Gigabyte Goes SFF With AB350N-Gaming WiFi Mini-ITX Motherboard

By Steven Lynch
published

Gigabyte unveiled the AB350N-Gaming WiFi motherboard. If you have plans to build a Ryzen-based small form factor (SFF) system, this motherboard will certainly be of interest to you.

Although small in size, the AB350N-Gaming WiFi is loaded with everything but the kitchen sink. In addition to standard features found on other mainstream AM4 socket motherboards, such as support for AMD's Ryzen and 7th Generation A-series processors, DDR4 support up to 3,200MHz, a single PCI-E x16 3.0 slot, USB 3.1, and 7.1 Channel HD audio, this board features a redesigned CPU socket area built specifically to accommodate larger heatsinks such as AMD’s Wraith Max cooler.

Henry Kao, the Vice President of Gigabyte’s Motherboard Business Unit, stated:

Gigabyte has been building strong relationships with AMD. When AMD published the latest Wraith Max, we released a corresponding model to meet the demand. Even more so, Gigabyte’s R&D put great efforts on re-arranging the components on the board in order to make mini motherboards achieve optimal compatibility for larger thermal cooling solutions. In the future, we will continue to cooperate with AMD and create more unique, creative products to address the demands from gamers and enthusiasts.

This mini-ITX motherboard is outfitted with the company's Smart-Fan 5 that enables you to manually change fan profiles for each fan header, or you can allow the software to control system temperatures automatically by reading thermal sensors on the motherboard and adjusting fan speeds accordingly.

The hybrid fan pin headers support both standard type voltage fans and PWM fans. The motherboard supports high current fans up to 24W with built-in over-current protection. The company stated that this makes the motherboard more "liquid cooling friendly."

The RGB Fusion feature has a variety of different preset lighting configurations. Users can even set the motherboard lighting to synchronize with Wraith Max coolers or have them change colors to indicate CPU temperature. There are two separate light zones capable of seven different lighting effects (color cycle, pulse, music, static, flash, and intelligent). The RGB Fusion app can be downloaded directly from the company website.

Other features include IR digital power controllers and PowIRstage ICs, server level chokes, an onboard 802.11ac Intel WiFi module with Bluetooth 4.2 support, high-end Chemicon audio capacitors, HD audio with smart headphone amp, Realtek GbE LAN, and Gigabyte's patented double locking PCI-E bracket with a one piece stainless steel shield

We have reached out to Gigabyte for information on pricing and availability.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Gigabyte AB350N-Gaming WiFi
SocketAM4
ChipsetB350
Form FactorMini-ITX
Expansion Slots1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16(The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)1 x M.2 Socket 1 connector for the wireless communication module
Memory Support2 x DDR4 DIMM Sockets Support Up To 32 GBSupport for DDR4 3200/2933/2667/2400/2133 MHzSupport for higher than DDR4 2667 MHz may vary by CPU.Support for ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8 memory modulesSupport for non-ECC Un-buffered DIMM 1Rx8/2Rx8/1Rx16 modulesSupport for Extreme Memory Profile (XMP) memory modules
Onboard Graphics1 x DisplayPort4096x2304@60Hz Maximum Resolution* Support for DisplayPort 1.2 version.1 x HDMI port 4096x2160@24Hz Maximum Resolution* Support for HDMI 1.4 version.Maximum shared memory of 2 GB* Actual support may vary by CPU
AudioRealtek ALC1220 codecHigh Definition Audio2/4/5.1/7.1-channelSupport for S/PDIF Out
LANRealtek GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Storage1 x M.2 Socket 3 connector on the back of the motherboard (Socket 3, M key, type 2260/2280 SATA and PCIe x4*/x2 SSD support)4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectorsSupport for RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 10* Actual support may vary by CPU.
USBChipset:2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red) on the back panel2 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports available through the internal USB header4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header)Integrated in the CPU:4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports on the back panel
I/O1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port2 x SMA antenna connectors1 x DisplayPort1 x HDMI port2 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports (red)4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports1 x RJ-45 port6 x audio jacks
WirelessWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, supporting 2.4/5 GHz Dual-BandBLUETOOTH 4.2, 4.1, BLE, 4.0, 3.0, 2.1, 2.1+EDRSupport for 11ac wireless standard and up to 433 Mbps data rate* Actual data rate may vary depending on environment and equipment.
LightingGigabyte RGB Fusion
PriceTBA
Steven Lynch
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DerekA_C
    looking like the sweet spot unless motherboard venders offer a passive or powered pci-e splitter type ryser thing for dual gpus in a mini itx form. a new gen of mini itx cases could be born from this.
    Reply
  • Valantar
    It has to be said: this board has a truly awful layout. That alone should be reason enough not to buy it. EPS connector squeezed in behind the rear IO, 24-pin, front IO and SATA all at the top of the board, and NOTHING at the front of the board? What were they thinking? Good luck fitting this in an SFF case with little room for cable routing around the top of the board.
    Reply
  • why_wolf
    19880835 said:
    It has to be said: this board has a truly awful layout. That alone should be reason enough not to buy it. EPS connector squeezed in behind the rear IO, 24-pin, front IO and SATA all at the top of the board, and NOTHING at the front of the board? What were they thinking? Good luck fitting this in an SFF case with little room for cable routing around the top of the board.

    Agreed, terrible layout compared to the Biostar ITX board.
    Reply
  • James Mason
    19880613 said:
    looking like the sweet spot unless motherboard venders offer a passive or powered pci-e splitter type ryser thing for dual gpus in a mini itx form. a new gen of mini itx cases could be born from this.

    That's called a micro ATX motherboard.
    Reply
  • Dr Croubie
    Compared to the Biostar models, which are the only other Mini ITX Ryzens around so far (at least, at newegg), this one looks both better and worse in some respects.
    At least this one ditches the long-obsolete DVI and puts in DP instead, but then it's got no optical audio output so not much use as a good HTPC. More USB connectors (8) than the Biostars (5) is good for HTPC though (especially one where friends bring files on sticks to watch).
    Hopefully they'll bring out one without the wifi/bt, although at least that's on a riser card so it can presumably be unplugged by people who care about security.
    Not sure if anyone building an HTPC would want rgb lights flickering away distracting from the screen, but it'd probably look nice with one of my aorus 580 in there as a portable gaming box if they can make the colours sync up.
    Reply
  • warmon6
    19880835 said:
    It has to be said: this board has a truly awful layout. That alone should be reason enough not to buy it. EPS connector squeezed in behind the rear IO, 24-pin, front IO and SATA all at the top of the board, and NOTHING at the front of the board? What were they thinking? Good luck fitting this in an SFF case with little room for cable routing around the top of the board.

    Its not really that bad.... Gigabyte has had a very similar ITX layout for amd board(s) for a few years now and overall its layout is fairly ok from my experience. Think it all has to do with what case your putting the board in.

    GA-F2A88XN-wifi itx board i've been running since 2015 in the RVZ01 case has essentially the same layout as this board and in this case, i can zip tie the front panel and usb cable alone side of the case with no problems. Only major down side to this layout is the sata cables (almost all 4 spots i can have drives in this case makes the cables run from one side of the case to the other).

    24 pin location, i can see how it could affect in some cases but in my RVZ01, it the perfect length from the PSU to the connector and runs between the PSU bracket and motherboard, So it mostly blends in (Although the air cooler inside my case just hides it all anyways.)


    Now the one thing that I do like about the layout from this board vs my board is the CPU socket is farther away from the memory and PCI-e slots which is a major plus as my board has very few large air coolers that'll work with both slots. (Coolermaster Geminii M4 is one of the few. Most of the popular one however block PCI-e or ram. So you cant use both.)

    ESP connector location is a certainly a con as it has been moved up from by board and im not sure why... Made it real easy (in my case) to run the ESP cable near the motherboard (out of site in the GPU compartment) and just connect it right there. Now it farther up and you have a more visible cable running from the top or bottom of the board.


    19881118 said:
    Hopefully they'll bring out one without the wifi/bt, although at least that's on a riser card so it can presumably be unplugged by people who care about security.

    It actually a vertical Mini PCI-e slot (the kind you find in laptops) that the wifi card is in and it is completely removable.

    My board has a horizontal slot with the Intel AC 7260 half-height card and i can remove it and use it in another device (for the fun of it, I tried it in a old Pentium dual-core laptop (2008-ish) I had laying around with only wireless G in it and it fully works).

    Reply
  • Pompompaihn
    It's a little weird I'll grant you, but it actually puts the SATA and front IO in a -GOOD- position if you're doing an inverted board build, which an increasing number of SFF cases seem to support. The EPS is bizarre so I'll give you that, but compromises abound on ITX boards.
    Reply
  • artk2219
    19880835 said:
    It has to be said: this board has a truly awful layout. That alone should be reason enough not to buy it. EPS connector squeezed in behind the rear IO, 24-pin, front IO and SATA all at the top of the board, and NOTHING at the front of the board? What were they thinking? Good luck fitting this in an SFF case with little room for cable routing around the top of the board.

    There is something at the front, its the mounting for m.2 in the back and the controllers and such for all of the rest. Its a bit of a convoluted layout any which way you look at it though.

    https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-AB350N-Gaming-WIFI-rev-10#kf
    Reply
  • warmon6
    19882555 said:
    It's a little weird I'll grant you, but it actually puts the SATA and front IO in a -GOOD- position if you're doing an inverted board build, which an increasing number of SFF cases seem to support. The EPS is bizarre so I'll give you that, but compromises abound on ITX boards.

    Cant agree more! :D

    As for inverted builds, i completely forgot about them where sata location would make sense.

    Guess my comment of "Think it all has to do with what case your putting the board in" rings true. :lol:
    Reply
  • plateLunch
    Don't forget. One of the applications of a mini-ITX is industrial where a PC is running a larger device. Connector location is not the biggest deal. It can be designed around.

    A company I recently worked for is probably drooling over the Ryzen and its 16 threads. This board would allow them to fit a Ryzen into their current test equipment boxes. The only thing missing is integrated graphics which is used for bring-up.
    Reply