14 DAY TRIAL // Gigabyte has recently introduced yet another FM1 solution into its motherboard lineup, the A55M-S2V, which is specially designed to offer a low cost solution to those users interested in building a highly integrated entry-level desktop system.
Since the A55M-S2V is an entry-level model, the motherboard doesn't include as many features as other FM1 solutions that we have written about in the past, but it should make up for this with a low acquisition price.
As far as its specifications are concerned, the A55M-S2V adopts the mini-ATX form factor and a pretty basic layout that includes only two DIMM sockets for installing system memory.
Right to the lest of these, Gigabyte has placed a blue color-coded PCI Express x16 slot, which is accompanied by two other PCIe x1 slots as well as by a legacy 32-bit slot.
The rest of the specifications list doesn't hold any major surprises and users get six SATA 3Gbps expansion port for installing storage devices as well as the usual pin headers for connecting extra USB ports and other connectors.
The entry-level feel of the A55M-S2V is also kept when taking a look at the rear I/O configuration of the board, as users will only find the most basic arrangement of ports, which includes four USB 2.0 connectors, a pair of PS/2 ports, an Ethernet port, 5.1 channel audio and D-Sub and DVI video outputs.
Fortunately, Gigabyte has decided to keep its dual-BIOS technology among the features integrated in the A55M-S2V, so BIOS corruption shouldn't be a problem.
Another interesting addition is the introduction of the HybridEFI technology, which lets the system boot from hard drives that offer more than 2.2TB of storage space.
No information regarding the price of the A55M-S2V is available at this point in time, but given the low specs list, this FM1 board shouldn't cost more than $100 US. (via VR-Zone)