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  1. #1
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    AM4 boards roundup

    AM4 boards roundup: iTX format

    At this moment there are three different chipsets being used in AM4 boards: the X370, the B350 and the A320. Still to come are the X300 and A300.

    The usual advantage of the X370 -SLI/Crossfire- falls away in the iTX scenario -my Antec ISK 110s do not even support a discrete video card-, so why would you want to spend extra money on it?

    The X370 chipset can connect up to six SATA drives (four when using Ryzen) and supports up to a massive ten USB 3.1 gen1 ports and two USB 3.1 gen2 ports.
    So far we've had the ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Gaming-ITX/ac and the Biostar Racing X370GTN with this chipset.
    If you don't have plans to make your tiny iTX into a hedgehog of USB connectors you can save money and go for a B350 board instead.
    It can connect up to four SATA drives (two when using Ryzen) and still supports up to six USB 3.1 gen1 ports and two USB 3.1 gen2 ports.
    So far we've seen the ASRock Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming-ITX/ac, the Biostar Racing B350GTN and the Gigabyte AB350N-Gaming WiFi. The Asus RoG Strix B350-I Gaming is announced

    The X370 boards: What do they offer, is the chipset fully utilized?
    Model SATA
    600
    M.2
    S600/
    Pcie3.0x4
    USB 3.1
    Gen2
    USB 3.1
    Gen1
    USB 2.0 NIC WiFi Bluetooth Video out Sound Power
    design
    phases
    ASRock Fatal1ty
    X370 Gaming-ITX/ac
    4x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    3 Rear
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 7265
    867 Mbit/s
    4.2
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    6+2
    Asus ROG Strix
    X370-I Gaming
    4x
    2x
    (1x M.2 PCI-e 2.0 x4)
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Dual Band Wireless
    4.2
    ROG SupremeFX
    S1220A
    6+3
    Biostar Racing
    X370GTN
    4x
    1x
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Realtek
    RTL8118AS
    -
    -
    DVI-D,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC892
    5+2
    WiFi and Bluetooth don't come free and the Asrock board is by far the most expensive choice. How do these boards hold up against the B350 competition, as they do not fully utilize the advantages the X370 chipset offers?
    Model SATA
    600
    M.2
    S600/
    Pcie3.0x4
    USB 3.1
    Gen2
    USB 3.1
    Gen1
    USB 2.0 NIC WiFi Bluetooth Video out Sound Power
    design
    phases
    ASRock Fatal1ty
    B350 Gaming-ITX/ac
    4x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    3 Rear
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 3168
    433 Mbit/s
    4.2
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    6+2
    Asus RoG Strix
    B350-I Gaming
    4x
    2x
    (1x M.2 PCI-e 2.0 x4)
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC
    4.2
    -
    ROG SupremeFX
    S1220A
    6+3
    Biostar Racing
    B350GTN
    4x
    1x
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Realtek
    RTL8118AS
    -
    -
    DVI-D,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC892
    5+2
    Gigabyte AB350N
    Gaming WiFi
    4x
    1x
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 3165
    433 Mbit/s
    4.2
    Display Port,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    4+2
    MSI B350I
    Pro AC
    4x
    1x
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    RTL8111H
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 3168
    433 Mbit/s
    4.2
    Display Port,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC887
    6+2+1
    USB Type-A is the old, well known always-wrong-the-first-time USB connection, Type-C is the always-right type. The two USB front ports, whether 2.0 and/or 3.0/1 are provided through headers on the motherboard.

    Did I hear jaws drop? There is nothing to justify the X370 models in terms of functionality -the B350 board do support PCIe express too-, they only cost more money! Someone smack some engineers for me....

    If this all is still too much for your needs -e.g. because it just won't fit all into your small iTX casing-, there's the A320 chipset.
    It can also connect up to four SATA drives (two when using Ryzen) and also supports up to six USB 3.1 gen1 ports, but only one USB 3.1 gen2 port.

    But: there are no iTX boards yet with the A320 (nor with the X300 or A300). It seems the mobo companies have decided that you're just gonna use a BIG iTX case, like the Bitfenix Prodigy. or the total and utter behemoth of iTX computing: the Thermaltake Core X1, that is even stackable when you go into custom loop liquid cooling and need room for a reservoir (why not try to add another iTX board instead?):
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 06-07-2018 at 08:45 PM. Reason: Asrock USB 3.1 Type-C is Gen1...


  2. #2
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    you have pegged my interest Dirk





    Challenge me, or correct me, but don't ask me to die quietly.

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  3. #3
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    The Asrock Deskmini A300

    With everybody at home due to the Corona virus it is time to refresh this subject. With 2020Q2 before us, what are the present offerings?

    Asrock, as ever the king of the small form factor, has the most offerings. The smallest of them come in a case, complete with its own PSU: the Asrock Deskmini A300.

    You only have to add an APU (as the Deskmini has no room for a GPU), one or two SODIMMs, a SSD and/or HDD and optionally a M.2 WiFi module. It will take Bristol Ridge (Excavator AM4 A6/A8/A10/A12), Raven Ridge (Athlon 200GE, 220GE, 240GE and Ryzen 3 2200G/GE and Ryzen 5 2400G/GE) or Picasso APUs (Athlon 3000, Ryzen 3 3200G/GE and Ryzen 5 3400G/GE) up to 65 Watt tdp. There even seems to be a BIOS setting that lets you choose the tdp, but users report that it doesn't actually do something. The case comes with its own cooler, but that seems to be even smaller than the AMD stock cooler for 35 Watt tdp APUs -and standard, the CPU cooler is the only cooler in the system.

    To show you how small it all is, a small low-height Noctua mounted on the Deskmini A300 as hown on https://smallformfactor.net/reviews/...a300-finally/:

    I'd say: mount a 140mm Noctua at the side, and forget about the closing lid -or maybe even better forget about this SFF casing for 24/7/365 crunching. Nice for office use though.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 04-07-2020 at 03:15 PM.


  4. #4
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    One step upwards from the SFF boards are the iTX boards, Asrock again being the company with the most offerings -not just AMD-wise.

    For Socket AM4 we now get
    Model SATA
    600
    M.2
    S600/
    Pcie3.0x4
    USB 3.1
    Gen2
    USB 3.1
    Gen1
    USB 2.0 NIC WiFi Bluetooth Video out Sound Power
    design
    phases
    Asrock X570 Phantom
    Gaming-ITX/TB3
    4x
    1x PCIe 4
    USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A
    1 Front, 2 Rear
    1x Type-C Tunderbolt3
    USB 3.2 Gen1
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel® 802.11ax
    2400 Mbit/s
    5.0
    1x HDMI,
    1x DisplayPort
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    4 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    ASRock Fatal1ty X470
    Gaming-ITX/ac
    4x
    1x
    Rear,
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel®2T2R
    Dual Band
    1733 Mbit/s
    5.0
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    3 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    Asrock Fatal1ty B450
    Gaming-ITX/ac
    4x
    1x
    Rear,
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 3168
    433 Mbit/s
    4.2
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    3 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    ASRock Fatal1ty X370
    Gaming-ITX/ac
    4x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    3 Rear
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 7265
    867 Mbit/s
    4.2
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    3 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    ASRock Fatal1ty B350
    Gaming-ITX/ac
    4x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    3 Rear
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC 3168
    433 Mbit/s
    4.2
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    3 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    ASRock A320M-ITX
    4x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    3 Rear
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Intel
    I211AT
    -
    -
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC1220
    3 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    ASRock A320TM-ITX
    1x
    1x
    -
    4 Rear
    4 Front
    Realtek
    RTL8111GR
    / RTL8111H
    -
    -
    2x HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC233
    3 CPU VCC (x2)
    +2 SoC VCC
    The ASRock A320TM-ITX is a Thin-iTX board, and has place for two SODIMMS up to a total of 64GB (non-ECC) RAM. Another nicety is that you can mount the common Intel socket 115x coolers on it. Those two features it shares with the Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3, by the way. If you want a small case, you'b better buy a ASRock A320TM-ITX than the Deskmini, as it offers much more possibilities in ports, cooling, GPU and CPU. If and when you are a hard-core LAN party gamer, the X570 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB3 might just be for you at a mere 249 Euro -compare that to the other X570 iTX offerings.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 04-03-2020 at 03:12 PM.


  5. #5
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    Excellent write-up Dirk.

    I particularly agree with this "USB Type-A is the old, well known always-wrong-the-first-time USB connection,"

  6. #6
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    AM4 boards roundup: Micro-ATX (µATX)

    As with the previous form factor, there are three possible chipsets.

    A320 boards
    The most basic of the presently used chipsets, see the table with the iTX roundup.
    There are four boards that make the cut. The cut I've made is that I think a board should be upgradeable, so more RAM should be a possibility.
    All four major mobo maker have a board here: Asrock's A320M Pro4, ASUS' PRIME A320M-A, Gigabyte's GA-A320MA-M.2 and MSI's A320M Bazooka.
    All four are not expensive (between 68 and75 Euro here)
    • The Asrock board stands out for having two M.2 slots, Crossfire capability and having a heatsink for its VRMs.
    • The ASUS board has no heatsinks and only one case fan header. ASUS wants you to have a 35 Watt TDP APU or at most a 45 Watt Zen APU in her A320 board and no more it seems. It does have two M.2 slots and two PCIe 3.0x16 slots though, and one can buy a fan controller -one might even need one with this board.
    • The Gigabyte board is the only one with a USB 3.1 Gen2 port here, but has no VRM heatsink, no 2nd PCIe x16 slot and no 2nd M.2 slot either.
    • The MSI board is the only one of the four that includes light on the mobo (white), but offers no other redeeming capabilities.

    Based on the above I think the Asrock A320M Pro4 board would be my favorite A320 board, especially when I do not want to overclock -reportedly impossible on a A320 board.

    B350 boards
    A more elaborate version of the presently used chipsets, again: see the table with the iTX roundup.
    Here ten boards make the cut, amongst them now also a Biostar. Furthermore one Asrock board, four (!) MSI ones, two Gigabyte and two ASUS.
    The Asrock board, that is almost a twin of the A320 edition, again leaves the strongest impression with having the only full VRM heatsink of the bunch, its two M.2 slots and two PCIe x16 slots -be warned though that you can't use them all at once! The Asrock board is also much cheaper (75 euro) than the e.g. the Asus TUF B350M-PLUS GAMING (106 Euro), the Gigabyte GA-AB350M-D3H (97 Euro) or the MSI B350M Mortar Arctic (94 Euro).

    X370 boards
    There's a quick one: there's only the Biostar Racing X370GT3, and it costs some 120 Euro's.
    Biostar has another odd one out: the sole A320 ATX board, the Biostar TA320 BTC, where BTC stands for Bitcoin, as it is aimed at Bitcoin miners.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 01-22-2018 at 03:22 PM.


  7. #7
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    ASUS
    Model SATA
    600
    M.2
    S600/
    Pcie3.0x4
    USB 3.1
    Gen2
    USB 3.1
    Gen1
    USB 2.0 NIC WiFi Bluetooth Video out Sound Power
    design
    phases
    Asus ROG Strix
    X570-I Gaming
    4x
    2x
    (1x M.2 PCIe4.0 x4)
    3x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Dual Band
    Wi-Fi 6 AX200
    2400Mbit/s
    5.0
    HDMI
    DisplayPort
    ROG SupremeFX
    S1220A
    8 CPU VCC +
    2 SoC VCC
    Asus RoG Strix
    X470-I Gaming
    4x
    2x
    (1x M.2 PCIe3.0x4)
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC
    867 Mbit/s
    4.2
    HDMI
    ROG SupremeFX
    S1220A
    6 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    Asus RoG Strix
    B450-I Gaming
    4x
    2x
    (1x M.2 PCIe3.0x4)
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC
    867 Mbit/s
    4.2
    HDMI
    ROG SupremeFX
    S1220A
    6 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    Asus RoG Strix
    B350-I Gaming
    4x
    2x
    (1x M.2 PCIe2.0x4)
    2x Type-A
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front
    Intel
    I211AT
    Intel Dual Band
    Wireless-AC
    867 Mbit/s
    4.2
    -
    ROG SupremeFX
    S1220A
    6 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    Asus Prime
    A320I-K/CSM
    4x
    1x M.2 PCIe2.0x4
    -
    2 Front 3.0
    4x Rear 3.1
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    RTL8111H
    -
    -
    HDMI
    DisplayPort
    ALC887
    5 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    It still seems that adding 'ROG Strix' to an ASUS product warrants an extra amount of money to be asked for it, nowadays seemingly even more so. The X470 board goes for 214 Euro's here now, while the B450 board does 168 Euro's. ASUS dropped their X370 model, but the new X570 model now goes for a whopping 285 Euro. At the other side of the price spectrum they lowered the price for the B350 model to 127 Euro and brought out an A320 Prime model for 98 Euros. A more balanced portfolio. And if you really want to blow your money away on a small form factor board, there's the mini-DTX ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Impact, that changes hands for some 377 Euros...for those iTX cases that leave us that little bit of extra space (8 × 6.7 inch / 203 × 170 mm), an iTX board with room for one extra PCIe slot in short.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 04-07-2020 at 01:35 AM.


  8. #8
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    Two new iTX boards included in the overview (ASUS ROG X370 and MSI)


  9. #9
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    Biostar
    Model SATA
    600
    M.2
    S600/
    Pcie3.0x4
    USB 3.1
    Gen2
    USB 3.1
    Gen1
    USB 2.0 NIC WiFi Bluetooth Video out Sound Power
    design
    phases
    Biostar Racing
    X470GTN
    4x
    1x
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Realtek
    RTL8118AS
    -
    -
    DVI-D,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC892
    4 CPU VCC +
    3 SoC VCC
    Biostar
    X470NH
    4x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    RTL8111H
    -
    -
    HDMI,
    VGA
    Realtek
    ALC887
    4 CPU VCC +
    3 SoC VCC
    Biostar Racing
    X370GTN
    4x
    1x
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Realtek
    RTL8118AS
    -
    -
    DVI-D,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC892
    4 CPU VCC +
    3 SoC VCC
    Biostar Racing
    B350GTN
    4x
    1x
    1x Type-A
    1x Type-C
    2 Front,
    4 Rear
    2 Front
    Realtek
    RTL8118AS
    -
    -
    DVI-D,
    HDMI
    Realtek
    ALC892
    4 CPU VCC +
    3 SoC VCC
    A10N-9830E
    2x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    RTL8111H
    -
    -
    HDMI
    VGA
    ALC887
    3 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    A10N-9630E
    2x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    RTL8111H
    -
    -
    HDMI
    VGA
    ALC887
    3 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    A10N-8800E
    2x
    1x
    -
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    2 Front,
    2 Rear
    Realtek
    RTL8111H
    -
    -
    HDMI
    VGA
    ALC887
    3 CPU VCC +
    1 SoC VCC
    Biostar is by far the most surprising company in this market niece. Not only did they bring out new models, they brought models that have no equivalent with the other companies. They seem to be the only ones with the old Socket AM1 user-base in their minds and cater boards that may be appreciated there. And though all three previous socketed models still feature on the Biostar website, they have all fallen off the price lists here. From the four 'new' boards three have their CPU onboard, and that CPU is a Bristol Ridge/Excavator APU, a step-up from the AM1 Kabini APU with its R3/HD 8400 graphics. The other is a more basic X470 board, at 92 Euros.
    The A10N-8800E (AMD FX-8800P Quad core, 2.1GHz up to 3.4GHz) is an ideal board for those who were early adapters of DDR4, as it accepts no faster than 2133 MHz [-those early sticks that you now have no use for]. Its tdp of a mere 15 Watt makes it an ideal AM1 replacement, and it sports Radeon R7 graphics, all this at a mere 90 Euro's -that's board plus APU.
    The A10N-9630E (AMD A10-9630P Quad core, 2.6GHz up to 3.3GHz) will accept up to 2400 MHz DDR4. It has Radeon R5 graphics and a tdp of 35 Watt and is, IMHO, the weakest offering here, at an as yet unknown price -but I bet it will be low.
    The A10N-9830E (AMD FX-9830P Quad core, 3.0GHz up to 3.7GHz) will also accept up to 2400 MHz DDR4. It sports Radeon R7 graphics though and also has a tdp of 35 Watt. It is the better of the two 35 Watt offerings in features, also at an as yet unknown price.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 04-03-2020 at 11:05 PM.


  10. #10
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    Do they read these posts at Asus, Biostar, Gigabyte and MSI?

    Fact is that the Socket AM4 B450 and X470 mobo's presently shown at Computex have better VRM cooling than the previous -A320, B350 and X370- generation.
    It can also be their own conclusion after comparing their VRM cooling solution with the Asock's Pro4 and Tachi models.
    MSI AM4 B450 mobo's at AnandTech
    Gigabyte X399 TR4 and B450 AM4 mobo's at Tom's Hardware


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