Sapphire Pure Mini 785G review

Small form factor fun from Sapphire

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Sapphire Pure Mini 785G
Small form factor fun

TechRadar Verdict

Lots of cool features on a tiny PCB, but CPU restrictions hamper its potential.

Pros

  • +

    Small

  • +

    No extra cooling needed

  • +

    Socket AM3

Cons

  • -

    Limited CPU choice

  • -

    More expensive than a micro-ATX board

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We're big fans of small, and motherboards don't come much smaller than Sapphire's Pure Mini 785G.

The Mac mini, the Shuttle XPC, ASUS' EeeBox and Dell's Zino have all helped to prove that for nine-tenths of what we do, a server class chassis just isn't necessary and made the pint sized popular.

But while all these have captured the public imagination the original small form factor, Mini ITX, has remained in a niche.

Most will never have heard of it, and those who have will associate it with under-performing Atom or C3 CPUs.

That's where Sapphire's Pure Mini 785G comes in.

Like Zotac's H55-ITX, the Pure Mini couples the cut-down form factor with a full power processor. It's a socket AM3 board which supports AMD's dual core Athlon or Phenom CPUs, and it comes with built in ATI 4200 graphics and Via VT1708S audio.

There's even room for a PCI-Express graphics card, if you so wish.

That's a lot of power packed into a mere 17cm square of PCB. Is Sapphire's Pure Mini the most densely packed performer around?

Adam Oxford