Finally an alternative to the Atom for the low power mini-itx guys. The E350 "APU" looks quick and the chipset offers lots of fast i/o connections. Two boards were announced at CES 2011 (at the time of writing)

 

 

First up was Gigabyte with the GA-E350N-USB3

 

CPU

Built in with an AMD E-350 Dual-Core processor

Built in with an AMD Radeon HD 6310 (DirectX 11) graphics core

Chipset

AMD Hudson-M1 FCH

Memory

2 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory

Single channel memory architecture

Support for DDR3 1333(OC)/1066 MHz memory modules

Onboard Graphics Integrated in the APU

1 x D-Sub port

1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200

1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200

Audio

Realtek ALC892 codec

High Definition Audio

2/4/5.1/7.1-channel

Support for Dolby Home Theater

Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN

1 x Realtek 8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4

Storage Interface FCH:

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors supporting up to 4 SATA 6Gb/s devices

Up to 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Up to 2 USB 3.0 ports on the back panel

Internal I/O Connectors

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector

1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors

1 x CPU fan header

1 x system fan header

1 x front panel header

1 x front panel audio header

1 x S/PDIF Out header

2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

1 x debug card header

1 x chassis instrusion header

1 x power LED header

1 x clearing CMOS jumper

Back Panel Connectors

1 x PS/2 keyboard/ mouse port

1 x D-Sub port

1 x DVI-D port

1 x HDMI port

1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports

2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports

1 x RJ-45 port

6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

Form Factor

Mini-ITX; 17.0cm x 17.0cm

 

Full Specs - http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3681#ov

 

DDR3, SATA3 6GPS, gigabit lan and only 18w

 

 

 

Next announcement was from Sapphire with the Pure Fusion Mini E350

 

CPU

AMD Dual-Core Processor E350 with AMD Radeon™ HD 6310 Graphics

Chipset

AMD™ Hudson-M1 (A50M)

BIOS

AMI BIOS, 16Mb Flash ROM

Memory

Supports 2xDDR3 SO-DIMM Single Channel modules (1066/800), max 4GB

Graphics

AMD Radeon™ HD 6310 Graphics

Expansion Slots

1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots

1 x MINI PCI-E x1 slots

Storage

5 x Serial ATA III 6Gb/s connectors

Audio

Realtek ALC892 HD Audio CODEC with 8-Channel

Ethernet LAN

Marvell 88E8057 PCI-Express Gigabit LAN

Rear Panel I/O

4 x USB 2.0 port

2 x USB 3.0 port

1 x VGA(D-Sub) port

1 x HDMI port

1 x Audio I / O ports

1 x SPDIF Optical Out

1 x Supporting Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR by Atheros AR3011

1 x e-SATA port

1 x Single Link DVI

Internal I/O

4 x USB 2.0 headers

CPU 4 pin PWM Fan connectors

3 Pin Chassis Fan connectors

24-pin ATX Power connector

COM headers

Control (Front) panel headers

Clear CMOS jumpers

SPDIF In/out header

4-pin ATX 12V Power connector

Form Factor

Mini-iTX, Size 6.8" x 6.8"

 

Full Specs - http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?psn=0001&pid=1034

 

Again highlights DDR3 (SO-DIMMS), SATA3 6GPS, Gigabit LAN, mini pci and bluetooth.

 

 

Asus E35MI-I Deluxe

AMD E-350 APU (1.6GHz, 18W)

'Hudson' M1 southbridge (sub 5W)

AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics core (80 stream processors)

Five SATA 6Gbps ports and one eSATA port

PCI-Express 16x slot (actual bandwidth to be determined)

Two DDR3 1,333MHz slots (single channel) and the MemOK failsafe button

HDMI 1.3b and dual-link DVI-I (dual digital outputs supported)

Four USB 3.0 ports (two rear I/O and two pin-outs) and on/off charge

Eight USB 2.0 ports (four rear I/O, four pin-outs)

Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n Wireless

Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit Ethernet

Realtek ALC892 7.1 channel surround sound (outputs only provided for 5.1), with S/PDIF out

ASUS TurboKey II automatic overclocking

 

Full Specs - http://uk.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=9BmKhMwWCwqyl1lz&templete=2

 

 

MSI E350-E45

AMD E-350 1.6GHz Dual-Core

AMD Hudson M1 FCH

2 DIMM DDR3-1333/1066/800 MHz

AMD Radeon HD 6310 Graphics Core  (HDMI + D-Sub out)

8-channel (7.1) HD Audio subsystem with S/PDIF out

LAN 10/100/1000 Mbps

4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports

2 x USB 3.0 ports

10 x USB 2.0 ports

1 x PCI Express x16 slot (x4 speed)

Press Release - http://emm.msi.com/display.php?List=33&N=781

Full Specs (to follow) -  http://eu.msi.com/index.php?func=prodpage2&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171&cat3_no=902

 

 

ASRock E350M1

 

- AMD Dual-Core Zacate E350 APU

- Solid Capacitor for CPU power

- Supports DDR3 1066, 2 DIMM slots, Max. capacity up to 16GB

- Integrated AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics, DX11 class iGPU, Pixel Shader 5.0

- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot

- Multi VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI

- 4 x SATA3 connectors

- 7.1 CH HD Audio with Content Protection (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), Premium Blu-ray audio support

- Supports ASRock Instant Boot, Instant Flash, Multi-Speed Fan Control, APP Charger,

 

Full Specs - http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=E350M1

 

Jetway NC85-E350-LF

AMD Zacate E350 Dual core 1.6GHz APU

AMD Brazos Zacate + Hudson D1 Chipset

2 x SODIMM SSingle Channel 64-bit DDR3 800-1066

1 x 32-bit PCI slot

4 x Serial ATA2 3Gb/s connectors

1 x Mini PCI-E

VIA VT1705 6-Channel HD Audio CODEC

1 x Realtek RTL8111E PCI-E Gigabit LAN

10 x USB 2.0/1.1

1 * HDMI port

Mini ITX Form Factor(170mmx170mm)

Full Specs - http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/ipcboard_view.asp?productid=814&proname=NC85-E350-LF

I am more interested in this for an HTPC mobo, but a lower power more quiet unRAID that performs as well is always welcome!

Added some more boards to the first post

there's some interesting developments in the field of chips of late..not that we need that much power for unRaid, but still - if the low-power low-end gets a larger selection, the better for us - I can't wait to read reports of users who've built a rig with these. @MTA99, thanks for posting these.

Any release dates for these boards? I am planning on building my first unraid server soon, and would rather one of these boards over a ATOM board. Thanks for posting.

Good post! I've been wondering about an AMD alternative, and needing a new mobo for my unraid!

Done a quick tidy up, added official specs and new pics.

 

The ASUS is around €150, Sapphire Pure Fusion €129 Price wise competing with ION power mini-ITX boards but with much improved speed and features. Having said that, I probably won't switch till they drop below €100 for a 5 port SATA board 

Bit of pimping.....

 

http://www.eteknix.com/previews/amd-fusion-mini-itx-preview-667/

 

Take a look around while you're there 

Any idea when these will hit the market?

Boards hitting the review sites now. Should be in stores in a couple of weeks

yeah looking forward for these coming out too

want to make a htpc with a ssd with one of these puppies

Nice boards.

Perhaps you should look into zotac also, they have a whole line of mini-itx mobo's.

 

I've looked into using one also, cause of the power efficiency and size, but adding on several sata or sas controllers here is somewhat limited.

 

Starting to see some availability in the UK. Just ordered the Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini. I'll create a build log once i've finished my mods

So have these been confirmed to be able to bitstream HD audio over HDMI and not have 24p stutter issues?

So have these been confirmed to be able to bitstream HD audio over HDMI and not have 24p stutter issues?

Neither of these things are possible for unRAID.

I have seen an interesteing one at the Asus Booth on Cebit 2011:

 

 

Called E35M1-I (non- Deluxe) and it has 6x Sata Ports onboard.

According to an Asus guy on another forum it should be available in Germany at the begin of April.

Compared to the blades of grass, that thing is SMALL!

has anyone used this board yet?

 

thanks.

I 've tried one of these boards, MSI AMD Fusion Brazos Mini-ITX E350IS-E45, but the ethernet is not working. So may need to wait for a new update for the drivers. It has a Realtek PCI-E GbLAN controller RTL8111E who has problem with unRAID.

Starting to see some availability in the UK. Just ordered the Sapphire Pure Fusion Mini. I'll create a build log once i've finished my mods

 

Did you use the PCI-e 16x slot for anything, and in particular, an SATA card? I also want to use this MB for unRaid but the manual and Sapphire tech support states the x16 PCI-e slot can only be used with a video card. I want to use it with a Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8 if possible.

 

 

Thanks in advance.