And why put the i5 661 when it's way more expensive? Just a worthless cpu.

Also why include itunes in the test? It's a pathetic program just using 2 cores in this multicores era. There are better options.

Should be great to include an undervolt section, AM3 cpu's really like the undervolt love. Mi Athlon II X4 620 2.6Ghz C2 is fully stable at 1.1v so this energy efficient cpu's might have even better undervolting.


ITX + AM3 energy efficiente cpu's + 880G = the perfect htpc combo. Only the future Fusion Llano can surpass this.

Why on earth would you ever choose to use a 880W power supply for a machine that uses only 103W max. Power supplies are much more efficient at around 2x the power usage. So I would have expected a 160W - 250W power supply unless you intend at some later date to buy a big honk'n video card and if so then why not include that in your build.

I'm sorry, but I really would have much preferred a review of mini-ITX cases over a simple AMD ITX build.

A every interesting article, especially as to the compromises that have to be made with the Mini-ITX form factor. Considering my own preferences, I wouldn't go below the mATX form factor.

I agree. A little more thought could have been used to set up this article.

this mobo is a jewel. i like that you measured the power usage used by the system and did not take into account the psu efficiency. i like that you were descriptive about the cpu.

don;t like that you always had something bad to say about amd: consuem too much power, consume too much power compared to intel... ughh in fact they don't... but is still like to put intel into better light. come on... get over intel love and do some real reviewing.

amd cpus are a lot cheaper than intel's and also platform price is lower.
a system this size is not really about extreme performance, but more about features: wifi, usb3, hdmi, sata, low power usage, low noise etc which we have plenty
amd cpus undervolt nicely... ummm unlike intel's. don't get me wrong... i think the i5 cpus are great but you can't control their voltage as nehalem architecture controls that in hardware. you can't do any undervolting on nehalem (i3,i5,i7). it would have been nice to do some undervolting tests.
one can use almost any amd cpu in this mobo... as amd has am3... intel has sk754 (core2duo), sk1156, sk1366 and sk1155(or some shit for sandy)

i think this mobo is really ok for some fairly powerful pc

You can upgrade to a X6 1055T 2.8Ghz 95w or the X6 1065T 2.9Ghz 95w.

I know by guys who built themselves HTPC's that you can consume near 20-25w just from going from a 500-600w PSU (quality one, corsair, ocz, etc) to a regular quality 350w(Be-Quiet).


And please enough with the intel bias.

seeing this motherboard layout was the first time for me that the Intel ball grid sockets have ever made any sense. still don't like them.

also what I'm missing is price comparisons. the i5 is about a third more expensive then the AMD Athlon II X4 615e (at least here it is)
that's got to factor into the attractiveness of a given platform.

Set up a System with M4A88T-I Deluxe, PSU 350w 80plus efficiency - BeQuiet L7, 2x 2GB corsair DDR3 1333, CPU Athlon X4 640 (3GHZ 95w TDP), WD Caviar Green.

All power-saving technologies enabled. Tested with MB Firmware Version 0403 and 0501. Old and new Drivers. Undervolting Athlon x4 640 to max. reaching the powerrequirements of 615e (800MHZ under 0.8Volt).
The maximum idle, low System Power Consumption is 40w !!! Send Display (connected by DVI) to Standby, reaching 36w.

Maybe the Firmware ist highly optimized for this CPU ID (X4 615e) or something had changed. Found the same High Power Consumption in other Reviews. (sometimes C1E not enabled so calculate 5-6watt)
On my Board now there is a small aluminum heatsink on processor voltage regulator transistors.(new Board rev.?)

:-(

I have the minix 890gx pro with radeon 4250 onboard, in a mini itx case 120gb ssd 8gb ram slim Dvd dl rw bluetooth wifi custom out top with the amd 250e 2x3ghz maybe 80 or 125w power Supp. If interested Deja.Phoenix7@gmail.com