The AM1 Kabini Motherboard Preview: Analyzing the Hardware
by Ian Cutress on April 19, 2014 2:00 PM ESTASUS AM1M-A
The first ASUS motherboard into the mix comes in at a hefty $47, or 42% more than the first Biostar motherboard in this preview. This takes the minimum entry of a quad core socket system to $82 where we are starting to encroach on the low end AMD FM2 systems. Despite the price point ASUS attempts to come out with all guns blazing, so to speak. It starts with the aesthetics, where ASUS is matching their gold/mustard yellow color from their Z87 and A88X chipsets.
The major plus point on the AM1M-A is the additional USB 3.0 controller, providing two USB 3.0 ports on the back panel and leaving the two from the chipset as an onboard header. This comes alongside using four USB 2.0 ports on the rear rather than two. The network and audio combination is Realtek, however the audio is the higher rated ALC887 codec.
ASUS is keen to point out their use of enhanced OCP and higher quality solid caps, though in terms of pure functionality it seems that some of the other motherboards might be ahead. The BIOS and software should be ASUS standard, and as noted on the board features such as Fan Xpert for the two 4-pin headers.
The rear panel, due to the extra USB 2.0 ports on the rear, reduces the PS/2 connectors down to one. We also have HDMI and DVI-D to complement the VGA port.
| ASUS AM1M-A | |
| Price | Link |
| Size | Micro-ATX |
| CPU Interface | FS1b |
| Chipset | Kabini |
| Memory Slots |
Two DDR3 DRAM slots, supporing 32GB Single Channel, 1333-1866 MHz |
| Video Outputs |
VGA (1920x1200 at 60 Hz) DVI-D (1920x1200 at 60 Hz) HDMI (4096x2160 at 24 Hz or 1920x1080 at 60 Hz) |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek 8111GR |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC887 |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4) 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 2 x SATA 6 Gbps |
| USB 3.0 |
2 x USB 3.0 (Chipset) [header] 2 x USB 3.0 (ASMedia ASM1042) [back panel] |
| Onboard |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps 1 x USB 3.0 Header 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 2 x Fan Headers 1 x TPM Header 1 x COM Header 1 x LPT Header 1 x S/PDIF Output Header Front Audio Header Front Panel Header |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 4-pin CPU |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x CHA (4-pin) |
| IO Panel |
1 x Combination PS/2 Port VGA DVI-D HDMI 2 x USB 3.0 (ASMedia) 4 x USB 2.0 1 x Gigabit Ethernet Audio Jacks (ALC887) |
| Product Page | Link |
ASUS, like some of the others, use both the main legacy connectors as headers (COM, LPT) with a TPM header.
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tuxRoller - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Nvidia's driver's provide performance that is pretty much identical to windows.AMD's is more variable.
From the benchmarks, there looks to be no point in going higher than an nvidia 750.
However, if you're gaming, and you want nice effects, you need that single thread performance.
Flunk - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
It's not like either has a very powerful GPU either. Xbox One is equivalent to a Radeon 7790 and PS4 a Radeon 7850. Plus, you don't have the CPU overhead from DirectX.Tranzz - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
http://semiaccurate.com/2014/04/16/adding-discrete...MonkeyPaw - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Thanks. I wonder what resolution they were running. It does suggest that you can produce a mostly playable gaming setup for about $200 worth of core components. I wonder if AMD will ever scale Jaguar up even further? 8 cores and dual channel memory could be pretty potent for 50W or so. Might produce more excitement than the FX line.silverblue - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
AMD obviously seems to think that a single, albeit fast, channel is enough to feed a small 'cat CPU. The trouble is, that may have been true for Brazos, but that had two cores and a weaker GPU. It'd be very interesting to see a dual channel Kabini - would it make a difference outside of GPU-based workloads?Mullins also needs a turbo mode, especially if Bay-Trail and its derivatives have one. Being able to ramp up clock speed for a short period of time so that the CPU can return to idle quicker and for longer is one of the reasons why Intel beats AMD for power consumption across the board (regardless of architecture and fab process).
FriendlyUser - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link
You really can't beat the price. I am almost looking for an excuse to buy one...wolrah - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link
"I never thought I would ever see a socketed motherboard in 2014 ship with a less-than-gigabit Ethernet port."I think we're at a point these days where anything new coming out with 100mbit ethernet or VGA as the primary display interface should be shunned as an outdated-out-of-the-box product.
VGA in particular, I mean who uses VGA? Even the luddites have mostly abandoned their cannonball CRTs, and a VGA-only LCD has always been the realm of idiocy.
harriharris - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Not defending it myself here or anything... in fact I completely agree, but a lot of business still does. I know my workplace of over 50,000 personnel in a govt agency - every workstation I've sat at in 17 years there has had VGA connected monitors, even now with 16:10 LCDs in most places. They still run XP too... *sigh*xrror - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Sadly another reason for VGA is if your building(s) with overhead projectors are wired with analog VGA. So for where I work that's maybe... 300 or so rooms rough guess.And while we've talked about changing to some sort of digital connection, fun things like HDMI copy projection, splitting to multiple projectors, etc pretty much skyrocket the already formidable costs.
So I dunno, we can't stay VGA forever (nor do we really want to) but we can't afford to switch. At all. No wonder the media services guy can't wait to retire - and I can't blame him.
tuxRoller - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link
So, I can't get a board with displayport until we reach $50? Why? Isn't displayport royalty free?My issue is that I've a 1440p auria with both HDMI and do BUT, afaict, the HDMI interface doesn't support more than 1080p.
I really hate the HDMI spec. At least with displayport versions you know what to expect.