EPIA

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EPIA

VIA EPIA (VIA
VIA Technologies

VIA Technologies is a Taiwanese manufacturer of integrated circuits, mainly motherboard chipsets, Central processing unit, and computer memory, and is part of the Formosa Plastics Group....
Embedded Platform Innovative Architecture) is a series of mini-ITX

Mini-ITX

Mini-ITX is a 17 x 17 cm low-power motherboard form factor developed by VIA Technologies. Mini-ITX is slightly smaller than microATX. Mini-ITX boards can often be passively cooled due to their low Thermal Design Power, which makes them useful for home theater systems, where fan noise can detract from the cinema experience....
, nano-ITX

Nano-ITX

Nano-ITX is a computer motherboard form factor first proposed by VIA Technologies at CeBIT in March 2003 , and implemented in late 2005. Nano-ITX boards measure 120 ? 120 mm , and are fully integrated, very low power consumption motherboards with many uses, but targeted at smart digital entertainment devices such as Digital video recorders, s...
and pico-ITX

Pico-ITX

Pico-ITX is a PC motherboard form factor announced by VIA Technologies in January 2007 and demonstrated later the same year at CeBIT. The formfactor was transferred over to SFF-SIG in 2008....
motherboard

Motherboard

A motherboard is the central printed circuit board in some complex electronic systems, such as modern personal computers. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple Inc....
s with integrated VIA processor

Processor

Processor may refer to:In computing:* Central processing unit , the part of a computer that interprets instructions, in case of a multi-core processor it refers to multiple CPU's....
s. They feature a small size and low power consumption, so are particularly popular in the embedded market.

VIA EPIA motherboards come in several flavours: Nano-ITX

Nano-ITX

VIA CoreFusion

VIA CoreFusion is a single package integration of low-powered VIA Technologies x86 processors and Northbridge with integrated graphics.The CoreFusion platform is available in three configurations, named Mark, Luke and John....
processor series, and Mini-ITX

Mini-ITX

Northbridge (computing)

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Encyclopedia

Mini-ITX

Nano-ITX

Pico-ITX

Motherboard

Processor

Nano-ITX

VIA CoreFusion

Mini-ITX

Northbridge (computing)

The northbridge, also known as a memory controller hub or an integrated memory controller in Intel systems , is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a PC motherboard, the other being the Southbridge ....
s in separate packaging. They were originally built for industrial applications but now have a wide range of applications in the consumer market such as carputer

Carputer

A Carputer, AutoPC or 'CarPC', is a general purpose computing platform installed in a vehicle. Until 2006, no Original Equipment Manufacturer or major Aftermarket supplier offered or supported carputer-class installations, limiting the installed base to the hobbyist, enthusiast and entrepreneur communities....
s, firewalls

Firewall (networking)

A firewall is an integrated collection of security measures designed to prevent unauthorized electronic access to a networked computer system....
, HTPCs, and Small File server

Server (computing)

A server is a computer program that provides services to other computer programs , in the same or other computer. The physical computer that runs a server program is also often referred to as server....
s to name a few..

Model Name Definitions

The VIA EPIA motherboards have the following designators for easier identification:

Code	Definition
A	Configured without TV-out
E	Fanless configuration
G	RoHS-compliant
L	Configured with Gigabit Gigabit Ethernet Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a Data rate units#gigabit_per_second, as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2005 standard.... LAN (where this is optional)
T	With TPM Trusted Platform Module File:TPM english.svgIn computing, Trusted Platform Module is both the name of a published specification detailing a secure cryptoprocessor that can store cryptography key that protect information, as well as the general name of implementations of that specification, often called the "TPM chip" or "TPM Security Device" ....

Criticism

Although VIA EPIA motherboards are very efficient in terms of space, they are sometimes criticized for being too expensive for the processing power that they provide. It has been commented that other manufacturers, such as PCChips and ASUS

ASUS

ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated , a Taiwanese multinational company, produces motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, PDAs, computer monitors, notebook computers, Server , computer networking devices, mobile phones, computer cases, Electronic component, and computer cooling systems....
, provide more affordable solutions based on the same technologies, namely VIA's low-power processors.

Via has failed to provide support for some features it sells EPIA boards based on. For example, although the chipsets support hardware H.264 decoding, no driver for Windows is available. In fact, only an outdated version of mplayer

MPlayer

MPlayer is a free software and open source media player . The program is available for all major operating systems, including Linux and other Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X....
on Linux

Linux

Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL license...
supports this feature.

External links

Mini-ITX Reviews, Support Forums, FAQ, etc.