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Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI : The Start Of A HTPC

VR World Staff — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 00:58:44 +0000

When considering a new HTPC build a lot should be taken into account, and a big part of that should be the motherboard, If size is to be kept to a minimum then the obvious choice for a motherboard is a Mini-ITX form factor board. If it should be power efficient then the AMD APU lineup is a good starting place since it has decent GPU and CPU power. Choosing something that fits both of those criteria will mean that a A88X Mini-ITX board is likely on the list. This Gigabyte GA-F2A88XN-WIFI will fit the bill nicely since it has a lot of features that a user will want when building a HTPC and not a lot of unnecessary fluff filling up the already cramped board.

The HTPC is a great option for those who have a lot of media that they have accumulated over the years and want to watch on a tv or home cinema. There are plenty of large HTPC builds that users can do with a simple ATX sized board and a big case. But for those looking for something a bit smaller that will look great next to the tv or in the home cinema the Mini-ITX solutions are often the best. They will be compact builds and many of the HTPC cases for them look great and will blend right in with current components that users may have or will be getting.

Overview

Gigabyte is a well known and trusted brand and its boards are many peoples first choice when it comes to picking a new motherboard. They have a couple different choices of A88X Mini-ITX boards. The only current AMD chipset Mini-ITX boards that you can find on sites like Newegg are the A88X boards. So they made sure that people have a few choices in that small segment, which is great for selecting a board that will suit your needs. This board sits at the top of the lineup and it comes packaged with a dual band 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0 add-in card. This means that the board is up to date with the speediest Wi-Fi standard available, and will be able to operate at speeds of up to 867Mbps.

The board offers a few features to enhance this board. The board has Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable 4 Plus, meaning that the board is built with good quality components that should stand up to stress that may come from certain setups. The board also uses all solid capacitors and Low RDS(on) MOSFETs which will work at higher temperatures and have longer lifespans. This board also features DualBIOS which means that users will have a second BIOS to fall back on if the first one has issues, such as a failed BIOS flash. Humidity Protection, Power Failure Protection, and Electrostatic Protection are all in the board as well. Also on the board is ESD protection for USB and LAN, as well as one fuse per USB 3.0 porst.

AMD Eyefinity technology is available for those who choose to use this as a small desktop build with multiple monitors. This board also has two HDMI ports instead of having multiple different options. With using a qualified AMD APU and GPU that have Dual Graphics technology the board will use both the discrete GPU and the APU to deliver better graphics performance. 4K Ultra HD support is there right out of the box as well via HDMI ports.

Specifications:

Model: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
CPUs: FM2+ / FM2 Athlon/A- Series
Chipset: AMD A88X (Bolton D4)
Memory: 2×240pin Dual Channel DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333
Maximum Memory Supported: 64GB
Expansion Slot: PCI Express 3.0 x16
Mini Card Slots: 1 x mini-PCI Express slot for the wireless module
SATA: 4 x SATA 6Gb/s
SATA RAID: 0/1/5/10/JBOD
Audio: Realtek ALC892 / 7.1 Channels
LAN: Realtek 10/100/1000Mbps
Wireless: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with Bluetooth 4.0, 3.0+HS, 2.1+EDR

Rear Panel Ports

1x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
1 x DVI-D
2 x HDMI
2 x USB 3.0
4 x USB 2.0
1 x Optical
5x Audio Ports

Internal I/O Connectors

2 x USB 3.0 + 2 x USB 2.0
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x APU fan header
1 x system fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
1 x Clear CMOS jumper
1 x chassis intrusion header

Physical Spec

Mini ITX
6.7″ x 6.7″
Power Pin: 24 Pin

Features

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 Plus Technology
IR Digital 4+2 phase APU power design
GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS
Support for @BIOS
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Xpress Install
Support for EasyTune
Support for Smart Recovery 2
Support for ON/OFF Charge
Support for Wi-Fi Share
Support for Cloud Station

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Zotac’s Zbox PI320 Pico Mini-PC Fits in Your Pocket

Sam Reynolds — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 08:06:22 +0000

Form factors for PCs are getting smaller and smaller, but Zotac’s new Zbox PI320 Pico pushes the form factor even further. Pico is generally a term that is associated with a certain size of a PC, like the Zbox PI 320, and the truth is that this is one of the smallest ‘PC’ formfactors you can technically build a PC into, even though this thing is bordering on really being a nano PC. It also has the specs behind it to still technically be considered a PC.

Coming in at 4.54 x 2.6 x 0.75 inches, Zotac’s new Zbox is silent and small enough to fit in one’s pocket. Inside, it has an Atom Z3735F processor clocked at either 1.33 GHz or 1.83 GHz, 2 GB of DDR3L memory and 32 GB of Flash-based internal storage. For connectivity, it includes two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, Bluetooth 4.0, MicroSD, and both Ethernet as well as 802.11 b.g.n Wi-Fi.

“Zotac is a major innovator when it comes to miniaturizing the traditional PC. We began our push towards smaller and smaller mini-PCs with the Zbox nano form factor and followed up with the Zbox nano XS,” said Tony Wong, CEO, Zotac International, in a statement. “Now with the all-new Zbox PI320 pico, we have created our smallest mini-PC that can fit in your pocket.”

The computer also ships with Windows 8.1 with Bing.

Zotac expects the device to launch next month at a price point of $199.

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Sparkle’s excellent idea: Cheap PCI Express x1 cards

Theo Valich — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:15:41 +0000

One of more interesting niche markets is the one named “how to fix the computer crippled with integrated graphics?”, and the solutions that are being sold in that area. We saw interesting products coming from Albatron, Sparkle, MSI and others, but it is a rare occasion to see a card in sub-$50 range that offers DX10 support.
The company released a series of PCIe x1 cards for those unlucky owners of motherboards without PCI Express x16 slot. Sparkle released no less than eight models based on GeForce 8400GS graphics chip. Sadly, memory controller is limited to 64-bit, but this was Nvidia’s doing. Memory is either 256 or 512 MB of DDR2 memory.
The cards will occupy either full or half-height slot, and are either passively or actively cooled. GPU is clocked at 567 MHz with shader processors working at 900 MHz. Video memory works at 450 MHz in DDR mode or 900 MTransfers/sec.

Sparkle

Of course, don’t expect these cards to break speed records. Their sole role is to offer good performance with Windows Vista Aero interface and games such as Sims 2, World of Warcraft, Spore and so on – games that would not work at all if you were running them on integrated “crapics” solution such as Intel’s G33, G35 or G45. Also, board brings Pure Video HD engine, supporting 720p and 1080p decoding.
My personal take is that this would be a good solution if you’re building a HTPC, and the selected motherboard does not feature PCIe x16 slot.

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