AAEON’s new MIX-Q870A1’s Arrow Lake processing, PCIe Gen 5 with bifurcation, and diverse storage architecture is designed to elevate the potential of Mini-ITX builds.
Taipei, Taiwan – July 29: AAEON (Stock Code: 6579), a leading producer of industrial motherboards, has announced the release of the MIX-Q870A1, a sophisticated Mini-ITX motherboard supporting up to 65W Intel Core Ultra 200S Series LGA 1851 socket-type processors (formerly Arrow Lake).
Compatible with a broad selection of SKUs from the second generation of Intel Core Ultra processor range, the MIX-Q870A1 can leverage the platform’s integrated NPU and Xe LPG Graphics for AI acceleration for a total of 36 TOPS alongside optimized multi-tasking and multi-core performance.
A particularly notable inclusion among the MIX-Q870A1’s specifications is its 16-lane PCIe Gen 5 slot with bifurcation, which can be split into x16, x8/x8, or x8/x4/x4 configurations through a dedicated jumper. This addition provides a modular foundation for the installation of expansion cards based on project need, meaning that even when equipped with a GPU to bolster the AI acceleration offered by the board’s Intel Core Ultra platform, the remaining lanes of its PCIe slot can be used to accommodate additional modules like NVMe SSDs, NICs, frame grabbers, or fieldbus interface cards.
For storage, the MIX-Q870A1 is equipped with an M.2-1A 2280 M-Key and M.2 2242 M-Key slot, with the former offering a four-lane PCIe signal for NVMe and the latter reserved for SATA. The board also hosts two dedicated SATA 6Gb/s ports with RAID 0, 1 support. Rounding off its expansion capabilities is an M.2 2230 E-Key slot for Wi-Fi or additional NVMe storage.
The MIX-Q870A1 gives users a variety of display options, including two HDMI 2.0 and two display ports as part of its rear I/O, both for 4K resolution at 60Hz, with the HDMI also providing digital audio. Joining HDMI and DP stack ports on the board’s rear I/O is eight USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports and both 1GbE and 2.5GbE LAN ports (Intel Ethernet Connection I219-LM and Intel Ethernet Controller I226-V, respectively). Internal connectors include an 8-bit programmable digital I/O, a USB header for two USB 3.2 Gen 1 interfaces, and a 40-pin LVDS/eDP connector, both of which offer 1920 x 1080 resolution at 60Hz.
OS support for the MIX-Q870A1 includes Windows 10/11 (64-bit) and Linux Ubuntu 24.04.