News - Gigabyte serves up AMD Fusion in a mini-ITX motherboard

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Mini-ITX GA-E350N-USB3 board comes pre-loaded with an AMD Fusion APU. The perfect platform for your next HTPC?

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Read more.

That would also make a very nice custom NAS box :)

or even a slimline htpc.

I hope it is under £100.

Chuck in a HD5570 it might even make a half decent lan box... anyone know if it does hybrid crossfire? ;)

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Originally Posted by scaryjim

Chuck in a HD5570 it might even make a half decent lan box... anyone know if it does hybrid crossfire? ;)

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Perhaps AMD Llano would be a better choice especially if the APU has 320 to 400 shaders.

good to see things like this coming out so early, bodes well for AMD I reckon!

I've been waiting for something which pushes me to separate my NAS and media center this may well be the ticket!

I am just waiting for pricing, my mum and dad want a HTPC and this might just be the part for the job.

I really hope that AMD can provide more competition for Intel this year,otherwise we will be paying what price Intel wants TBH instead of the consumer dictating the price instead.

You can only see how competition between AMD and Nvidia in the last few months has meant much lower prices for graphics cards.

My thoughts exactly.

The fairly powerful IGP on this platform means you might not need a discrete GPU for HTPC use. If this turns out to be the case it could work out much cheaper than the Atom or desktop CPU route. Not to mention you could use a nice small case like that M-350. :P

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

Perhaps AMD Llano would be a better choice especially if the APU has 320 to 400 shaders.

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When it arrives Llano should be a splendid all round platform for everything, including light to moderate gaming usage. But you'll be able to buy this board long before Llano shows up at retail... ;)

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Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH

I really hope that AMD can provide more competition for Intel this year,otherwise we will be paying what price Intel wants TBH instead of the consumer dictating the price instead.

You can only see how competition between AMD and Nvidia in the last few months has meant much lower prices for graphics cards.

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Intel still need to compete with themselves by setting prices such that upgrades are still desirable.

They'd probably rather sell you a CPU for a bit less ££ every 2 years, than a higher priced one every 3-4 years... or risk you buying an AMD one instead.

It's great to see these smaller form factors coming out.

Does anyone know whether PCIe x1 cards will fit in this supposed x16 slot? It would be handy as many TV tuners are x1. Being able to watch telly is kind of key to the HTPC thing really.

Yeah you can put any PCIe card in any bigger slot. In theory you can put a bigger one in a smaller slot and have it run at reduced speed but it's often not physically possible since most slots have a closed back.

Took Hexus nearly 3 weeks to pick this "story" up... :p

How about some "inside" info on the Soyo board Hexus? Thats a mATX board with PCIEx16, x1 and PCI as well as SIX SATA ports.

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Originally Posted by MilesPebody

It's great to see these smaller form factors coming out.

Does anyone know whether PCIe x1 cards will fit in this supposed x16 slot? It would be handy as many TV tuners are x1. Being able to watch telly is kind of key to the HTPC thing really.

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Yeah like the new Blackgold DVBT2 card (excellent so far) which is tiny and would be suitable for a low profile machine.

It's something I've often wondered but never researched/tried, can you pop any PCI-E card in the slot x16 slot intended for graphics?