The MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Lite is the little brother of the Ironclad Plus, the leading MiSTer Mini-ITX form factor IO board for desktop and entertainment center with thousands of happy users worldwide. Built with the same quality and the experience of years, It has all the essential features, built-in power supply, great scalability and the price is just crazy. This is simply the IO board for the MiSTer with the best quality/features/price relationship available.
Make your MiSTer FPGA setup completely yours. Take any Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, or ATX (who said smaller is better) case you like and turn it into your definitive retro gaming machine, unmatched feature set is here. You can also go nuts and use your imagination to mod the case as you want, add RGB, transparent panels… The choice is yours and that is what all of this is about; features, freedom, and choice.
- Highlights
- Full Features
- Differences with the Plus model
- Basic Build Guide
- The Audio Expansion Connector
- Manuals, Assembly and Instructions
- Pricing and Sales
Highlights:
The only IO fully compliant with the Mini-ITX / Thin Mni-ITX standard, no modding needed or adjustments, all headers are there, even the back i/o shield is included, Thin Mini-ITX form factor is also supported with some limitations, read below.
No over-complicated things or expensive unnecessary stuff, assemble, install, and play the best possible way. User experience and quality of life are key here.
Built-in PSU on board, you only need a 5 volts power brick (>2 Amps), the one included with your DE10-Nano works for a basic setup.
Dual SDRAM operation mode is supported, read below.
Adds physical and electrical protection to your DE10-Nano board.
Compatible with Hi-Fi Blaster and Mt32-Pi Pro Internal Hat accessories.
Full SNAC compatible. Enjoy the fully integrated, TRUE zero lag, controller/lightgun/joystick experience with two simultaneous players support. Standard USB3.0 type User port connector is on board with official IO board 6.1 level of compatibility, SNAX labeled accessories are also compatible.
Infrared remote control, sold as optional add-on, with learning function on board to use other remote if you want!, Welcome back to the 80’s!, feel the power of Infrared, turn on/off your MiSTer from your coach. Also reset, menu, and USR commands are available from the remote, as well as controlling the internal MT32-Pi Hat. Pro tip: you could get one of those “Media Center” remotes with a USB receiver for PC, use it to control the MiSTer’s menu and games, and map its spare buttons to control the your Ironclad and the MT32-Pi hat via the remote commands learning feature.
Better video quality output. Thanks to the precise and rebuilt video DAC, the video output level is notably higher and more accurate than the official i/o board. Enjoy higher brightness and better contrast with unrivaled image clarity and fidelity free of noise or interferences.
Cabinet power mode; in this mode your Ironclad will turn on automatically with your cabinet as you power it on. You can use any standard RGB to Jamma adapter available with your Ironclad build.
User friendly installation and future proof, thanks to its detachable individual interconnects.
Use the single power button on your case to power on/off the Mister, which also acts as “Reset”, “Menu” and “USR” buttons depending on how you press the button. Simple and efficient. It just works!
Clean interior design, because transparent side panels and RGB are a thing!
Now your wife/husband/partner will be more lenient about letting you having your retro gaming stuff hooked to the main TV ;p
Full Features:
- Fully compatible with standard Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX, DTX or ATX cases.
- Also compatible with Thin Mini-ITX cases, check dimensions, only compatible with cases 45mm thick or more and some restrictions apply, see the manual.
- You do not need to buy a PSU, the power adapter that came with your DE10-Nano (2 Amps) will work fine for a basic setup, for a more advanced setup, with Mt32-Pi or SSD for example, a more powerful adapter is recommended (>4 Amps).
- Fully compatible with Hi-Fi Blaster and Mt32-Pi Pro Hat add-ons.
- Modification-free. Assemble and install inside your case and you are set, just like with any standard PC motherboard.
- All functionality of the official Analog I/O board, USB hub with seven ports, and SNAC is included in a single board.
- Compatible with ANY model of MiSTer SDRAM module in the market. Space or orientation is not an issue anymore.
- Dual SDRAM mode is supported if a future core needs it. Limited hardware Reset/OSD/User buttons functionality and no analog video/audio output are the trade offs of a dual SDRAM setup. The choice is yours.
- Ensure the MAXIMUM analog video quality thanks to the revamped precise DAC and wide & shielded track routing.
- User port with SNAC official support. Use your Genesis/MD/Atari original controllers/lightguns directly without adapters, SNES/PCE/Neo-Geo/PS1, etc are also available. Official cores SNAC is supported for gamepads lightguns, mt32-pi, and everything available at the moment.
- Custom made user-transparent Bios controlled functions using a fast MCU to keep things fluid and seamless and keep your DE10-nano safe at any moment.
- All three MiSTer FPGA I/O buttons, “Reset”, “OSD” and “User”, are interfaced to the case “Power” single button. Depending on how many “clicks” you do, or for how long you press on the button it does one function or another. If the case also has a “Reset” button, reset functionality is also directly available on it. another duplicated “Reset”, “OSD” and “User” individual buttons are soldered directly on the board, with adjacent pin header holes in case you need them to customize your case as you wish.
- Additional protection for your MiSTer FPGA!. The Ironclad provides over-voltage/short-circuit/over-current protection to your beloved DE10-Nano board, it also controls power-up and power-down cycle to make it softer and safer than the usual hard switch on and off. Besides that it watches the installation has no critical mistakes, in which case it will cut the power to your DE10-Nano and flashes the led/beeps the buzzer to warn you.
- The Ironclad Lite has over voltage and over current protection, If a short circuit is detected on any of the USB ports or any other connected device it will shut down power to that device. Also if you happen to plug an incorrect power supply with higher voltage, or yours break giving surge spikes, it will safely shut down and/or ignore it till a good 5V power supply is connected.
- Even more protection!. Featuring “Fan Control” the Ironclad Lite allows you to control the fans connected to its 5 volts PWM (4-pin) header in 5 speed steps to get the best compromise in refrigeration and noise. It also has a 3.3 volts header in case you want to use a 3-pin 5 volts fan at a reduced speed.
- Internal USB port for internal SSD, wi-fi, 2.4G receiver, Bluetooth, you-name-it, and two USB headers for front case USB connectors.
- Compatible with internal “PC Speaker” or “piezoelectric buzzer”. Core dependant, like the Amiga one to simulate floppy access noises. The Custom BIOS also makes a nice “beep” sound when booting successfully, emits various tones when the user interacts with the buttons, and uses it for other warnings like boot/installation errors. Boot, reset and shutdown beeps can be muted using the “silent mode”.
- HDAudio standard header on board for front case audio input and amplified headphones output (only with Hi-Fi Blaster accessory) plus I2S audio enhancement plug-in module expansion, more information on this BELOW.
- Future proofing!, thanks to its detachable individual interconnects you can remove one and install an addon accessory released in the future if you want.
- It has the usual “SOG” switch, accessible from the back panel, and VGA outputs 5 volts for accessories like the external RGB to composite/S-video adapter.
- Cleaner audio and image output, The Mini-ITX Ironclad Plus uses separate power lines to run fans and other components prone to cause electrical noise, so analog outputs are as clean as they can possibly get.
- No limit on how overkill you want your setup to be. If you want to use like 3 big fat 3.5″ HDDs to store your romsets, you can!, simply use a separate power supply, the Ironclad Lite will not hold you back.
Differences with the “Plus” model:
The Ironclad Lite has been developed to provide everything most people need in their MiSTer FPGA while also being a very cost effective solution for everyone, with scalability to make it suit better your personal needs, compared to the Ironclad Plus the Ironclad Lite doesn’t include:
- Remote control kit bundled. Can be purchased as an optional add-on while placing your order.
- Real time clock on board. Can be added later purchasing one of the existing RTC boards for MiSTer.
- MegaDrive 2/Genesis 2 console type a/v output.
- USB charge ports for your controllers while the system is off.
- Automatic fan speed regulation based on FPGA temperature.
- DB9 SNAC8 user port. It only includes the USB3.0 shaped user port compatible with all official SNAC accessories and cores
But, the Ironclad Lite has capabilities the Plus model does not have!, the integrated PSU on board, so you don’t have to buy a Pico-PSU, means a nice saving and less headaches, it is also thinner so it fits into the smallest cases, including Thin Mini-ITX, oh… and it costs much less while keeping the same high quality standards 😉
Basic build guide:
To build your MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Lite you only need:
- The Mini-Itx Ironclad Lite.
- Your DE10-Nano and, optionally, a MiSTer SDRAM module.
- The case of your choice, It can be almost any of them, from 20€ like the black one in the pictures, to anything.
That’s all required, as the Ironclad Lite doesn’t use a Pico-PSU, it saves money and headaches.
Adding the “Massive Heatsink” add-on is highly recommended as it allows passive cooling operation and is made to fit perfectly on your MiSTer Ironclad build, you don’t need to buy a fan if you use it at all, or instead, you can use any other heatsing/cooling solution you want.
If you are planning to use a Thin Mini-ITX case, it must be 45mm or thicker, and pay attention to the rainbow colored ribbon cable included with the kit. Without the mt32-pi pro add-on it connects vertically to your DE10-nano which will make the kit taller than 45mm and not fit inside the case. The more elegant solution to this would be to purchase the Mt32-Pi Pro add-on so the cable is connected laying flat, and the not-so-elegant solution would be to bend the male pins of the ribbon cable to make it connect to the DE10-nano at an angle, this is not an issue when building a standard mini-ITX setup. Also the included I/O backplate has the standard ATX/Mini-ITX size by default, it requires a cut to make it compatible with Thin Mini-ITX, you can use a manual saw or a rotary tool like a Dremel, it has the mark to indicate where the cut should be done and the fiberglass cuts through just like wood, its fairly easy. More details about all this in the manual.
The Audio Expansion Connector:
The Mini-ITX Ironclad Lite sports analog and digital audio out through Mini-Toslink connector, just like the official I/O board, using a dual purpose female audio jack connector. Digital audio out is just perfect quality wise, while the Sigma Delta DAC built in the DE10-Nano have a more standard sound quality, but it can sound pretty good also using good quality components and proper signal routing!. The Mini-ITX Ironclad isolates the analog audio signals from other electrically noisy sources, like fans and power hungry interfaces like USB ports, and uses solid electrolytic caps at the output, that is why it sounds like this by default with no additional audio modules or enhancements attached:
It sounds pretty good right?, but i know there are a lot of audiophiles out there who only want the best of the best, and that is why i built an interface on board to support an audio enhancement module; The Ironclad Hi-Fi BLASTER.
Connecting this module adds a better I2S DAC to your Ironclad which improves the analog audio out quality of all connectors. It is plug and play, connect it, flip a switch on your DE10-Nano and you are set. having this module on board also enables the headphones amplified audio out for front panel connector on-board (the HDAUDIO header), you can also install your own female headphones audio jack if it is not included with your case. The audio expansion connector on board can also be used to connect your I2S dac board of choice, also plug-and-play, no modification needs to be done to the Mini-ITX Ironclad, instructions to do that are available in the manual section.
Assembly and Instructions:
Manual available for download in PDF format… Writting it right now…
Pricing and sales:
Availability: The MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Lite will be available on Feb 27, 2024 click HERE to see stock status and purchase!
The Mini-ITX Ironclad Lite is assembled and tested by myself, so there is a limit of units I can manufacture each month. There will be a pre-order system at first as the offer catches up with the demand. There will be a limit of units for each batch, as i want that everybody who paid for his board has it shipped in a reasonable amount of time meeting the given estimated dates. If a batch is running I will update the status at the front page.