Last week, I wrote about low cost ASRock Braswell motherboards with pricing starting at just under $60.
But there were mainly two complaints about these boards: performance was about the same as similarly priced Bay Trail processors, and the requirements for a large – and relatively expensive – ATX power supply.
There’s not much that can be done to improve performance, but ASRock also has launched N3150DC-ITX motherboard powered by a 19V DC adapter.
ASRock N3150DC-ITX motherboard specifications:
SoC – Intel Celeron N3150 quad core processor @ up to 2.08 GHz with Intel HD Graphics Gen8 @ up to 640 MHz – 6W TDP
System Memory – 2x 240-pin DDR3/DDR3L 1600/1066 for up to 16GB RAM
Storage – 4 x SATA3 6.0 Gb/s Connectors, support NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
Audio Codec – Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec, 7.1 CH HD Audio
Expansion – 1x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot, 1x half size Mini PCI Express slot
Rear panel ports
1x PS/2 Mouse Port; 1x PS/2 Keyboard Port
Video Output
1x DVi-D port
1x HDMI port
1x DisplayPort 1.1a
USB – 2 x USB 2.0 Ports; 4 x USB 3.0 Ports
Audio – HD Audio Jacks: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone.
Connectivity – 1x Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek 8111GR)
Internal Connectors
USB – 2 x USB 2.0 headers (Supports 4x USB 2.0 ports) ; 1x USB 3.0 header
1x COM Port header
1x Print port header
1x TPM header
1x Chassis Intrusion header
1x CPU Fan connector (3-pin)
1x Chassis Fan connector (3-pin)
2x SATA power connectors
1x Front Panel Audio connector
1x SPDIF out connector
Power Supply – DC Barrel for 19V DC in. 90W power supply recommended if 4 hard drives are connected.
Dimensions – Mini-ITX form factor
The mini-ITX board also have some extra features such as 4 SATA ports instead of 2 SATA port for the ATX versions, more video output ports, 6 jacks for audio, although it loses the external COM and LPT port.
I could not find pricing information yet, but it’s likely to have a similar price to the quad core ATX version (about $70), or a few dollars more. Phoronix has also started to publish some Linux benchmark results for the dual core processor (N3050) using an Intel NUC. You may also want to check out the user’s manual for further details.
