Pico-ITX
Encyclopedia
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
. The processor can be a VIA C7
, a VIA Eden
V4, a VIA Nano
or any other that uses VIA's NanoBGA2 technology for speeds up to 1.5 GHz, with 128KB L1 & L2 caches. It uses DDR2
400/533 SO-DIMM
memory, with support for up to 1GB
. Video is supplied via AGP by VIA's UniChrome Pro II GPU with built-in MPEG-2
, 4
, and WMV9 decoding acceleration. The BIOS
is a 4 or 8 Mbit Award BIOS.
PX10000G. It is 10 × 7.2 cm (3.9 × 2.8 in) and 10 layers deep. The operating temperature
range is from 0°C to about 50°C. 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-out, VIA VT6106S 10/100 8P8C Ethernet
, UDMA
33/66/100/133 44-pin PATA
(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.
It has been demonstrated running Microsoft
Windows XP
and Windows Vista
. Modern versions of major Linux
distributions, including Fedora Core
6 and Ubuntu
7.10, will also run on it.
ULV
CPU.
There are two versions of this model, the PX5000G, which has an active (fan-assisted) heatsink, and the PX5000EG, which has a passive (fanless) heatsink.
The VIA PX-O daughtercard supplies access to:
The VIA VT1625M daughtercard supplies access to:
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:
The VIA PX-TC daughter card, compatible with the PX10000G only, is designed to enhance the multimedia capture and output. It supplies access to:
(Using the VIA VT6122 chipset) or a 10/100 Ethernet adaptor (VIA VT6107) as a manufacturing option, integrating the power adaptor (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:
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.
The P700-A supplies:
The P700-B supplies:
, there are also boards available based on Intel processors. Some have the CPU and the chipset
directly on the Pico-ITX board. Other boards, like the Toradex Daisy, allow the addition of Nano COM Express modules.
specification adds on to the Pico-ITX formfactor 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.
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
form factor announced by VIA Technologies
VIA Technologies
VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...
in January 2007 and demonstrated later the same year at CeBIT
CeBIT
CeBIT is the world's largest and most international computer expo. CeBIT is held each year on the world's largest fairground in Hanover, Germany, and is a barometer of the state of the art in information technology...
. The formfactor was transferred over to SFF-SIG
SFF-SIG
In the computer hardware world, the Small Form Factor Special Interest Group or SFF-SIG is an international non-profit standards body focused on the advancement of modular technologies used in embedded and small form factor computers and controllers...
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
Nano-ITX
Nano-ITX is a computer motherboard form factor first proposed by VIA Technologies at CeBIT in March 2003 , and implemented in late 2005. Nano-ITX boards measure 120 × 120 mm , and are fully integrated, very low power consumption motherboards with many uses, but targeted at smart digital...
. The processor can be a VIA C7
VIA C7
The VIA C7 is an x86 central processing unit designed by Centaur Technology and sold by VIA Technologies.- Product history :The C7 delivers a number of improvements to the older VIA C3 cores but is nearly identical to the latest VIA C3 Nehemiah core. The C7 was officially launched in May 2005,...
, a VIA Eden
VIA Eden
VIA Eden is a name of a variant of VIA's C3/C7 processors, designed to be used in embedded devices. They have smaller package sizes, lower power consumption, and somewhat lower computing performance than their C equivalents, due to reduced clock rates...
V4, a VIA Nano
VIA Nano
The VIA Nano is a 64-bit CPU for personal computers. The VIA Nano was released by VIA Technologies in 2008 after five years of development by its CPU division, Centaur Technology...
or any other that uses VIA's NanoBGA2 technology for speeds up to 1.5 GHz, with 128KB L1 & L2 caches. It uses DDR2
DDR2
DDR2 may refer to:* DDR2 SDRAM, the computer memory technology* Dance Dance Revolution 2ndMix, the video game* DDR2 , a human gene...
400/533 SO-DIMM
SO-DIMM
A SO-DIMM, or small outline dual in-line memory module, is a type of computer memory built using integrated circuits.SO-DIMMs are a smaller alternative to a DIMM, being roughly half the size of regular DIMMs...
memory, with support for up to 1GB
Gigabyte
The gigabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage. The prefix giga means 109 in the International System of Units , therefore 1 gigabyte is...
. Video is supplied via AGP by VIA's UniChrome Pro II GPU with built-in MPEG-2
MPEG-2
MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...
, 4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
, and WMV9 decoding acceleration. The BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
is a 4 or 8 Mbit Award BIOS.
EPIA PX
PX10000G
The first motherboard that was produced in this form factor is called EPIAEPIA
VIA EPIA is a series of mini-ITX, nano-ITX and pico-ITX motherboards with integrated VIA processors...
PX10000G. It is 10 × 7.2 cm (3.9 × 2.8 in) and 10 layers deep. The operating temperature
Operating temperature
An operating temperature is the temperature at which an electrical or mechanical device operates. The device will operate effectively within a specified temperature range which varies based on the device function and application context, and ranges from the minimum operating temperature to the...
range is from 0°C to about 50°C. 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 Graphics Array
Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution...
video-out, VIA VT6106S 10/100 8P8C Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
, UDMA
UDMA
For the main article about the controller, see Parallel ATAThe Ultra DMA interface was the fastest method used to transfer data between the computer and an ATA device until Serial ATA....
33/66/100/133 44-pin PATA
AT Attachment
Parallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...
(1x), and SATA
Serial ATA
Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
(1x) I/O
I/O
I/O may refer to:* Input/output, a system of communication for information processing systems* Input-output model, an economic model of flow prediction between sectors...
. DVI
Digital Visual Interface
The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors...
and LVDS video-out, USB 2.0, COM, PS/2
PS/2 connector
The PS/2 connector is a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector used for connecting some keyboards and mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it was introduced in 1987...
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.
It has been demonstrated running Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
and Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. Modern versions of major Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
distributions, including Fedora Core
Fedora (operating system)
Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
6 and Ubuntu
Ubuntu (operating system)
Ubuntu is a computer operating system based on the Debian Linux distribution and distributed as free and open source software. It is named after the Southern African philosophy of Ubuntu...
7.10, will also run on it.
PX5000
This model is similar to the PX10000G, but uses the 500 MHz VIA EdenVIA Eden
VIA Eden is a name of a variant of VIA's C3/C7 processors, designed to be used in embedded devices. They have smaller package sizes, lower power consumption, and somewhat lower computing performance than their C equivalents, due to reduced clock rates...
ULV
Ultra low voltage
Ultra-low-voltage processors are a class of microprocessor that are deliberately underclocked to use less power at the expense of performance. These processors are commonly used in subnotebooks, netbooks, ultraportables and embedded devices; where low power dissipation and long battery life are...
CPU.
There are two versions of this model, the PX5000G, which has an active (fan-assisted) heatsink, and the PX5000EG, which has a passive (fanless) heatsink.
Add-on Modules
(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 RCARCA connectorAn RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector or cinch connector, is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals...
-out for S/PDIFS/PDIFS/PDIF is a digital audio interconnect used in consumer audio equipment over relatively short distances. The signal is transmitted over either a coaxial cable with RCA connectors or a fiber optic cable with TOSLINK connectors. S/PDIF interconnects components in home theaters and other digital high...
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).
The VIA VT1625M daughtercard supplies access to:
- 1 external TV-out
- 1 video capture port.
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
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 YPbPrYPbPr' is a color space used in video electronics, in particular in reference to component video cables. is the analog version of the YCBCR color space; the two are numerically equivalent, but YPBPR is designed for use in analog systems whereas YCBCR is intended for digital video. cables are also...
port - 1 S/PDIF-out
EPIA-P700
The second motherboard series in this form factor, the P700 series improves upon the PX10000G series by offering a Gigabit EthernetGigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...
(Using the VIA VT6122 chipset) or a 10/100 Ethernet adaptor (VIA VT6107) as a manufacturing option, integrating the power adaptor (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
The P700 comes retail with the P700-A & P700-B daughter cards.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)
Intel based products
Even though the form factor was introduced by VIA TechnologiesVIA Technologies
VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, CPUs, and memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group. It is the world's largest independent manufacturer of motherboard chipsets...
, there are also boards available based on Intel processors. Some have the CPU and the chipset
Chipset
A chipset, PC chipset, or chip set refers to a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that are designed to work together. They are usually marketed as a single product.- Computers :...
directly on the Pico-ITX board. Other boards, like the Toradex Daisy, allow the addition of Nano COM Express modules.
Pico-ITXe
The Pico-ITXePico-ITXe
Pico-ITXe is a PC Pico-ITX motherboard specification created by VIA Technologies and SFF-SIG. It was announced by VIA Technologies on October 29, 2008 and released in December 2008. The Pico-ITXe specifications call for the board to be 10 × 7.2 cm , which is half the area of Nano-ITX, and 12...
specification adds on to the Pico-ITX formfactor 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
SUMIT
SUMIT is an acronym, pronounced "Sum it", which stands for Stackable Unified Module Interconnect Technology, and refers to a specification of the connector used to enable communication between expansion buses independent of motherboard form factor...
. Another notable addition is the expansion from 10 to 12 layers thickness.
External links
- Pico-ITX Form-Factor White Paper
- Pico-ITX Initiative Website
- VIA EPIA PX Motherboard Series Home Page
- "EPIA PX-Series Pico-ITX Mainboard Operating Guide" (Version 1.1, 1.12MB PDF)
- EPIA-PX User’s Manual (Version 1.11, 478KB PDF)
- "World's first pico-itx review", the VIA PX10000G (mini-itx.com)
- Level Eleven Pico-ITX case mod