Introduction
Despite a lot of the media focus being on Kaby Lake and AMD’s fabled Zen architecture, it’s important to remember that some users require a new motherboard as a matter of urgency and cannot wait for upcoming solutions. Not only that, in low-end scenarios such as a home office system or HTPC, modern processors provide more than enough performance. Some time ago, BIOSTAR decided to focus their efforts on embedded products after acknowledging the herculean task of trying to compete with ASUS, Gigabyte and other brands in the enthusiast market.
Today, we’re taking a look at the BIOSTAR A68N-5200 which employs the Mini-ITX form-factor and an integrated AMD Fusion A6-5200 APU. This embedded quad-core chip operates at a stable frequency of 2.0GHz without any Turbo technology and has a maximum 25W TDP. On another note, the processor includes a Radeon HD8400 graphics segment, designed mainly for multimedia applications instead of casual games. Priced around the £60 mark, the BIOSTAR A68N-5200 is an attractive proposition for a budget, small-form-factor build and I’m expecting it to uphold a good user-experience.
Specifications
Packaging and Accessories
The motherboard is contained in a compact box sporting a clear, understated theme. As you can see, the packaging outlines the key features such as 5.1 audio support, SATA3 and the A6 quad-core processor.
On the back section, a more comprehensive explanation is provided to learn about the moistureproof PCB, ESD protection and motherboard circuitry. The information is presented in a clear manner and easy to understand.
In terms of accessories, the motherboard is bundled with an I/O shield, driver/software disk, two flat head SATA cables and a quick installation guide. Rather surprisingly, the installation guide is in full colour and has a number of high-quality diagrams. This makes it easier to read and should encourage those without much PC building experience to enjoy the contents.
How can you even comment on power consumption when you jammed an R9 290x in there. WTF? The audience has no idea how much power this board actually consumes.
WTH? When ya throw in that Radeon R9 290X into the pix, tis review becomes pointless. Ya gonna bottleneck the dGPU with that weak mobile APU. There are far better choices in the 2nd hand market than tis. And for low power systems, there are far better choices around. Also the tech on the mobo is already obselete, especially with Intel’s Apollo Lake already here with much faster CPU, HEVC support, better iGPU, lower power consumption and fanless as well…..