J&W 780G mini-ITX has niche HTPC features

Author: Richard Swinburne
Published: 6th June 2008
Comments (12) Stumble
J&W 780G mini-ITX has niche HTPC features

The J&W 780G-SP128M mobo.

J&W may not be the first motherboard manufacturer that comes to mind, but it has managed to scoop out a niche 780G mini-ITX board with its iPartner "Control Centre" that sits outside the case.

The iPartner features a power and reset button, as well as an eight digital LCD readout and Bluetooth built in - this allows you to connect a wireless keyboard or mouse directly to it, which is perfect for kicking back on the sofa and controlling your HTPC remotely.

The board features DVI, HDMI and VGA, both types of S/PDIF out, eSATA, four SATA, plenty of USB, Gigabit Ethernet and all solid aluminium capacitors. Most notably though it's the only 780G we've yet seen that has a 128MB frame buffer for extra GPU performance, although there's even a PCI-Express x16 slot if you want some serious graphic horsepower.

Both the north and south bridges are passively cooled by the same heatsink, and even the CPU PWMs get some heatsinking too - none of it was hot to touch as it played back a HD movie.

The only downside of this board was the fact you have to use SO-DIMMs, however it would be physically impossible to use DIMM slots and SO-DIMMs aren't that expensive, plus, you really don't even need dual channel for HTPC boards and general productivity.

There was no comment on price and availability yet though. Interested? Let us know your thoughts, in the forums.

J&W 780G mini-ITX has niche HTPC features J&W 780G mini-itx has niche HTPC features J&W 780G mini-ITX has niche HTPC features J&W 780G mini-itx has niche HTPC features

J&W 780G mini-ITX has niche HTPC features J&W 780G mini-itx has niche HTPC features J&W 780G mini-ITX has niche HTPC features J&W 780G mini-itx has niche HTPC features
Quote Cupboard 6th June 2008, 12:02
Shame the iPartner looks so ugly and has such a small screen, that could be an amazing idea.
Is there any point to having the 128MB frame buffer though? Its not like you are going to be gaming on it (that's what the x16 slot is for) and they are fine with HD movies without it.
Quote The Infamous Mr D 6th June 2008, 12:05
At last, a well-featured mini-ITX board... and a PCI-Express x16 slot to boot!
Quote Paradigm Shifter 6th June 2008, 12:14
Very nice. Very nice. Use of SO-DIMMs isn't a serious issue, and the idea of a mid/high-end graphics card in a min-ITX board...
Quote DougEdey 6th June 2008, 12:40
What's the point in making it external? Just seems like a waste of ABS
Quote TomH 6th June 2008, 13:00
That looks brilliant. I can't quite believe they've managed to fit it all in.. :)
Quote BUFF 6th June 2008, 14:29
thought that the price for the mobo was supposed to be ~$180?
Quote Goty 6th June 2008, 17:08
Looks like that might be the perfect HTPC setup right there. Good hardware video acceleration thanks to the IGP, nearly silent operation if you choose the right processor and heatsink, and the ability to make it a decent gaming system with the inclusion of the PCI-E x16 slot. Sign me up!
Quote -EVRE- 6th June 2008, 19:20
OH! I wuv it!

..... altho I think my 8800gt would look kinda funny plugged into it :b
Quote docodine 7th June 2008, 22:42
I love it. The price is going to be astronomical, based on the prices of normal mini-itx mobos...

This would be the perfect desktop companion to my EeePC. A quad-core phenom, along with a 3870 X2 (which would look ridiculous) and 4gb of RAM in a PC the size of a shoebox would be wonderful.


EDIT: Fudzilla.com (never heard of them) says it should retail for £90. This is amazing. :D
Quote tominated 7th June 2008, 23:34
can't be more expensive than my pico-itx board... looks good if i were to make a mini-htpc
Quote malccy 9th June 2008, 10:28
Am I the only person waiting for a good m-itx with pcie?
Quote malccy 9th June 2008, 10:29
Am I the only person waiting for a good m-itx with pcie for Intel?
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