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?
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
64 Comments
View All Comments
coolhardware - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
Sorry for the error on my part, I got the 5150 and 5350 mixed up :-(As per your original post, where did you see that nice 5150 OC? With an ASUS board should the same type OC be possible with the 5350?
Thanks!
yannigr - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
At techpowerup. http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/amd-kabi...But overclocking on this platform is still a big question mark. At Phoronix for example they also tried to overclock ALL the four processors available on the same motherboard and in ALL cases they had stability problems over 105MHz bus speed. So more time is needed to have a definite idea about the overclocking potential on this platform.
As for 5350 I don't know what frequency it can reach. 2100MHz should be easy I guess with just a multiplier change from 20.5 to 21, gut it does make you wonder why AMD didn't gave 5350 the 21 multiplier in the first place.
tech6 - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
The problem with the Kabini platform is that it makes too many sacrifices for too little gain. You can buy an Intel G3220 and an MSI H81M mobo for around $100 and while it may consume 10-15W (on paper) more power it will give you about twice the CPU power.As for real world power consumption, I recently build a G3220 system and even when under 100% max CPU and GPU compute using Hash Suite it never exceeded 60W. Under most everyday loads it used about 40W. Given these numbers it is difficult to make a case for the Kabini platform.
savagemike - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
I was contemplating similarly. I also wonder with the increased compute power if getting to idle quicker doesn't also attack any power savings.yannigr - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
You gone from $60 to $100. This isn't "too little gain". Also you forget that the Kabini platform does have better graphics. Much better graphics. And I am not talking (only) about performance, but compatibility also.So, if you need cpu power and you have $100 you can go for Intel. But if you want a better balanced solution in gpu-cpu performance and keep $30-$40 in your pocket, Kabinis are the best option.
mikato - Wednesday, April 23, 2014 - link
I agree.Carleh - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
Does the G3220 support hardware accelerated video decoding?It does support quicksync, but I'm not sure if quicksync can be used for hw accelerated video playback in all applications (flash includeed).
I know the G3220 is powerful enough to do all the decoding in software, but I see no point in using software video decoding in 2014.
Chicken76 - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
I remember from the slides that were presented by AMD at launch, that ECC RAM (unbuffered) was supported. Why isn't there a single motherboard that supports it? In it's current form, Kabini is not an option for building a cheap ZFS storage box.Death666Angel - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Why does the motherboard need to support ECC RAM? I'm pretty sure they are physically identical to normal RAM and since the SoC handles all memory (as with most modern CPUs/APUs), the motherboard has no say in it.Chicken76 - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
I'm not sure, but if you're not using error correction on a DIMM, do you still need all the traces? They might not have them all in place, to keep costs to a minimum.Besides, you still need BIOS support for ECC.