Here is one of the first socket LGA-1156 motherboards in the mini-ITX form-factor, certainly the first one based on the Intel P55 chipset. Packed in its 6.7 x 6.7 inch PCB are a 6 phase digital PWM circuit powering the CPU (socket made by LOTES), two DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory, and a decent utilization of the feature-set of the P55 PCH, which is cooled by a tiny low-profile heatsink. The PCH gives out three internal SATA 3 Gbps ports, and one powered eSATA port.

The 8-channel HD Audio also takes care of optical and co-axial SPDIF connectivity. Gigabit Ethernet, and four USB 2.0 ports make for the rest of the rear-panel. Two headers make room for four more USB 2.0 ports. The lone expansion slot is a generous PCI-Express 2.0 x16, which will accommodate any PCI-Express addon card. You will especially need it, as the P55 platform relies on discrete graphics. With its ABS II, debug LED, and rear-panel clear CMOS button, the board also tries to be as overclocker-friendly as it can afford to be, with its limited resources. Its pricing is yet to be known, though the launch isn't very far off.


Source: Clunk.org.uk