14 DAY TRIAL // Announced at the end of July, ASRock's mini-ITX Z68M-ITX/HT motherboard for HTPC systems has recently started selling in Japan for the equivalent of $152 US, worldwide availability being expected shortly.
This is only the third mini-ITX Intel Z68 motherboard to make its appearance in the retail market, the other two options being built by Zotac.
ASRock's Z68M-ITX/HT carries all the features that one would expect from such a solution, including dual full-sized DIMM memory sockets, as well as a PCI Express x16 slot, which can be used for adding a dedicated graphics card.
The rest of the motherboard's PCB is pretty bare and the only point of interest is represented by the four SATA ports placed to the right of the Intel chipset.
Two of these support SATA 6Gbps speeds and a fifth port has been routed by ASRock to the back of the board, where it is used as an eSATA connector.
Also on the rear I/O bracket, users will find a pair of USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a PS/2 port, a Gigabit Ethernet connector and 7.1-channel audio driven by a Realtek ALC892 audio codec with optical S/PDIF out.
As most other Intel Z68 solutions, the Z68M-ITX/HT also carries DVI, D-Sub and HDMI video outputs.
In addition to all the usual cables and accessories that are bundled with modern motherboards, ASRock's latest creation is also paired with a Windows MCE compatible remote, a nice bonus considering its target market.
Together with the Z68M-ITX/HT, Japanese stores have also received the H61M-ITX board that also uses the mini-ITX form factor, but is built around the H61 chipset. As a result, the LGA 1155 motherboard only received three SATA ports and a limited feature set.
Pricing for the H61M-ITX has been set at 7480 Yen, which roughly translates into $95 US. (via Expreview)
