Six A75-Based Motherboards For AMD’s A8 And A6 APUs
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Page 1:AMD's A75 Platform: The Triumph Of Adequacy
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Page 2:ASRock A75M
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Page 3:Overclocking ASRock's A75M
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Page 4:Asus F1A75-M Pro
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Page 5:Overclocking Asus' F1A75-M Pro
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Page 6:ECS A75F-M2
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Page 7:Gigabyte A75M-UD2H
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Page 8:Overclocking Gigabyte's A75M-UD2H
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Page 9:Jetway TA75MG
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Page 10:MSI A75MA-G55
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Page 11:Overclocking MSI's A75MA-G55
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Page 12:Test Settings
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Page 13:Benchmark Results: Aliens Vs. Predator
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Page 14:Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
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Page 15:Benchmark Results: Crysis
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Page 16:Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
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Page 17:Benchmark Results: Productivity
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Page 18:Power, Heat, And Efficiency
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Page 19:Overclocking
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Page 20:Which A75-Based Motherboard Is The Best?
Test Settings
Test System Configuration | |
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APU | AMD A6-3650: 2.60 GHz, four cores, 4 MB Combined L2 Cache, Socket FM1 |
APU Cooler | Rosewill FORT120 |
RAM | G.Skill F3-17600CL9Q-16GBXLD: 4 x 4 GB (16 GB Total), DDR3-2200 Benchmarked at 2 x 4 GB (8 GB total), DDR3-1600 CAS 9 |
Graphics | Integrated Radeon HD 6530D: 320 Shaders, default settings, shared system RAM |
Hard Drive | Samsung 470 Series MZ5PA256HMDR, 256 GB SSD |
Sound | Integrated HD Audio |
Network | Integrated Gigabit Networking |
Power | Seasonic X760 SS-760KM: ATX12V v2.3, EPS12V, 80 PLUS Gold |
Software | |
OS | Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 |
Graphics and Chipset | AMD Catalyst 11.6 |
AMD was fresh out of A8-series APUs by the time this editor needed one, but the lower price of its A6 series makes the runner-up an attractive option for buyers in the $100 motherboard market.
Rosewill’s FORT120 might not be available on the market any longer, but it has proven itself the perfect cooler for our socketed AMD processors. Anyone envious of this older model can find similar performance from the similar designs of other manufacturers.
G.Skill’s 16 GB DDR3-2200 kit provided the four super-fast DIMMs needed to assess memory overclocking capabilities. We set these to DDR3-1600 CAS 9 for remaining benchmarks.
After determining that our 80 PLUS Gold-rated 760 W Seasonic power supply was 84% efficient at a mere 2.5% load, this editor decided to use it in every possible review.
We included a few games in today’s tests to gauge the benefit of improved memory with AMD’s integrated GPU.
Benchmark Configuration | |
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3D Games | |
Aliens vs Predator | Alien vs Predator Benchmark Tool Test Set 1: Low Textures, No Shadows/SSAO/Tesselation/AA, 1x AF Test Set 2: Low Quality, No Shadows/SSAO/Tesselation, 4x AA, 1x AF |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 | Campaign, Act III, Second Sun (45 seconds FRAPS) Test Set 1: Lowest Quality/Details, No AA Test Set 2: Lowest Quality/Details, 4x AA |
Crysis | Patch 1.2.1, DirectX 10, 64-bit executable, benchmark tool Test Set 1: Low Overall Quality, High Shaders, DX 10, No AA Test Set 2: Low Overall Quality, High Shaders, DX 10, 4x AA |
Audio/Video Encoding | |
iTunes | Version 9.0.3.15 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 kb/s) |
MediaEspresso 6.5 | Version 6.5.1210_33281: 1080i HDTV (449MB) to iPad H.264, 1024x768 |
MediaConverter 7 | Version7.1.0.68: 1080i HDTV (449MB) to iPad, SmartFit profile |
Handbrake CLI | Version 0.94: "Big Buck Bunny" (720x480, 23.972 FPS) 5 Minutes, Audio: Dolby Digital, 48 000 Hz, Six-Channel, English, to Video: AVC Audio: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
MainConcept Reference | Version: 2.0.0.1555: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2 Channel, 16-Bit, 224 kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
Productivity | |
Adobe Photoshop CS5 | Version 12.0 x64: Filter 15.7MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
WinZip | Version 14.0 Pro: THG-Workload (464MB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r" |
WinRAR | Version 4.0 Beta 4: THG-Workload (464MB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3" |
7-Zip | Version 9.2: THG-Workload (464MB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" |
- AMD's A75 Platform: The Triumph Of Adequacy
- ASRock A75M
- Overclocking ASRock's A75M
- Asus F1A75-M Pro
- Overclocking Asus' F1A75-M Pro
- ECS A75F-M2
- Gigabyte A75M-UD2H
- Overclocking Gigabyte's A75M-UD2H
- Jetway TA75MG
- MSI A75MA-G55
- Overclocking MSI's A75MA-G55
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: Aliens Vs. Predator
- Benchmark Results: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Benchmark Results: Crysis
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Power, Heat, And Efficiency
- Overclocking
- Which A75-Based Motherboard Is The Best?
Qne question, what does the APU,( either the A6 or the A8), have on F@H applications?
I know F@H is a great cause, might cure cancer etc, but wouldn't it be more geeky to search for radio signals of little green men?
I checked the CPU reviews and didn't see anything there either. You know it's going to be low utilization for these processors, which means it will be closer to the idle power than to the full-load power...
I think micro atx fits into plenty of SFF cases. Maybe we need to redefine..
I'd like to see a showdown of mini itx boards though, I think Anand did something like that recently. That's probably where the A8 CPU's need to go head to head with atom anyway, most reviews I've seen show the CPU's aren't all that cut out for desktop. Maybe the next batch that comes out in Q4/Q1 2012 will be better for desktop.
lol wut? Dude you got this QUAD CORE based on the phenom II architecture mixed up with the e-350 or the c-50 those are the ones that are going up against Atom.
1.) SFF originally stood for Shuttle Form Factor and was proprietary, using 2-slots.
2.) It was copied by companies like First International Computer and AOpen
3.) AMD established a standard for "open architecture" systems of similar design, called DTX.
4.) ITX is smaller than DTX and fits DTX cases.
Notice this has nothing to do with Micro ATX. People who claim that anything shaped like a cube is SFF need only be shown a full ATX cube before they start making excuses. People who point to horizontal cases and say SFF need only look at ancient AT desktops before they're forced to come up with excuses.
2-slots. That's what makes Shuttle copies different from everything else. Cubes can be any "size", HTPC's can be any "size", if SFF is a size standard it can only be used to apply to two-slot cases.
Some competitors have been trying for years to expand the definition of SFF. They are, of course, wrong.
Nobody's perfect, one of Tom's old team members once said that barebones always refers to SFF systems (even though full sized barebones existed long before SFF). But at least Tom's tries to fix those types of errors rather than force them into the vernacular.
I'm just asking people to be specific. If you mean cube, say cube. If you mean desktop, say desktop. If you mean mini-tower, slim tower, or slim desktop, just say it. Then apply a form factor "Mini ITX slim tower" or "Micro ATX desktop". And if you're saying "SFF" rather than media center, well it's obvious that SFF can do other things so just be specific and say media center.
If you're not specific, you might find yourself in a discussion about what the meaning of "is" is.
Would love to see some benches on the gigabyte with those max overclock numbers as the GPU would benefit greatly from the memory oc.
I used to run SETI@home for a while, but then thought that using up resources on earth to look for little green men, after which me may or may not find them (most likely will not), rather than address issues closer to home (disease research, weather prediction, etc) is kind of a waste, no matter how geeky the LHC and SETI projecs are.
On the topic:
They're selling the A8-3850 for around Rs.10,000 ($220)in India, when the Core i3-2100 sells for around Rs.5500. What's the point? I'd rather get a Core i3 + Radeon 5770 in almost the same price....
Now if only I could figure out how to force VLC to default to HD audio output to SPDIF instead of having to select it every time I play an .m2ts file.
Anyway, great article Tom's. You could add more "stream" games in there as well (WoW, CS Source, LoL, etc). Also a good Video playback review would make the chip show it's colors.
Cheers!
- analog audio SNRs and distortion levels
- data rate performance for included features such as extra USB 3.0 ports
- bandwidth and latency for ethernet connections
- gaming performance when overclocked
As far as the target resolution goes, I would assume that most HTPC builders would connect one of these up to a 1080p LCD or plasma display via HDMI, and would therefore try to match that native resolution during game play. So the question then becomes, "Both OOTB and optimally configured and O/Ced, what are the maximum settings that a gamer might hope to achieve in a given game, at 1080p?"