The ASRock A320TM-ITX Motherboard: Thin-ITX For AMD APUs
by Gavin Bonshor on April 24, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- SFF
- NUC
- APU
- Bristol Ridge
- A320
- Raven Ridge
- Thin-ITX
- A320TM-ITX
ASRock has introduced its new Thin Mini-ITX platform designed specifically for AMD APUs, the A320TM-ITX. After ASRock officially announced its Intel-based Mini-STX platform back at CES 2019, the AMD offeringallows users to use AMD's Zen and A-series based APUs up to a TDP of 65W into a Thin Mini-ITX chassis. Other notable features include dual HDMI 1.4 outputs and a Realtek RTL8111 1 GbE networking chip.
The ASRock A320TM-ITX motherboard is based on the Thin Mini-ITX form factor which has a small 170 x 170 mm footprint. While the smaller Thin-ITX form factor is usually still compatible with a regular Mini-ITX chassis, users can make use of smaller cases such as the Silverstone PT13B Petit and the AKASA Cypher which comes included with a 120 W power supply. Some of the notable features of the A320TM-ITX includes support for up to 32 GB of DDR4-2933 SO-DIMMs; the two RAM slots themselves feature angled SO-DIMM slots which allows for a lower height. While there is limited space available for componentry, ASRock has included two front panel USB 2.0 headers which offer an additional four ports.
While conventional motherboards use a 20/24-pin ATX motherboard power input, the A320TM-ITX uses a 4-pin 19 V power connector which is designed to save space. The power delivery is advertised to feature a 5-phase configuration and neither the CPU VCore or SoC element is covered or cooled by heatsinks. Other connectors include two 4-pin CPU fan headers, a header for front panel audio and one LVDS connector for LCD controllers which also is complemented by two jumpers; one for backlight power and one for panel disablement. The storage capability is comprised of a single SATA connector and a single M.2 2260/2280 slot which does support the use of an NVMe SSD as a boot disk.
The rear panel on the ASRock A320TM-ITX is shortened to reduce the overall height of the system. Featured are four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports, a D-sub for the LVDS, a single HDMI 1.4 out, with a second HDMI 1.4 output located on the top edge of the PCB. Rounding off the rear panel is a single RJ45 LAN port powered by a Realtek RTL8111 Gigabit network controller and two 3.5 mm audio jacks which are powered by a jow-jack Realtek ALC233 audio codec.
Both the pricing and availability are currently unknown for the ASRock A320TM-ITX motherboard, but we expect ASRock to unveil more details in the near future, especially with Computex around the corner.
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neblogai - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
I guess, you can use either 4-pin (from PSU), or a 19V laptop power brick to power the board.DanNeely - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
You need several of the wires from the 24pin connector to allow the mobo to turn the PSU on when the front panel switch is pressed, similar to the internal HDMI I assume the intent is to deliver power to the rest of the AIO chassis the board is intended to be put in.Lucky Stripes 99 - Sunday, May 5, 2019 - link
Neoblogai isn't clear as to what kind of PSU. I agree that the P4 cable from an ATX supply is out because of the missing control signals and the voltage mismatch. But there are some internal SFF power supplies that have always-hot 19V cables that could drive that plug. The HDPLEX 80W and 120W could probably do it.rtho782 - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link
If it's like the atom boards I've used, exactly this. You can power it from either.Vatharian - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
Standard barrel connector is flaky, or implementation doesn't allow external jack for power (i.e. integrated sff PSU. It's the very same 12-19V input as the barrel connector.nirolf - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
This is nice, hope it will be available in Europe also. My fanless HTPC needs an upgrade to the 4K era and I was hoping for an AMD alternative.PeachNCream - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
This is a very interesting motherboard. A pcie 1x slot would have been a nice addition as the ITX form factor does allow for one expansion slot, but it isn't the end of the world.Lucky Stripes 99 - Sunday, May 5, 2019 - link
This is a *thin* mini-ITX board. Intel's specification for the form factor doesn't apparently allow for any PCIe slots. Instead, boards are to use mPCIe or M.2 slots.This board includes one M.2 2230 key-E slot and one M.2 2280 key-M slot.
xrror - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
Sadly no overclocking on A320 chipset... not that there would be much thermal/power headroom in such a form factor. But still it could have been fun.On the good side though, hopefully using 320 instead of 350 maybe will result in lower cost and lower price.
notashill - Wednesday, April 24, 2019 - link
Are there even any AM4 coolers that would fit in a thin ITX chassis? The lowest profile one I know of is the 37mm NH-L9a. PT13 only supports 30mm coolers, AKASA doesn't list a max cooler height for the Cypher but the whole thing is 45mm thick so I can't imagine it fitting.