VIA announces new Pico-ITX with HD and 2 Mini-PCIe

The new EPIA-P830 certainly packs more into the Pico-ITX form factor than ever before. Let's run over the checklist:

Latest VIA Nano processor - check, it has a 1.2GHz Nano E-Series
HD 1080p - check, the VIA VX900 delivers this
Expansion options - check, 2 mini-PCIe ports provides massive amounts of options
HD audio - check, including SPDIF, 6 channel and DTS capable
Advanced memory support - check, DDR3 supported
Networking - check, gigabit Ethernet, plus you've got those mini-PCIe for any other type of wireless connectivity you need
Ports - check, there's 1 channel LVDS display support, an additional 5 x USB 2.0 ports, an LPC connector, SMBus connector, PS/2 support, audio jacks, LVDS, 4 pairs of DIO and two UART ports

Anything more would be just greedy! The Press Release doesn't mention when it will be available.

VIA's dual core design angle

Semiaccurate.com has done a write up about the new VIA Nano DC platform. They give some clear information about the design route that VIA have gone for:

"Unlike most current multi-core processors, VIA has gone down a somewhat older route by sticking two CPU dies next to each other, this means that there's no shared cache and no direct data exchange between the two CPU cores and all core to core communication takes place over the system bus. It's worth remembering that this is very much set to be an Atom competitor and despite the basic dual core design, it should still be more than capable of keeping up with the Atom processors thanks to its superior out-of-order design compared to the Atom's in-order design."

Like many manufacturer-watchers, Semiaccurate.com are eagerly awaiting the VIA nano DC's availability in early 2011 ... not far off now!