Gigabyte E350N-USB3 Motherboard Review - PAGE 1

Its odd how long it took for AMD's Fusion APUs to be sent for review. They have been available to OEMs for a few months now, making Fusion products available since this past January. The motherboard giants made the DIY community wait; MSI, GIGABYTE, ASUS and AsRock products appeared didn't appear even on virtual shelves for weeks and even then, the products were and still are in very limited quantities.

To be fair, as in addition to being a new product, AMD's Bobcat platform is a completely new architecture. It will take a lot of work and time on the OEMs' part to learn to leverage Bobcat adequately compared to simply working with a new series of processors like AMD's AM2, AM2+, AM3 and more. In the latter case, the OEMs' development costs are greatly reduced since the motherboard architecture remains roughly the same.

GIGABYTE was one of the first to crank out a motherboard based on AMD Fusion, the E350N-USB3. Is it really well-built and optimized, or just rushed-out? Considering the trend of excellent build-quality found in Gigabyte's products, it would be a disappointment to find the E350N-USB3, our subject today, to be the opposite.

Specifications are courtesy of GIGABYTE @ http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3681#sp