It's not every day you see Intel promoting the competition, but it seems that Intel is happy to do so for SiS, at least when it comes to the SiS 671/968 chipset combination for Nettop motherboards with an Atom processor on them.

If you look carefully at the left hand side of the slide below, you'll notice that the SiS solution only has a power rating of 8W, compared to 22W for Intel's own solution. Saying that, the desktop 945GC chipset used for the so-called Nettop is a rather old chipset from Intel now which has been forced back into duty in the ultra low-cost PC market.

One other interesting point on this specific slide, unless it's a mistake, is the fact that Intel seems to have added support for DVI on this platform, which opens up some new possibilities for those looking for a cheap HTPC platform; but we wouldn't bet on it as yet.

5.1-channel HD audio also looks like a new addition, alongside with support for up to two PCI slots and a single x1 PCIe slot. It almost looks like Intel is considering doing some larger mATX boards for Nettop's as well as the mini-ITX boards, which have been shown at IDF Shanghai.

There might still be hope for this platform when it comes to those of us that want something a little bit more and that can afford to pay for it and, quite frankly, Intel would be mad if they didn't try to capitalize on every single market where people would be interested in buying an Atom powered piece of kit.