ASRock B85M-ITX Mini-ITX Snap Review

ASRock B85M-ITX Mini-ITX board with Intel B85 Express chipset supporting Intel 4th Gen Core LGA1150 processors only. Integrated Intel HD graphics and 8 channel ALC892 Audio; PCI Express 3.0* x16; Up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, Gigabit LAN and 4x SATA. VGA, DVI-D and HDMI graphics outputs; 6x USB 3.0 (inc 2 internal); 4x USB 2.0 (inc 2 internal). * PCI Express 3.0 support is dependent on PCI-Express device capability.

Rear Panel Connectors: 2x USB 2.0; 2x WiFi Antenna Port; PS2/Mouse Port; 1x eSATA; 4x USB 3.0 (coloured blue); Gigabit LAN; 1x VGA; 1x HDMI; 1x DVI-I (Max resolution on all ports 1920x1200 @ 60Hz); 5x 3.5mm audio connectors; S/PDIF optical digital audio out.

Board connectors: 24pin ATX Main power connector (20-pin power supplies will work); Processor core power connector (12V 4-pin P4, must be connected); TPM Header; 4x SATA 6Gb/s; 1x Front panel USB 2.0 headers (for 2 ports); 1x Front Panel USB 3.0 header (19pin, for 2 ports); 2x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Sockets; PCI Express 3.0 x16 bus add-in card connector; Front panel audio header; Front Panel Connector (Power/Reset Button, power/HDD status LED); Clear CMOS Jumper; System and Processor fan headers; 1x Chassis Intrusion Header.

Supports Intel® Small Business Advantage 2.0 Software.

Suitable Processors: The B85M-ITX board supports 4th Gen "Haswell" processors. The B85M-ITX is *not* provided with a processor. Suitable 4th generation processors are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left. A BIOS update (using a "Haswell" processor) may be required if a "Haswell Refresh" processor is to be fitted.

Suitable Cases: All Mini-ITX chassis with at least a 120W power supply, and an appropriate low profile heatsink if necessary. If using a larger than 65W TDP processor, a larger power supply than 120W may be required. Some suitable cases that will work with the GA-H87N-WiFi with a standard Intel Socket 1150 heatsink: The CFI-A7879, ES32067, ES30068, ES34069, Venus 669, Compucase 8K01, Compucase 8K07, Silverstone SG05, Jou Jue NU-528i 220W and Jou Jue NU-568i 220W.

Heatsinks: The standard heatsink provided with 65W and 84W TDP CPUs will fit taller cases (including Compucase 8K01/8K07, Jou Jye 526/528/568). To use this board in a 1U case please use the Dynatron K2 1U Side blower heatsink and a 35W or 65W TDP CPU.

Typical M350 configuration: To use this board in the M350, we recommend the 150W AC Adapter and picoPSU-150-XT or picoPSU-160-XT together with a 65W TDP CPU and Akasa 7106HP or K25 heatsink or 35W TDP CPU and supplied heatsink, plus 1 or 2 sticks of DDR3 RAM and a 2.5in HDD/SSD (add an M350 HDD tray to use 2x HDD/SSDs).

Downloads: BIOS, Documentation and Drivers.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/B85M-ITX/
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B85M-ITX/?cat=Specifications

Package Contents: 2x SATA cables, 1x I/O back plate, 1x Driver and Software DVD.

Suitable Memory: The B85M-ITX uses 1333/1600MHz DDR3 memory. This is not compatible with DDR/DDR2 memory. Fully tested DDR3 DIMMs are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left.

About ASRock

ASRock Inc. is established in 2002, specialized in the field of motherboards. ASRock strives to build up its own brand. With the 3C design concept, “Creativity, Consideration, Cost-effectiveness”, the company explores the limit of motherboards manufacturing while paying attention on the eco issue at the same time, developing products with the consideration of eco-friendly concept.

ASRock has been growing fast and become world third largest motherboard brand with headquarter in Taipei, Taiwan and branches in Europe and the USA. The young and vibrant company targets from mainstream to enthusiast MB segments for different kinds of users, owning reputation around the world market with its reliability and proficiency. http://www.asrock.com

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ASRock H87M-ITX Mini-ITX Snap Review

ASRock H87M-ITX Mini-ITX board with Intel H77 Express chipset supporting Intel 4th Gen Core LGA1150 processors only. Integrated Intel HD graphics and 8 channel ALC892 Audio; PCI Express 3.0* x16; Up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, Gigabit LAN and 4x SATA with RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 support. VGA, DVI-D and HDMI graphics outputs; 6x USB 3.0 (inc 2 internal); 4x USB 2.0 (inc 2 internal). * PCI Express 3.0 support is dependent on PCI-Express device capability.

Rear Panel Connectors: 2x USB 2.0; 2x WiFi Antenna Port; PS2/Mouse Port; 1x eSATA; 4x USB 3.0 (coloured blue); Gigabit LAN; 1x VGA; 1x HDMI; 1x DVI-I (Max resolution on all ports 1920x1200 @ 60Hz); 5x 3.5mm audio connectors; S/PDIF optical digital audio out.

Board connectors: 24pin ATX Main power connector (20-pin power supplies will work); Processor core power connector (12V 4-pin P4, must be connected); TPM Header; 4x SATA 6Gb/s; 1x Front panel USB 2.0 headers (for 2 ports); 1x Front Panel USB 3.0 header (19pin, for 2 ports); 2x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM Sockets; PCI Express 3.0 x16 bus add-in card connector; Front panel audio header; Front Panel Connector (Power/Reset Button, power/HDD status LED); Clear CMOS Jumper; System and Processor fan headers; 1x Chassis Intrusion Header.

Supports Intel® Small Business Advantage 2.0 Software.

Onboard RAID: The H87M-ITX supports Intel Rapid Storage Technology which provides the following RAID levels via the Intel H87 Express Chipset: RAID 0 - data striping; RAID 1 - data mirroring; RAID 0+1 (or RAID 10) - data striping and mirroring; RAID 5 - distributed parity.

Suitable Processors: The H87M-ITX board supports 4th Gen "Haswell" processors. The H87M-ITX is *not* provided with a processor. Suitable 4th generation processors are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left. A BIOS update (using a "Haswell" processor) may be required if a "Haswell Refresh" processor is to be fitted.

Suitable Cases: All Mini-ITX chassis with at least a 120W power supply, and an appropriate low profile heatsink if necessary. If using a larger than 65W TDP processor, a larger power supply than 120W may be required. Some suitable cases that will work with the GA-H87N-WiFi with a standard Intel Socket 1150 heatsink: The CFI-A7879, ES32067, ES30068, ES34069, Venus 669, Compucase 8K01, Compucase 8K07, Silverstone SG05, Jou Jue NU-528i 220W and Jou Jue NU-568i 220W.

Heatsinks: The standard heatsink provided with 65W and 84W TDP CPUs will fit taller cases (including Compucase 8K01/8K07, Jou Jye 526/528/568). To use this board in a 1U case please use the Dynatron K2 1U Side blower heatsink and a 35W or 65W TDP CPU.

Typical M350 configuration: To use this board in the M350, we recommend the 150W AC Adapter and picoPSU-150-XT or picoPSU-160-XT together with a 65W TDP CPU and Akasa 7106HP or K25 heatsink or 35W TDP CPU and supplied heatsink, plus 1 or 2 sticks of DDR3 RAM and a 2.5in HDD/SSD (add an M350 HDD tray to use 2x HDD/SSDs).

Downloads: BIOS, Documentation and Drivers.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/H87M-ITX/
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H87M-ITX/?cat=Specifications

Package Contents: 2x SATA cables, 1x I/O back plate, 1x Driver and Software DVD.

Suitable Memory: The H87M-ITX uses 1333/1600MHz DDR3 memory. This is not compatible with DDR/DDR2 memory. Fully tested DDR3 DIMMs are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left.

About ASRock

ASRock Inc. is established in 2002, specialized in the field of motherboards. ASRock strives to build up its own brand. With the 3C design concept, “Creativity, Consideration, Cost-effectiveness”, the company explores the limit of motherboards manufacturing while paying attention on the eco issue at the same time, developing products with the consideration of eco-friendly concept.

ASRock has been growing fast and become world third largest motherboard brand with headquarter in Taipei, Taiwan and branches in Europe and the USA. The young and vibrant company targets from mainstream to enthusiast MB segments for different kinds of users, owning reputation around the world market with its reliability and proficiency. http://www.asrock.com

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AMD FX 8370 and 8370E Review

AMD is launching three new 8-core processors in the hope they can lift along with the Haswell-E release hype from Intel. Looking and comparing the two would not be fair. The AMD FX 8370 series launch at 200 USD, the Core i7 5960X is a 999 USD processor.That said, the multi-core awareness in applications is picking up, and opposed to two years ago 8-core processors make a lot more sense these days. Gaming with the per-core performance that the octacore AMD series offers remains tricky to explain. My generic advice here is that if you stick to mainstream PC gaming (and do not use high-end graphics cards or Crossfire/SLI), only then you are OK with an AMD FX processor as tested today.

The PileDriver based FX 8370(E) processors from AMD does what was expected of it, and that's increase performance, albeit that statement is relative for the new 95W E model with its lower the power draw (and thus performance). Other then that it's the FX 8350 with a couple of tweaks. Overall these CPUs are based on a very a sound architecture if we lived in a world where all games and application would make use of massive multi-threading then AMD would be competing very well with Intel. And though things slowly change most often applications use up-to four cores, and that's why Intel with its higher per core performance will win time after time. It's simple per physical CPU core Intel is twice as fast over the AMD FX CPU core. But again, with Windows 8 things are slowly changing and the overall performance you can't complain about. You get a fast and responsive PC and operating system with fast apps and program responsiveness. Gaming however will remain a bit of a conundrum with a high-end graphics cards as games often only use two to four cores, and a faster per physical CPU core performance remains incredibly relevant if you are not GPU bound.

Multi Threading

AMD has set the strategy to pursue processors with as many CPU cores as possible. The benefit here is that massively threaded applications really like that very much. Look at the Handbrake (multi-threaded video transcoding application) results and content creation with MAXON's animation software CINEMA 4D. But yeah, the hardware needs the software in order to shine. Times are slowly changing though, I mean we had the single core to dual-core revolution, quickly followed by four, six and thus now eight cores. So where multi-threaded applications are programmed right AMD really starts to shine with the FX series.

Real World Usage

So the opposite effect of AMDs offering is that with applications that prefer say one or two CPU threads and thus utilize only one or two cores, that's where the FX series have a really hard time as the per core performance starts to hinder AMD very much. I've been using the FX 8370E processor for a couple of days now though and granted the overall experience with this processor is once again great. The OS responds more than fast enough and for you everyday usage you'll have a hard time noticing any difference to say a Core i5 processor. Once you start up applications that allow for it, multi-threading kicks in really nicely performance will quickly see high-end grade performance.

Gaming

In games we see similar behaviour but the FX remains relatively weak on most games due to its very average per core performance. But if you take for example a Radeon R9 285, then it would be in good symbiosis with the processor performance. Overall in the higher resolutions you'll be GPU dependant more then CPU dependant. So gaming at Full HD with an AMD FX 8370 series processor will be absolutely fine. Once you go Crossfire / SLI or use a high-end dedicated graphics card, that where you would like to have a faster per-core performing product. But for mainstream gaming / usage the processor will be totally fine.

Video encoding and Decoding

For the ones that use their PC for content creation and video transcoding, well this processor kicks in very nicely, and for a reasonable price you get impressive multi-threaded performance. Considering that the FX 8750 will cost merely 199 USD we can state that the processor offering great value, under the condition that you use multi-threaded encoders. Video playback is not an issue, the per core performance is fast enough to deal with any Blu-ray or 1080P content stream.

Energy Consumption

Power consumption wise we are a little reserved in judgment, the platform with this processor uses just under 100W in idle yet when we stress the CPU cores all at once, we peak closer to 200W. That's not bad, but it certainly isn't excellent either. Power consumption is platform dependant though, so your motherboard might be responsible for a lot more or less. Overclocking wise we think the FX series will offer a lot of fun but power consumption there rises quickly when you apply CPU voltage tweaks. With a decent air cooler, 4.5~4.6 GHz should be a viable target to achieve, 4.7 to 5 GHz on proper liquid cooling should be achievable as well but will require a lot of CPU voltage.

Pricing

We mentioned pricing a couple of times already, the FX-8150 when it was released it costed around 244 USD/EUR at launch. The new FX 8370 and 8370E will be introduced at 199 USD. Honestly that is good value.

Final Words

Concluding then. I'll keep saying this, personally I would have preferred a faster per core performing AMD quad-core processor rather then an eight-core processor with reduced nice per core performance. However we do have to be clear here, we have been working with the FX 8370E processor for a while now and it simply is a great PC experience overall. Your system will be fast and responsive. The main Achilles heel simply remain single threaded applications. The bigger problem here is that it effects game performance quite a bit, especially with high-end dedicated graphics cards and that's why in it's current form the FX series simply is not that popular among the gaming community. Good for AMD that Mantle popularity seems to be growing, this will greatly help AMD get freed from CPU bottleneck performance issues.

Overall the AMD FX 8370 or 8370E is a processor we can recommend in the mid-range PC gaming and desktop space. The FX 8370 with eight CPU cores is hip in a PC desktop environment with the many threads you can fire off at it, and if you love to compress, transcode or use your PC as a workstation then it will bring heaps of performance and fantastic value. I think that the 95 Watt E model has to forfeit a bit too much in performance, but the regular FX 8370 at its current price level will be a steal. And if you want to go even cheaper, just pick up the cheapest unlocked 8-core FX model you can find like thje 8150. They start around 170 bucks already. You can easily tweak them to the performance levels shown today. Even though today's release is merely a step forward we do say the FX processors deserve a lot more credit then they have gotten thus far. At a price of 199 USD the AMD FX 8370 is a really fun 8-core mainstream segment processor to work with.

via guru3d

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ASRock H81M-ITX Mini-ITX Snap Review

ASRock H81M-ITX Mini-ITX board with Intel H81 chipset; Integrated Intel HD Graphics; 7.1 CH HD Audio; PCI Express 2.0 x16; Up to 16 DDR3 DIMM RAM; Atheros AR8171 LAN port; 2x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s; 1x HDMI resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz; 1x DVI-D resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz; 1x VGA resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz; 6x USB 2.0 ports (4 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header); 2x USB 3 ports; 1x Optical S/PDIF; 5x 3.5mm audio jacks.

Rear Panel Connectors: 4x USB 2.0 Ports; 1x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard Port; 1x VGA Port; 1x DVI-D Port; 1x eSATA Connector; 2x USB 3.0 Ports; 1x LAN Port; 5x 3.5mm audio jacks; 1x Optical SPDIF.

Board connectors 24pin ATX Main power connector (20-pin power supplies will work); 1x 4 pin 12V Power Connector; 2x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s; 1x USB 2.0 Header (supports 2 USB 2.0 ports); 1x 4-pin CPU fan connectors; 1x 4-pin system fan connectors; 1x Front panel audio connector; 1x Chassis Intrusion connector.

Suitable Processors: The ASRock H81M-ITX board supports 4th Gen (Haswell) processors. The ASRock H81M-ITX is not provided with a processor. Suitable processors are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left.

Suitable Cases: All Mini-ITX chassis with at least a 120W power supply, and an appropriate low profile heatsink if necessary. If using a larger than 65W TDP processor, a larger power supply than 120W may be required. Some suitable cases that will work with the GA-Z87N-WiFi with a standard Intel Socket 1150 heatsink: The CFI-A7879, ES32067, ES30068, ES34069, Venus 669, Compucase 8K01, Compucase 8K07, Silverstone SG05, Jou Jue NU-528i 220W and Jou Jue NU-568i 220W.

1U Case compatibility: To use this board in a 1U case please use the Dynatron K2 1U Side blower heatsink and a 35W or 65W TDP CPU.

Typical M350 configuration: To use this board in the M350, we recommend the 150W AC Adapter and picoPSU-150-XT or picoPSU-160-XT together with a 65W TDP CPU and Akasa 7106HP or K25 heatsink or 35W TDP CPU and supplied heatsink, plus 1 or 2 sticks of DDR3 RAM and a 2.5in HDD/SSD (add an M350 HDD tray to use 2x HDD/SSDs).

Downloads: BIOS, Documentation and Drivers.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81M-ITX/

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81M-ITX/?cat=Specifications

Package Contents: Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield, 2x SATA Data Cables.

Unique Features:ASRock APP Shop; A-Tuning; Instant Flash; APP Charger; XFast USB; XFast LAN; XFast RAM; Crashless BIOS; Online Management Guard; Internet Flash; System Browser; UEFI Tech Service; Dehumidifier; Easy Driver Installer; Interactive UEFI; Fast Boot; Restart to UEFI; On/Off Play Technology; USB Key; FAN-Tastic Tuning; Hybrid Booster (Overclocking); U-COP; Boot Failure Guard; Good Night LED.

BIOS Features:32Mb AMI UEFI Legal BIOS with multilingual GUI support; ACPI 1.1 compliance wake up events; SMBIOS 2.3.1 support; CPU, DRAM, PCH 1.05V, PCH 1.5V Voltage multi-adjustment.

Suitable Memory: The ASRock H81M-ITX uses 1060/1333/1600MHz DDR3 memory. This is not compatible with DDR/DDR2 memory. Fully tested DDR3 DIMMs are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left; Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile 1.3.

About ASRock

ASRock Inc. is established in 2002, specialized in the field of motherboards. ASRock strives to build up its own brand. With the 3C design concept, “Creativity, Consideration, Cost-effectiveness”, the company explores the limit of motherboards manufacturing while paying attention on the eco issue at the same time, developing products with the consideration of eco-friendly concept.

ASRock has been growing fast and become world third largest motherboard brand with headquarter in Taipei, Taiwan and branches in Europe and the USA. The young and vibrant company targets from mainstream to enthusiast MB segments for different kinds of users, owning reputation around the world market with its reliability and proficiency. http://www.asrock.com

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ASRock-Z97E-ITXa/c Mini-ITX Snap Review

Feature-packed ASRock-Z97E-ITXa/c Mini-ITX board with Intel H97 Express chipset supporting Intel 4th Gen (Haswell) and future 5th Gen (Broadwell) Core LGA1150 processors only. Integrated Intel HD graphics and Realtek ALC1150 7.1 channel Audio; PCI Express 3.0 x16; Up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM; 1x Intel I218V Gigabit LAN; 6x SATA with RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10; 1x Half length Mini PCI Express slot (for WiFI and BT); 1x DVI-I with max. resolution up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz; 1x HDMI with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2304) @ 24Hz; DisplayPort 1.2 with max. resolution up to 4K x 2K (4096x2304) @ 24Hz; SPDIF; 6x USB 3.0 (inc 2 internal); 6x USB 2.0 (inc 4 internal).

Rear Panel Connectors: 2x USB 2.0; 1x combo PS/2 Keyboard/mouse; 2x Wifi Antenna; 1x DVI; 1x Display port; 1x HDMI in; 1x HDMI out; 4x USB 3.0; 1x Intel LAN; 5x HD Audio Jacks: Rear Speaker, Central, Bass, Line in, Front Speaker and Microphone in; SPDIF.

Board connectors 24pin ATX Main power connector (20-pin power supplies will work); 1x 8 pin 12V Power Connector (Minimun of 4 pins must be used); 6x SATA 6Gb/s Connectors; 1x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot; 1x Mini-PCI Express Slot (used by WiFi + Bluetooth Module); 1x SATA Express 10 Gb/s Connector (shared with SATA3_4, SATA3_5 and M.2 Socket, support to be announced); 1x M.2 Socket supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express modules up to Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s); 1x Chassis Intrusion Header; 1x TPM Header; 1x CPU 4pin Fan Connector; 1x Chassis 4 pin Fan Connector; 1x Front Panel Audio Connector; 2x USB 2.0 Headers (support 4 USB 2.0 ports); 1x USB 3.0 Header (Supports 2 USB 3.0 ports)

Onboard RAID: The ASRock-Z97E-ITXa/c supports Intel Rapid Storage Technology which provides the following RAID levels via the Intel H97 Express Chipset RAID 0 - data striping; RAID 1 - data mirroring; RAID 0+1 (or RAID 10) - data striping and mirroring; RAID 5 - distributed parity.

Suitable Processors: The ASRock-Z97E-ITXa/c board supports 4th Gen (Haswell) and 5th Gen (Broadwell) processors. The ASRock-Z97E-ITXa/c is not provided with a processor. Suitable processors are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left.

Suitable Cases: All Mini-ITX chassis with at least a 120W power supply, and an appropriate low profile heatsink if necessary. If using a larger than 65W TDP processor, a larger power supply than 120W may be required. Some suitable cases that will work with the GA-Z97N-WiFi with a standard Intel Socket 1150 heatsink: The CFI-A7879, ES32067, ES30068, ES34069, Venus 669, Compucase 8K01, Compucase 8K07, Silverstone SG05, Jou Jue NU-528i 220W and Jou Jue NU-568i 220W.

1U Case compatibility: To use this board in a 1U case please use the Dynatron K2 1U Side blower heatsink and a 35W or 65W TDP CPU.

Typical M350 configuration: To use this board in the M350, we recommend the 150W AC Adapter and picoPSU-150-XT or picoPSU-160-XT together with a 65W TDP CPU and Akasa 7106HP or K25 heatsink or 35W TDP CPU and supplied heatsink, plus 1 or 2 sticks of DDR3 RAM and a 2.5in HDD/SSD (add an M350 HDD tray to use 2x HDD/SSDs).

Multiple Screens: This board Supports up to 3 displays simultaneously via DVI-I, HDMI and DisplayPort, with an appropriate CPU.

Downloads: BIOS, Documentation and Drivers.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/intel/z97e-itxac/
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97E-ITXac/?cat=Specifications

Package Contents: 2x SATA cables, 1x IO back plate, 1x Driver and Software DVD; 1x ASRock WiFi 2.4/5 GHz Antenna; 1x Screw for M.2_SSD Socket 3; 1x Standoff for M.2_SSD Socket 3

ASUS Other Features: ASRock Full HD UEFI; ASRock UEFI Guide; ASRock Instant Flash; ASRock Crashless BIOS; ASRock Online Management Guard; ASRock UEFI System Browser; ASRock Dehumidifier; ASRock Easy Driver Installer; ASRock XFast LAN; ASRock XFast RAM;

Suitable Memory: The ASRock-Z97E-ITXa/c uses 1333/1600MHz DDR3 memory. This is not compatible with DDR/DDR2 memory. Fully tested DDR3 DIMMs are available here or in the 'you may also require' section to the left; Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP).

About ASRock

ASRock Inc. is established in 2002, specialized in the field of motherboards. ASRock strives to build up its own brand. With the 3C design concept, “Creativity, Consideration, Cost-effectiveness”, the company explores the limit of motherboards manufacturing while paying attention on the eco issue at the same time, developing products with the consideration of eco-friendly concept.

ASRock has been growing fast and become world third largest motherboard brand with headquarter in Taipei, Taiwan and branches in Europe and the USA. The young and vibrant company targets from mainstream to enthusiast MB segments for different kinds of users, owning reputation around the world market with its reliability and proficiency. http://www.asrock.com

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VIA P820-12L 1.2GHz Pico-ITX Snap Review

Incredibly small 10cm x 7.2cm VIA EPIA P820-12L Pico-ITX board with 1.2 GHz VIA Nano E processor and VIA VX855 Unified Digital Media IGP chipset; Integrated VIA Chrome9 3D/2D AGP graphics with MPEG-2, WMV9 & H.264 video decoding acceleration; VIA VT1708S 8 channel HD audio; VIA VT6122 Gigabit LAN.

Rear Panel Connectors (with the included P720-A I/O card fitted): 1x HDMI port; 1x VGA port; 1x GigaLAN port; 2x USB 2.0 ports. HDMI port only is available with P720-A removed.

Board connectors: 1x IDE 2.0mm 44-pin pin header; 1x SATA connector; 1x USB pin connector for 4 additional USB 2.0 ports; 1x LPC pin connector; 1x SMBus pin connector; 1x Front panel pin connector; 1x PS2 mouse/keyboard pin connector; 1x Fan pin connector: Sys FAN; 1x Single-channel LVDS pin connector (with backlight control); 1x Audio pin connector for Line-in, Line-out, & Mic-in; 1x DIO pin connector (4GPI+4GPO); 2x UART port pin-header/VCP; 1x SATA power connector; 1x DC-in power connector.

Package Contents: 1x P820-12L motherboard; 1x P720-A I/O card (Pre-assembled); 1x board to 12V DC power connector cable; 1x SATA cable; 1x board to Molex HDD, Molex Floppy and SATA power cable; 1x Driver CD.

Powering the P820-12L: The P820-12L comes with a short board to 12V DC cable and is designed to work with 12V AC Adapters with 2.5/5.5mm plugs such as our 60W, 80W and 110W AC Adapters.

System Monitoring & Management: Wake-on LAN; Keyboard Power-on; Timer Power-on; System power management; AC power failure recovery; Watch Dog Timer.

Additional: Operating Temperature: 0C ~ 60C; Form Factor: Pico-ITX 10cm x 7.2cm; Compliance: CE/FCC/BSMI/RoHS; Manufacturer recommended OS: Windows XP, Windows Embedded CE, Windows Embedded Standard, Linux.

Suitable Memory: The P820-12L uses one stick of DDR2 SODIMM memory up to 2GB in size. This is not compatible with DDR/DDR3 memory.

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AMD FX-6200 CPU Review

AMD has had a rough time of it lately when it comes to CPUs. Early last year when we saw the performance of the low power Bobcat architecture, we thought 2011 would be a breakout year for AMD. Bulldozer was on the horizon and it promised performance a step above what Intel could offer. This harkened back to the heady days of the original Athlon and Athlon 64 where AMD held a performance advantage over all of Intel’s parts. On the graphics side AMD had just released the 6000 series of chips, all of which came close in performance to NVIDIA’s Fermi architecture, but had a decided advantage in terms of die size and power consumption. Then the doubts started to roll in around the April timeframe. Whispers hinted that Bulldozer was delayed, and not only was it delayed it was not meeting performance expectations.

The introduction of the first Llano products did not help things. The “improved” CPU performance was less than expected, even though the GPU portion was class leading. The manufacturing issues we saw with Llano did not bode well for AMD or the upcoming Bulldozer products. GLOBALFOUNDRIES was simply not able to achieve good yields on these new 32 nm products. Then of course the hammer struck. Bulldozer was released, well behind schedule, and with performance that barely rose above that of the previous Phenom II series of chips. The top end FX-8150 was competitive with the previous Phenom II X6 1100T, but it paled in comparison to the Intel i7 2600 which was right around the same price range.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for many users was the launch of the FX-6100. This chip originally sparked a lot of interest as it was a 3 module/6 core product with a 95 watt TDP for under $200 that promised to be something of a budget enthusiast’s dream. When performance figures came out, the chip did not hold up to the lofty expectations held by users. At a stock 3.3 GHz, it was simply outclassed by products such as the i5 2500 and 2500K variants, which were again in the same price range. Even though the processor had a maximum Turbo Core of 3.9 GHz, it just could not keep up in most applications with the smaller and less power hungry Intel Sandy Bridge based products.

Hope springs eternal though, and when news leaked out that AMD would be introducing refreshes for the FX-4000 and FX-6000 chips people were expecting there to be an improvement in thermals and perhaps even a minor revision update to the design. The chatter turned to potential per clock improvements, better overclocking headroom, and a couple of products under $200 that could hold their own against Intel’s mighty Sandy Bridge. Then the actual details came out. These chips were of the same revision as the previous parts, and the speed increase they saw was due to the TDP ceiling being raised from 95 watts up to 125 watts. Still, there was hope that these products could more than hold its own against the i3 and i5 in the same price range. Does the FX-6200 succeed? I guess we are about to find out.

The FX-6200

Ryan and I have covered the Bulldozer architecture in previous articles, so I will not go over the finer details here. I will discuss some of the basics of the chip and the architecture.

The FX-6200 is based off of the same Bulldozer revision as the previous FX series of parts that was released last October. There may have been some minor changes along the way, but they would have more to do with manufacturing rather than any kind of base silicon or extreme metal layer change. The product is still built by GLOBALFOUNDRIES on their 32 nm HKMG SOI process. The chip is a native 4 module/8 core product, but one of the modules has been fused off and is unavailable for unlocking. This leaves 3 modules/6 cores for the processor to work with. Each module features 2 MB of L2 cache to be shared between the two integer units and the single FPU/MMX/SSE/AVX unit, for a total of 6 MB of L2 for the entire CPU. The L3 features the full 8 MB of cache that is available on fully enabled CPUs.

The full meal deal of a retail/boxed processor. The 3 year warranty and heatsink/fan are likely worth it to most users.

The base clock is now set at 3.8 GHz, which is faster than the 3.6 GHz stock clock for the FX-8150. To achieve this clock AMD raised the TDP to 125 watts, which is up from the 95 watts of the FX-6100. The max Turbo Core speed of the FX-6200 is 4.1 GHz. AMD did raise the Northbridge/L3 cache speed on the FX-6200, and it runs at 2.2 GHz rather than the 2.0 GHz that the FX-6100 was set to. The memory controller is heavily revised from the previous Phenom II generation of parts, and it can handle official speeds up to DDR-3 1866 MHz.

The retail package comes with a pretty hefty heatsink and fan combination that should be able to handle the extra thermal load that the 125 watt CPU provides. The CPU has a standard 3 year warranty for the boxed version, while a tray chip has a 30 day warranty. The boxed product retails for $169 US, but can often be found cheaper with instant rebates and sales.

The FX processors are all unlocked so it makes them very easy to overclock. Most retail motherboards cover all of the settings needed to increase the multipliers on the CPU and overclock the chip. Success of any overclock is not guaranteed and the choice of motherboard will also directly affect the ability of the chip to reach higher speeds.

via pcper

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