Austrian company HFX released a new version of its Micro Tower fanless chassis, with the V2. The new variant makes room for a slot-in slimline optical drive, at the expense of a slightly more compact CPU heatsink assembly, which can only effectively handle CPUs with TDP up to 35W. Measuring 80 x 260 x 290 mm, and weighing about 3 kg, the Micro Tower V2 is a mini-ITX form-factor chassis. It packs two 2.5-inch and a 3.5-inch drive bay, apart from the slimline slot-in ODD bay. Most of its body is made of metal, with acrylic side panels. The metal portions consist of protrusions, that double its function up to that of a heatsink for the CPU. Available through its online store, the Micro Tower V2 from HFX, is priced at 199 EUR.

Noctua's booth at last week's Computex Taipei not only hosted world's first public demonstration of a PC fan with integrated Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) but also gave a stage to upcoming Noctua products such as the new A-series fans, third generation NF-S12 fan and 37mm low profile CPU coolers. In addition to these upcoming products, Noctua also gave an exclusive insight on some of its current development projects for its D-, U-, C- and L-series heatsinks.

Firstly, Noctua has displayed its completely new A-series fans that feature a novel aerodynamic design measure called Flow Acceleration Channels to reduce boundary layer separation as well as Noctua's AAO (Advanced Acoustic Optimisation) frames. The new A-series fans are scheduled for launch in September/October and will come in square 140mm, round 140mm, slim 92mm plus 60 and 40mm sizes.

VIA listed the US $49 Android mini-PC (APC) system board for pre-order. The product sold out in a few hours following staggering demand. VIA announced that all pre-orders will be shipped starting early-July, and the company is working hard to make the product available through local distributors around the world, to eliminate shipping costs to the end-users. Announced the APC back in May, the APC is a neo-ITX system board that can fit into most ITX and ATX chassis, and can be powered both by external 2-pin DC input, and internal 4-pin ATX input. The board seats an ARM-based SoC, which drives Google's Android 2.3 operating system, modified for conventional PC interfaces.

Akasa unveiled the Euler fanless PC case for thin mini-ITX motherboards. Made mostly of aluminum, the Euler's body doubles up as a heatsink for the processor. Internally, the Euler has a relocatable CPU block, which conducts heat from the CPU to the chassis by heat pipes. The aluminum ridges on along the top and sides of the body dissipate heat. Apart from the thin mini-ITX motherboard, the case also has room for a 2.5-inch drive, and a slimline optical drive. Akasa will launch the Euler fanless mini-ITX case a little later this year.

The Pure Platinum Z77i isn't the only new mini-ITX motherboard from Sapphire, the company also has one based on the AMD A75 chipset, supporting upcoming "Trinity APUs from AMD, in the socket FM2 package, called the Pure Platinum A75T. There are quite a few design differences between Sapphire's new mini-ITX motherboards besides the platforms they support. The most significant being, that the Pure Platinum A75T features two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots, instead of standard 240-pin UDIMM ones.

The Pure Platinum A75T draws power from 24-pin ATX + 4-pin ATX connectors. The APU is powered by a 5-phase VRM, with a heatsink cooling the driver-MOSFETs. The APU is wired to two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory; a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot; and a mini-PCIe 2.0 x1 slot (for WLAN cards). The A75 FCH gives out four SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports. There are four USB 3.0 ports, two each on the rear-panel, and by headers. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. 6-channel HD audio and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of the connectivity. The Pure Platinum A75T could feature in the first wave of socket FM2 motherboards.

Sapphire's growing motherboard lineup as a new entry in the form of the Pure Platinum Z77i. This socket LGA1155 motherboard is based on the Intel Z77 Express chipset, and is built in the super-compact mini-ITX form-factor, making it ideal for gaming PCs that are LAN party-animals. The motherboard is designed to draw power from a 24-pin ATX, and a 4-pin CPU power connector. The LGA1155 socket is powered by a simple 4-phase VRM, which uses ferrite-core chokes and compact driver-MOSFETs. The VRM should be strong enough to handle CPUs that aren't heavily overclocked.

The LGA1155 socket on the Pure Platinum Z77i is wired to a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot, and two DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory. The Z77 PCH gives out two internal SATA 6 Gb/s, and two SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Display connectivity includes one each of DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort. There are a total of four USB 3.0 ports, two on the rear panel, two by headers. Rounding off the connectivity are 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth.

Apart from the premium A85XA-G65, and mini-ITX A85IA-E53, MSI has two other mainstream socket FM2 motherboards, the A85MA-E35, and A55M-P33 (F2).

The A85MA-E35, like its mini-ITX cousin, has a misleading name. It is actually based on the AMD A75 FCH chipset. The socket FM2 APU is powered by a simple 5-phase VRM, it is wired to just the two DDR3 DIMM slots, and a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot. Other slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and a legacy PCI. Display outputs include DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. All six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the FCH are wired out as internal ones, the board features a total of four USB 3.0 ports.

MSI's second most interesting socket FM2 motherboard is the A85IA-E53, perhaps the first socket FM2 motherboard in the mini-ITX form-factor. Although its name says otherwise, it is based on the previous-generation A75 chipset, which is no big deal, there's no room for eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the A85 FCH, anyway, and you still end up with four 6 Gb/s ports. In the limited board space, MSI was able to cram in a 5-phase VRM to power the APU, a power design consisting of 24-pin + 4-pin power inputs, two full-size DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory, a lone PCI-Express 2.0 x16 expansion card slot, display outs that include HDMI and D-Sub, 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth.

Streacom's newest duo of silent all-aluminum cases for HTPCs, the micro-ATX FC9, and the ATX FC10, inch closer to their Computex 2012 launch. Their specifications were leaked by the company's Chinese website. Both cases ensure the machines running in them stay quiet, and remain completely fanless, because their bodies double up as heatsinks for sensitive components, such as the processor. Both cases are made of brushed silver and black (sandblast finish) color options.

Measuring 348 x 289 x 100 mm (WxDxH), the Streacom FC9 supports motherboards in the micro-ATX and mini-ITX form-factors. It features one 2.5-inch drive bay, and a 3.5-inch bay, which supports 2.5-inch drives. It also has a bay for a slimline slot-loading optical drive. A CPU base makes contact with the processor (LGA775, LGA1155, LGA1156 supported), which conveys heat to a side panel via four copper heat pipes. All six panels of the case are made of thick aluminum sheets, some of which are ridged to increase surface area for heat dissipation. The case features three low-profile expansion slots.

Lian Li today announces three new brushed aluminum cases, PC-Q02, PC-Q03, and PC-Q16, designed for modern users who need a compact central storage hub to share information among all their latest generation mobile devices.

The Lian Li PC-Q02, PC-Q03, and PC-Q16 take advantage of the increasing efficiency of small form factor motherboards and progressively cheaper hard drives, and are able to hold the essential storage hardware in a small form factor. They also have high-quality features that are to be expected from Lian Li including: elegant brushed aluminum frames, easy-to-remove pop-off panels, USB 3.0 connectivity, rounded yet stable aluminum feet, as well as many tool-less features to make installations and upgrades easier. These three chassis also all have a dual LED power button which turns blue when on and glows red while reading.

J&W introduced a new fanless nettop and IPC, the M001. Driven by Intel "Cedar Trail" Atom D2550 or N2800 or N2600 processors, the M001 packs a nano-ITX system board. It has one vacant DDR3 SO-DIMM slot, supporting up to 4 GB of memory. For storage, there is one 2.5-inch SATA 3 Gb/s drive bay. Connectivity include 802.11 b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports, SD/SDHC/MS/MS Pro/MMC card reader, HDMI and VGA display outputs, and RS232 serial (COM). The ridged metal body doubles up as a heatsink. Minus the antenna and stand, the system measures just 135 x 128 x 45 mm. Pricing and availability information is awaited.

Lian Li today announces their new brushed aluminum mini-ITX HTPC case, PC-Q09FN. The more roomy PC-Q09FN improves upon its predecessors, the PC-Q09 and PC-Q09F, with more hard drive storage capacity and improved cooling.

With the upgraded dimensions of 11.65" x 5.51" x 7.48" WxHxD (296mm x 140mm x 190mm), the PC-Q09FN gives DIY computers builders the space to install the essential hardware for home theater applications. Lian Li's PC-Q09FN supports a slim optical disk drive and a 3.5" HDD that can easily be taken in and out using the included thumb screws with rubber suspensions to reduce vibrations. A removable 2.5" hard drive cage allows up to three SSDs to be installed in this mini-ITX HTPC.

Although at a much "smaller" scale, Raspberry Pi did to mini computers what iPad did to tablets (wake up a nearly dead product segment), and now a section of the market likes computers to be as small and potent as the ARM-driven Raspberry Pi. Although at a different end of the price and performance spectrum from the Raspberry Pi, Intel has reason to believe its NUC mini computer could achieve market success. NUC (Next Unit of Computing) is a mini box computer for the retail channel, which is roughly the size of a modern wireless router, but as powerful as a mainstream laptop.

The NUC owes its computing power to Intel Core i3/i5 "Sandy Bridge" dual-core processors (probably in the BGA-1023 package), with Intel HD 3000 graphics, and dual-channel DDR3 memory (SO-DIMMs). The logic board measures 100 x 100 mm, and has all the essential connectivity crammed into it, including umm...10 Gb/s Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n, and HDMI with multi-channel HD audio. This board is smaller than VIA's NANO-ITX (120 x 120 mm) form-factor. The rest of the ABS plastic enclosure's volume is spent housing the cooling assembly. Informed sources predict that while the NUC won't be priced in the hundereds or thousands of Dollars, it most certainly won't be priced at $25. A starting price of $100 seems realistic.

Giada also introduced a tiny nano-ITX system board based on Intel HM65 mobile-on-desktop platform, featuring a low-power "Sandy Bridge" Celeron/Core processor. The board is designed to run off external DC power input. The board can be used as a micro-server. Apart from a standard SATA 6 Gb/s port, it has two slots, a mini PCI-Express (for WLAN+Bluetooth cards), and an mSATA (to hold its OS SSD). SO-DIMM memory slots, we imagine, are on the reverse side of the PCB. The system can be programmed to run headless, or there is a host of connectivity options along the top of the board, including USB, HDMI, D-Sub, Ethernet, and stereo line-out. The PCI-Express interface below is for an additional PCB that expands connectivity.

The versatile new MI-HM65T Mini ITX motherboard from Giada is at home in all environments, including the factory floor, tough monitoring and control applications, embedded computing, office desks, and the home. Built around Intel's HM65 chipset and the Sandy Bridge platform, this motherboard brings users high performance and almost unlimited connectivity, with economical power consumption. It offers all the industry-standard features of a desktop PC in a tiny package, to support a wide range of applications.

Powered by Intel's fast Core i7, i5, i3 or Celeron 867 CPUs, supported by up to 4GB of memory, with onboard integrated graphics and video support, the Giada MI-HM65T can easily take care of almost any task you throw at it. This tough but tiny powerhouse handles industrial control, monitoring and automation applications as well as office and productivity, or home entertainment.

After last week's launch of nano-ITX Cedartrail motherboards, J&W launched mini-ITX motherboards under its iconic Minix brand. The new motherboards are designed keeping HTPCs and compact desktops in mind. These include the Minix D2700-HD (Atom D2700, HDMI), and Minix Minix D2500-HD (Atom D2500, HDMI). Pictured below is the Minix D2700-HD.

The Minix D2700-HD runs an Atom D2700 dual-core processor clocked at 2.13 GHz, with two SO-DIMM memory slots supporting up to 4 GB of single-channel DDR3-1066 MHz memory. Its lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 2.0 x1. The board draws power from a 2-pin DC external input, and gives out a 4-pin Molex output to power connected SATA drives. Connectivity includes dual gigabit Ethernet, two SATA 3 Gb/s, two USB 3.0, 6-channel HD audio, and display outputs that include HDMI and D-Sub. The Minix D2500-HD is driven by Atom D2500 dual-core processor clocked at 1.85 GHz, it is largely identical to its bigger sibling, except for the lack of USB 3.0, and the second Ethernet connection. Pricing and availability information is awaited.

A-Tech Fabrication, a company that specializes in hand-crafted HTPCs, unveiled the HeatSync 1200 fanless HTPC. The part that makes it fanless is the chassis itself, which is made of aluminum, with fins on the sides, that dissipate heat. Copper heat pipes transfer heat from key components such as the CPU and chipset to the sides of the chassis, which takes care of the rest. Although most of the chassis is anodized black, with its front-panel, you can choose between silver and black options.

The HeatSync 1200 internally packs an Intel DH61AG thin mini-ITX motherboard, which seats an Intel Core i3-2100T dual-core 35W processor, clocked at 2.50 GHz. 4 GB Corsair Vengeance SO-DIMM memory comes standard. Also standard is the Intel SSD 310 40 GB mSATA SSD. Considering there are no mechanical hard drives, or a PSU with active-cooling (a 160W power-brick does the job), the HeatSync 1200 is literally silent. A consumer IR (CIR) receiver with Windows Media Center remote, and Windows 7 Home Premium make for the rest of it.

ASKTech introduced a neat new chassis for media center PCs, the ALTO NT-TX1000/AC200BK. It supports motherboards in the mini-ITX form-factor, and is designed to gel well with other living room equipment such as home theater receiver decks. Measuring 380 x 268 x 66 mm (WxDxH), the case makes used of brushed, anodized aluminum for the front-panel, and stronger SECC steel for the frame and other panels. It is bundled with the AC200BK 200W PSU, which gives it just enough juice for an HTPC with a dual-core or low-voltage quad-core processor.

Its drive cage is detachable, and provides one discrete 3.5" bay (to hold a hard drive), and one low-profile/slim optical drive slot (for notebook optical drives). The case has just enough clearance for a CPU cooler that's 40 mm tall, and the cooler Intel ships with its low-TDP processors matches the description. The front-panel has no additional ports as such, but a hole for an infrared receiver (for the remote control). ASKTech has an optional package that includes its NT-IMON100 infrared Windows Media Center compatible remote. The case is rather airy, with plenty of vents, but there are provisions for some 40 mm fans. Launched to the market recently, the ASKTech ALTO NT-TX1000/AC200BK is priced at 8,480 JPY (US $102).

Colorful is well-known for its highly innovative graphics card designs, it is one of China's leading graphics card brands. Some of its graphics card designs have captured our imagination. Its latest creation is a DIY mini-ITX barebones system for gaming, called Desert Eagle. The package consists of Colorful's own-design slim-form-factor (SFF) chassis, which bears a swanky combination of red and black, with ample perforations and and top handles; a custom-design, low-profile Colorfire AMD Radeon HD 6750 graphics card (Colorfire is Colorful's Radeon-selling brand); a mini-ITX socket LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel H67 chipset (model: i-H67HD U3); and a 300W PSU.

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the world's leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system, notebook and mobile device manufacturer is honored to launch the brand new G24 All-In-One computer. The smart and stylish G24 enables you connect to the Internet and media directly, making your digital experience extremely versatile.

Equipped with a larger, but thinner, elegant edge-to-edge 23.6' touch panel, Full HD 1080p display. Supporting HDMI-IN compatibility and with a high BTO (Build-To-Order) capability, the Thin Mini-ITX motherboard can be interchanged with Intel H61 Express Chipset and is also compatible to support next generation processors.

Xigmatek is celebrating a first with the Gigas Micro-ATX Cube, as it is their first Aluminum chassis. Even with its compact dimensions, the Gigas Cube manages to fit high-end Hardware, allowing one to easily build a potent HTPC or Gaming system. USB 3.0, space for up to 4 fans, along with a fan controller round up the list of features.

The word "Gigas" is part of the Greek language and means "giant". In the modern language, the prefix "giga" can be found in many different areas to quantify the sheer size. Gigabyte or Gigawatt are such examples and the new chassis from Xigmatek carries the name "Gigas" for good reason.

Here are the first pictures of BitFenix Prodigy with compatible hardware installed. These pictures show that despite being designed for compact motherboard form-factors such as the mini-ITX, the Prodigy has plenty of room for a long graphics card (even the likes of Radeon HD 6990 will fit), and water-cooling hardware such as a 2x 120 mm radiator, pump, tubing, to support water-cooling of both the CPU and graphics card installed. Regardless, there's still room for large-sized tower-type CPU air cooler and dual-slot graphics card cooler, as the pictures below reveal.

Cooler Master is preparing a new HTPC case for mini-ITX form-factor motherboards, the Elite 120, which was pictured at CES. It is built mostly from SECC steel, but its front bezel is made of aluminum. The case measures 240 x 205.6 x 382.5 mm (WxHxD). It features one 5.25-inch drive bay, four 3.5-inch bays, and two 2.5-inch ones. The only fan included with the case is a 120 mm front intake, but there are provisions for more fans, at least one on the side. Its front-panel includes one USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0, and audio jacks.

ZOTAC also displayed an upcoming socket LGA1155 motherboard based on Intel Z77 chipset, in the mini-ITX form-factor, which is geared for overclocking, that's right, overclocking. ZOTAC has, in the past, designed a similar motherboard based on the Z68 chipset. This mini-ITX board draws power from 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, it supports upcoming "Ivy Bridge" Unlocked LGA1155 Core processors out of the box.

The LGA1155 socket (LOTES Black, powder-coated to prevent shrinking when subjected to subzero cooling), is powered by an 8-phase VRM circuitry, complete with a feature-rich controller, Pulse-made inductors, and driverMOSFETs (DrMOS), and High-C capacitors. The DrMOS chips are cooled by a high-density heatsink that shares some of its heat with the heatsink over the Z77 PCH, over a heat pipe.

ZOTAC showed off a pair of socket LGA1155 motherboards based on Intel's upcoming H77 "Panther Point" chipset, geared for compact desktops and HTPCs. These boards have not yet been named. The first one (pictured below), appears to be the more affordable of the two. It uses a simple 4-phase VRM to power the LGA1155 CPU, which is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz memory. Its lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 3.0 x16. Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s, two SATA 3 Gb/s, and an mSATA (probably 3 Gb/s). Its VRM uses cost-effective chokes, and LFPAK MOSFETs.

The more expensive-looking board of the two provides all the features of the other, while making room for an extra SATA 3 Gb/s port, higher-quality VRM that makes use of durable coils, and DriverMOSFETs (DrMOS), and DisplayPort connectivity. Other than the DisplayPort difference, both boards feature 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, wireless b/g/n (N 300) connection, USB 3.0, and display connectivity that includes DVI and HDMI.