New 8200 mini-itx board

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:56 am

Just noticed this $130 Zotac nvidia 8200 based mini-tix board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813500021

Feature wise it looks better than Jetway's 8200 board (fanless, two DDR2 slots, wifi). It's much cheaper, too. Good alternative to G45 (which has no working XP driver for Blu-ray HA) and 780G mini-itx boards (expensive) for an HTPC build.

The only minuses I can see when compared to the Jetway are: 1. only one NIC, and 2. 6-channel audio vs. 8-channel.

Good to see Zotac bringing mini-itx prices to affordable levels.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 1:02 pm

The only minuses I can see when compared to the Jetway are: 1. only one NIC, and 2. 6-channel audio vs. 8-channel.

Do you need a second NIC, I know a few people who have them and have never used them.

Do you have more than 6 speakers.???

There is a plus, although I know nothing about Zotac, thare are not Jetway, Jetway are down at the bottom of the pool with ECS and PC Chips.

According to the bottom of the press release for this Mobo, Zotac are part of "PC Partner".

http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=c ... 1&Itemid=1
http://www.pcpartner.com/news_detail.ph ... 321-274688

Also the mobo has all solid-caps.

Andy

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:00 am

Some people, especially those running linux, would want their 24/7 server system to act as a broadband router. So a built-in NIC is a nice feature. Although one can always get a cheap USB ethernet device for the WAN side of the connection.

For some people the support for 7.1 sound is a make-or-break feature for an HTPC build. For most people (myself included) who get their sound from HDTV via HDMI this feature means nothing.

Kanadian · Post by **Kanadian** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:39 am

While I do like the new Zotac board, I can't help but feel a bit let down by the current state of mini-itx boards. Why is it that only a few (expensive) boards have a full size PCI-E slot.

I wish the board makers would realize there really are people who want to put a better graphics card on these boards instead of using whatever onboard one is there. All you have to do is look at the comments on Newegg to see that most of the cons about any given mini board is that it doesn't have a full PCI-E slot.

Hopefully CES in January will bring out a few new board that follow the mini-itx 2.0 standard. Hopefully...

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:41 am

Kanadian wrote:All you have to do is look at the comments on Newegg to see that most of the cons about any given mini board is that it doesn't have a full PCI-E slot.

It might have something to with that simple connector needing 75W of power available to it.

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:44 am

QuietOC wrote:
Kanadian wrote:All you have to do is look at the comments on Newegg to see that most of the cons about any given mini board is that it doesn't have a full PCI-E slot.
It might have something to with that simple connector needing 75W of power available to it.

And the fact that most new GFX card are longer then a mini-ITX mainboard is probably another good reason.

Kanadian · Post by **Kanadian** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:23 pm

I wasn't suggesting to hook up a 4870x2 to a mini board. There are many mid range video cards that do not require additional power and that are shorter than 9 inches.

As a side note, the new Silverstone SG05 will have both an additional plug for video cards and be able to handle 9 inch cards.

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:12 pm

SPCR has just published an excellent review of this board:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article902-page1.html

The price is now $120 AR.

ex.treme · Post by **ex.treme** » Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:15 pm

Kanadian wrote:. Why is it that only a few (expensive) boards have a full size PCI-E slot.
I wish the board makers would realize there really are people who want to put a better graphics card on these boards instead of using whatever onboard one is there.

Absolutely right. I hope also for more mini itx mb with pci-e slot.
I wanna mobile cpu in desktop. But pci-e mb which i chosen cost over 300$.

Damn this...

We must hope and wait for better prices .

To review: to much consumption at Load 91W .
I can do it with my signature system around 70w.

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 5:16 am

ex.treme wrote:
Kanadian wrote:. Why is it that only a few (expensive) boards have a full size PCI-E slot.
I wish the board makers would realize there really are people who want to put a better graphics card on these boards instead of using whatever onboard one is there.
Absolutely right. I hope also for more mini itx mb with pci-e slot.
I wanna mobile cpu in desktop. But pci-e mb which i chosen cost over 300$.

Hey guys that's just realistic, wishful thinking. But you might get what you wished for

.

Someone from Zotac mentioned they will have an 9300 based board next month that comes with a PCI x16 slot. Link here. MSRP: $140.

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 8:04 am

Story from hothardware:

http://hothardware.com/News/ZOTAC%2DAnn ... DPlatform/

It supports HybridSLI but too bad nvida dropped support for HybridPower after their AMD 8200/8300 chipset.

Spare Tire · Post by **Spare Tire** » Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:36 pm

Well, if they say specifically that they support hybridSLI, then it must mean nvidia will support it for that board as well.

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:11 am

One would assume support for HybridSLI also means support for HybridPower. But that's not the case. While the 8200 supports HybridPower, the 9300 does not. I recall reading somewhere the 9300 could be made to support HybridPower, but as a special option available only for OEM box makers. So this feature will not be available on retail motherboards.

Link here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli_desktop.html