The Biostar A10N-8800E Motherboard Review: Carrizo in 2019?!
by Dr. Ian Cutress & Gavin Bonshor on August 14, 2019 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- CPUs
- AMD
- Biostar
- Mini ITX
- HTPC
- Carrizo
- A10N-8800E
- FX-8800P
- Athlon 200GE
Visual Inspection
The Biostar A10N-8800E motherboard uses a simplistic, yet striking color theme throughout with yellow DDR4 memory slots, a yellow full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, on a black PCB with black connectors. This full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot allows users to use a discrete graphics card which is an option if an option with DisplayPort is desired, although the AMD FX-8800P does feature integrated graphics of its own.
In the centre of the PCB is an integrated cooling solution which is made of an aluminium heatsink with a straight-forward fin-array, and a small black fan. This is more than ample for the AMD FX-8800P quad-core processor with its low operating 15 W TDP. There is no overclocking here.
Located at the top of the Biostar A10N-8800E is two memory slots which have support for DDR4-2133 and up to a maximum of 32 GB of capacity. These slots also only support non-ECC memory so users looking to use server grade memory with the intended use of a building a small form factor microserver will have to re-think their options if error correction is a buying factor.
Located above the full-length PCIe 3.0 x16 slot is a single PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot which is also capable of running SATA based drives. This is somewhat unique for a Carrizo desktop system, and well worth the addition. There are also two SATA ports with straight-angled connectors located just below the 24-pin 12 V ATX motherboard power input. With the AMD FX-8800P coming with its own low profile CPU cooling solution, there are two 3-pin fan headers to use for case fans. Nothing fancy and 4-pin PWM fans aren't supported, but the level of cooling required for operation on an integrated SoC option such as this isn't a hefty requirement.
Driving power to the basic three-phase power delivery is a single 4-pin 12 V ATX CPU power input. The power delivery of the A10N-8800E is operating in a 2+1 configuration with each CPU VCore phase consisting of two Sinopower SM4364A N-channel high-side MOSFETs, and a single Sinopower SM4377 N-channel low-side MOSFET. Providing power to the integrated graphics of the AMD FX-8800P is a single dual-driver ISL62773A and is designed for AMD Fusion mobile processors specifically. None of the power delivery includes any form of a heatsink, but due to the low operating power of the FX-8800P, this isn't a requirement.
On the rear panel of the Biostar A10N-8800E is a basic set of inputs, connectors and outputs usually associated with integrated SoC solutions. USB capability is provided by two USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 ports. A single front panel USB 3.1 header provides an additional two G1 Type-A ports, where the single USB 2.0 header also contributes an extra two ports to the cause. Additionally from left to right, is separate PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, an HDMI video output capable of delivering the 4K2K high definition resolution, a single D-Sub output, a single 1 GbE LAN port, and three color-coded 3.5 mm audio jacks powered by a Realtek (insert model) audio codec.
What's in the Box
Included in the accessory bundle of the Biostar A10N-8800E are two SATA cables, a silver IO shield, a DVD driver disk and a quick guide to get users up and running. It's a very basic set of accessories, but more than ample as the PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot includes the mounts and screws required for installation on the board already.
- Two straight-angled SATA cables
- IO shield
- Driver installation disc
- Quick installation guide
73 Comments
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hojnikb - Friday, August 16, 2019 - link
I bet there must be a ton of leftover chips, that amd is selling for peanuts.DominionSeraph - Saturday, August 17, 2019 - link
Now compare it to an i5 2400 system you can get off ebay for $90.Haawser - Monday, August 19, 2019 - link
Yeah, but you can't put that in a 1.5L mini-itx box with a pico-PSU and make a tiny little PC can you ? It's the low watts and low cooler height that make these type of boards so attractive.John_M - Saturday, September 14, 2019 - link
It's also available new, unlike the i5 2400 from ebay.skomo - Sunday, August 18, 2019 - link
I love this kind of "things".Will this "combo" ideal to run various emulators? Psx, ps2, Dolphin (NGC/WII)?
I'd love one under my TV.
versesuvius - Sunday, August 18, 2019 - link
They probably made this motherboard 3 years ago but forgot to sell it.RuthLMartinez - Monday, August 19, 2019 - link
hypraeses - Monday, August 19, 2019 - link
I bought one of these a little while ago as it seemed to fit with a bunch of leftover parts collected over the years and wanted to play with it for comparison as a living room PC. It seems okay, but perhaps not the best value. The biggest flaw I had at least with the personal unit I had was it would regularly thermal throttle (95C) even with the fan profile on aggressive or manual full. Sitting at the BIOS alone for an hour seemed to be too much for it. I tried different thermal paste, new springs/pins, screws etc for mounting and eventually tried different heatsinks. It seems in general this one is relatively poor. I ended up taking an drill and angle grinder to an old stock Socket AM2/AM3 heatsink to make clearances and went with that. I used nail polish on the surface mount components around the die, then covered it in thermal paste as well as the die then epoxied the heatsink down (as my drill/tapping skills weren't up to the task). It seems to peak at 49C now and maintain full clocks.What I want know, how is anyone else's thermals with these boards? I would personally go with the 320GE if I had a do-over purely because of the annoyances of cooling.
pc start - Friday, August 23, 2019 - link
eu particularmente não gosto de cpu integrada.lwatcdr - Saturday, August 31, 2019 - link
I want to know why the author used the word two and not the number 2 in the chart for the quantity of SATA ports on the board? It is just really inconsistent and frankly annoying. If the reason is that is how the manufacture did it and they just cut and pasted it, shame on you.