Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

AM1I-A Software And Firmware

Three AMD AM1 Motherboards For The Kabini APU, Reviewed
By

The AM1I-A includes Asus Ai Suite 3, but the available functionality is extremely limited. Network iControl is carried over from higher motherboard models, but there aren’t many tuning options since the APU's multiplier is locked.

Asus is particularly fond of its firmware's default page, which is designed to provide simpler control of the functions newer builders might be inclined to use. On the AM1I-A, those settings include D.O.C.P., which is Asus' name for XMP (Intel’s memory profile technology) on AMD platforms, plus quick fan settings.

Unfortunately, D.O.C.P. decreases this board’s performance if we enable it with our DDR3-2400 samples. That’s because the feature would have used the slower CAS 11 timings needed to maintain stability at such a high data rate, while also using the motherboard’s top DDR3-1600 ratio. We instead leave it in automatic mode, which our memory specifies at DDR3-1600 CAS 9.

Even though we did not enable XMP, the AM1I-A still used the XMP profile's 1.65 V rather than the default 1.50 V specified by SPD for its DDR3-1600 CAS 9 defaults. This could add a couple of watts to the system’s overall power profile.

The point? Since AMD's AM1 platform isn’t designed to facilitate performance enhancements, we wanted to test all three motherboards at their default settings. If you'd like to tinker, you might benefit from Asus' advanced memory timing menu, which includes full access to primary, secondary, and tertiary settings.

Ask a Category Expert

Create a new thread in the UK Article comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display 1 comment.
This thread is closed for comments
  • 0 Hide
    bpbarrette , 2 July 2014 13:48
    I'd love to see how these setups do running Windows Media Center. A test using a 6 tuner setup would be great to see how it holds up. I know I had to switch from an E450 based HTPC to an i5 one because the E450 couldn't handle the stress of 6 tuners, and it also couldn't handle using a 360 as an extender. I don't know why the extender stuff was so troublesome for the E450, but it was.