4 USB 2.0 ports
  • 1 3.5mm Mic-in, 1 3.5mm line-out, 1 3.5mm line-in
  • 1 buzzer/speaker
  • 1 CN9 connector (function TBC)
  • 1 CN10 connector (function TBC).[5]

The VIA VT1625M daughtercard supplies access to:

  • 1 external TV-out
  • 1 video capture port.[2]

The Serener PXFPIO (also labeled under VIA PX-DIO) is 109mm × 22mm in size and connects via a 120mm ribbon cable through a daughter card. This addon may require modification to the heatsink due to the size of the daughter card. It supplies access to:

  • power & reset switches
  • 3.5mm audio in/out
  • S/PDIF-in
  • power & HDD activity LEDs
  • 4 USB 2.0 ports[6][7]

The VIA PX-TC daughter card, compatible with the PX10000G only, is designed to enhance the multimedia capture and output. It supplies access to:

  • 1 S-Video port
  • 1 video-in port
  • 1 YPbPr port
  • 1 S/PDIF-out[8]

EPIA-P700

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The second motherboard series in this form factor, the P700 series improves upon the PX10000G series by offering Gigabit Ethernet (Using the VIA VT6122 chipset) or a 10/100 Ethernet adapter (VIA VT6107) as a manufacturing option, integrating the power adapter (allowing for direct +12V DC-In & enabling it to directly power SATA), and making the Ethernet & VGA ports optional via the P700-A daughter card.

Expanded functionality is offered via the following pin I/O:

  • 1 LAN
  • 1 VGA/DVI
  • 1 COM Port
  • 1 Audio pin connector for Line-out, Line-in, MIC-in
  • 1 Front panel
  • 4 USB 2.0
  • 1 PS2 mouse/keyboard
  • 1 LVDS
  • 1 LPC/SM Bus/GPIO (Unusable due to VIA not releasing a GPIO driver)

The EPIA-P700-10L has a 1 GHz VIA C7 CPU.

The EPIA-P700-05LE has a 500 MHz VIA Eden ULV CPU and has a passive heatsink.

Add-on modules

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The P700 comes retail with the P700-A & P700-B daughter cards.[9]

The P700-A supplies:

  • Gigabit Ethernet
  • 1 VGA port
  • 1 COM port
  • DVI port via I/O cable

The P700-B supplies:

  • 4 USB 2.0 ports
  • 1 Buzzer
  • 1 Line-out, 1 Line-in, 1 MIC-in (3.5 mm)[10][11]

Intel-based products

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Even though the form factor was introduced by VIA Technologies, there are also boards available based on Intel processors. Some have the CPU and the chipset directly on the Pico-ITX board.

ARM-based products

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Pico-ITX boards are also available with ARM architecture. In this field DH electronics uses the standardized DHCOM Computer On Modules with several ARM based modules.

Pico-ITXe

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Main article: Pico-ITXe

The Pico-ITXe specification adds onto the Pico-ITX form factor by taking the EPIA-P700 and upgrading the chipset to a VX800, doubling the maximum RAM to 2 GB, allowing for 667/533 SO-DIMM RAM, upgrading the GPU to VIA's Chrome9 HC3, and adding support for SUMIT. Another notable addition is the expansion from 10 to 12 layers thickness.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "VIA Pico-ITX Whitepaper" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-04-22. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  2. ^ a b VIA EPIA PX Series Homepage
  3. ^ E-ITX PX10000G Product Page
  4. ^ ""Via's incredible shrinking mobo line spawns "pico-ITX""". Archived from the original on 2012-09-09.
  5. ^ mini-itx.com Review: "VIA EPIA PX10000 Pico-ITX Review"
  6. ^ Serener PXFPIO Product Page
  7. ^ mini-itx.com VIA PX-DIO Product Section
  8. ^ PX-TC Product page
  9. ^ "Difference between A/B daughtercards."
  10. ^ VIA EPIA-P700 Series Homepage
  11. ^ ""Pico-ITX board bears twins"". Archived from the original on 2012-07-19.
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