The Brazos Round-Up: Eight AMD E-350-Based Motherboards
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AMD’s Brazos platform, driven by the Zacate APU, offers a lot of performance per watt. It comes up short on features, though. Eight manufacturers try to change that perception by adding slots, controllers, and even overclocking in a couple of cases.
The Brazos Round-Up: Eight AMD E-350-Based Motherboards : Read more
The Brazos Round-Up: Eight AMD E-350-Based Motherboards : Read more
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gameworm
July 4, 2011 4:40:32 AM
The Zotac board actually is available on Newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Only problem is that it is $160 instead of $130
Otherwise very nice roundup. I've been thinking of using one of these for a server/NAS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Only problem is that it is $160 instead of $130
Otherwise very nice roundup. I've been thinking of using one of these for a server/NAS.
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vaughn2k
July 4, 2011 6:11:42 AM
Related resources
- Will this motherboard run a AMD FX-8350 Eight-Core 4GHz AM3+ Processor - Forum
- Can a GA ma770t ud3p motherboard support a AMD FX-9590 Eight-Core proccessor? - Forum
noob2222
July 4, 2011 6:14:29 AM
Mathos
July 4, 2011 6:18:00 AM
noob2222Odd timing for the roundup, Llano just came out, these will be discontinued asap.Not good for much save storage, but that wasn't tested. Would have much rather see an A8 board roundup since they are on newegg now. Picked up one myself for my htpc/storage setup.
Uh no, Brazos is bast on the Bobcat core which is a low power version of Bulldozer. These are meant for ultra portables and netbooks, nettops, ultrathin notebooks and the likes.
Llano is the entry level desktop APU until they switch from Stars cores on those to the newer bulldozer cores.
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noob2222
July 4, 2011 6:28:13 AM
BulkZerker
July 4, 2011 7:53:13 AM
mathosUh no, Brazos is bast on the Bobcat core which is a low power version of Bulldozer. These are meant for ultra portables and netbooks, nettops, ultrathin notebooks and the likes. Llano is the entry level desktop APU until they switch from Stars cores on those to the newer bulldozer cores.
noob2222And yet this roundup is .... desktop boards. And brazos has nothing in common with bulldozer.
Net TOP. Meaning a low power ITX board. Brazos is merely a stopgap till AMD has the tooling to kick out tons of BD cores. Though I will agree this roundup is a bit late it is at least thorough.
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gamewormThe Zotac board actually is available on Newegghttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813500068Only problem is that it is $160 instead of $130Otherwise very nice roundup. I've been thinking of using one of these for a server/NAS.
Good call--that board only recently became available, after this story was scheduled to be published. We've since updated the conclusion and price chart to reflect the market as of July 4th, 2011.
Cheers,
Chris
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GaMEChld
July 4, 2011 9:30:20 AM
BulkZerkerNet TOP. Meaning a low power ITX board. Brazos is merely a stopgap till AMD has the tooling to kick out tons of BD cores. Though I will agree this roundup is a bit late it is at least thorough.
Brazos is NOT a stopgap, it is meant for very low power applications. It's basically AMD's take on Atom style devices. Bulldozer is not meant to scale to this low power envelope. That's why there are already plans for Brazos successors. Ontario/Zacate will be replaced by Khrishna/Wichita. Llano will be succeeded by Trinity, which is Bulldozer based. Zambezi is supposed to be succeeded by something called Komodo, which I haven't read much about.
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silverblue
July 4, 2011 12:16:02 PM
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July 4, 2011 2:13:05 PM
Well, aside from a few bits about Brazos being a stop-gap based on Bulldozer being wrong, the basic premise of "odd timing for a Brazos roundup" holds true.
Llano for laptops is out-freaking-standing, Llano for desktops is amazing for cheap OEM-built desktops and small form-factor HTPCs. TBH, it shouldn't excite much of anyone else, nor was it intended to replace Phenom II + dGPU for enthusiasts.
Llano for laptops is out-freaking-standing, Llano for desktops is amazing for cheap OEM-built desktops and small form-factor HTPCs. TBH, it shouldn't excite much of anyone else, nor was it intended to replace Phenom II + dGPU for enthusiasts.
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killerclick
July 4, 2011 2:25:54 PM
jsowoc
July 4, 2011 3:57:18 PM
When you ran an Atom board comparison, you included performance data for an old Pentium (or Athlon; don't remember). This was very helpful, as I'd get a feel for how good/bad is 5 minutes for your workload. Of course, this was just an anchor point, and would be excluded from any value/efficiency graphs.
Does anyone else feel the performance graphs would be more meaningful with a typical Atom and a cheap Athlon X2 as points of reference?
Does anyone else feel the performance graphs would be more meaningful with a typical Atom and a cheap Athlon X2 as points of reference?
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4
denial_
July 4, 2011 5:23:15 PM
hatethisbull
July 4, 2011 5:30:25 PM
For all the data that's included in the chart, it's quite astonishing that there's nothing to distinguish which boards use SO-DIMMs and which ones use DDR3-1333. Most users are going to care a LOT more about this than whether or not there exists an internal parallel port connector.
All of these setups are about twice as expensive as they should be. By the time you add all the trimmings to build up a complete system, you're spending nearly what you would for an economy desktop where a $100 WD TV or $200 pre-built Atom machine would be a much better investment. Wrapping a $10 chip in a $165 board just makes zero sense. In fact, I'd be very interested in seeing a detailed cost-breakdown on one of the more expensive boards - I just can't understand how they could possibly be valued so highly.
All of these setups are about twice as expensive as they should be. By the time you add all the trimmings to build up a complete system, you're spending nearly what you would for an economy desktop where a $100 WD TV or $200 pre-built Atom machine would be a much better investment. Wrapping a $10 chip in a $165 board just makes zero sense. In fact, I'd be very interested in seeing a detailed cost-breakdown on one of the more expensive boards - I just can't understand how they could possibly be valued so highly.
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I would have liked to see how these perform as an HTPC. Can the handle BD at 1080i? How is websurfing? Can they place facebook games that my grandkids love... usefull things like that. We already know these cant game or handle intensive apps so why waste time benching these...
Perhaps a future article.
Perhaps a future article.
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boggie6868
July 4, 2011 9:02:54 PM
Nice round up!!
I really would love to use the AMD APUs for a lower power server application.
Only problem is that the boards are all 4x PCIE and single nic. Come on! Let see something with dual nics and 8x PCIE.
Yea yea yea Llano here now, but hell I've love to have an E-350 with a board like this. Its all about the power consumption baby!
I really would love to use the AMD APUs for a lower power server application.
Only problem is that the boards are all 4x PCIE and single nic. Come on! Let see something with dual nics and 8x PCIE.
Yea yea yea Llano here now, but hell I've love to have an E-350 with a board like this. Its all about the power consumption baby!
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GaMEChld
July 4, 2011 9:24:34 PM
silverblueTrinity and Komodo are both Enhanced Bulldozer. As such, Trinity will not be using Zambezi cores.
The name "enhanced" Bulldozer had me guessing. I wasn't sure if the cores would actually be different in Trinity, or if it was the same BD cores "enhanced" with graphics. Did you read anything more detailed on it?
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GaMEChld
July 4, 2011 9:26:22 PM
silverblue
July 4, 2011 9:33:53 PM
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GaMEChld
July 4, 2011 9:36:56 PM
silverblueHere's a helpful document...http://phx.corporate-ir.net/Extern [...] BlPTM=&t=1
VERY nice find!
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silverblue
July 4, 2011 9:48:56 PM
I will say, however, that the document is a little contradictory. I've read before that Enhanced Bulldozer will appear 2012, followed by Next Generation Bulldozer in 2013.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20101109113213...
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20101109113213...
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GaMEChld
July 4, 2011 9:51:42 PM
silverblue
July 4, 2011 9:59:05 PM
Aussie_Bear
July 5, 2011 7:58:54 AM
Some of you are really bad at reading AMD's simple Desktop roadmaps.
(1) Performance/Enthusiast end...
2011 => FX-series (Zambezi) => 1st gen Bulldozer (Introduction.)
2012 => Komodo => 2nd gen Bulldozer (Refinement of 1st gen. => "Enhanced")
2013 => ??? => 3rd gen Bulldozer (Major changes. => "Next-Generation")
(2) Mainstream market
2011 => A-series (Llano) => K10.5-based with modifications. Up to 4-cores.
2012 => Trinity => 2nd gen Bulldozer (refinement of 1st gen). Up to 4-cores.
(3) Low-power (Nettop/Low-power/Small-Form-Factor)
2011 => E-series (Zacate) => Bobcat in 40nm
2012 => Krishna => Enhanced-Bobcat in 28nm
(1) Performance/Enthusiast end...
2011 => FX-series (Zambezi) => 1st gen Bulldozer (Introduction.)
2012 => Komodo => 2nd gen Bulldozer (Refinement of 1st gen. => "Enhanced")
2013 => ??? => 3rd gen Bulldozer (Major changes. => "Next-Generation")
(2) Mainstream market
2011 => A-series (Llano) => K10.5-based with modifications. Up to 4-cores.
2012 => Trinity => 2nd gen Bulldozer (refinement of 1st gen). Up to 4-cores.
(3) Low-power (Nettop/Low-power/Small-Form-Factor)
2011 => E-series (Zacate) => Bobcat in 40nm
2012 => Krishna => Enhanced-Bobcat in 28nm
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silverblue
July 5, 2011 11:26:54 AM
pyrrocc
July 6, 2011 9:44:46 PM
Thomas,
I'm somewhat disappointed given the form-factor and power envelope of the boards reviewed here that there were no media consumption tests performed while monitoring temperature, power, and noise. I understand that not all of the boards were designed with HTPC applications in mind (Jetway), but certainly HTPCs would be a significant portion of the interest in these boards.
-Pyrroc
I'm somewhat disappointed given the form-factor and power envelope of the boards reviewed here that there were no media consumption tests performed while monitoring temperature, power, and noise. I understand that not all of the boards were designed with HTPC applications in mind (Jetway), but certainly HTPCs would be a significant portion of the interest in these boards.
-Pyrroc
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pyrroccThomas,I'm somewhat disappointed given the form-factor and power envelope of the boards reviewed here that there were no media consumption tests performed while monitoring temperature, power, and noise. I understand that not all of the boards were designed with HTPC applications in mind (Jetway), but certainly HTPCs would be a significant portion of the interest in these boards.-Pyrroc
Given that they all use the same APU, I refer to the original APU review by Chris Angelini and only look for "performance problems" in benchmarks. The real point of the roundup was to see what kind of features and cooling you could get for your money. Score
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Anonymous
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July 7, 2011 4:19:36 AM
Anonymous
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July 8, 2011 1:48:24 PM
kartu
July 18, 2011 5:41:53 AM
msroadkill612
April 12, 2012 4:35:30 AM
seems to me they range from $110 to $175 - what do u get for $65 now - imagine the cost & hassle of dicovering u need a port etc u didnt anticipate
extra $ on a top mobo is the best $ u ever spent
tp me - the asus deluxe seems to win
passive cpu & psu cooling would be a must for me - maybe both - a big slow fan too
extra $ on a top mobo is the best $ u ever spent
tp me - the asus deluxe seems to win
passive cpu & psu cooling would be a must for me - maybe both - a big slow fan too
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msroadkill612
April 12, 2012 4:42:25 AM
it may sound dumb, but may also help some
the only power consumption figure that matters is the idle for a 24/7 PC. if its busy doing work - who cares - just do what u gotta do - but if its sitting on its ass & chewing juice - thats relevant - cos thats most of the time mostly - we all gotta sleep etc.
the only power consumption figure that matters is the idle for a 24/7 PC. if its busy doing work - who cares - just do what u gotta do - but if its sitting on its ass & chewing juice - thats relevant - cos thats most of the time mostly - we all gotta sleep etc.
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zaxevil
August 9, 2012 10:46:33 AM
devBunny
January 26, 2013 10:58:40 AM
Quote:
Four minutes to compress a nearly CD-sized folder brings found memories of Pentium 4s. It’s fortunate for AMD, then, that these systems use around 1/6th the power of those long-forgotten relics. Efficiency is this platform’s raison d'être.It's 2013 and I'm contradicting you from one of those long-forgotten Pentium 4 relics. ;o)
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!