A sweet looking Mini-ITX from Asrock for the APUs, running on the AMD A85X chipset.
I do wonder why they packed that many SATA ports. I don’t remember any ITX casing that has space for this amount of SATA Drives. 🙂 Maybe it’s for “in case they spoil” situations. Nevertheless it’s good to have.
I have no idea why they turned the SATA ports 180 degree in orientation for the alternate row.
The PCI-E slot is one that you need to take note of. Instead of using the usual clip on other boards like the press lock or the side lock, this one uses a slide lock. Meaning that once the PCI-E slot is in, you have to slide the lock to further secure it. This is unlike other boards where the mechanism is in place once the card is seated.
Then there’s the DIMM and ATX slot. I like it that they put the DIMM slots on top. This is unlike some other ITX board where the DIMM slots are at the SATA port’s location and the SATA ports are tucked tightly in between the FM2 socket, the DIMM slots and the PCI-E slot.
And last but not least, the I/O ports – a good set of feature there. USB 3.0, HDMI, DVI, audio I/O and so on so forth.
More details at the Official Product Page
I used this board for the AMD A10 6800K Review and I am pleased to report that despite the compact nature of the board, I was able to achieve good overclocking results with it.
The Verdict
What more can you ask for an RM 350 AMD APU Mini-ITX board?
I like the colors, and more importantly I like the layout. One that I need not squirm the SATA cables through the gap between a PCI-E card and RAM sticks.
