We covered news of BIOSTAR's upcoming mini-ITX motherboards for AMD Ryzen processors at the beginning of March, and now the company has made them official. The RACING X370GTN and B350GTN are "the world’s first mini-ITX motherboards for AMD AM4 platform", and both support up to 95W AM4 processors and DDR4 speeds up to 3200 MHz – though officially only up to 2667 MHz for Ryzen CPUs.
"BIOSTAR is thrilled to announce the latest addition to the growing mini-ITX family of BIOSTAR motherboards with the introduction of the world’s first mini-ITX motherboards for AMD AM4 platform and the first mini-ITX RGB LED-capable motherboards with AMD X370 and AMD B350 chipsets. BIOSTAR is pleased to welcome the new BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN and RACING B350GTN mini-ITX motherboards into the RACING Series family.
Both motherboards aim to deliver the best balance of form and function, delivering the full potential that the AMD AM4 platform offers especially with AMD RYZEN CPUs, all in a small package. The BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN and RACING B350GTN comes equipped with BIOSTAR 2nd-gen RACING features like 5050 LED Fun Zone with dual 5050 LED header for DIY customization, the BIOSTAR exclusive VIVID LED DJ with full RGB LED control that lets enthusiasts design their own system lighting with precise control. Together with that, BIOSTAR also adds performance and quality features for maximum system performance and stability."
Both motherboard models are identical (other than the chipset, of course)
The full specs from BIOSTAR for both motherboards are reproduced below:
| BIOSTAR Mini-ITX AM4 Motherboard Specifications | ||
|---|---|---|
| Model | X370GTN | B350GTN |
| Form Factor | Mini-ITX (170 mm x 170 mm) | |
| Chipset | AMD X370 | AMD B350 |
| CPU Support | AMD A-series APU / Ryzen CPU / NPU for Socket AM4 Maximum CPU TDP (Thermal Design Power) : 95Watt |
|
| Memory | Support Dual Channel DDR4 3200(OC)/ 2933(OC)/ 2667/ 2400/ 2133/ 1866 MHz Support Non-ECC & ECC Un-buffered DIMM Memory modules 2 x DDR4 DIMM Memory Slot Max. Supports up to 32GB Memory * DDR4 2667 for AMD Ryzen CPU |
|
| Storage | 4 x SATA3 Connector Support SATA RAID: 0,1,10 1 x M.2 Key M 32Gb/s Connector, support M.2 type 2260/ 2280 SATA 6Gb/s & PCI-E Storage(on the back of the motherboard) * M.2 (32Gb/s) : The bandwidth is depended on CPU, Ryzen is 32Gb/s ; APU & NPU is 16Gb/s |
|
| LAN | Realtek RTL8118AS - 10/100/1000 Controller Support Super LAN Surge Protection |
|
| Audio | Realtek ALC892 8-Channel Blu-ray Audio Support BIOSTAR Hi-Fi |
|
| USB | 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gb/s) Type-C port (1 on rear I/Os) 1x USB 3.1 Gen2 (10Gb/s) Type-A port (1 on rear I/Os) 6x USB 3.1 Gen1 (5Gb/s) port (4 on rear I/Os and 2 via internal header) 2x USB 2.0 port (2 via internal header) |
|
| Expansion Slots | 1 x PCI-E x16 3.0 Slot (x16 for Ryzen CPU only, NPU/APU run at x8 speed) | |
| Rear I/O | 1 x PS/2 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C Port 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Port 4 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Port 1 x HDMI Connector, resolution up to 4096 x 2160 @24Hz or 3840 x 2160 @30Hz 1 x DVI-D Connector, resolution up to 1920 x 1200 @60Hz 1 x RJ-45 Port 5 x Audio Connector 1 x S/PDIF Out Port |
|
| Internal I/O | 1 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Header 1 x USB 2.0 Header 4 x SATA3 6Gb/s Connector 1 x M.2 Key M 32Gb/s Connector, support M.2 type 2260/ 2280 SATA 6Gb/s & PCI-E Storage(on the back of the motherboard) 1 x Front Audio Header 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x CPU Fan Header 1 x System Fan Header 2 x 5050 LED Header |
|
| OS Support | Windows 7 (x64), Windows 10 (x64) | |
The rear I/O for both the X370 and B350 versions
As to pricing, BIOSTAR has set the MSRP for the RACING X370GTN at $129, with the RACING B350GTN at $109. A search of Amazon and Newegg does not show results for either board at time of press, but we should expect these in the retail pipeline soon.
i have been watching like a
i have been watching like a hawk for them for the last few weeks
hoping they finally materialize this week
they seem to have all the same specs despite using different chipsets, so if someone can explain, that would be awesome
twenty dollars more for i guess knowing you got a better chipset despite it not adding any features; i might be stupid enough and vain enough to go for that
i’m sure someone will point out the difference
There was also an x300
There was also an x300 chipset in the am4 launch information, that was supposed to be targeted at mini itx. Sadly, no one has seen those alive yet. The use of x370 on itx is just silly.
X300 is basically an
X300 is basically an ‘un-chipset’, with the PCIe lanes that would be used for a chipset instead just exposed as an x4 port. You;d be limited to the connectivity (USB, SATA) purely from the CPU itself.
Probably Biostar is doing
Probably Biostar is doing this for marketing reasons. They almost convince you to throw those $20 extra dollars for that better chipset, even knowing that this board uses none of those extra features of the 370.
Considering that Tom’s Hardware asked Biostar about the differences between those two motherboards, and Biostar seems to not know either, I would say that keeping those $20 would be the better idea here
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/biostar-mini-itx-am4-motherboards-ryzen,34172.html
thanks JohnGR
will do
thanks JohnGR
will do
Need dual m.2 for me to bite,
Need dual m.2 for me to bite, holding out on itx board. Really dont want to go intel.
Need two more USB3 port on
Need two more USB3 port on the back IO and ALC1150/1220 chip for audio.