Whether you like VIA or not, their mini ITX form factor has paved way for a variety of case modifications and allowed PC?s to be installed in places you could have never imagined before. At first VIA launched the plain jane EPIA that launched in 533 MHz and 800 MHz flavors with standard Trident Blade 3D graphics. Those found their way in various projects such as the R/C car PC and Humidor PC?s. Last summer, VIA gave us the first evolution of the EPIA in the form of the EPIA M series of mini ITX motherboards.

The EPIA M became the epitome of HTPC users who wanted a small, slim, quiet HTPC. This was because the EPIA M was able to pack DVD playback capabilities and decent 6-channel sound capabilities in a small mini ITX foot print. For those that didn?t want an HTPC, the EPIA M became very popular among the Car PC crowd due to its low heat dissipation; making it an ideal candidate for tight, cramped places that lacked constant air flow.

It?s been approximately a year since the EPIA M has launched and the EPIA has evolved into products for various markets; whether it is Kiosks, POS, file servers, and etc. Whatever your requirements are, there?s an EPIA for everything. Today we?ll be taking a look at one of VIA?s newest EPIA, the long awaited EPIA MII 12000. Since VIA was kind enough to include a Morex Cubid 2699 case, we will be taking a look at that as well.

A closer look at the MII...

The new EPIA MII-12000 shares the same blue PCB as the preceding EPIA M. The most notable difference is the new PCMCIA/CF slots, which we will talk about later.

The port layout is definitely a unique one, thanks to the new PCMCIA/CF slots. From left to right you have the standard PS2, VGA, Serial, USB 2.0, Ethernet, S-VIDEO, SPDIF/Composite, 6 channel audio, and Firewire outputs. Above the multimedia connectors are the Compact Flash and PCMCIA slots, an unusual finding on motherboards, but a welcomed addition.

The CF/PCMCIA slots are removable; as they are on their own module. On top of the CF/PCMCIA slots, the EPIA MII is still able to retain its single 32bit PCI slot.

For those that want to use a TV tuner that requires analog audio and want to retain the analog 6 channel audio outputs, the MII features an internal analog CD audio connector; perfect for ATI?s TV Wonder Pro and All in Wonder VE. Sitting above the CD audio connector are the front panel audio and second Firewire connectors. Also further right is a floppy connector, which according to Microsoft will become extinct with the launch of Longhorn?

An even closer look at the MII...

 An even closer look at the MII...

Like the EPIA M, the new MII features a single DIMM slot that supports up to 1GB of DDR266 memory. Since the C3 processor is still stuck on the 133 MHz AGTL bus, DDR266 memory is more than sufficient. Towards the edge of the board lays the two IDE connectors. This placement is ideal as it allows easier cable management since it doesn?t cover the CPU fan.

Providing the processing capabilities of the MII-12000 is a VIA C3 1.2A. As the name implies, the processor operates at 1.2 GHz with a 133 MHz front side and 9x multiplier. Compared to the older Ezra based C3 that operated at 1.35 volts, the new Nehemiah core requires 1.4 volts, which is most likely due to its enhanced FPU that operates at full clock speed instead of half. Also supported by the processor is VIA?s new Padlock SL encryption technology, which we will talk about more later on.

Much like the EPIA M, the new MII utilizes the same CLE266 north bridge. The CLE266 features VIA/S3?s Unichrome graphics that assists the processor in decoding MPEG2 streams; the most notable decoding assist feature is hardware support for motion compensation, which should free up a noticeable amount of CPU cycles. Nonetheless the graphics core can allocate up to 64 MB of ram for a frame buffer, though no amount over 32 MB is recommended as the Unichrome graphics core can?t take advantage of all the memory. There?s also support for duo-view, which is just another term for outputting to two displays at the same time.

Powering the IDE and PCI buses is the old school VT8235 south bridge. The VT235, which made its debut with the KT400, supports the usual ATA133 IDE, 6 USB ports, 6 Channel AC?97 Audio, 10/100 Ethernet, 6 PCI slots, and the usual south bridge features. Lacking from the VT8235 is support for SATA, due to the cramped nature of mini ITX cases; SATA support would have greatly improved cable management. Nonetheless, since the industry is still slowly adopting SATA, SATA ports isn?t a must have feature yet.

Cooling the 1.2 GHz C3 is an Arkua 309R-AW4B heatsink. The fan on the unit is rated for 24.5 dBa at approximately 5,000 RPM.

Bundled with the EPIA MII-12000 is the typical driver CD, IDE cable, Floppy cable, I/O plate, and case badge. Typically rounded cables are recommended but due to the cramped nature and easier flexibility of standard cables, the lack of rounded cables is actually a good thing.

BIOS

The EPIA MII-12000 uses an Award 6.0 BIOS which is relatively standard as motherboards get. While the BIOS is nothing special, there was a few things worth mentioning.

Interestingly enough, the BIOS had a sub menu to choose the TV layout. The interesting part of the sub menu was the mention of YCbCr output. It seems the feature is supported by the BIOS and hardware but there is no adaptor available for the feature yet. Before I get any E-mails about it, the ATI VGA dongle will not work, we tested it with no luck.

Like every other motherboard out there, the EPIA MII allows users to have control over the memory latency and voltage settings.

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• A closer look at the MII cont... (1 of 8)
• An even closer look at the MII... (2 of 8)
• A closer look at the Morex Cubid 2699... (3 of 8)
• All assembled, TV Out quality, noise... (4 of 8)
• A closer look at the Processor, Hardware Padlock... (5 of 8)
• Multimedia performance... (6 of 8)
• SiSoft Sandra... (7 of 8)
• Conclusion (8 of 8)