Motherboard Incoming AM4 Mini-ITX boards

[HeroXLazer]

I'm hoping for a AM4 M-ATX that supports Crossfire and or SLI. Do you guys know of anything anounced for M-ATX?

 

[|||]

So what you're saying is the chances of an AM4 board with more than one M.2 are really low?
I had a feeling it might be that way, but if you're right that seals the deal for me going Z270 + 6700T.

Yes, the platform isn't designed for it. It could be done, theoretically, if all 4 of the general purpose PCI-e 3.0 lanes (listed under SATA Express) were used for a second M.2 slot. MSI has even got two slots on their X370 Titanium board, using 4 of the general purpose PCI-e 2.0 lanes for it.

Storage

• AMD® X370 Chipset
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports*
• 2 x M.2 ports (Key M)
- M2_1 slot supports PCIe 3.0 x4 (RYZEN series processor) or PCIe 3.0 x2 (7th Gen A-series/ Athlon™ processors) and SATA 6Gb/s 2242/ 2260 /2280/ 22110 storage devices
- M2_2 slot supports PCIe 2.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s 2242/ 2260 /2280 storage devices
• 1 x U.2 port
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 (RYZEN series processor) or PCIe 3.0 x2 (7th Gen A-series/ Athlon™ processors) NVMe storage
* Maximum support 2x M.2 PCIe SSDs + 6x SATA HDDs or 2x M.2 SATA SSDs + 4x SATA HDDs.

RAID

• AMD® X370 Chipset
• Supports RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10 for SATA storage devices

It looks like they have a quick switch on the M.2 PCI-e 3.0 lanes from the processor to handle a U.2 port, too.

However, unless you are running a database or file server that is accessed by many people or machines and sustains high I/O rates and large queue depths, basing your computer off of M.2 storage devices doesn't make too much sense. A properly set up system should be nearly as fast and pretty much indecipherable to a user, whether they have all M.2 or M.2 plus SATA SSDs. You can add M.2 drives to SATA ports with adapters, as well.

 

[Curiosity]

Sometimes it isn't all about speed, I'm interested in dual M.2 because as much as I love Josh's S4, The Customod Mini is in a formfactor I prefer and I'm going to be moving into it as soon as possible.
That means no 2.5" drives though, unless I get creative, so I'll be moving to M.2 only. That adapter might be a decent stopgap if I get the case before a mobo with 2x M.2, though.

 

[Thehack]

Yes, the platform isn't designed for it. It could be done, theoretically, if all 4 of the general purpose PCI-e 3.0 lanes (listed under SATA Express) were used for a second M.2 slot. MSI has even got two slots on their X370 Titanium board, using 4 of the general purpose PCI-e 2.0 lanes for it.



It looks like they have a quick switch on the M.2 PCI-e 3.0 lanes from the processor to handle a U.2 port, too.

However, unless you are running a database or file server that is accessed by many people or machines and sustains high I/O rates and large queue depths, basing your computer off of M.2 storage devices doesn't make too much sense. A properly set up system should be nearly as fast and pretty much indecipherable to a user, whether they have all M.2 or M.2 plus SATA SSDs. You can add M.2 drives to SATA ports with adapters, as well.

I have heard that some of those boards are unreliable.

Do you know one that is known to be reliable?

 

[MarcParis]

Sata ssd are clearly enough for general user or even gamers. Only professional video producer will need such m.2 nvme ssd..
Personnaly i love my 950 pro, but compared to my sata 840 pro, gap is peanut..

 

[|||]

I have heard that some of those boards are unreliable.

Do you know one that is known to be reliable?

I don't have direct experience...I would look around at reviews online. If it is instability or things like that cause by the BIOS, I would just wait until the BIOS updates have been released.

Sometimes it isn't all about speed, I'm interested in dual M.2 because as much as I love Josh's S4, The Customod Mini is in a formfactor I prefer and I'm going to be moving into it as soon as possible.
That means no 2.5" drives though, unless I get creative, so I'll be moving to M.2 only. That adapter might be a decent stopgap if I get the case before a mobo with 2x M.2, though.

Those M.2 adapter cards are 45mm wide (7mm thick and 105mm long) ...could you slot them in edge-wise into that case?

 

[Smallform Gaming]

See my build... I'm using one.
I am currently using this one because it is the thinnest and it is black:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018704SM0/?tag=theminutiae-20
I formerly used this one and have it as a spare:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ya/ref...ii=&ij=0&noi=&of=&oi=&oid=106-2498503-4740255

 

[Curiosity]

I don't have direct experience...I would look around at reviews online. If it is instability or things like that cause by the BIOS, I would just wait until the BIOS updates have been released.



Those M.2 adapter cards are 45mm wide (7mm thick and 105mm long) ...could you slot them in edge-wise into that case?

I might be able to, I'll probably get one or two since they're cheap and just see how it goes. I've not gotten my M.2 Drives yet anyway. (And I shouldn't be getting my customod until april)

See my build... I'm using one.

Looks good, has it been working well?

 

[ChainedHope]

Update from Biostar. Just a small snippet of the email (it was quite long and redundant for some reason? Think the Korean team sent it to the US marketers and they had to google translate it or something and then tried to make it more readable?)

The more important parts were:
"The X370GTN does not support pcie biffurication at this time."
"We are looking into it."
"It might be possible with custom BIOS in the future if demanded."

So I guess the answer is its not a priority and might come along in an updated revision if enough people want it to make up for the dev and testing time.

 

[Smallform Gaming]

Both run great for gaming. I only got the black one for the color. Still have the green.

 

[Ceros_X]

I might be able to, I'll probably get one or two since they're cheap and just see how it goes. I've not gotten my M.2 Drives yet anyway. (And I shouldn't be getting my customod until april)

Looks good, has it been working well?

I think I came across a box of those Startech adapters, I'll look..

 

[Dyson Poindexter]

It might not work for everyone, but I have 265GB of SSD storage on my system and 20+ TB on a home server over GbE. It works quite well, even when playing games from it. I think needing multiple M.2 slots is a bit of an edge case in SFF-land. Not saying I don't want them, just that it can be worked around.

 

[3lfk1ng]

I'm hoping for a AM4 M-ATX that supports Crossfire and or SLI. Do you guys know of anything anounced for M-ATX?

That's what I am waiting for. Nothing yet.

 

[K888D]

[Rumour] Potential incoming news:

 

[Boil]

Now if we could get a tweet like that from ASRock or ASUS or MSI as well…!

My particular desires are for three 4-pin PWM fan headers (two SysFan & one CPUFan) and for a front-mounted M.2 slot that does NOT sit on top of the PCH (see how ASRock has their front-mount M.2 on the H270/Z270 ITX MBs)… A second back-mounted M.2 would be sweet as well, but for a front-mount, no extra heat source please…!

 

[alexep7]

I don't know if anyone here is interested in Bristol Ridge, but anyway. I recently messaged CSL-Computer, who are currently the only retailers selling the Bristol Ridge A12-9800 APU. They sell that specific APU in bundles with motherboards only and only in Germany AFAIK. I asked if they were planning to offer Bristol Ridge bundled with the upcoming ITX boards from Biostar and got this answer:

Actually we do not have any information about these two mainboards, since Biostar has announced them without any details, even no availability details. So I can not answer this question right now. If we will offer them, I am sure we offer them in bundles with Ryzen and A12-APUs

So, assuming the ITX boards won't take more than a month to come out, it might be a good option for those of us who want good integrated graphics and aren't patient enough to wait for Raven Ridge. The A12-9800 isn't a Zen chip, but it's pretty damn good and has the most powerful integrated graphics on the market right now. Plus, it uses the AM4 socket. It seems like it will never be available for purchase independently, even though it's been around in OEMs since September. So this seems to be the only way to purchase one.

I'll probably go this route, assuming the ITX boards come out soon, and then, depending on my needs, upgrade to Raven Ridge when it's released.

 

[leonroy]

According to Gigabyte's tweet above, have a few more weeks to wait for their AM4 ITX announcement...

 

[alexep7]

So, Biostar and Gigabyte are game. That's two out of three. Who's the other one? Asrock?

 

[confusis]

I'm guessing ECS.

 

[|||]

We don't even know at this point...Gigabyte had told @3lfk1ng that they had no plans for one at CES, where we had heard 2-3 manufacturers had promised an ITX board to AMD.