AMD-powered signage PC can support four independent displays

By Eric Brown
2010-08-27

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Avalue announced a fanless computer aimed at gaming and digital signage applications. It's said the BMX-T50A supports a variety of AMD CPUs, accepts up to 4GB of RAM and a 2.5-inch hard disk drive, has a PCI Express x16 slot, and -- with an optional graphics card -- can drive up to four independent displays.

Avalue's BMX-T50A is a barebone, fanless PC that offers a 300-Watt power supply and an internal 2.5-inch bay. The system is avowedly built around a previously released Mini-ITX board, the EMX-780E, which a comparison of the PC's rear panel (below) and the motherboard's coastline (pictured later in this story) makes quite clear.

Avvalue's BMX-T50A

The EMX-780E includes AMD's RS780E northbridge and SB710 companion chip (PDF datasheet, here), supporting a number of single-, dual-, and quad-core processors that are compatible with AMD's AM2, AM2+, and AM3 sockets. (AMD's PDF datasheet on its AM2, AM2+, and AM3 processors may be found here.)

The newer, lower-power AM3 socket processors (see chart below) include the quad-core Phenom II XLT Q54L (2.2GHz, 65W TDP), dual-core Athlon II XL V66C (2.8GHz, 45W), dual-core V64L (2.7GHz, 45W), and dual-core V50L (2.2GHz, 25W), all of which offer at least five years' longevity. Other options for the board include sub-65 Watt processors such as the dual-core AMD Athlon IIx2 B24 (3GHz) and quad-core Phenom II x4 905e (2.5GHz) CPUs, Avalue says.

AMD's AM3 socket processors
(Source: AMD)
(Click to enlarge)

The EMX-780E motherboard -- and, hence, the built-up BMX-T50A -- supports DDR2 memory up to 4GB via dual SODIMMS, says Avalue. The board is also said to include two SATA ports, and the BMX-T50A provides room for an internal, 2.5-inch drive bay.

Details of Avalue's EMX-780E board
(Click to enlarge)

Avalue has not made the CompactFlash socket that was said to be present on the EMX-780E accessible on the BMX-T50A. The motherboard's Mini PCI Express slot, visible above, is not listed as being available either.

However, the motherboard's PCI Express x16 slot is available to BMX-T50A purchasers, and is designed to accept the optional AD-8001 AMD M72 3D graphics card (right), offering support for CRT, HDMI, and DVI. Built around the IGP ATI Radeon HD3200 display controller, the card supports CRT resolutions up to 2560 x 1600, as well as dual-channel 24-bit LVDS, says the company.

Coupled with the VGA and HDMI ports that are already on the motherboard, the AD-8001 lets the BMX-T50A support four independent displays with resolutions up to 2500 x 1600 pixels, Avalue says. The PC also includes dual gigabit Ethernet ports, six USB 2.0 ports, three serial ports, and audio I/O (mic in, line in, line out, and speakers out), the company adds.

Specifications listed for the BMX-T50A by Avalue include:

Processor -- AM2/AM2+/AM3 socket processors, including Phenom II XLT Q54L and various Athlon II XL CPUs
Chipset -- AMD RS780E with SB710 chipset
Memory -- up to 4GB of 800MHz DDR2 RAM via 2 SODIMM slots
Storage -- 1 x 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drive
Expansion -- 1 PCI Express x16 slot
Networking -- 2 x gigabit Ethernet ports (Realtek RTL8111D)
Other I/O:
- 1 x VGA
- 1 x HDMI
- 6 x USB 2.0
- 3 x RS232
- 2 x PS/2 (keyboard/mouse)
- audio -- mic in, line in, line out, and speaker out (5W per channel)
Power -- 300 Watt ATX power supply
Operating temperature -- 32 to 104 deg. F (0 to 40 deg. C)
Dimensions -- 13.38 x 9.11 x 3.74 inches (340 x 231.5 x 95mm)
Weight -- tbd

Further information

No information was provided on pricing, availability, or operating system support for the BMX-T50A. Avalue's product page for the device may be found here.

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