Page 3: Parts
<B>Box</B>:
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</center>
The green box doesn't stand out. If you know what you're looking for, it shouldn't be a problem anyway. The box does show that it is a MII-12000 type board.
<B>Parts</B>:
<center>
</center>
Here are the parts that were in the box. Yep, there is something missing that would have been helpful to have; the driver CD. Why it wasn't included was a minor detail to me, but for someone that is building a computer for the first time, this is a drag. I'm sure that VIA's quality controls are good enough to catch stuff like this, but it is important to mention regardless.
<B>The Board</B>:
<center>
</center>
There are a bunch of things on the new MII type board that the older boards did not have. For instance, you'll notice a PCMCIA card slot and a compact flash slot. I like compact flash, my camera and PDA use it. For all other media types, this is useless. The PCMCIA card slot is a big improvement. Since the slot is hot-swappable, you can easily add more firewire or USB ports to the board, or add wireless to it. All this without taking up the PCI slot.
<center>
</center>
The CPU fan is nice and small. It is also quiet. For HTPCs, you'll need a quiet fan. I'll be using this board as a centerpiece for a new HTPC article soon, so make sure you are here for that. You can easily tell that the board is very busy. With all the stuff crammed on this board, I'm amazed it even works. I should note that the board is made with a six layer PCB.
<center>
</center>
Above is the IDE and PCI slot area. There are a standard two IDE ports and one PCI slot. No serial ATA yet, but I'm sure it is in the works. You'll notice the single DDR socket as well. There is also a floppy connector, which, too me, is a waste of space.
<center>
</center>
Here are the CF and PCMCIA slots. They are located on the back with all the other ports.
<center>
</center>
Speaking of ports, there are a bunch of them. Since the board provides nearly everything onboard, the ports take up the entire back space of the motherboard. 5.1 sound, firewire, USB, VGA, network and more are included.
<center>
</center>The green box doesn't stand out. If you know what you're looking for, it shouldn't be a problem anyway. The box does show that it is a MII-12000 type board.
<B>Parts</B>:
<center>
</center>Here are the parts that were in the box. Yep, there is something missing that would have been helpful to have; the driver CD. Why it wasn't included was a minor detail to me, but for someone that is building a computer for the first time, this is a drag. I'm sure that VIA's quality controls are good enough to catch stuff like this, but it is important to mention regardless.
<B>The Board</B>:
<center>
</center>There are a bunch of things on the new MII type board that the older boards did not have. For instance, you'll notice a PCMCIA card slot and a compact flash slot. I like compact flash, my camera and PDA use it. For all other media types, this is useless. The PCMCIA card slot is a big improvement. Since the slot is hot-swappable, you can easily add more firewire or USB ports to the board, or add wireless to it. All this without taking up the PCI slot.
<center>
</center>The CPU fan is nice and small. It is also quiet. For HTPCs, you'll need a quiet fan. I'll be using this board as a centerpiece for a new HTPC article soon, so make sure you are here for that. You can easily tell that the board is very busy. With all the stuff crammed on this board, I'm amazed it even works. I should note that the board is made with a six layer PCB.
<center>
</center>Above is the IDE and PCI slot area. There are a standard two IDE ports and one PCI slot. No serial ATA yet, but I'm sure it is in the works. You'll notice the single DDR socket as well. There is also a floppy connector, which, too me, is a waste of space.
<center>
</center>Here are the CF and PCMCIA slots. They are located on the back with all the other ports.
<center>
</center>Speaking of ports, there are a bunch of them. Since the board provides nearly everything onboard, the ports take up the entire back space of the motherboard. 5.1 sound, firewire, USB, VGA, network and more are included.