Verdict and Conclusion
I had high hopes coming into this review, and Zotac has matched them with their Z68-ITX-WiFi motherboard.
It has all the features of larger motherboards (more than some!), built in wifi, excellent overclocking abilities, and an absolutely tiny form factor.
Throughout the review I was impressed, there were very few issues. The one problem that I had was that the early BIOS my board had wouldn’t allow me to overclock! The folks at Zotac were nice enough to send me a beta version of the next bios, which fixed things right up (that bios is now in full release, upgrading the bios is very easy if you have an older board. I imagine the new boards are shipping with the new bios).
The only annoying thing I ran into other than that was that in certain conditions there is an inductor whine related to HDD usage. I never did figure out what was causing it or where exactly it was coming from, partly because it stopped doing it after a while. I could only hear it with an open test stand and my head near the motherboard though, I doubt you’d be able to hear it more than a couple feet away, or at all with the motherboard in a case.
So, the Pros:
- Tiny ITX form factor.
- Supports all the modern features, including CPUs to make a tiny HTPC fly.
- WiFi built in.
- Excellent tech support from Zotac.
Nothing being perfect, the Cons:
- Part time inductor noise with HDD activity.
- Backplate type CPU coolers hard to mount.
- Initial release bios OCing bugs. (Fixed in later boards)
All told, if you’re planning on building a tiny high power computer, definitely check out the Zotac Z68-ITX-WiFi! I give it a nine out of a possible ten, and a Recommended logo!
SCORE
9/10
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