ASRock Unveils a Pair of AMD A4 "Kabini" Motherboards

[btarunr]

ASRock unveiled a pair of motherboards based on AMD A4-5000 "Kabini" quad-core SoCs, to compete with Intel Celeron "Braswell" based solutions. These include the mini-ITX QC5000M-ITX/PH, and the micro-ATX QC5000M. Both boards use passive metal heatsinks to cool the SoC, and are largely identical in their feature-sets, with the only exception being the QC5000M offers two additional PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots. The boards draw power from 24-pin ATX power connectors. The SoC is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots. Display outputs include D-Sub and HDMI. Among its modern connectivity options are 6-channel HD audio with ELNA capacitors, gigabit Ethernet, and a pair of USB 3.0 ports. The company didn't reveal pricing.



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[hojnikb]

Isn't kabini really old at this point ?

 

[Assimilator]

These have an advantage over Intel's Bay Trail and Cherry Trail in that they have a full-length PCIe x16 slot. So plugging in a RAID card or discrete GPU is possible, which a big bonus.

 

[john_]

Kabini? Really? Where is Carrizo? Even Beema is old today. Kabini? Really?

 

[PaulBags]

A shame to see sata ports that arn't soldered on.

 

[micropage7]

nice. small board, but they should have better board with 4 sata and make it pretty good for small build

 

[Dragonsmonk]

too bad that it is cheaper and more effective to buy an Athlon 5350 + MB.

 

[Assimilator]

too bad that it is cheaper and more effective to buy an Athlon 5350 + MB.

That isn't going to draw 15W, which is the point.

 

[GreiverBlade]

That isn't going to draw 15W, which is the point.

aawww too bad 10watt less than a Kabini on a Fs1b (5350 ... ) 10... watts (well ... downclock it ... )
the only advantage i see here is the passive cooler, still cheaper to take a Kabini Athlon/sempron who will have better performances for 10 watts more, and get a Arctic passive heatsink http://www.arctic.ac/ch_en/alpine-m1-passive.html downclock the CPU, which is free of charge ... and poof no more 10(seriously ... only 10 ? ) watts that make a so huge difference.
specially a 5350 whose igp is a tad stronger and the clock being 2.6 for 25 watts over 1.5 for 15 watts

These have an advantage over Intel's Bay Trail and Cherry Trail in that they have a full-length PCIe x16 slot. So plugging in a RAID card or discrete GPU is possible, which a big bonus.

well just as in the Fs1b AM1 platform the X16 is a X4 wired

nice. small board, but they should have better board with 4 sata and make it pretty good for small build

the ASRock Am1B-ITX (Fs1b socket) has 4 SATA (and a physical X16, X4 wired but no 4pin eps 12V ) but the 2nd AM1 mobo i used (ASUS AM1I-A) had only 2 (but has a 4pin EPS 12V and a physical X4 open ended)

 

[Dragonsmonk]

That isn't going to draw 15W, which is the point.

Also please keep in mind that the TDP is the max it will draw under full use. Normally I don't see a scenario where either of the two are going to be on 100% capacity all the time, so that realistically there should be close to no difference in power consumption between the two.

 

[TRWOV]

A shame to see sata ports that arn't soldered on.

Kabini supports 2 SATA ports only

 

[GreiverBlade]

Kabini supports 2 SATA ports only

they could have added a controller, as i said the ASRock AM1B-ITX (which use the same layout as the mITX one here) has 4 SATA port (iirc all SATA6G) and it's a ultra cheap board (if not one of the cheapest Fs1b).

yep almost the exact same layout and also indeed 4 S6G port.

 

[micropage7]

they could have added a controller, as i said the ASRock AM1B-ITX (which use the same layout as the mITX one here) phas 4 SATA port (iirc all SATA6G) and it's a ultra cheap board (if not one of the cheapest Fs1b).

yep almost the exact same layout and also indeed 4 S6G port.
View attachment 66324

yeah, 4 sata for now is good
at least it will give you better option on storage

 

[Dragonsmonk]

yeah, 4 sata for now is good
at least it will give you better option on storage

you can always pop a raid-controller in.... they are cheap enough

 

[GreiverBlade]

you can always pop a raid-controller in.... they are cheap enough

i would gladely keep the expansion slot for something else ... specially in a SFF build, hence the AM1B-ITX in my mother build ... 4 port 2 used 1 for the storage 1 for the blue-ray 2 port left for expansion, PCIE used for a soundcard (since it has a ALC662), tho i reckon just for fun i will take my GT730 X8 when i will go in holiday in case i want to do something else than web browsing or blue-ray playback tho i played Defiance in low 1080p on that APU (5350) it was a nice 20ish fps fiesta

on another note ... i better not take that card ... that HTPC is in a InWin Diva and the PSU is a 160w

well ...
Minimum PSU Wattage: 127 W
Recommended
PSU Wattage: *

maybe ... (i know it's not a absolute truth )

 

[micropage7]

i would gladely keep the expansion slot for something else ... specially in a SFF build, hence the AM1B-ITX in my mother build ... 4 port 2 used 1 for the storage 1 for the blue-ray 2 port left for expansion, PCIE used for a soundcard (since it has a ALC662), tho i reckon just for fun i will take my GT730 X8 when i will go in holiday in case i want to do something else than web browsing or blue-ray playback tho i played Defiance in low 1080p on that APU (5350) it was a nice 20ish fps fiesta

on another note ... i better not take that card ... that HTPC is in a InWin Diva and the PSU is a 160w

well ...
Minimum PSU Wattage: 127 W
Recommended
PSU Wattage: *

maybe ... (i know it's not a absolute truth )

agree, i better put vga card on it, i prefer minimal components
so if the board can give 4 ports its good, you can use the other pciex slot for other
if only 2 and if you run raid, you have no port to use anymore

 

[Dragonsmonk]

agree, i better put vga card on it, i prefer minimal components
so if the board can give 4 ports its good, you can use the other pciex slot for other
if only 2 and if you run raid, you have no port to use anymore

I think it heavily depends on what you want to do with that HTPC - mine is doubling as file-server so that the raid-controller was the better option
If all fails, there always is the option of using raiser cards.