14 DAY TRIAL // While we'll have to wait a lot more for the first computing solutions to leverage the computing capabilities delivered by AMD's Zacate APU (accelerated processing unit), we're starting to get some interesting details regarding some of the components that will accompany said processing unit, including here a very interesting small form factor motherboard from Gigabyte, who's just been leaked online. So, the guys over at Xbit Labs apparently received a tip from an industry source containing a photo of the Gigabyte GA-E350V-USB3 mainboard, a mini-ITX form-factor unit powered by the dual-core AMD E350 microprocessor.
For those of you who're not really familiar with the AMD APU topic, here's a very quick backgrounder on this solution that will most likely be one of the hottest novelties of 2011.
So, the E350 APU features two low-power Bobcat cores running at 1.60GHz and accompanied by an integrated Radeon HD 6310 graphics engine with 80 stream processors and universal video decoder 3.0 engine operating at 500MHz, all at a TDP of just around 18W.
Now, going back to the Gigabyte mobo, it's interesting to mention that it will actually allow users to overclock the memory from 1333MHz to 1800MHz and beyond, and it's quite likely that, by the time this thing starts shipping, the company will also come up with some sort of overclocking solution for the AMD APU as well.
Anyway, despite targeting a rather entry-level market (low-cost nettops and AIOs, most likely), the Gigabyte mobo packs plenty of interesting features, including an USB 3.0 controller, multi-channel audio outputs, D-Sub, DVI-I ports, support for up to four HDDs/SSDs, as well as PCI Express x16 slot for add-on graphics cards.
Although, as mentioned right from the start, we'll most likely have to wait quite a while before the first machines built around Gigabyte's mobo will make their way onto the market, we're eagerly waiting for that moment to arrive, so that we'll be able to see first hand what AMD's APU is really all about.