Asus has announced two new motherboards – the AM1M-A and the AM1I-A. These motherboards, as their names indicate, are both based on AMD’s new AM1 platform. Both of the motherboards are largely identical, with a couple of differences in format and connectivity.
The AM1M-A is based on the Micro-ATX format, though it is a little bit narrower and is missing one expansion slot. The AM1I-A is a Mini-ITX board. The little boards are rather simple, but carry everything you’ll need in a basic PC.
Both of the boards are equipped with two DDR3 DIMM slots and carry two SATA3 (6 Gb/s) ports. The Mini-ITX board features a single PCI-Express x4 slot with an open end, so you’ll still be able to plug in a graphics card; you’ll just be limited to four lanes rather than sixteen.
The bigger board comes with a full-size PCI-Express x16 slot, as well as two more PCI-Express x1 slots for added expansion.
With regard to rear I/O connectivity, both boards are largely identical but have a couple of differences. Both of the boards feature two rear-accessible USB 3.0 ports, four USB 2.0 ports, a DVI port, HDMI port, VGA port, along with stereo audio and Gigabit Ethernet. The Micro-ATX board features a single legacy PS/2 connector, while the Mini-ITX version carries an extra along one with a Serial COM port. Overall, one could say that the Mini-ITX version is targeted more at kiosks and embedded applications.
Asus at this time did not disclose pricing or availability.
