SFF.Network [SFF Network] More Images of Gigabyte AM4 Boards Leaked

The first few images we saw of the non-OEM, Gigabyte board, were not much other than teasers. Heavily cropped sections of board was all that we saw. Now, full shots of the boards have been leaked! What do we see?

Read more here.

 

[confusis]

Interesting that everything we have seen of AM4 so far has been M-ATX..

 

[BirdofPrey]

Interesting that everything we have seen of AM4 so far has been M-ATX..

It does seem a sensible choice. It offers the promise of future expandability that mITX does not (even the board with just one slot for the GPU still allows for other assorted stuff like sound cards unlike mITX), and with 3 and 4 GPU configurations from both camps no longer scaling in an appreciable way, it's not as much of a compromise since little is lost without the extra x16 slots which get cut down to x8 anyway.

 

[Phuncz]

Interesting that everything we have seen of AM4 so far has been M-ATX..

And that worries me, since µATX seems to be the defacto platform for "cheapest possible board" with the bare minimum: only two RAM slots, only one PCIe x8/x16 slot, functioning Realtek RTL8111 networking and Realtek ALC892 audio. The telltale "in between mITX and proper µATX" 3 slot size gives it away. I hope any manufacturer actually makes a board with higher quality components.

 

[iFreilicht]

Doesn't it seem a little early to jump to conclusions just based on the little information we have? mATX boards are, as you say, cheap, and that's because they are smaller than ATX, so material cost drops, but larger than mITX where routing is more complicated. mATX boards are also the most popular formfactor for pre-built systems in retail stores, so it makes sense that renders for those would be finished first, because the demand and thus pressure to have footage for possible B2B customers is highest.

 

[Phuncz]

Indeed, it makes sense that OEM boards are the first ones to surface since these will be the first ones to reach consumers in desktops due to the exclusivity deal. But also because these are most likely not as secretively designed and produced, along with mass-production leading time, it makes sense we're seeing these kinds of boards first.

I'm hoping for a good mid-range and high-end lineup, maybe with the focus on SFF from AMD this gets the added boost in mITX and µATX.

The heatsink mounts confuse me, I thought AM4 would use a square hole pattern.

 

[TheHig]

I feel like we will get a full treatment of form factors and grades of boards for AM4 throughout 2017. Amd will have a single socket finally supporting all current tech after running the 9xx chipset into the dirt. Hopefully we can get a solid mITX board option for a range of APUs and up to those sweet 8c 16t CPUs. #makeamdgreatagain

 

[EdZ]

"Single platform across the range" can backfire too though. With Carizzo and Carizo-L, AMD were left in the situation that OEMs took the 'high end' Carrizo chips, and dumped them in platforms designed for the much more limited Carizzo-L, because it was cheap and possible to do so.