ASUS M2N61-AX Dell Inspiron 531 Motherboard Teardown

Main Features / Information

Form: Micro-ATX

ODM: ASUS

ODM's Mobo Name: M2N61-AX

Chipset: Nvidia - Northbridge / Southbridge - Single Chip, GeForce6100 and nForce430

ASUS M2N61-AX Dell Inspiron 531 Motherboard Main Image

This analysis is very de-scoped from iSuppli's point of view in that it does not represent a teardown of an entire finished product (desktop system in this case), but rather just the motherboard from a Dell Inspiron 531 (featuring an AMD / Nvidia chipset solution). As part of our extended analysis, this unit is compared side-by-side with a Foxconn - G33M02 - Dell Inspiron 530 motherboard with competing Intel solution.

This is a custom analysis which also applies custom functional areas supplied to us by the customer. These functional areas are exceptional in their detail and do not represent standard iSuppli functional areas, but are much more detailed and offer much greater resolution in cost analysis.

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this analysis, we have made a very generic volume assumption of 2000K units each over the course of the product lifetime.

As a reminder, volume production assumptions are meant primarily to be used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially), and not necessarily as a market accurate estimate for a specific model. Our estimations are based on iSuppli market research and we derive rational estimates based on overall market shares of the manufacturer in question, as well as the number of products in a given portfolio and the relative popularity of certain lines of products.

ASUS M2N61-AX Dell Inspiron 531 Motherboard - Block Diagram

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

ASUS M2N61-AX Dell Inspiron 531 Motherboard - Block Diagram

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

This motherboard is assumed to be assembled in China.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as power supplies, or Bluetooth modules), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

A comparative analysis of both motherboards will be found in the spreadsheet analysis allowing for quick and easy side-by-side comparisons of the two motherboards, and can be examined based on several alternative breakdowns (by functional areas, component family, etc.).

This motherboard - ASUS - M2N61-AX - Dell Inspiron 531 - features a total of 1044 components (not including the heatsink assembly).

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

ASUS M2N61-AX Dell Inspiron 531 Motherboard - Block Diagram

Design Notes

The Dell Inspiron 531 - ASUS - M2N61-AX is a fairly well-integrated board without a lot of extra discrete integrated circuits - and outside of the integrated, single chip North/Southbridge solution from Nvidia, the design features really only 3 noteworthy integrated circuits in the I/O interface functional area, and a conventional 4Mbit NOR Flash device. Furthermore, this motherboard had no electronic components on the bottom of the PCB.

Major component summaries:

Northbridge / Southbridge

• Northbridge / Southbridge - Single Chip, GeForce6100 and nForce430 - Nvidia - NF-6100-430-N-A3

I/O & Interface

• I/O Controller - Asus - F8000
• Ethernet Transciever - PHY, 10/100M Fast Ethernet, Single-Chip/Port, w/ Audio MDIX - Realtek - RTL8201N-GR
• Codec - Audio, 7.1+2 Channel, High Definition - Realtek - ALC888-GR

Memory

• Flash - 4Mbit, CMOS, SPI Interface, 3V, 85MHz - Macronix - MX25L4005AM2C-12G