Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi Review

Aside from being a high-performance Mini-ITX platform, Zotac's GeForce 9300-ITX WiFi is also a neat platform for home theatre PCs. Pairing the motherboard with a low-power 45nm Intel processor would make a low-power and cool-running media centre with wireless network connectivity. You're going to have to get over the hurdle of picking a compatible enclosure and power supply, and you should remember that the GeForce 9300 chipset isn't as powerful as the 9400 used in nVidia's Ion system. You should also bear in mind that there's only support for two internal drives, and memory support doesn't include the latest cutting-edge DDR3. And if you intend to use a proper graphics card you'll need a larger case, so you might as well plump for a Micro-ATX motherboard. Finally, I should point out that the LGA775 socket doesn't have much of an upgrade path looking forward. But then there isn't one for soldered-on Atom CPUs, either. At least with LGA775 there is a wide range of models to suit just about every need and budget. Sure you can get an Atom-based Mini-ITX board for half the price, but Zotac's offering is in its own class if you want to build either a diminutive home theatre PC that can play back Blu-ray movies smoothly over HDMI or, with the addition of a discrete graphics card, a potent gaming rig that's easy to carry to LAN parties. In fact, it is the best Mini-ITX board I've ever tested.