Any more info on Intel's proposed "5x5" mobo format, for USFF SKL rigs?

[VirtualLarry]

I remember seeing something about these when SKL was announced, they had a few pictures on the main site, etc.

Since CES2016 just happened, was there any updated info on these? Are they still coming out?

I would love to build a "tiny" SKL rig, after witnessing firsthand the difference in performance between my HSW Celeron, and my SKL Pentium CPUs, using the IGPs (with SSDs).

With an M.2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 SSD, a 5x5 SKL rig with a Pentium or i3 CPU with HD 530 graphics could really rock a desktop workload!

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/212859-intels-new-5x5-tiny-form-factor-socketed-cpu

 

[Burpo]

Currently under embargo..

http://www.pcper.com/news/Motherboards/Mini-STX-Has-Arrived-Meet-ECS-H110SU-02-Motherboard

http://www.legitreviews.com/ecs-working-make-pc-world-smaller_177732

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=E4HdEjnXCfc

AsRock & the rest soon to follow..

Silverstone has announced a new Mini-STX case as well..

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/silverstone-mini-stx-case-form-factor,30924.html

 

[Burpo]

AsRock H110M-STX
http://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?id=3160

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks, Burpo! I didn't know that the new name for Intel's "5x5" initiative, was now called "STX". ASRock system with case looks interesting.

I built a fairly small rig with a Blu-Ray drive, but these STX rigs should be even smaller. I still use optical discs, though. I wonder if anyone will release an STX case that's a little taller, to accommodate a laptop Blu-Ray slot-load drive. Would be nice.

 

[Burpo]

Exactly what I was thinking when i looked at it, so I'm thinking some case makers will agree & accommodate us 😉

 

[XavierMace]

Ew, optical drives. How quaint.

LOL.

 

[mxnerd]

Anandtech has a review for ASRock H110M-STX MINI PC today. Great mini PC for $130.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10404/asrock-deskmini-110-ministx-pc-review

 

[wpcoe]

A very nice feature of that ASRock STX Mini-PC:

The other interesting aspect is the M.2 SSD slot - usually, vendors want to maintain both SATA and PCIe support, but ASRock has decided to support only PCIe SSDs - this means that the I/O lanes feeding the slot are not multiplexed from the H110 PCH, but, come from the CPU directly. The H110 chipset used in the DeskMini is one of the lower-end 100-series chipsets. The PCIe lanes from the PCH are PCIe 2.0 and the I/O options are limited. Therefore, it is a point of differentiation for ASRock to utilize the CPU's PCIe lanes for the M.2 SSD slot.