Via motherboard handles extreme temperatures
Via Technologies has released a motherboard for computers that need to run in environments with extreme temperatures, such as deserts, mountains or locations with industrial machinery.
The fanless Epia N700-10EW Nano-ITX board, unveiled on Thursday, can operate at temperatures as low as -20°C and as high as 70°C, according to Via. The company's Epia motherboards are intended for embedded, connected systems in fields such as robotics and telematics, as well as in consumer digital entertainment systems.
"By expanding our range of Epia products to include extended temperature products, Via is addressing the broader needs of our extensive customer base," said embedded chief Daniel Wu in a statement.
In his statement, Wu promised that, while "extreme thermal competency usually comes at a premium, the Via Epia N700-10EW will help to significantly lower that barrier". However, the company has not announced pricing or availability for its new board.
Via's Epia N700-10EW measures 12x12cm. The board is based on the company's 1GHz Eden ultra-low voltage processor, which runs alongside the VX800 media system processor.
The VX800 has a DirectX9 graphics core and supports accelerated video playback for various video formats, including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, WMV9 and VC1.
The motherboard supports up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM and has entirely solid-state capacitors.
Via's board comes with two Sata connectors, along with Compact Flash, USB 2.0 and PCIe-based Gigabit LAN ports.