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Everyone likes the small and the powerful.&nbsp; If I could get the power of a GTX Titan or R9 290X in a smartphone, we should all want one (in fact, how powerful are they compared to GPUs of yesteryear?).&nbsp; For mainstream PC systems, mini-ITX is currently the form factor defining small, despite some attempts from VIA.&nbsp; We have recently reviewed some small motherboards on the Intel side that can pack a punch, but MSI think its AMD A88X motherboard can do the same with a Kaveri APU.</p>
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The A88XI AC measures the mini-ITX spec of 17cm x 17cm, with support up to 32 GB of DDR3 via two DIMM slots.&nbsp; The size of the APU socket is often a hindrance to mini-ITX boards and requires a special small form factor cooler, and MSI&rsquo;s is done similarly to fit on the mini-PCIe slot, SATA ports and USB 3.0 header.&nbsp; The CPU power connector is in an awkward position, underneath the power delivery heatsink which means that cables will have to stretch over the motherboard.</p>
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The 802.11ac is a dual band 2T2R solution from Intel, the Wireless-AC 7260 card.&nbsp; This is paired with a Realtek ALC887 audio codec and Realtek Ethernet controller.&nbsp; The audio controller was presumably chosen as it only requires three audio jacks on the rear IO, and MSI has placed fixed antenna positions on that rear panel.&nbsp; The rear panel also contains two USB 3.0 ports, a VGA port, a DVI-D port and a HDMI port.</p>
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We have only two fan headers on board, but MSI have included a TPM header for the industries that need it.&nbsp; Memory support is listed as both XMP and AMP up to DDR3-2133 MHz, and the PCIe x16 slot is Gen 3.0.</p>
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An additional feature in the press release for the A88XI AC is MSI's USB Power, which enables a cleaner power supply for the USB ports. &nbsp;This should aid USB DACs in minimising power related noise issues.</p>
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The MSI A88XI AC should be available at retail in Q1.</p>
<table border="0" style="content-align:center;" width="100%">
<tbody>
<tr width="100%">
<td class="contentwhite" colspan="2">
<strong>MSI A88XI AC </strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Size </strong></td>
<td>
mini-ITX</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>CPU Interface </strong></td>
<td>
FM2+</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Chipset </strong></td>
<td>
AMD A88X (Bolton D4)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Memory Slots </strong></td>
<td>
Two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB

Up to Dual Channel, 1333-2133 MHz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Video Outputs </strong></td>
<td>
VGA, 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz

DVI-D, 2560x1600 @ 60 Hz

HDMI, 4096x2160 @ 24 Hz, 3840x2160 @ 30 Hz, 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Onboard LAN </strong></td>
<td>
Realtek RTL8111G</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Onboard Audio </strong></td>
<td>
Realtek ALC887</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Expansion Slots </strong></td>
<td>
1 x PCIe 3.0 x16

1 x mini-PCIe</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Onboard SATA/RAID </strong></td>
<td>
4 x SATA 6 Gbps (PCH)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>USB 3.0 </strong></td>
<td>
4 x USB 3.0 (PCH) [2 rear panel, 1 header]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Onboard </strong></td>
<td>
4 x SATA 6 Gbps

1 x USB 3.0 header

1 x USB 2.0 header

2 x Fan Headers

1 x Front Panel Connector

1 x TPM connector</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Power Connectors </strong></td>
<td>
1 x 24-pin ATX Power Connector

1 x 4-pin CPU Power Connector</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Fan Headers </strong></td>
<td>
1 x CPU (4-pin)

1 x SYS (4-pin)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>IO Panel </strong></td>
<td>
1 x PS/2 Combination Port

1 x Optical SPDIF Output

VGA

HDMI

DVI-D

WiFi Antenna

4 x USB 2.0

2 x USB 3.0 (PCH)

1 x Ethernet (Realtek)

Audio Jacks (Realtek)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Warranty Period </strong></td>
<td>
3 Years</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tlgrey">
<strong>Product Page </strong></td>
<td>
Link</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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<div>Gallery: MSI Launches the A88XI AC, a mini-ITX FM2+ 802.11ac Motherboard<div></div></div></p>
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Source: AnandTech
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