ASUS Rolls Out the Prime A320I-K Mini-ITX Motherboard

[btarunr]

ASUS today rolled out an entry-level mini-ITX motherboard for the AMD socket AM4 platform, the Prime A320I-K. Based on the AMD A320 chipset, the board supports 1st and 2nd generation Ryzen processors out of the box, including the 8-core models. The tiny A320 chipset is tucked away behind a metal heatspreader underneath the M.2-2280 slot. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, conditioning it with a 6-phase VRM that makes do without a heatsink.

Storage connectivity on the A320I-K includes four SATA 6 Gbps ports, and an M.2-2280 slot with PCI-Express 2.0 x4 and SATA 6 Gbps wiring from the SoC. The board's lone expansion slot is a PCI-Express 3.0 x16. USB connectivity includes six USB 3.1 gen 1 ports, four on the rear-panel and two via headers; and four USB 2.0 ports, of which two are via headers. Display connectivity includes one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. Networking is care of a single 1 GbE interface driven by a Realtek RTL8111H controller, and the onboard audio solution is an entry-level Realtek ALC887. We expect the Prime A320I-K to be priced around $60.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[sam_86314]

An ITX AM4 board for less than $100? Yes please.

 

[king of swag187]

An ITX AM4 board for less than $100? Yes please.

>A320

 

[GoldenX]

Kinda late to release an A320 now, it will be limited to the 3400G.

 

[king of swag187]

Thats assuming they release the 3rd Gen APU's for A320

 

[Crackong]

It could fit in some really sketchy super low-cost pre-built systems.
Personally I would choose a $120 b450 itx board over this.

 

[king of swag187]

I would any day of the week. If you're going to spend the money on ITX, may as well go big or go bust (literally)

 

[GoldenX]

Thats assuming they release the 3rd Gen APU's for A320

Second gen Ryzen with Vega, A320 is compatible.

 

[dj-electric]

For 60$, i don't see much to complain about. I think that the choice in A320 is smart because they don't want people messing with tweaking. So its a way to block it while reducing costs and heat anyway.
I would still like to see a chipset-less board for ryzen 3000

 

[silentbogo]

More so, it's a friggin' ITX board for $60! You don't see that every day.
The closest alternative is around $110 (that's in US, more in EU/CIS), and cheap brands like ECS and BIOSTAR decided to stop on two-slot uATX.
Even if it lacks 3rd gen Ryzen APU support, it's still a viable base for pretty much anything, including cheap gaming rigs. 1000/2000-series chips are so cheap nowadays, that my 1600x cost me less than an i3. R5 2600 is trending in a $150-170 ballpark. APUs are also as low as they'll ever get.

P.S. I'm wondering what's that FPC connector doing under the BIOS IC? No mention of it in the manual, and it's definitely not a debug port, since LPC headers are right next to it...

 

[HwGeek]

Saw A320 with Ryzen 5 3600:

System manufacturer System Product Name - Geekbench

Benchmark results for a System manufacturer System Product Name with an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor.

browser.geekbench.com

So maybe even the 3rd gen APU's will be supported?

 

[Imsochobo]

>A320

My question is, what from X370,470 and 570 can you utilize in an ITX format.
USB, most of the features cannot be used unless they add U.2 ports which is very rare.

the vrm looks somewhat capable, would have loved heatsink but add vram heatsinks and it works nicely, tested Asus Prima B350 with a ryzen 1700 and it oc's to 3.8 allcore without issues, 3.9 with vram heatsinks.

 

[Nuckles56]

I wish this was available a month and a half ago, as this would have been perfect for a low cost, small office PC build I did.

 

[Flaky]

So maybe even the 3rd gen APU's will be supported?

It's good to differentiate between "is supported" and "just works".

First is an obligation done by company (literally - providing support). The second is not.

One example are kaby lake and newer cpus with windows 7. Do they work? Yeah, for most part for most people. Are they supported? Hell no - no igpu driver updates, the OS refuses to update, and contacting either MS or Intel about such configuration will result in politest form of gtfo.

Similarly here. Many A320 and B350 boards come in pairs, sharing PCB and components (except for minor stuff, and obviously the chipset), thus get virtually the same bioses. In result, it would actually cost more to create a separate code branch for A320 boards with new cpus support removed. So there is a high chance that new cpus will work, even though they will not be mentioned in supported cpus list.
Of course in case of RMA, it wouldn't be wise to mention that an unsupported cpu was used when the board failed

 

[Ruru]

Many A320 and B350 boards come in pairs, sharing PCB and components (except for minor stuff, and obviously the chipset), thus get virtually the same bioses. In result, it would actually cost more to create a separate code branch for A320 boards with new cpus support removed. So there is a high chance that new cpus will work, even though they will not be mentioned in supported cpus list.
Of course in case of RMA, it wouldn't be wise to mention that an unsupported cpu was used when the board failed

Exactly, in some cases the only difference is that you can't OC with the A320 one.

 

[Deathy]

"an M.2-2280 slot with PCI-Express 2.0 x4"
That's a PCIe 3.0 connection from the SoC to the M.2 slot.

So far it is listed for 100€ in stock at 2 retailers, 94€ for one without stock. It will have to be pretty cheap for what it offers. And honestly, why not just go the full SoC route with a low budget ITX board?

 

[suraswami]

"We expect the Prime A320I-K to be priced around $60" - nice. Ideal for my next server upgrade project along with a 2200G. If the board supports lowering voltage, it will be even better!!

 

[sam_86314]

"We expect the Prime A320I-K to be priced around $60" - nice. Ideal for my next server upgrade project along with a 2200G. If the board supports lowering voltage, it will be even better!!

Exactly. This board and a 2200G would be perfect for my Plex server. A $100+ B450 board is really unnecessary for a system like that. The only heavy lifting it needs to do is transcode video from time to time.

 

[king of swag187]

My question is, what from X370,470 and 570 can you utilize in an ITX format.
USB, most of the features cannot be used unless they add U.2 ports which is very rare.

the vrm looks somewhat capable, would have loved heatsink but add vram heatsinks and it works nicely, tested Asus Prima B350 with a ryzen 1700 and it oc's to 3.8 allcore without issues, 3.9 with vram heatsinks.

Better VRM, a M.2 slot or two, Overclocking, better build quality, better I/O (onboard as well), etc

 

[aaronlee0712]

Someone point out where is the A320 chipset? I dont see it on the board?

 

[suraswami]

Someone point out where is the A320 chipset? I dont see it on the board?

From initial post - "The tiny A320 chipset is tucked away behind a metal heatspreader underneath the M.2-2280 slot "

 

[aaronlee0712]

oh ya, i think the m.2 lost is on top of that heatsink. Initially i thought the heatsink is for m.2 ssd.

 

[pnkiller78]

Still cannot find this board... and the only two retailers who have it ask almost $100 a piece.

 

[silentbogo]

Still cannot find this board... and the only two retailers who have it ask almost $100 a piece.

Where are you from? Even in Ukraine with double-taxing on lots of electronics I found at least 2 retailers that sell it cheaper than 60 bucks (~$55-$58).

 

[pnkiller78]

Lucky you.
Newegg - $120
B&H - $92.99
Amazon - $92.99
PROVANTAGE - $96.98