ASUS Expedition A320M Motherboard Counters DRAM Theft, Humidity

Internet cafes and gaming centers probably aren’t a market segment most would recognize in the US, but they’re popular in other parts of the world--in particular, Asia--and ASUS seems to target that segment with the purpose-built Expedition A320M Gaming motherboard.

The entry-level AM4 board uses the low-end A320 chipset, and offers features that appear to identify with the rigors of crowded public places, such as iCafes and libraries. One such feature is the moisture-resistant coating on the motherboard, intended to protect against higher humidity environments. This is particularly useful in places like Taiwan, where humidity is high enough to cause corrosion on some components (that we’ve seen in person, no less). Additionally, the board has certain anti-theft features to help curb theft of memory modules and GPUs.

The board drinks from both ATX and EPS power, and has a modest 6-phase VRM. Four DIMM slots support up to 64GB of DDR4 dual-channel memory, accompanied by one reinforced PCIe x16 slot. The rest of the connectivity/storage options are a 32Gb/s M.2 slot, 4x SATA 6Gb/s ports, HDMI, DVI-D, 1x water pump header, 6x USB 3.0 ports, and 1x RGB-lit logo.

Aesthetically speaking, the board is...interesting, to say the least. Aggressive red and black styling with a solitary RGB logo in the corner. If you’ve ever yearned for such a board, your time is now. Meanwhile, ASUS has revealed no word on pricing or availability.

- Eric Hamilton