The AM1 Kabini Motherboard Preview: Analyzing the Hardware
by Ian Cutress on April 19, 2014 2:00 PM ESTASRock AM1H-ITX
The last motherboard in our roundup is one we have previously featured on AnandTech before Kabini launch. The ASRock AM1H-ITX takes a different direction almost entirely by providing users with the option of powering the system by a power supply or a standard 19V laptop charger. For this latter configuration, ASRock provide a SATA power header on the motherboard for SATA devices, but unless two lower powered units are used, it is only a one-to-one power header.
For being the most expensive Kabini motherboard, ASRock is piling a lot into this model. Alongside an additional controller for SATA 6 Gbps (totaling four ports), there is also another USB 3.0 controller. Both of these are from ASMedia. With the full length PCIe 2.0 slot there is also a mini-PCIe slot for a WiFi card.
Another feature on the AM1H-ITX that sets it apart from the other Kabini motherboards is the inclusion of a DisplayPort on the rear IO. Due to the presence of the DC-In Jack and the larger video outputs, we are limited in USB ports compared to some of the other models. Because there is a DC-In, ASRock has forgone the 4-pin CPU power connector, choosing instead to use power direct from the DC-In or ATX power connector.
The AM1H-ITX is also the only motherboard in this roundup with a 7.1 audio codec, using the Realtek ALC892 compared to the ALC887 or ALC662 on the others which are both 2.1 at best.
| ASRock AM1H-ITX | |
| Price | Link |
| Size | Mini-ITX |
| CPU Interface | FS1b |
| Chipset | Kabini |
| Memory Slots |
Two DDR3 DRAM slots, supporting 16GB Single Channel, 1066-1600 MHz |
| Video Outputs |
VGA (2048x1536 at 60 Hz) DVI-D (1920x1200 at 60 Hz) HDMI (4096x2160 at 24 Hz or 3840x2160 at 30 Hz) DisplayPort (4096x2160 at 30 Hz) |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek RTL8111GR |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC892 |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4) 1 x mini-PCIe |
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps (Chipset) 2 x SATA 6 Gbps (ASMedia 1061) |
| USB 3.0 |
2 x USB 3.0 (Chipset) [back panel) 2 x USB 3.0 (ASMedia 1042A) [header] |
| Onboard |
4 x SATA 6 Gbps 1 x USB 3.0 Header 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 3 x Fan Headers 1 x COM Header 1 x TPM Header Front Panel Header Front Audio Header |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 19V DC-In on Rear Panel |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x CHA (4-pin) 1 x SYS (3-pin) |
| IO Panel |
1 x 19V DC-In Jack 1 x PS/2 Combination Port VGA DVI-D HDMI DisplayPort 1.2 2 x USB 2.0 2 x USB 3.0 1 x Gigabit Ethernet Audio Jacks (ALC892) |
| Product Page | Link |
Being $59 puts it at almost double the cost of the cheapest motherboards. For the price difference a user could almost pick up one of the lower cost APUs. This all comes back to the question of what functionality a user needs. Does it just have to run and go, or is connectivity a concern?
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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.