Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 review

A teeny-tiny, and fully-featured motherboard, but still a little weedy

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Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 motherboard
Compact but still a bit weedy

TechRadar Verdict

Only makes sense as the basis of a compact, power efficient but pricey home cinema rig

Pros

  • +

    Strong feature set

  • +

    Compact proportions

Cons

  • -

    Poor CPU performance

  • -

    Pretty pricey

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We were initially disappointed with AMD's new Fusion CPU, the E-350. Despite that, its low-power CPU-GPU chip, otherwise known as Zacate, does have something to offer in certain small form factor and portable computing niches. Enter, therefore, the new Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3 motherboard.

Given the performance limitations of the E-350, we reckon smaller is better when it comes to system size.

In other words, what you want is a Mini-ITX motherboard. Ideally, however, you want one that makes as few compromises as possible in return for compact proportions.

What you want, says Gigabyte, is the GA-E350N-USB3.

For starters, you get a PCI Express 16-lane slot for full-power graphics action. Then there are four on-board ports. Not as many as a typical full ATX board, perhaps, but enough to meet the storage needs of most end users.

Gigabyte has also thrown in a pair of USB ports for good measure, and provided a full set of BIOS overclocking options.

Jeremy Laird
Contributor

Technology and cars. Increasingly the twain shall meet. Which is handy, because Jeremy (Twitter) is addicted to both. Long-time tech journalist, former editor of iCar magazine and incumbent car guru for T3 magazine, Jeremy reckons in-car technology is about to go thermonuclear. No, not exploding cars. That would be silly. And dangerous. But rather an explosive period of unprecedented innovation. Enjoy the ride.