The AM1 Kabini Motherboard Preview: Analyzing the Hardware
by Ian Cutress on April 19, 2014 2:00 PM ESTBiostar AM1ML
Every so often at AnandTech we review a Biostar motherboard, and sometimes we get some exciting features (the first manufacturer to test fan profiles in the BIOS) but they mostly end up as a budget play in a market with plenty of players. As part of the AM1 release Biostar hase two motherboards on sale, the cheapest of which is this AM1ML coming in at $33.
Straight off the bat the AM1ML does a couple of things differently compared to a regular motherboard:
First thing I noticed was the arrangement of the DRAM slots. Horizontal placement on a small form factor motherboard has been attempted by ASRock in the past on their channel range, but this type of arrangement is usually restricted to server type builds.
Second was the motherboard size. In my mind I immediately said mini-ITX, however on closer inspection this motherboard is essentially a mini-ITX ‘plus’. It contains the standard 17cm x 17cm layout of a mini-ITX, plus a couple more at the bottom, but not enough for a microATX. This means that this motherboard will not fit in mini-ITX cases unless the case has room for a dual-slot GPU. As a result of this configuration, we get a PCIe 2.0 x1 slot alongside the full-sized x4 slot.
As with many small form factor boards, my ire is often pointed at the location of the CPU power connector. Biostar has it placed near the rear IO of the motherboard, causing cables to be stretched over the motherboard (or DRAM, CPU or GPU). This is ultimately bad planning by an engineer who has a different idea about small form-factor systems than I do. As this is the cheapest AM1 motherboard on Newegg today, there is no surprise that we get the bare minimum. Two SATA 6 Gbps ports, two USB 3.0 ports, and there is even room for a printer port and a COM port.
The back panel is essentially bare, with support for separate PS/2 peripherals and a single VGA port for video output.
Perhaps a surprising kicker is the Ethernet port. Biostar are using a Realtek RTL8106E, which as codenames go is pretty generic, but this is a 10/100 Ethernet port. I never thought I would ever see a socketed motherboard in 2014 ship with a less-than-gigabit Ethernet port. My mind is blown.
The audio is subsequently bottom of the barrel as well – the ALC662 is commonly used on low cost platforms and laptops.
| Biostar AM1ML | |
| Price | Link |
| Size | Mini-ITX Plus |
| CPU Interface | FS1b |
| Chipset | AMD Kabini |
| Memory Slots |
Two DDR3 DRAM Slots Supporting 16GB Single Channel, Up To 1600 MHz |
| Video Outputs | VGA |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek RTL8106E - 10/100 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC662 |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x4) 1 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 |
1 x LPT Header 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 2 x SATA 6 Gbps ports 1 x Front Audio Header 1 x Front Panel Header 2 x Fan Headers 1 x COM Header |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 4-pin CPU |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x SYS (3-pin) |
| IO Panel |
PS/2 Mouse Port PS/2 Keyboard Port VGA 2 x USB 3.0 2 x USB 2.0 1 x NIC (10/100) 3 x Audio Jacks |
| Product Page | Link |
For $33, the Biostar AM1ML gave me a few surprises on the hardware side of the equation. I do not imagine we will have time for a full review to test performance or software, but cheap is cheap.
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coolhardware - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link
Nice brief overview of the motherboards, wish there was some more meat to the article. I guess that comes later!I have the MSI AM1I with an Athlon 5350 and have been loving it. The MSI can actually do a slight CPU OC by setting the multiplier to 21x which gets the clock to 2.1GHz (as opposed to 2.05GHz stock) and it overclocked my 1333 memory to 1666 with no problem. Overall it's a sweet little board for the price!
Anybody else with other AM1 motherboards notice any OCing options?
I'm posting my experiences here: http://www.jdhodges.com/blog/amd-kabini-athlon-535...
Also, I want to find out if it can drive three displays (DVI+VGA+HDMI) and looking forward to trying some high-res output from the HDMI port. I doubt the DVI is dual link, but I plan to find out for sure by trying my trusty Dell 30" 2560x1600 display :-)
meacupla - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link
does SODIMM DDR3L cost more to implement than desktop DDR3?All of these boards could have saved a ton of space by going with SODIMM, but none have.
Why?
MonkeyPaw - Saturday, April 19, 2014 - link
With the SOC taking on most of the work, the boards don't need to worry about space savings, as they still need to fit in the standard ITX/ATX form factors. I imagine the legacy DIMM slots are cheaper anyway. These boards are engineered for cheap, which is why you see 10/100, 2.1 audio, USB 2.0, or limited expansion options. If a better option was even 5 cents more, they probably skipped it. I'm surprised these things aren't white boxed!Voldenuit - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Ian: is the Biostar mini-DTX (23x17 cm) instead of mini-ITX? I haven't heard of mini-ITX plus before.Voldenuit - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
Typo: Mini-DTX is 20.3x17cmElFenix - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
the board is 19.1x17, so it fits within the mini-DTX size specification. however, biostar calls it micro atx on its website.geniekid - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
It is mini-DTX, but I guess it shows how unpopular the spec is given that even an AT writer came up with his own term for it.IMO there's a lot of potential for mDTX for people who want compact systems without giving up a graphics card or their audio card.
yannigr - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
I hope there is an overclocking part coming in the future. I have seen a 5150 running at 2.1GHz(ASUS board). On the other hand at Phoronix they hit the wall at 105MHz bus for some reason.An article about overclocking, especially the Sempron, would have been great. There is a possibility that Sempron to be the second product from AMD that I will buy and will have a 3850 as a model number. I am just waiting for more info from around the net.
PS If kabinis where black edition chips AMD wouldn't be able to produce them fast enough.
coolhardware - Sunday, April 20, 2014 - link
MSI can run the 5150 at 2.1GHz as well, screenshots here:http://www.jdhodges.com/blog/amd-kabini-athlon-535...
Anybody seen more than 21x on a 5150? And do the lower end Kabini's overclock any?
yannigr - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
It is NOT the 5150 in the test but the 5350. Look the link itself. It says 5350.MSI only seems to have the option to change the multiplier, not the bus speed. And the multiplier will give you extra 50MHz IF the APU has a multiplier with a .5 in it, like 5350 it has 20.5 multiplier. So you can change it to 21. If this was a 5150 with 16 multiplier you wouldn't be able to go any higher than that. Not a single MHz.
Thanks for the link anyway!