NVIDIA nForce4 SFF PCs to Hit Market - Shuttle SN25P XPC (Feb 22), BIOSTAR iDEQ 300P (mid-March)

Add Biostar Microtech International to the list of companies preparing to release Nvidia nForce4-based small-form-factor (SFF) PCs this quarter as the company plans to begin shipping its iDEQ 300P SFF PC, in volume, in mid-March, according to sources at the company. The iDEQ 300P is expected to compete with Shuttle’s SN25P XPC, which should be the first nForce4-based SFF solution on the market, with its official launch date set for February 22.

The AMD CPU-based iDEQ 300P will feature a Socket 939 motherboard with slots for one PCIe x16 graphics card and one PCI card. A mini-PCI-card slot has also been included, to accommodate wireless cards. The system will also support standard nForce4 features such as a hardware firewall, support for 3Gb/s SATA hard drives, native Gigabit Ethernet networking and overclocking options.

Because the iDEQ 300P will target gamers, it will also include a 300-watt PFC power supply, compared to the 250-watt power supply Biostar uses in its other 300 series PCI Express (PCIe) SFF offering, the Intel 915G-based 300G MCE-1. However, the nForce4-based iDEQ 300P will not include an FM Tuner or run Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition (MCE), unlike the 915G-based solution. The sources explained that Biostar currently plans to target mainstream users with its Pentium 4 PCIe solutions and gamers with its AMD 64-bit PCIe solutions.

Nvidia nForce4 SFF PCs to start hitting the market,
with Biostar planning a March release
DigiTimes