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
Board Features
| Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H | |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | FM1 |
| CPU Support | Llano - AMD A series and E2 series |
| Chipset | AMD A75 |
| Base Clock Frequency | 100.4 MHz |
| DDR3 Memory Speed | 1866 9-9-9 |
| Core Voltage | Auto, +0.4 V to -0.6 V offset |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Auto, 8x to CPU limit |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 2.135 V to 1.025 V |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1T or 2T |
| Memory Slots |
Four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 64 GB Dual Channel Support for DDR3 2400/1866/1333/1066 MHz |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe x16 (runs at x16/x0 or x8/x8) 1 x PCIe x8 3 x PCIe x1 2 x PCI |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 5 x SATA 6 Gbps, Support for RAID 0, 1, 10 |
| Onboard |
5 x SATA 6 Gbps 4 x Fan Headers 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x Front Panel Audio Header 1 x S/PDIF Out Header 4 x USB 2.0 Headers 1 x USB 3.0 Header 1 x Firewire/IEEE 1394a header 1 x Serial Port Header 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Header |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek RTL8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) |
| Onboard Audio |
Realtek ALC889 codec Support for Dolby Home Theater, up to 7.1 channel |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX connector 1 x 8-pin 12V connector |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU Fan Header 2 x SYS 1 x PWR |
| IO Panel |
1 x PS/2 port 1 x D-Sub 1 x DVI-D 1 x HDMI 1 x DisplayPort 1 x Optical S/PDIF Out Connector 2 x USB 2.0 4 x USB 3.0 1 x Firewire/IEEE 1394a 1 x eSATA 6 Gbps 1 x Gigabit Ethernet Audio Jacks |
| BIOS Version | F6 |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years (from date of manufacture) |
As expected on a board of this price, the Realtek combo of NIC/Audio is used. I am still amazed that GB put a TPM on their boards whereas no-one else does. I am unsure if demand for such a feature is required on a board like this—I will get in contact with GB and see if there is an official response.
Edit—Apparently GB see a lot of demand for a TPM from those who use it, and they say it is fairly cheap to implement to cover those users.
In The Box
4 x Locking SATA cables (2 right angled)
IO Shield
User Manual
Driver CD
As with most Gigabyte products in this range, we do not see a lot in the box. Focus is more on what is on the board and the warranty it seems.
Software
The driver CD is standard Gigabyte fare, with drivers and programs easily installable with a click each. On the CD, both Norton Internet Security and Firefox 3.5.4 are available for install as well (note, previous ASUS CDs offer Norton and Chrome). The main focus of the software is on @BIOS, a way in the OS to update the BIOS, and EasyTune6, where fan options can be adjusted and the board can be overclocked.
Normally, we would see an array of auto OC options on the main screen of ET6; however on this Llano system these are not available. The tabs in the software are pretty self explanatory, showing CPU, memory and overclock options.
The fan controls are very basic, as they are in the BIOS. Under user mode, the ramp can be adjusted, though there is no applicability for hysteresis or multi-gradient ramping.
Similar to the ASUS board, when using the EasyTune6 software with its sensor capabilities, we see a spike in DPC Latency, around 380 microseconds. With the software turned off, this reduced down to 170 microseconds.
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Taft12 - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
An F1 socket board with 3 PCI-E x16 slots? Consider my face palmed.Googer - Sunday, November 13, 2011 - link
ASUS and ASROCK have FM1 boards with 3 PCI-e x16 slots. There maybe another, but I'm not aware.Googer - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
"The Gigabyte board wins again in our USB 3.0 testing."Since the ASUS uses two separate USB3 controllers, one on chipset, the other an ASmedia USB3 PCI-e. Peformance can vary based on which port you plug in to. If I remember correctly, the front Panel and ports near the PS2 port is the other ASmedia USB3 port. A little retesting is certainly needed here.
Etern205 - Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - link
I've notice there are four display outputs, VGA, DVI, HDMI, and Display Port. What is the maximum number of displays you can use at one time just by using the IGP?Not doing for eyefinity, but for 3 separate monitors.
Thanks
Googer - Sunday, November 13, 2011 - link
I haven't tested it but on my ASUS, I think the limit is 2 with out discreet graphics. However, I could be wrong on this.crtune - Sunday, November 13, 2011 - link
It really depends upon the device. I have an Echo Audio Mia card from several years ago, which while not having exactly every feature a newer card would have, has profoundly excellent audio quality. For the type of audio I work on (2+1 traditional stereo; mostly demo recordings, documenting gigs I'm on and so forth) this audio card is ideal and really I do not want to spend the several hundred on a newer one which will meet the standards I have for audio cards (in Los Angeles, CA as a musician I compete with people who have top quality audio gear). NONE of the onboard audio, on even the best on-board audio set ups will be as noise free and low latency as the audio I'm getting using this old card.So, now you should understand why someone might want to use legacy PCI bus hardware devices.
swaaye - Tuesday, November 15, 2011 - link
The people who think "legacy" ports are bad aren't going to be convinced otherwise unless they have their own reason for using them. This topic comes up endlessly.