ZOTAC IONITX-C-U Intel Atom 230 Mini ITX ION Platform Motherboard/CPU Combo with 90W PSU

Pros: Greta idea. Fair price. "Laptop" power supply. This is a nice product at a good price. Small enough to install the board into a fake "book" to use for HD TV watching. Very cool.

Cons: I cannot keep this board running. It will not reboot, and many times will not boot from cold start. I RMA'd this board to Zotac. I was left without any Media PC for my main living area for about 27 days. I got the "replacement" back today. It is acting exactly the same. I am not sure if they just didn't repair my board, or sent me another one that has the exact same problem. Or if the problem might be in the power supply. I have diagnosed this with RAM and HDD changes, and I can always replicate the problem with any different hardware. Guess I will have to find another brand.

Manufacturer Response:

Sorry to hear you are experiencing issues with your replacement. All RMA replacements are tested and ensured to be in proper working order before it will be release to the customer. Did you send in your power supply for the first RMA? If you believe the power supply to be the culprit, please let our support team know so we can work with you in getting you a replacement. You can reach our support team at support@zotacusa.com or via one of the following links. Thank you!

External Link(s):

Support Ticket Submission|

ZOTAC RMA Request|

ZOTAC Technical Support|

Pros: Low power, silent motherboard. Worked great as a myth frontend. Only downside is the menus are slightly slow on this guy compared to another machine with a faster proc. The HD rendering is fine due to the GPU rendering.

Cons: Only problem is the rebate apparently was a scam. Its been almost 6 months.

Pros: Great little motherboard for using as a Myth frontend. Mine is setup with a 4GB USB stick and 2 Gig of RAM (probably excessive). It runs silent of course - I just have it in open air behind my TV. Consumes about 10 watts while off, 22-24 watts when running and playing back video. With VDPAU it runs less than 10% CPU while playing back 1080i TV.

Cons: None.

Pros: Works great as a MythTV frontend..just have to make sure the video decoding is being offloaded to the graphics chip. I'm using MiniMyth in a diskless (netboot) setup. No fan noise is wonderful.

Cons: None

Pros: Small compact package, seems to work well. I even installed a mini-PCI/e B/G wireless card and laptop wireless antennas - works great!

Cons: Nothing substantial

Other Thoughts: STILL WAITING FOR REBATE AFTER 4 MONTHS!! Zotac lacks in this respect.

Pros: - Built-in PSU is more efficient than most low watt psu that come in mini-itx cases.
- Works great in linux XBMC HTPCs

Cons: - Only 3 Sata ports. If the mini-ITX boards had more sata ports, they would be even better for NAS systems. But 3~4 ports tends to be limiting on low power storage systems.

Other Thoughts: There is only 1 cpu core, but it has hyper threading so operating systems will display the 2 threads as "cores." It's similar to the P4 HT cpus from back in the day.

Pros: -Excellent motherboard, great compatibility with overclocking! at least for a board this small :p

-Runs a lot cooler than expected, I have it in an NES Case with very minimal space, only using 2 40 mm Case fans for CPU cooling, runs 32-40C without fans and 18-24C with them!

-Runs Hyperspin FE with no problems whatsoever!

-Plays back 1080P video and runs a Blu-Ray Drive with no problems!

-It's listed as 1.6 GHZ 1 core, though mine has 2 cores! and it also came with built in wireless!
don't know what happened, but that's definitly a pro for me!

Cons: Everything has to be updated, and I mean EVERYTHING! I couldn't do anything with it until I updated all the drivers.

A CPU fan would be nice, though not needed, it's always good to have them!

Other Thoughts: I currently have this little powerhouse inside an NES Case running as a MAME Machine.
Haven't had a single problem with it yet and it seems to be overperforming in my opinion :)

Case: NES Case

Motherboard: This Board Of Course :p

Memory: 1 GB of G-Skill http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231085

Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118018

Hard Drive: Western Digital Scorpio Blue 80 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136449

Also I have 2 fans for my CPU and 2 Extake fans, which are working phenomenal! So I'm definitely going to link them :)

CPU FANS: Link Depot 4010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835104004

Extake Fans: EVERCOOL FAN-EC4007M12CA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119048

Pros: - Small form factor, has everything in a small motherboard worked great with the GIGABYTE GZ-SPIM51-P0B case to setup a new HTPC for my parents, taking up the same room in the cabinet as the old tv and the directv box underneath it.

- It works for most everything that my parents use right now (netflix, itunes radio, etc)

- Hooked up to all the tvs in the house via coaxial with an rf modulator and a dsub-video output converter thingy, and split the audio three ways for the monitor, speaker system, and the tvs over coaxial without a hitch, though we need new tvs cause i have a nice 21" 1920x1080 monitor with 1024x768 resolution cause the tvs didnt accept widescreen (needed cloned desktops, not extended) , ideally everything would be setup at 1280x720 at the very least.

- Easy overclock to 2 ghz, which helps, everyone should do it.

Cons: - Can be difficult to setup properly, you really need up to date everything, including the flash beta, bios, etc.

Hulu struggles a little bit, but hopefully once nvidia and adobe release the final version of the new flash, it should work better, purchasing the dual core version probably works much better.

- had to purchase a fan for it, I was worried about heat, especially since this house gets kind of hot, and it got way hot during initial setup

Other Thoughts: - Spend the extra money and get the IONITX-A-U, all the same stuff, but dual core processor, and internal wireless (if you use it) instead of buying a usb stick (essentially pays for the difference). That would have made a decent difference in performance, and thus, was my mistake in buying this, cause even though i swore i double checked everything, i purchased this instead of the other.

- I should have installed windows 7, but only had vista on me :(

- Currently have XBMC to play music and videos, the interface i quite nice, actually. Some of my downloaded MKV h.264 anime worked without any hitches and subtitles actually played, as opposed to media center, which had issues.
- Media center is, however, used for netflix, as it works fairly well with larger text and easy controls.
- Itunes for radio, so my parents can listen to classical, alternative, and all sorts of stuff for free.
- purchased an RF wireless keyboard & mouse, works anywhere in the house for the tvs in be

Pros: Low power consumption
Small form factor
Plays any 1080p I've thrown at it in XBMC even with 10 reference frames
HDMI with sound output for highest quality sound
External Power supply included in price.

Cons: It wasn't free
Not powerful enough to use in a Windows environment IMO
Wish it also had component output

Other Thoughts: Running with 2 gigs of RAM and no hard drive. Booting XBMC Live 9.11 off a 4 gig USB stick and streaming all media over Gigabit Ethernet. One reviewer said he couldn't play the video he took time to "aquire" AKA steal. It plays EVERY file I have...though none of it was downloaded.

Pros: Perfect size for mounting behind a television. External power supply has long enough cord to be hidden away. Low power consumption.

Cons: N/A

Other Thoughts: I used an old gateway case, drilled holes through it, and mounted it to the back of my TV with the VESA mounts. I'm using it for a MythTV frontend and with the VDPAU library it plays 1080i with no problems.