Fusion E-350 Review: ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe, ECS HDC-I and Zotac FUSION350-A-E
by Ian Cutress on July 14, 2011 11:00 AM ESTFeatures
| ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe | |
| Market Segment | HTPC |
| CPU Interface | FT1 BGA |
| CPU Support | Fusion |
| Chipset | Hudson-M1 (A50M) |
| Memory Slots |
Two DDR3 DIMM Maximum 8 GB Non-ECC Unbuffered |
| Expansion Slots |
One PCIe x16 (x4 speed) One mini-PCIe for Wifi |
| Onboard |
5 x SATA 6Gbps Ports 1 x USB 3.0 header 2 x USB 2.0 headers 1 x MemOK Switch 2 x Fan Headers 1 x Front Panel Audio Connector 1 x SPDIF Out Connector |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek® 8111E PCIe Gigabit LAN controller |
| Onboard Audio |
ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC Supports DTS Surround Sensation Ultra-PC |
| Power Connectors |
24-pin ATX Power Connector 4-pin 12V CPU Power Connector |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU (3-pin) 1 x CHA (3-pin) |
| IO Panel |
2 x Antenna 1 x PS/2 Port 2 x USB 3.0 4 x USB 2.0 1 x HDMI 1 x Optical SPDIF Output 1 x DVI 1 x Bluetooth Reciever 1 x eSATA 6 Gbps 1 x Gigabit Ethernet 3 x Audio Jacks |
| BIOS Version | 0902 |
| Warranty Period | 3 Year |
In The Box
I was quite disappointed when I opened the box - there's not a lot in here:
- Two antennas
- Two SATA cables - locking and right angled
- I/O Shield
- User Guide
- Quick Start Guide
With this being the most expensive ASUS Fusion board, I'd have expected a USB 3.0 bracket or something in there.
Software
My issue with ASUS software is the installer, surprisingly enough. The first thing it asks you to do is install Norton Internet Security 2011. I imagine that's the first thing that goes through a person's mind when they're installing an ASUS motherboard (insert sarcasm), rather than any of the Ethernet, audio or wifi drivers. Actually, if Norton fails to install, it suggests you connect online to download Norton Power Eraser - again, this is impossible if you haven't installed the Ethernet/wifi drivers!
The other software with the E35M1-I Deluxe is straightforward - ASUS' main software tool is the AI Suite II, which we've covered extensively in previous reviews, but here receives a severe cut-down version. The new addition is ASUS Vibe, a vain attempt to provide an interface for music and radio stations as well as game demos.
AI Suite II
There are no overclocking controls in the AI Suite II this time - the only tool which isn't related to monitoring or updating is Fan Xpert, which allows adjustment of the two fan headers on board. The software was, for me, sluggish to respond to my changes.
The software does allow straightforward BIOS updating, which is always good to have.
ASUS Vibe
In an effort to provide functionality to their boards, ASUS have decided to include Vibe - a simple piece of software which provides one click access to music stations, radio stations and game demos. The radio stations are amazingly synced to your location - I got links to an array of BBC radio stations as I'm in the UK. They are all run within the software window itself, but the games require downloads.
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mschira - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
I find it hard to believe how calmly the praises for the 33% overclock are. Just face it the Lano platform can use all the speed it can get, and that 33% sounds healthy enough.At 1.6 I think Lano is slightly underpowered, at 2.1Ghz, well slightly less i.e. not anymore.
It hard to understand why AMD isn't coming up with a 2Ghz variant of Lano. I fact I find it very concerning. It looks as if AMD is just not determined enough to compete with Intel.
M.
Rick83 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
E350 is not Llano.And mini ITX E350 is not meant for overclocking and performance.
Thus I find this to be a bit of a non-feature. Better to get a passively cooled 32nm Intel S1156 Pentium, if you need more performance.
As far as I know, the only drawback this level of performance has, is when flash movies at extreme settings are played. While this may be important for some, it's not needed in a general browsing/mail machine that does the odd office application. Nor in most home cinemas, where local mkvs or disks are played.
Yet for this overclock you give up on passive cooling and instead get a tiny, and presumably relatively whiny fan. Not worth the hassle.
AmdInside - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
I have an older ITX case I would like to continue using and it puzzles me why almost all of these mobos use a 24-pin connector when there are so many ITX cases with a 20-pin connector.andymcca - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
Does anyone spend money on WHS for NAS? Seems like a waste. (Don't get me wrong, I see some reasons to get it if text scares you and you are doing something more complicated. And have money to burn. Or live on a pirate ship.)RAID is supported in the Linux kernel, and is better than any junky fakeRAID a motherboard might provide. And with 6 SATA 6Gb/s ports, this makes a damn fine NAS!
andymcca - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
Though the lack of 1000 Gb/s ethernet is sad :(andymcca - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
I'd settle for 1Gb/s :)Rick83 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
which all of these boards have.burpnrun - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
Firstly, the author starts by positioning the AMD CPU/boards in a HTPC context. Then promply forgets any consideration of a HTPC role. Not one video/encoding/decoding/transcoding benchmark. Instead, "games" and "computational" benchmarks. WTF? I'm wondering, is this guy competent?Secondly, as other posters have commented, the author's/article's power consumption measurements are so outlandish as to be laughed at. I mean, seriously warped versus reality. Incompetence (and determined reluctance to remeasure/fix) is brashly showing through at this point.
The coup-de-gace of this idiotic review, though, is the inclusion of a Nvidia 580GTX for games, a role the Brazos CPU/Chipsets are not positioned towards. A 580GTX? In a 4x PCIe slot? And there are problems? WOW. I wonder why? At this point I concluded that not only was the author totally incompetent, but the motive of the article was also highly suspect.
Until Arnand cleans up this stinking pile of pseudo "review", I'm not coming back here. I'm not a Intel or AMD fanboy, but this is such an incompetent, biased, purposeless (or was there a mission here that tried to be masked by "review" status?) article that a line has to be drawn in the sand against outright c*rap "reviews" like this.
Anand, you should be ashamed to even have this piece of junk on your site!
ET - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
If this is the worst review you've read in 15 years, uou must not read a lot of reviews, so your threat of not coming back probably means that the next review you'll read in five years will be on another site. If you really want, I can point you to a lot of other sites with worse reviews.Not saying that this review is perfect, but come on, lots of other reviews of the E-350 have done exactly the same things, and some of your issues are nit-picking. Would you had been happier if a lower end discrete card was put in the PCIe slot? Putting a very high end one just illustrates how CPU bound this platform is.
AnandThenMan - Friday, July 15, 2011 - link
"lots of other reviews of the E-350 have done exactly the same things"Post the links, I'd like to read them. Thanks.