ABIT's HDMI-Certified SFF Motherboard
DailyTech has just received word that ABIT is planning to launch the industry's first HDMI-certified motherboard. Based on the Intel 945GT chipset, the SFF motherboard support Yonah and eventually Merom. Armed with an array of of ports and interfaces including SATA 3.0Gbps, Firewire, 15-pin D-Sub, 7.1 audio ports, and obviously HDMI. Apparently, the collective prayers of HTPC users have been answered as they finally have a way to easily interface with those gorgeous new HDTV's without any negative impact to image quality. Unfortunately, there is no PCI-E x16 graphics slot so that HTPC won't be doing much in the way of gaming with this board.
Universal Abit employees tell us the motherboard is in the final phases of getting AACS certification from Silicon Image. The board is expected to enter into mass production this June, with retail availability that same month. A price for the motherboard has not been set yet, but it is expected to retail on the lower end of 945GT motherboards since most features, like a PCIe x16 adaptor, are not present.
