The Board - A Closer Look

The ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi has a socketed 32 Mb Winbond-manufactured BIOS, as you can see above. The VRM controller is a uPI uP1601P 4+2 phase buck controller specifically designed for newer AMD platforms. We've seen this same controller on AMD990FX-based products, a good sign indeed.


With the VRM cooler removed we can see the full design quite clearly. There are five Renesas DRMOS chips powering each phase, seen in in the first image. The Renesas parts are High- and Low- MOSFETs mated with a driver IC all in the same package, minimizing board-level components and wiring, as well as offering better efficiency, something that seems made for HTPC use, where size and power consumption are big considerations.


On the backside of the board we find all the capacitors for the VRM, all of which are tantalum-type parts, another component made for its small size but great capability. The DIMM VRM is a single pase, shown in the second image above, a very simple, but effective design with more than enough to push higher memory speeds. A Nuvoton NCT5577D is fitted for SuperI/O functionality, located under the WiFi card's mPCIe slot. The Nuvoton part provides monitoring and fan control as well as keyboard/mouse and serial COM port functionality.


There are two Realtek RTL8111E LAN controllers found on the backside of the board, which drive the LAN ports found on the rear I/O.


The four USB 3.0 ports found under the LAN controllers on the rear I/O are powered by VLI VL810-8Q controllers, each responsible for two ports.


WiFi support on the A75-ITX WiFi is provided by AzureWave. The AW-NB037H supports 802.11 b/g/n protocols, ensuring compatibility with most wireless networks. The same WiFi card also provides the Bluetooth functionality.


The TMDS switch is a PCIe part that connects to one of the two x4 PCIe video links and provides support for the HDMI and DVI ports. Audio is a Realtek ALC892, a pretty common part on the market.


The cooling provided with the A75-ITX WiFi is more than adequate, with the VRM and chipset heatsinks both made of aluminum. Unlike previous products we've looked at, this solution makes excellent contact with each of the DRMOS components, as you can see by the impressions in the thermal interface pad on the VRM heatsink. The chipset cooler uses a gummy thermal interface material of an unknown type that also makes very decent contact, as you can see in the images above.