ASUS F1A75-V Pro vs. Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H – Llano at ~$120
by Ian Cutress on November 7, 2011 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Gigabyte
- Asus
- A75
Overview of the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H
After having this board on the review test bed for a few days now, nothing immediately strikes me from the Gigabyte board. The overclock capability was quite good, despite the lack of overclock options.
The PCIe layout is a good one from which some other motherboard manufacturers can learn, and the IO panel is nicely full of USB ports. The position of the SATA port sticking out of the board, and the fan header next to it, is such that a second GPU will not hinder them. This also shows that some thought has gone to this area of the board!
I am quite disappointed by the fan control, especially compared to the ASUS board, which on this GA-A75-UD4H is limited in the BIOS and not expanded thoroughly by software in the OS. The BIOS is also still the old non-graphical style, and we’ll have to wait until X79 to get our hands on what Gigabyte has done in that respect.
At $115, the GA-A75-UD4H represents a board of good design, a three year warranty, but is let down by the options offered by software.
Visual Inspection
In terms of visuals, the GA-A75-UD4H sports a blue and white livery indicative of Gigabyte’s non-high end motherboards.
The 8+2 PWM design powers the large AMD socket, with VRM heatsinks which rock fairly easily under pressure. Around the socket are three fan headers, a SYS fan on the top left, a CPU fan in the top right and a PWR fan to the right of the DIMM slots. The socket area is fairly clear, allowing for large air coolers as required.
The GA-A75-UD4H sports a TPM header, and five SATA 6 Gbps ports. Four of these ports are at 90º to the board, and the other sticks out of it. The position of this port is such that if the user has two large PCIe cards in the board, this port is still accessible, as well as the SYS fan next to it.
The PCI/PCIe slot layout is a good choice for this board, with a PCIe x1 at the top, then a PCIe x16, two PCIe x1, another PCIe x16 (down to x8/x8 in dual GPU mode), and two PCI slots at the bottom. This allows sufficient space between dual GPU setups, as well as the top PCIe x1 for a first x1 card.
The IO panel is full of ports, namely 4 USB 3.0 (blue), two USB 2.0 (yellow), a PS/2 port, VGA, DVI-D, HDMI, DisplayPort, a S/PDIF optical output, an eSATA 6 Gbps port, FireWire, a Realtek gigabit Ethernet port, and typical audio jacks. I would have liked to see a Clear CMOS button, but with the IO this packed, I do not think there is space for it, unless they removed some features. It should be noted that, according to the Gigabyte website, the DVI-D does not support D-Sub by adaptor, and that when on integrated graphics, the connector cannot be changed while the motherboard is powered up.
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androk - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
They should really test the IGP at reasonable graphics levels compared to what it can do. AVideo test at 1920x1080 and all grahpics options on is silly fo rhtis. There may have been real differences at medium (playable) settings but we'd never know it from this write up.Shadowmaster625 - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
$120 for just a motherboard? Really? Can i get a WTF? I just bought a G41 mobo, an E6600, and a HD 4850 all for a combined cost of under $100. It overclocks to 3.2GHz, which is enough to put it well past an A8-3850 in gaming. Well past... Actually with such a powerful gpu you really dont even need an overclock to beat a llano at gaming.Granted these were used parts, but still you can buy a brand new H61 board for $40 http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3444... Combine that with a 5670 which can easily be found for under $50 and you have a $90 solution that is way faster. As if AMD needed any help killing itself... these motherboard prices are absolutely absurd.
silverblue - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Desktop Llano makes the most sense in HTPCs. As people are willing to pay a premium for such items, I doubt AMD is too worried. Regardless, a Llano setup will use less power, you have far more multiprocessing power, and there's better video support as well as DX11 support. Llano can also be overclocked, albeit in a limited fashion, should you choose to do so. In the end, horses for courses.Laptop Llano is a more appealing option however.
Taft12 - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Please stop comparing prices of new and used hardware. Apples and oranges.These $120 motherboards are top-of-the-line for the FM1 socket and have the most features of any FM1 boards on the market. If cost savings is important to you, FM1 motherboards can be had for $60 or less.
Motherboard prices are NOT set by AMD, they are set by Asus and Gigabyte based on the value-add over and above what AMD provides in the chipset.
The H61 board is not $40, it's $60 with a mail-in rebate. There's a big difference.
I think this covers all the errors and misconceptions in your post... Does anyone see any that I missed...?
medi01 - Tuesday, November 8, 2011 - link
He has a point though.Motherboard prices DID go up. To an extent that you wonder if there is a cartel agreement between manufacturers.
Hard to blame AMD for it though.
swaaye - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
Mobo prices haven't gone anywhere. There are consumer mobos from $80-350. Pick your poison. Pricing has been like this since 486s as far as I recall.TrackSmart - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Ian, just a note that the color shown for each board changes in some of the graphs. This is confusing and has me wondering if the graphs are miscolored or mislabeled...Thanks for the review.
HW_mee - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Does the onboard audio not deserve a mentioning?I would love to know how the ACL892 fares against the ACL889.
I know integrated audio is mediocre at best, but some past AMD boards, especially from ASUS, have featured useless cheap VIA/Realtek audio solutions.
kenyee - Monday, November 7, 2011 - link
Could you repeat this w/ their mATX boards?Googer - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
The ASUS F1A75-V EVO is identical to the ASUS F1A75-V Pro, except the EVO adds an additional PCI-e x16 slot. If you watch prices close enough, you can pick this board up around $125. I got mine for $126 +$10 rebate a few weeks ago, final cost $116.The Major selling points for me on this board over the Gigabyte and competing models were, that all the other boards support 32GB while ASUS supports 64GB and the extra x16 slot seals the deal for the ASUS F1A75-V EVO.
Also, the review states how many power phases are on the Gigabyte board (8+2) but didn't specify how many phases are on the ASUS.