Bluetooth and mini Pci-e sounds good to me.

I think the choices here are going to get interesting.

Only 18W - surely a passive heatsink is possible here?

So, this is AMD's answer to Intel Atom?

Can these be used for office usage like Excel and Word?

All we need now is decent HTPC software that the rest of the family could use and these would fly off the shelf.

miniyazz
Only 18W - surely a passive heatsink is possible here?

Some ITX cases are poorly ventilated… but in a good one such as Antec ISK with two fans fitted it should be yes.

miniyazz
Only 18W - surely a passive heatsink is possible here?

Someone must come out with a passive design soon.

Like the idea of the mini-PCIe, maybe for the new Intel Soda Creek SSD as a boot drive?

If they get the passive design then I think we have the perfect MB for an HTPC

miniyazz
Only 18W - surely a passive heatsink is possible here?

That's what I've been thinking. That tiny heat sync is a joke, a nice heat pipe based cooler with decent amount of thin fins should be all you need.

saltyzip
All we need now is decent HTPC software that the rest of the family could use and these would fly off the shelf.

Well Windows Media Center is easy to use, or there is always MediaPortal, so you can even have a bunch of these a clients and all your storage and tuners in a server in another room.

OilSheikh
So, this is AMD's answer to Intel Atom?

Can these be used for office usage like Excel and Word?

Yup, and why on earth couldn't you use it for office apps?

saltyzip
all we need now is decent htpc software that the rest of the family could use and these would fly off the shelf.

xmbc?

Jedibeeftrix
xmbc?

As long as you don't need TV :)

Funkstar
As long as you don't need TV :)

That's what iPlayer's for, surely ;)

Year of the Carputer me thinks, wonder how long it'll be before someone builds one of these into a double DIN headunit with motorized touch screen…

I don't see the point of all the SATA ports if the Hudson-M1 FCH doesn't support any RAID functions.

miniyazz
Only 18W - surely a passive heatsink is possible here?

I have a D510 motherboard with a passive heatsink. Its TDP is only 13w but when I tried running it by itself in the case it got pretty hot, I mean it was still within spec but I wasn't comfortable with it running that hot. I just suspended a quiet 120mm fan next to the heatsink to move some air over it and it barely gets warm now. My point being even with a fairly big passive heatsink you still need some air to move over it, convection alone doesn't seem to be enough. A small fan might be plenty, I don't think it would need to spin very fast to provide enough cooling so hopefully it won't be loud…

'[GSV
Trig;2027785']Year of the Carputer me thinks, wonder how long it'll be before someone builds one of these into a double DIN headunit with motorized touch screen…

On a similar theme, this caught my eye earlier: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4088/parrot-asteroid-an-android-head-unit - a car head unit that runs Android

As others have said, I think things are getting interesting. The geek in me loves it :mrgreen:

Nice idea but its a bit behind on the tech front, want something with a 7" motorised flip out job like the IVA D106, wouldnt need a hugely powerful CPU as long as it had a decoder card (crystal HD or something), few USB ports on the back or tucked away somewhere on the end of an extension..

Is there any reason why these Zacate motherboards don't have DisplayPort? Both the DVI and HDMI ports on the Gigabyte and Sapphire E-350 boards only support a maximum resolution of 1920x1200. :( I also thought Intel and AMD were trying to kill off the VGA port?

The Asus E35MI-I Deluxe looks much more interesting IMO (it has USB3 and a dual-link DVI port).

watercooled
I have a D510 motherboard with a passive heatsink. Its TDP is only 13w but when I tried running it by itself in the case it got pretty hot, I mean it was still within spec but I wasn't comfortable with it running that hot. I just suspended a quiet 120mm fan next to the heatsink to move some air over it and it barely gets warm now. My point being even with a fairly big passive heatsink you still need some air to move over it, convection alone doesn't seem to be enough. A small fan might be plenty, I don't think it would need to spin very fast to provide enough cooling so hopefully it won't be loud…

Agreed. I also have a D510 mb which runs hot, it is OK as long as the case is well ventilated and kept in a reasonable cool place. As I am using it as a server that is fine.

I am looking at Fusion for an HTPC and am thinking about having a slow running 180 mm fan over the MB cooling not just the CPU but also memory and all other hot running components (does mean HD and optical drive need to be sited under the MB). The alternative is one or two 80 mm fans blowing across the board (there is an Antec case that adopts this) but I think that would be a little nosier

Would convection alone be sufficient to cool a fanless E-350 motherboard if you put it in a case like the new Silverstone FT03?

It would depend on the heatsink really, I think a large heatpipe cooler would manage better than a basic aluminium one found on most Atom boards. Also some systems use the case as the heatsink which is great for completely passive systems.