DIY mini-ITX motherboard lets you play DOS games without emulation — ITX Llama features a Vortex86EX 500 MHz CPU

Shot of the ITX Llama playing Wing Commander, appropriately adjusted to its CPU frequency-sensitive game logic.

Earlier this month, a mini-ITX board tailor-made for DOS gaming began catching the attention of enthusiasts around the web— the ITX Llama project, which is a custom mini-ITX motherboard built for use with the Vortex86EX CPU, actually has its roots back as far as October 2023 on the Vogons Forum. In the time since, original creator Eivind Bohler has gone on to open group-buy lists, open source the project (though getting your hands on the requisite hardware seems near-impossible), and get the board into the hands of YouTuber James Mackenzie.

A video from James Mackenzie uploaded three weeks ago highlights this board's significant features and concerns. While the single-core Vortex86EX CPU isn't era-accurate, it's still a 300-500 MHz chip with support for several features you would want in a modern DOS-focused gaming build, most notably support for classic sound cards with the requisite custom BIOS for the ITX Llama.