The VIA M10000 ITX Mainboard in Review

In the Box:

• 1 M10000 mainboard
• 1 ATA 33/66/100 ribbon cable
• 1 Floppy Drive ribbon cable
• 1 USB 2.0/Firewire bracket
• 1 Rear chassis I/O panel
• 1 Product manual
• 1 Driver & Utility CD-ROM

Minimum Requirements:

• 55-100 Watt Power supply (20 pin ATX style connector)
• VGA, RCA composite, or S-Video capable monitor or television
• Keyboard
• 184 pin DDR RAM

Installation:

     Installation of the M10000 was uneventful for the most part. Mini-ITX installation is just like installation for any type of mainboard, except everything is more compact within the chassis.
     Jumpers were very few, as there were a total of two. The jumper to clear CMOS was the major one I was concerned with. It was placed in an area that was easy to get to, next to the middle of the PCI slot. The second jumper toggled between the rear RCA connector functions. One setting switched between video out for composite video output to a TV, VCR, or whatnot. The other setting allowed S/PDIF audio output for connection to a digital audio receiver.
     The rear I/O port on the M10000 has a non-standard layout. VIA provides a metal rear panel that snaps into the back of the case to solve this.
Working with cables inside the case was a bit of an issue. Things are so tight it is next to impossible to get cables organized. I found myself constantly having to remove the DVD drive to get at the front area of the motherboard where the ATA connectors are located. However, this is more an issue with the case than the board itself. Overall, the space issue should be expected with such a small board and is more of a hassle rather than a problem. 
     The computer booted on the first try without any noticeable problems. I entered the BIOS to look around but found very little to play with. There are no options to tweak CPU settings and the settings for RAM are few. There is an option to switch video outputs between CRT, CRT & TV, and just TV. You can also switch between NTSC and PAL video modes. Aside from this, there is nothing else of great importance in the BIOS.

Included Software:

     After getting the operating system up and running I installed the drivers and utilities. These come on a single CD and are selectable through a simple menu. Included is VIA’s 4-in-1 driver, as well as drivers for the audio, network, USB2.0, video, and infrared controller.

     Aside from the standard drivers, there is the VIA “FliteDeck Utility”. Installing FliteDeck installs a collection of three other utilities: SysProbe, FlashPort, and MissionControl. 

Select a Page Page 1: Page 1 - Introduction and Overview Page 2: Page 2 - Features and Specifications Page 3: Page 3 - What's in the Box, Requirements, Installation, and Software Page 4: Page 4 - Usage Page 5: Page 5 - Benchmarks, Conclusions, and Scoring