WITH THE LAUNCH OF processors with ever more cores and ever more computing power, it's easy to forget that most people prefer small and sexy to big and beefy.

The mini-ITX form factor has long been small and sexy, but has unfortunately been underpowered almost to the point of uselessness.

No more! With the latest generation of Intel chips comes a new generation of mini-ITX boards, ones which harness all the power of Chipzilla's finest, but pack it all onto a board barely the size of a dinner plate.

First out the gate is Zotac, which uses a slighly retro Nforce 610i chipset, but supports LGA75 processors up to 1333MHz - yes, that's you, Wolfdale, with your 45nm shenanigans.

A single D-sub provides the graphics output courtesy of the onboard Geforce 7 graphics (although there are pins for a DVI output, should you feel happy with a shouldering iron).

The board should provide a handy option for those looking to build small boxes with a little more power than your average Atom box (assuming you can even get hold of one, that is). The board supports Volish Vista with the swanky 3D doohicky graphics, so what more could you want?

Expect to pick it up for less than fifty United States Dollars. Which must work out at... ooh, about ten bob. µ