Gigabyte AB350N-GAMING WiFi: An Ideal Mini-ITX Ryzen Motherboard For Linux

Written by Michael Larabel in Motherboards on 11 August 2017 at 10:35 AM EDT. Page 1 of 2. 39 Comments.

For those drawn by the performance of AMD's Ryzen processors for its performance/value and thinking about building a Kodi/HTPC media box for the living room, a Steam Linux gaming PC / DIY Steam Box, or just want a small form factor PC, Gigabyte's AB350N-GAMING WiFi is a mini-ITX motherboard that plays fine with Linux and offers a lot of functionality for its small size.

It has been a while since last reviewing a Gigabyte motherboard on Phoronix, but in acknowledging AMD's improvements to their Linux support in recent time, Gigabyte USA sent over the AB350N-GAMING WiFi motherboard for Linux testing at Phoronix. The Gigabyte AB350N-GAMING WiFi as implied by the name is using AMD's B350 chipset, supports AMD's line-up of AMD Ryzen AM4 processors, provides 2 x DDR4 DIMM slots up to DDR4-3200 supported by its BIOS, Realtek ALC1220 audio, Gigabit Ethernet, a rear M.2 Socket 3 connector, USB 3.1 Gen 1 / Gen 2 Type-A ports, and onboard 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi as well as Bluetooth 4.2.

There's a fair amount offered by this motherboard considering its mini-ITX form factor. The board is still designed to be able to accommodate AMD's Wraith heatsink fan and other large CPU coolers while not interfering with the DDR4 module installation, which can be a problem for some mini-ITX motherboards. There are a few features on this motherboard not relevant to Linux users for lack of support, but cosmetic: namely, RGB Fusion to setup a "multi-zone light show design" with LEDs on the motherboard PCB via the Windows-only RGB Fusion App.

Rear I/O ports on the motherboard include a lone PS/2 port still being found, two antenna connectors for the onboard 802.11ac WiFi, one DisplayPort and HDMI (if having a 7th Gen APU with integrated graphics), two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, four USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and six audio jacks.

But how well does the Gigabyte AB350N-GAMING WiFi work under Linux?


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