Just picked up my VIA EN15000 C7 motherboard

**urosbe** · 08-14-2006, 03:55 AM

I am the happy owner of VIA EPIA SP 1.3, but few weeks ago new VIA EPIA EN 1.5 arrived in my mailbox

For now I installed Windows XP, as soon as I get few hours free time I will change the motherboards in my CarPC system. I will let you know about the difference comparing to SP 1.3.

**RS200Z** · 08-14-2006, 11:01 AM

Been using it for sometime now. Works great. Just make sure you use the new drivers from VIA Arena if you are experiencing problems with the ones supplied from the CD.

**inniss777** · 08-14-2006, 11:06 AM

Originally Posted by lemming

Dunno whether to get the EN or the Jetway J7F2... or wait for the LianTec, DFI or MSI offerings...

Comparing the EN and the Jetway, the EN offers S/PDIF both In and Out on headers, which is unusual for mini-itx boards (no I/O brackets supplied though... doh!), and 4 x USB rear panel ports. The Jetway offers a range of daughterboard I/O expansion, but Via only offers DVI or LVDS daughterboards. I've heard too that Speedfan works with the EN, which may compare to the Jetway MyGuard hardware control software.

New Jetway review here, EN reviews here, here and here.

Interested to know whether Via, Jetway or any of the other manufacturers have sorted out the issue with drivers for CN700 hardware acceleration for MPEG2 or MPEG4?

The jetway J7F2 and the via EN 15000 are very similar but dont get the jetway. The board sucks in my opion. Check out the this theard & this thread about the board. Audio out sucks which I hear they are swapping resistors to fix the problem, bios suck you can not place the system into standby, and the board itself is unstable. They cut corners in building this board and it shows to keep the price down. I heard the life span on there boards is about 18 months. VIA board is way better and has a better reputation.

**inniss777** · 08-14-2006, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by Tercel96

Any updates? I'm considering getting this since the SP13000 is getting to a year old... is it worth the price hike over the 13000?

This board is worth the price hike over there other boards. The resume from hybernation time is really fast. Performace wise it's pretty much equivilant to the Pentium M 1.73. This is a much better board than there C3. I am running dual video pci card with no problems. I couldn't get this to work with the M2 12000.

The only down fall is that there is no daughter board for pcmcia.

**RedGTiVR6** · 08-14-2006, 11:18 AM

If it had the PCMCIA slot, it would be a god send!

I'd love to run this board. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be an optical port on it...

**lemming** · 08-14-2006, 07:15 PM

There is S/PDIF In and Out on headers on the EN, you just need to find the I/O bracket that will connect... Via don't supply one

I seem to remember Asus do one, with optical and RCA, be interested to know if you fnd one

**yrean** · 08-14-2006, 10:37 PM

when they release this board with a pcmcia, maybe ill upgrade. untill then i like my audigy notebook. the onboard sound isnt powerful enough besides ill be going optical out soon. I think reds in the same boat.

**senseless228** · 08-14-2006, 10:44 PM

the c7 processor is capable of going to 2ghz...which VIA has announced, I don't know when they'll be implementing that on their boards, but its soon to come once all the bugs of this are cleared up.

**HappyPills** · 08-14-2006, 11:17 PM

Originally Posted by rsd212

4 USB on the back panel, also nice. Needs a PCMCIA slot though...

If this is the same board then it does.
http://www.epiacenter.com/modules.ph...&pid=92&page=7

**lemming** · 08-15-2006, 12:58 AM

HappyPills, that's the Phylon/Jetwayboard, which we're comparing to the Via EN

Red and yrean, the Via EN does have S/PDIF In and Out, but on pin headers, so you need to find the connectors for it... Via helpfully don't supply them. It also has YPbPr video on pin headers... again no connectors.

Reliability of both boards seems shaky at the moment, be good to hear from people that have had no problems at all wither with the Via EN or the Jetway/Phylon...