The AM1 Kabini Motherboard Preview: Analyzing the Hardware
by Ian Cutress on April 19, 2014 2:00 PM ESTGIGABYTE AM1M-S2H
The motherboard AMD decided to ship with its Kabini review packs was the GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H. By being at the cheaper end of the spectrum, AMD was hoping to show just how cheap a quad core Jaguar derived system could be with one of the major motherboard manufacturers.
The GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H does the motherboard design a little more traditionally than the previous Biostar, in the sense that the DRAM slots are in the regular orientation and the 4-pin CPU power connector is also in a place beneficial for cable management:
For a larger motherboard it does seem relatively empty, however due to the low cost nature GIGABYTE has restricted the extras above the standard package. Aside from what Kabini provides GIGABYTE has equipped the AM1M-S2H with two BIOS chips for their DualBIOS topology. We get a regular Ethernet gigabit controller as well, along with a Realtek ALC887 audio codec rather than the ultra-low-cost ALC662.
Both fan headers on the motherboard are 4-pin, and because we actually have this motherboard in house to test, we can confirm that the BIOS and software are up to date with a modern platform. GIGABYTE states compatibility with 16GB DDR3 DRAM modules which Biostar does not, so we are just waiting for them to actually come to market.
The rear panel is pretty bleak, although we get a HDMI port supporting 4K UHD at 30 Hz. Given the power of a Kabini APU, gaming at that resolution might be best avoided.
| GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H | |
| Price | Link |
| Size | Micro-ATX |
| CPU Interface | FS1b |
| Chipset | Kabini |
| Memory Slots |
Two DDR3 DRAM slots supporting 32GB Single Channel, 1333/1600 MHz |
| Video Outputs |
VGA (1920x1200) HDMI (4096x2160) |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek (10/100/1000) |
| 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) [back panel] |
| Onboard |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 2 x Fan Headers Front Audio Header Front Panel Header COM Header LPT Header S/PDIF Output Header |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 4-pin CPU |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x SYS (4-pin) |
| IO Panel |
1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port VGA HDMI 2 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 1 x Ethernet (1 Gbps) Audio Jacks (ALC887) |
| Product Page | Link |
Compared to the $33 AM1ML, the GIGABYTE offers a lot for $2 more – DualBIOS, a full microATX size, gigabit Ethernet, a better audio codec, both fan headers are 4-pins and a more traditional orientation for DRAM and cable management.
We should have a full review of this motherboard in due course.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
64 Comments
View All Comments
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.