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
JFish222 - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
I agree, its disappointing that there is no ECC. (At least not listed.)I was really looking forward to using one of these for a low cost FreeNAS box.
Ian, Anand and company. Please encourage ECC bios support/validation! If any of the manufacturers support it (not always obvious when they do) please point it out.
For those that don't understand the importance, ZFS has numerous benefits but its greatest weakness is the ability to corrupt the entire data pool due to a flipped bit or 2 in RAM.
For more info - http://forums.freenas.org/index.php?threads/ecc-vs...
Chicken76 - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
Indeed, Anandtech has the ear of motherboard manufacturers. They might respond positively if such suggestions are properly argumented. There's not only the enthusiast home user that these might be useful to, there's also the small businesses sector, where cost is a deciding factor. Add ECC support and a bit of validation for production use, and a lot of the cost-conscientious businesses will refresh their storage boxes and low workload machines using Kabini, instead of the Pentiums and Celerons they use now.rogueninja - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Only bad friends recommend AMD.meacupla - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Currently, AMD's most attractive CPU parts are the $60 A6-6400k and $120 FX-6300.Pentium and i3 have more single thread computing power, but looking at the entire package, AMD has some advantages at those price points.
Like a cheap 8 port SATA mobo, you can't have that with cheap LGA1150 boards.
or having 6 physical cores.
Antronman - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
Except that when you're on a low budget, AMD is the only thing you should be recommending.Ortanon - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
Intel usually wins low-budget too, haha. If you're talking "best gaming performance at the absolute bottom," yes, AMD wins. But who wants to game down there? As soon as you try to add any performance to your build whatsoever, it turns into an Intel solution with a PCIe GPU. It's possible that this would be different if all software was highly-threaded, but it just doesn't work out that way.AlB80 - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Gigabyte's mobo has heatsink. What behind it? SuperIO?DuckieHo - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
Biostar's mITX-Plus..... isn't that just AMD's DTX form factor?JBVertexx - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
Stumbled across this - PC build in the motherboard box:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xngzjrKg3zI
WeatherDave - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
"COM port, LPT port and a TPM port on the same PCB"We have about 50 machines here. Mostly for embedded testing, such as stepper motors, and old equipment that ONLY connects via Serial Port. USB converters are both unreliable and prone to failure, so we like having the COM ports on board. Besides, Windows 98/2000 and XP much prefer them over a converter. Now, we don't have much use for the LPT, but TPM and a cheap SSD certainly keeps IT Security off our backs.