Hmm, this was a board I was hoping would somehow have better power consumption, but obviously it has the same issues with previous zotac boards. That's too bad, because I would have gladly wanted it otherwise. Plus it's definitely pricey at $150. The non-deluxe asus mini-itx might be more interesting if it keeps the same power usage as the microatx versions. Especially since it's one of the only other mini-itx with 6 sata ports. Also hopefully it still has undervolting features.

If you want low power consumption it seems like Intel boards are the way to go.

Lawrence,

Thanks for the writeup! I'm always interested to see what Zotac has been cooking (and I'm sure I'm not alone here!)

I have a question for you, based on what I've seen in a few other places: it looks like the board might be using EFI but in the old BIOS style. Is there any way to confirm this? Your screenshots of the BIOS text make it look sharper than traditional BIOS, so I'm wondering if maybe they are using EFI but without a fancy interface.

Matt

Was the test performed with the most recent BIOS version?
On the screenshot it says 2.10.1208, but on the Zotac page there is a version 2K110228 from 26 of march 2011.
Maybe that version allows undervolting?

By the way, according to ZOTAC that is an UEFI Bios - just without graphical interface.

regards
mariachi76

I disagree with your closing paragraph, I don't think the Zotac is the most feature filled mini ITX board available currently: the ASUS P8H67-I DELUXE offers just as much functionality as the Zotac board if not more and at the same price point. As you mentioned the Zotac lacked any kind of utilities - I'm willing to betthat the ASUS board has utilities and a shiny new EFI BIOS to boot (pun not intended, heh). It has a better 4-pin power connector placement, what seems like a better VRM heatsync, and 802.11 WiFi as well. Oh, it's also got on-board bluetooth - something the Zotac feature "king" is missing.

Some people hate the use of SO-DIMMs, others love it. I personally don't mind as pricing for those modules is very nice and they tend to run at a lower voltage / produce less heat as their target application is in laptops -- this should help when on these ITX boards in tight cases.

I would really like to see a review of this board, however. I'd like to see what customization the BIOS provides as well as the power consumption characteristics of the board.

I hope you've got one lined up for us?

PS -- just checked the user manual, it has both USB2 and USB3 headers on the board.

What do you think about the Gigabyte board?

My intent wasn't to say that Zotac sucks. I just meant that it's not *the* one and only best right now. That's all.

The Gigabyte looks like a normal no-frills board. It is one of the boards mentioned in this review without VRM heatsyncs if that matters to you. It may not be a big deal with the BIOS regulates things well. Intersetingly enough it has 2 HDMI ports!

I imagine it's a fine board.

Here's a review for the other missing mITX board:
http://www.itxgamer.com/
They've got the asrock and intel boards reviewed - though not in as much detail as SPCR.

Should it matter to me?

Are there any other distinctions of note?

I don't know without having one and messing about.

Much like graphics cards (of the same chip model) being essentially the same with varying boxes depending on your manufacturer, motherboards of the same chipset should be about the same. The only difference between them will be the boxes and the extras they include. To a lesser degree there are differences between their manufacturing processes and BIOS tuning, but these really shouldn't make a big difference for a normal, non-enthusiast.

You can go and look at a review of a normal P67 based board in which they compare that board to all other P67's. You'll see that they're all essentially the same in performance but +/- 1% of eachother.

Well the asus is nice too and the bluetooth is handy. But the Zotac does have the advantage of 6 sata ports. And some people prefer full length memory. I'd say it's about even or maybe the Zotac is slightly ahead. Course the Zotac also wins for having most power consumption, the biggest issue in my book. I'm curious what the power consumption of other H67 ITX boards are.

So this board has an HDMI 1.4a connector.

Did you all test to see if it can really transfer digital audio?
- I.e. the HDCP handshake between the computer and a receiver or TV with an HDMI 1.4 plug.

Did you test it with 3D movie content?
- You all didn't even mention if the high bitrate video you all chose had smooth playback.

How was the video output quality?
- Anti-aliasing; 2:3 pull down detection, color, etc.

This board could make a great HTPC but there were no tests that relate to the quality of the A/V experience. It was a pretty disappointing article in my opinion.

Each generation of boards has to stand on its own... but there sure seems to be palpable differences in engineering philosphies between the brands. Intel boards have many deficiencies... but they always seem to top all others when comes to energy efficiency. And Zotac always seems to bring up the rear on energy efficiency. They each seem to consistently make the same design trade offs consistently favoring some attributes and consistently disregarding others.

And don't forget the Z68 boards are right around the corner... and it would seem that they will make both the h67 and p67 boards outmoded.

How "right around the corner" are they? Chipset released by Intel in ~2 months means we're not likely to actually see Z67 mITX boards on the shelves until August (as mITX always comes last).

You are right. We'll just have to see. These things always arrive later, never earlier.

Please could SPCR do a review comparing several Sandy Bridge boards using the same CPU?

It's clear that there's a significant difference in energy efficiency between boards using the same chipsets. As power draw becomes more frugal, particularly at idle power, this is becoming the point of distinction. There's plenty out there that compares between CPUs, or between Sandy Bridge and Brazos. Time for SPCR to fill the gap?

The i3-2100T would be a good place to start. Some discussions starting HERE based on xbitlabs review, which then gets a kicking HERE.

Thanks for the review

Well he's really got to do the review of all the boards with the same CPU, RAM, coolers -- everything. Different combinations of parts can lead to different "usage scenarios" leading the boards to consume power differently than they otherwise would.

It's relatively easy to account for the slightly different power consumption of, say, chipsets, and of course you would test using same set up with RAM, drives etc. And the tests always have different 'usage scenarios', i.e. they test at idle, under different loads etc.

thinking about getting this board, need the 6 sata + mpcie (another 2 sata) for my mini itx storage/main pc

Sorry for bump`ing this 3 month old post....

How long does this board takes to POST? Does its BIOS have option to hide POST screen?
I am in a CarPC project and want it to look OEM. So diabling POST is a MUST for me.... For windows 7 Loading screen i`ll customize it with a app i found.


Again sorry for the bump...

Cheers.