A Closer Look - Inside

It is now time to strip down the small DS61 and see what is hiding inside. You thankfully only have to remove two screws to lift off the top cover for internal access.


The mainboard is really small and looks well-constructed, but it mostly uses CapXon polymer caps—not one of our favorite cap choices.


To access the case that holds the 2.5" drive, you only have to remove one screw. This is really convenient!


There are two SATA ports, but only one propriety power connector (the white socket located next to the SATA ports).


The H61 chipset is passively cooled.


To install the CPU and the RAM modules, you must first remove the heatpipe-cooling system (called ICE module); an easy procedure since you only have to deal with four screws and a power connector for the fans.


Four voltage regulators provide power to the CPU. We also spotted a single voltage regulator a little further from the aforementioned ones. It probably provides power to the memory modules.


Here is a PTN3460 IC that is an embedded DisplayPort to LVDS bridge. Next to it resides an ASMedia ASM1042 Universal Serial Bus 3.0 extended host controller.


In the bottom-left corner is an AS324M IC that is a Quad Operational Amplifier, and two MagnaChip MDU1512 mosfets are in the middle of the right area.


This is the mini-PCIe slot. The second photo shows its battery connector.


Two MAX3243s for the equal number of RS232 ports and a Realtek ALC662 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio Codec.


A general scheme of the mainboard.