X-bit labs

Intel Pentium M Goes Small Form-Factor Desktops.

Category: Mainboards

by Anton Shilov

[ 12/19/2003 | 08:40 AM ]

While Intel Pentium M processors have made it big in the mobile market this year, it looks like the promising chips may also have some exciting future in desktop arena. A startup recently unveiled a special Mini-ITX mainboard for Socket 479 Pentium M chips with 400MHz processor bus.

Commel – a well-known maker of extraordinary desktop mainboards for mobile microprocessors – said this week it is ready to ship its LV-671, a mainboard in form-factor promoted mainly by VIA Technologies, but intended for Intel Pentium M processors running at 1.70GHz speeds and possibly above.

The Commel LV-671 is based on Intel’s 855GM with Intel Extreme Graphics 2 and single-channel PC2700 support. The novelty also boasts with Gigabit Ethernet, 2-channel Parallel ATA-33/66/100, 6-channel audio, 6 USB 2.0 ports, PCI and mini-AGP slots for expansion. Additionally, LV-671 is also equipped with PCMCIA and CompactFalsh Interface for easily using any communication and memory card.

The new product is designed to meet the needs of gaming, entertainment, network computing and other performance embedded PC-based systems with these features. Despite of relatively low core-frequency, Intel Pentium M processor provides quite high performance and consumes considerably less power than the Pentium M processors found in the majority of desktops today. In case customers like the idea of small and fast PCs with Pentium M inside, the chip originally developed for mobile applications will find a new home inside desktop computers.

The company also offers Mini-ITX mainboards for Intel Pentium III, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Pentium 4-M as well as VIA C3 or VIA Eden for embedded applications.