MSI E350IA0E45 Motherboard Teardown

Overview / Main Features

The MSI E350IA-E45 is a mini-ITX motherboard featuring AMD's new Fusion APU and Hudson Chipset. Designed as a competitive solution to Intel's Atom solution for net-top and HTPCs, the MSI offers differentiated graphics with the integrated Radeon GPU.

Designed for HTPCs in mind, the MSI E350IA-E45 motherboard comes with 8 USB ports (USB2.0/3.0), SPDIF and HDMI outputs.

MSI E350IA0E45 Motherboard Main Image

Home Theater PC (HTPC) / Net top PC

Released

January 2011

Pricing and Availability

Pricing - The MSI net top motherboard sells through retail channels for as low as $130

Availability - Global

Volume Estimations

For the purposes of this teardown analysis, we have applied a lifetime production volume of approximately 1M units.

As a reminder, teardown volume production assumptions are primarily 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). Unless assumed volumes are different by an order of magnitude, minor changes in volume (say 1 million vs. 2) rarely have a large net effect on our final analysis because of this.

MSI E350IA0E45 Motherboard Cost Analysis

Main Cost Drivers ~75% of Total Materials Cost

AMD - EME350GBB22GT - CPU - AMD Processor E-350, Dual-Core, 1.6GHz CPU, 2x 512KB L2 Cache, HD 6310 GPU, 18W, 40nm

AMD - 218-0792006 - Fusion Controller Hub - A50M Chipset, 65nm

APCB - 6-Layer - FR4, Lead-Free, Halogen-Free

Renesas - uPD720200 - USB Host Controller - 2-Port, USB 3.0

Heatsink - Extruded / Machined Aluminum, Anodized, w/ 4 Metal Inserts & 2 Rubber Cushions

Foxconn - Combo Jack - 2xUSB / RJ45, Stacked, Right Angle, w/ 2 LEDs, Integrated Magnetics & Metal Shielding

On Semiconductor - NTMFS4841NHT3G - MOSFET - N-Channel, 30V, 59A (Qty:5)

Intersil - ISL6265CHRTZ - Regulator - DC-DC Controller, Multi-Output, w/ Integrated MOSFET Drivers, for AMD SVI Capable Mobile CPUs

Power Logic - PLA04010S12M-1 - Fan - DC Brushless, 12V, 0.08A, w/ Integral 3-Wire Harness & 3-Position Pin Socket Connector

Kortak - Memory Socket - DIMM, DDR3, 1.5V (Qty:2)

Analog IC (Qty:5)

On Semiconductor - NTMFS4837NT3G - MOSFET - N-Channel, 30V, 74A (Qty:3)

Chemi-Con - APSE6R3ELL471MF08S - Electrolytic Aluminum Conductive Polymer - 6.3V, 470uF, 105C, 20%, Low ESR (Qty:6)

Realtek - ALC887 - Audio Codec - High Definition, 7.1+2 Channel

Realtek - RTL8111E - Ethernet Controller - Gigabit LAN, PCI Express

Direct Materials + Manufacturing $91.56

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

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.

Manufacturing Notes

Country of Origin / Volume Assumptions

Based on device markings, we've based our analysis with the final assembly in China. Furthermore, we have assumed that custom mechanicals (plastics, metals, etc.) were also sourced 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 Ethernet connectors), 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.

Remember also that labor rates are applied directly only to hand inserted components and systems in our bill of materials, and although regional assumptions do, these new rates do not have a direct effect on our modeled calculations of placement costs for automated SMD assembly lines. "Auto inserted components (such as SMT components) placement costs are calculated by an iSuppli algorithm which allocates a cost per component based on the size and pincount of the device. This calculation is affected by country or region of origin as well.

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

The MSI E350IA-E45 miniITX motherboard has an overall component count of 1059 (excluding box contents). In comparison, the previous net-top motherboard we've analyzed (ZOTAC ION) has an overall component count of 985.

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. The cost of manufacturing is also, to some extent, decreased in this case because of assumed labor rate applied for China.

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.

MSI E350IA0E45 Motherboard - Box Contents