Lab Notes - J&W MINIX 780G-SP128MB

We recently received several mini-ITX form factor boards for an upcoming HTPC guide. These boards represent a wide variety of chipsets ranging from the Intel G45 to the NVIDIA GF8200. However, none of them prepared us for the motherboard that we received from J&W Technology.

Based on the AMD 780G chipset, the MINIX 780G-SP128MB is one of the most impressive motherboard designs we have seen in the labs recently.  Impressive not only from an aesthetic and layout viewpoint, but the quality of components and available ports put this board ahead of our other candidates.  However, since it is based on the 780G chipset, the board carries a penalty for HTPC users as multi-channel LPCM via HDMI output is not available. If you can live without that feature then we highly recommend this board.   

J&W managed to shoehorn four SATA 3Gbps ports, IDE connectivity, a physical x16 PCIe 2.0 slot, two SO-DIMM slots, a USB 2.0 header providing four additional ports, COM header, IR connector, and an iPartner Control Center header. The PCIe x16 slot actually operates at x4 electronically due to the limitation of available trace counts on the mini-ITX board design. This could be seen as a limitation, but the primary purpose of the board was never to be a high-end gaming system.

That said, we have not noticed any real performance differences when utilizing our HD 4350, HD 4550, or HD 4670 video cards on this board compared to a uATX 780G board from Gigabyte. In fact, an HD 4350 card on this board will offer improved casual gaming performance while also providing multi-channel LPCM audio for another $30 if a user wanted to go that direction. The board supports Hybrid graphics although your money is better spent on a HD 4550 card instead of the previous generation HD 3450. J&W also included 128MB of 800MHz DDR2 memory for side-port functionality.

This board supports current 45W/65W/95W TDP AM2/AM2+ processors including the Phenom 8750 and 9350e series. J&W explicitly states that 125W or higher processors are not supported due to the three phase power delivery design. An additional warning is also provided that 95W TDP processors should only be utilized if proper heat dissipation is available for both the CPU and motherboard.

A single heatsink covers the 780G Northbridge and SB700 Southbridge. Unless your case is well ventilated, the chipset heatsink will require additional airflow to keep thermals under control. Fortunately, J&W is shipping a fairly quiet AVC Digital Home Series 4010 DC fan with the kit. Three fan connectors are included along with decent BIOS support for monitoring and control.

The board features a loaded I/O panel that consists of a PS2 keyboard port, six USB 2.0 ports, Optical and RCA S/PDIF ports, VGA/HDMI/DVI output, an eSATA port run off the SB700, an RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, and a audio panel featuring six 3.5mm jacks for the Realtek ALC 885 7.1 channel HD codec.

Installing SATA cables requires some forethought as the area between the heatsink, SATA/IDE ports, and the 24-pin ATX power connector is cramped. We installed the SATA cables on the board before case installation to alleviate any potential problems.

The MINIX 780G-SP128MB features 4GB memory support that is provided by two DDR2 200-pin SO-DIMM slots. This board supports DDR2-533, DDR2-667, DDR2-800, and DDR2-1066 memory speeds. DDR2-1066 support requires a Phenom based processor but without . We purchased 4GB of GSkill DDR2-800 with timings of 5-5-5-15 at 1.8V for $49, so there is not a significant cost penalty for using SO-DIMMs unless you are trying to locate the DDR2-1066 variety.

In the end, J&W has designed and produced a well engineered motherboard that has us excited about the mini-ITX market again.