AMD's Fusion APUs are starting to trickle in the market and after reviewing the Asus 1215B netbook, we now have something for the desktop from ECS. Based on the Hudson chipset, the HDC-I2 is a mini-ITX motherboard that uses AMDs Zacate E-350 APU to power it. This motherboard is targeted at HTPC enthusiasts or even someone looking to build a low power download rig. Given the prowess of the E-350, it would also make a very good second PC for work and multimedia. Let's check out ECS's offering in a bit more detail.
Design and Layout
Since the CPU cores, memory controller and GPU are on the same die, there's just a single heatsink right in the center to cool it. The aluminum finned heatsink is quite large and is enough to cool the die even for our weather conditions. There are two fan headers as well, one for a system fan, in case you want to place one over the heatsink, and the other for the rear exhaust. ECS have also provided a PCI slot for a sound card.
There's plenty of connectivity like VGA, DVI (no HDMI unfortunately) and 8 USB 2.0 ports. It also has a Gigabit Ethernet jack and VIA 6-channel audio. The PCI card will actually come in handy for a sound card if you are planning on building an HTPC.
Test Setup
We used Corsair 4GB DDR3 memory and a WD Raptor 600GB as our test rig. The PSU used was an Antec 450W Real Power to power the system.
Performance
The Radeon HD 6310 is a bit quicker compared to Nvidia's ION when it comes to rendering graphics. However, in terms of number crunching, the old Atom N330 still poses a challenge for the new Zacate APU. The processing power is more or less matched between the two chipsets. We've been using the motherboard for over a week now as an HTPC and a download rig and it has been working fine. ECS also throws in some of their own features like the eJIFFY quick boot, eBLU live BIOS update utility.
Power Consumption
While sitting at the desktop, the motherboard consumes just 22W. This is of course with a desktop hard drive, so the system by itself should consume somewhere under 20W. For the load test we fired up a 1080p movie since that's something you'll be doing often. Here the power draw hovers around 35W, which is still not bad. The idle power is still lower than the ZOTAC ION motherboard we tested with a laptop hard drive.
IDLE - 22W
LOAD - 35W
Pricing and Verdict
The MRP on the motherboard is Rs. 7120 and it comes with a three-year warranty from Rashi Peripherals. If the street price is anything around 5K then the HDC-I2 from ECS is a good buy for those looking for a cheap 24/7 download rig or even an HTPC setup. Anything more and it would become expensive, since you can put together a more potent CPU and mobo for the same price. The power consumption won't be as low as the Fusion APU, but you'll be able to do a lot more with it.
Design and Layout
Since the CPU cores, memory controller and GPU are on the same die, there's just a single heatsink right in the center to cool it. The aluminum finned heatsink is quite large and is enough to cool the die even for our weather conditions. There are two fan headers as well, one for a system fan, in case you want to place one over the heatsink, and the other for the rear exhaust. ECS have also provided a PCI slot for a sound card.
There's plenty of connectivity like VGA, DVI (no HDMI unfortunately) and 8 USB 2.0 ports. It also has a Gigabit Ethernet jack and VIA 6-channel audio. The PCI card will actually come in handy for a sound card if you are planning on building an HTPC.
We used Corsair 4GB DDR3 memory and a WD Raptor 600GB as our test rig. The PSU used was an Antec 450W Real Power to power the system.
The Radeon HD 6310 is a bit quicker compared to Nvidia's ION when it comes to rendering graphics. However, in terms of number crunching, the old Atom N330 still poses a challenge for the new Zacate APU. The processing power is more or less matched between the two chipsets. We've been using the motherboard for over a week now as an HTPC and a download rig and it has been working fine. ECS also throws in some of their own features like the eJIFFY quick boot, eBLU live BIOS update utility.
Power Consumption
While sitting at the desktop, the motherboard consumes just 22W. This is of course with a desktop hard drive, so the system by itself should consume somewhere under 20W. For the load test we fired up a 1080p movie since that's something you'll be doing often. Here the power draw hovers around 35W, which is still not bad. The idle power is still lower than the ZOTAC ION motherboard we tested with a laptop hard drive.
IDLE - 22W
LOAD - 35W
Pricing and Verdict
The MRP on the motherboard is Rs. 7120 and it comes with a three-year warranty from Rashi Peripherals. If the street price is anything around 5K then the HDC-I2 from ECS is a good buy for those looking for a cheap 24/7 download rig or even an HTPC setup. Anything more and it would become expensive, since you can put together a more potent CPU and mobo for the same price. The power consumption won't be as low as the Fusion APU, but you'll be able to do a lot more with it.
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