Elitegroup (ECS)
Of interest to me on the ECS stand was their expanding range of motherboards with integrated (soldered on) CPU's. They offer a range of boards with AMD Duron CPU's onboard. Some of these now come in the mini-iTX format of 17cmx17cm. One of these is the C3VCM. It is a VIA 'EPIA' based mini-iTX motherboard with passively cooled 733MHz 'Ezra' based C3 CPU.
OK, so it's another low powered mini-iTX board. But there's two things it offers - one the 733MHz passively cooled CPU (which beats VIA's own 533MHZ passively cooled offering on their EPIA5000). And price. ECS are known for their very inexpensive motherboards. It's hoped that this item will sell for less than the VIA EPIA5000.
Previously, they have produced micro-ATX motherboards with soldered on AMD Duron CPU's. These are now going to be available in mini-iTX format.
The bigger surprise is the possibility of them adding 'underclocking' features! Thus, you can adjust the speed of the CPU to suit the amount of heat/power you want. Again, these are planned to be offered for less than the equivalent EPIA & EPIA-M motherboards, but offer much more power. (But on the other hand, more heat). This adds an interesting 'twist' to the availability of mini-iTX motherboards... On view were also their E Buddy & S Buddy SFF machines. These are really flex ATX based stuff & probably on the bigger side of SFF, but worthy enough of a mention here...
