BIOSTAR Announces the J3160MD System Board

[btarunr]

BIOSTAR proudly announces its small yet powerful motherboard from the new motherboard featuring integrated Intel Braswell Refresh SoC processors. Featuring the new Celeron J3160 quad-core processor which has clock speeds of 1.6Ghz and has a Turbo clock up to 2.24Ghz, this little machine can deliver unprecedented performance from a SoC-based system. To help improve performance, support for DDR3L-1600 DIMM modules is now possible with a maximum supported capacity of 16GB per slot giving the BIOSTAR J3160MD great memory flexibility.

The latest generation Intel HD graphics is baked into the new BIOSTAR J3160MD featuring peformance improvements over last-gen Intel IGPs. This gives the board excellent performance and support to play 4K UltraHD content and deliver a stunning multimedia experience from a small package.

• 14nm Processor - Intel's die-shrink allows the new Braswell Refresh SoC processors to operate with less current while improving performance and allows more clock rate headroom for frequency increases on lower workloads when necessary along with the other technical advantages brought on by the die-size reduction.
• Improved HD Graphics - An improved Intel HD Graphics GPU will be baked into the new SoCs which improves performance for multimedia tasks such as watching HD videos and better desktop graphics for productivity allowing for a richer experience with an increase in execution units to handle today's more demanding visual processing.
• More Memory Bandwidth - Native support for DDR3L-1600 allows the new Braswell Refresh SoCs to access memory at a faster rate for improved system responsiveness. This changes results in up to 40% power savings and double graphics performance. There is also 20% more memory bandwidth in the new DDR3L-1600 versus the old DDR3L-1333, plus twice the speed for storage against the older SoCs.

The BIOSTAR J3160MD supports both VGA and DVI display output. DVI is a digital output connector that allows 1:1 pixel data to be transferred from your system to the panel for a clearer and more optimal display connection.

USB3.0 allows faster connectivity to modern components and peripherals with support for up to 5Gbps bandwidth and is fully compatible with older USB2.0 devices.



For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[cdawall]

umm? Those are some weird looking pci slots.

 

[Toothless]

umm? Those are some weird looking pci slots.

Pci x1?

 

[cdawall]

Pci x1?

Yup, but it only lists a single 1x pci-e in the press release and from what little information I can gather on that CPU it only has the pci-e root logic for that one slot.

 

[Yukikaze]

The J3160 has a maximum of 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes. So three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots should be doable.

 

[silentbogo]

The J3160 has a maximum of 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes. So three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots should be doable.

If we disregard a misprint on Biostar website, they list:
- PCI-E x16 2.0 running @ x1
- Pair of PCI-E x1 @ x1
- and the last one goes to NIC.

Wondering why would they make an x16 slot, if there are desktop/workstation graphics options for PCI-E x1 (especially for that platform). It's not like someone actually needs anything higher than GT730 in it, given that the built-in IGP is already quite capable of driving multiple displays... I guess they are just that funny lately.

 

[cdawall]

The J3160 has a maximum of 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes. So three PCIe 2.0 x1 slots should be doable.

You should loose 2 for Lan and Stat express?

 

[Yukikaze]

You should loose 2 for Lan and Stat express?

Silentbogo seems to have it mapped out right: Three slots at x1 each and one lane to the NIC. That's what I am thinking also.

Sata and USB is covered by the chip itself directly.

 

[natr0n]

I wonder if you ziptie a fan on there if you can oc/tinker with it.

 

[vigia]

umm? Those are some weird looking pci slots.

That photo belongs to J3160MD and the specs to J3160MP, same factor only different Slots.

 

[Ubersonic]

Wondering why would they make an x16 slot, if there are desktop/workstation graphics options for PCI-E x1 (especially for that platform).

Because x16 cards are much more common so the full size slot will allow people to save money by using cards they already own without having to hack them up.

Also are we sure the slot is only 1x and not 2x? The CPU can do x2/x1/x1 and we already know the specs are wrong because they also list a pair of PCI slots whereas the photos of the physical board show a pair of PCI-E x1 slots (as the specs have been C&P from the J3160MP).

 

[hojnikb]

I wonder if you ziptie a fan on there if you can oc/tinker with it.

nope, its locked.

 

[silentbogo]

Also are we sure the slot is only 1x and not 2x? The CPU can do x2/x1/x1 and we already know the specs are wrong because they also list a pair of PCI slots whereas the photos of the physical board show a pair of PCI-E x1 slots (as the specs have been C&P from the J3160MP).

It's listed on both boards as PCI-E x16 2.0 running at x1.
Celeron J3160 can also have a 4x1 configuration.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

I have a feeling that it was a misprint & someone did not double-triple checked the specsheet & thinking it's in the clear. Found this board the perfect candidate to build a custom low-powered NAS box. 2 SATA hubs is more than enough since I don't think most people need more than that. You can easily get 8TB or more of virtual space, if the board allows it.

 

[silentbogo]

I have a feeling that it was a misprint & someone did not double-triple checked the specsheet & thinking it's in the clear. Found this board the perfect candidate to build a custom low-powered NAS box. 2 SATA hubs is more than enough since I don't think most people need more than that. You can easily get 8TB or more of virtual space, if the board allows it.

Not sure about Biostar, since it's hard to find any of their products in my area. What I can tell you for sure is avoid AsRock at all costs. Their Braswell and BayTrail boards tend to fail one way or another in less than a year. I have two D1800B-ITX boards with failed VGA port, and one D1900B-ITX with a non-working RAM slot and occasionally disappearing SATA.

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

@silentbogo If I can't find this board at my local IT megamall, I'll most likely opt for a super-basic board from any vendor that has more SATA ports & a proper PCIe x16 3.0 slot for future upgrades.

 

[micropage7]

come on they should put 4 sata and you can use it for more needs

 

[Prima.Vera]

How much is this? 50$ including ALL taxes?

 

[Ubersonic]

It's listed on both boards as PCI-E x16 2.0 running at x1.

Yeah but that doesn't mean it is the same on both boards as the specs for one are incorrect, I was just pointing out we don't know yet.

 

[Fujikoma]

If we disregard a misprint on Biostar website, they list:
- PCI-E x16 2.0 running @ x1
- Pair of PCI-E x1 @ x1
- and the last one goes to NIC.

Wondering why would they make an x16 slot, if there are desktop/workstation graphics options for PCI-E x1 (especially for that platform). It's not like someone actually needs anything higher than GT730 in it, given that the built-in IGP is already quite capable of driving multiple displays... I guess they are just that funny lately.

Not everything (non-video card) is made for a PCI-E X1 slot. Some are slot X4 or slot X16. Probably for special networking boards that need more than one lane.