The AM1 Kabini Motherboard Preview: Analyzing the Hardware
by Ian Cutress on April 19, 2014 2:00 PM ESTGIGABYTE AM1M-S2H
The motherboard AMD decided to ship with its Kabini review packs was the GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H. By being at the cheaper end of the spectrum, AMD was hoping to show just how cheap a quad core Jaguar derived system could be with one of the major motherboard manufacturers.
The GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H does the motherboard design a little more traditionally than the previous Biostar, in the sense that the DRAM slots are in the regular orientation and the 4-pin CPU power connector is also in a place beneficial for cable management:
For a larger motherboard it does seem relatively empty, however due to the low cost nature GIGABYTE has restricted the extras above the standard package. Aside from what Kabini provides GIGABYTE has equipped the AM1M-S2H with two BIOS chips for their DualBIOS topology. We get a regular Ethernet gigabit controller as well, along with a Realtek ALC887 audio codec rather than the ultra-low-cost ALC662.
Both fan headers on the motherboard are 4-pin, and because we actually have this motherboard in house to test, we can confirm that the BIOS and software are up to date with a modern platform. GIGABYTE states compatibility with 16GB DDR3 DRAM modules which Biostar does not, so we are just waiting for them to actually come to market.
The rear panel is pretty bleak, although we get a HDMI port supporting 4K UHD at 30 Hz. Given the power of a Kabini APU, gaming at that resolution might be best avoided.
| GIGABYTE AM1M-S2H | |
| Price | Link |
| Size | Micro-ATX |
| CPU Interface | FS1b |
| Chipset | Kabini |
| Memory Slots |
Two DDR3 DRAM slots supporting 32GB Single Channel, 1333/1600 MHz |
| Video Outputs |
VGA (1920x1200) HDMI (4096x2160) |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek (10/100/1000) |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC887 |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4) 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 2 x SATA 6 Gbps |
| USB 3.0 | 2 x USB 3.0 (Chipset) [back panel] |
| Onboard |
2 x SATA 6 Gbps 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 2 x Fan Headers Front Audio Header Front Panel Header COM Header LPT Header S/PDIF Output Header |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 4-pin CPU |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x SYS (4-pin) |
| IO Panel |
1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port VGA HDMI 2 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 1 x Ethernet (1 Gbps) Audio Jacks (ALC887) |
| Product Page | Link |
Compared to the $33 AM1ML, the GIGABYTE offers a lot for $2 more – DualBIOS, a full microATX size, gigabit Ethernet, a better audio codec, both fan headers are 4-pins and a more traditional orientation for DRAM and cable management.
We should have a full review of this motherboard in due course.
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RoboJ1M - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
I've been wondering how these AM1 boards can be so cheap compared to the usual ITX fare.It occurred to me that if Kabini is a SoC, does that make these mobos basically breakout boards? Like you get for Computers on Module stuff?
Ortanon - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
That's more or less accurate, yeah. Which means the boards should be cheaper than they currently are; it's just that it's brand new. So later this year we should see a lot of price drops.Haravikk - Sunday, April 27, 2014 - link
Personally I prefer the "horizontal" RAM layout, and I'm surprised more manufacturers don't use it, as it's just better for cooling overall IMO. The only issue really is that many coolers aren't designed for it, because not enough motherboards do it, but if they did then cooler manufacturers would adapt. We can only hope.Personally I don't see the point of the PS/2 port(s) on these motherboards, likewise with VGA. I think that nowadays that HDMI and USB are so common that you're not saving much (if any) money opting for older standards unless you just happen to have these lying around. Even so, I have two HDMI to VGA adapters just lying around, so it's not like it'd be hard to hook up a VGA monitor anyway if you really needed to.
medra - Saturday, June 14, 2014 - link
"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."Actually, ALC887 is a 7.1 channel HD Audio Codec while the ALC662 is a 5.1 channel HD Audio Codec.