3-way AMD A75/A55 Llano motherboard shootout

[siopao1984]

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3-way AMD A75/A55 Llano motherboard shootout by VR-Zone.com

Today we take a look at three different Llano boards through the entire range of the AMD Fusion Lynx platform. The Asus F1A75-V Pro, Gigabyte A75M-UD2H and ECS A55F-A are put under the microscope and through the tests to determine not only which comes out on top, but also which fits your needs best.

AMD introduced their Lynx platform with the A75 chipset a few months ago, and since then they have also released the toned down A55 chipset aimed at builders on a budget. The most impressive aspect of the Lynx platform is its ability to house a DX11 capable GPU on-die with 4 real processor cores, and keep the TDP under 100W. Today we will take a look at three boards in three different prices ranges, two are A75 chipset motherboards and one is an A55 chipset board. We will focus on their build quality as well as their performance in various benchmarks.

Each board also falls into its own price category, ranging from 80 to 130 USD.

First let’s look at the Lynx platform, as well as the difference between the A75 and A55 FCH (Fusion Controller Hub).



Now in red is what the A55 chipset lacks. This includes the loss of 4 USB 3.0 ports and FIS based switching for RAID arrays. There is also one other major difference, the lack of SATA 6GB/s ports. All of the SATA 6GB/s ports have been toned down to slower SATA 3GB/s ports, which might have an impact on some of the new SATA 6GB/s SSDs which actually take advantage of the higher bus speed. Of course all these downgrades do save the budget minded consumer a good bit of cash. What is most notable about the A75 FCH is its ability to house so many different devices, as well as a consumer IR system which will be great for home theater systems.

A75 FCH:


A55 FCH:


So let's take a look at some of the specifications of our 3 motherboards on the test bed today:

[siopao1984]

ASUS F1A75-V Pro:



Acessories:



Manual + Driver DVD and Sticker
I/O Shield
2 x Q-Connectors
2 x SATA6GB/s SATA Cables

The board:



A nice black PCB with some vivid blue heatsinks adds some class to this A75 board. You can also notice it is full size ATX and uses a heatpipe to go along with the heatsinks. This is also the only board which has CrossFireX support to go along with triple slot spacing. The board has 4 fan headers, 3 of them are PWM 4-pin.

The I/O Back Panel:



PS/2
4 x USB 3.0
VGA (DSUB)
DVI
HDMI
DisplayPort
eSATA6GB/s
2 x USB 2.0
RJ-45
S/PDIF Optical
7.1 Audio outputs

[siopao1984]

GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H:



Acessories:



Manual and Driver DVD
I/O Sheild
4 x SATA6GB/s cables

The board:



This is the only mATX board in this round up. It has two heatsinks, one for the VRMs and one on the FCH. There is triple slot spacing for the first slot, but the last slot is directly wired to 4x PCI-E lanes of the FCH. A GIGABYTE classic baby blue PCB goes with the blue slots. Sadly this board only has 2 yes two fan headers, 1 of them is PWM 4-pin.

The I/O Back Panel:



PS/2
2 x USB 3.0
VGA (DSUB)
DVI
HDMI
DisplayPort
IEEE 1394a
eSATA6GB/s
4 x USB 2.0
RJ-45
S/PDIF Optical
7.1 Audio outputs

[siopao1984]

ECS A55A-F:



Acessories:



Manual + Driver DVD
2 x SATA3GB/s SATA cables
I/O Panel

The board:



Here we have a black PCB with some gray and white slots to match. The first PCI-E 16x slot has only dual slot spacing, but the second PCI-E 16x slot is 4x wired to the FCH just like on the GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H. This board is a bit less wide than the ASUS F1A75-V Pro. This board has 3 fan headers, 1 of them is PWM 4-pin.

The I/O Back Panel:



PS/2
VGA (DSUB)
DVI
HDMI
eSATA6GB/s
6 x USB 2.0
RJ-45
S/PDIF Optical
7.1 Audio outputs

[siopao1984]

To take a look at each board in its own right, we will start off and analyze the same part of all the boards at the same time. So the first part will be the CPU socket area and CPU VRM analysis, first the ASUS board, then the GIGABTYE board, and then the ECS board will have their CPU VRMs analyzed. We feel that this way it is easeir for the reader to compare each board's features.

CPU Voltage Regulators

ASUS F1A75-V Pro:


With AMD it seems that all manufacturer's stay with the AMD spec, and that is 8 or 4 phases per board. ASUS is using their Digital 8-Phase CHiL 3828 which has been re-branded as the EPU. Each of the eight CHiL 8510 drivers drive a pair of NXP TrenchFETs, which are low RDS(ON) MOSFETs commonly used on most ASUS boards. We have solid capacitors on the output, and 8 individual inductors. A single 8-Pin power connector is used to power the CPU VR. The CPU socket area of this board is filled with fan connectors as well.

GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H:


GIGABYTE uses an analog Intersil ISL6324A PWM for the CPU power. This PWM has 2 integrated drivers, and then two extra ISL6609 drivers are used. There are a total of 4 drivers and 4 phases. Here is the interesting part, GIGABYTE chose to use enough MOSFETs for an 8-Phase VR, infact their 8-phase VRM on the A75-UD4H has the same amount of drivers and MOSFETs, just extra inductors to help with output. In the case of this board there are two high-side and 2 low-side MOSFETs per phase, which is double the standard, this helps with output stabilization. GIGABYTE uses ON Semiconductor PowerPAK MOSFETs which are also Low RDS (ON) MOSFETs. Solid Japanese capacitors are used on the output. In the case of this board GIGABYTE only chose to use the 4-Pin 12v power connector.

ECS A55F-A:


ECS has chosen a 4 phase VRM, infact a very standard 4-phase VRM. A 4 phase Analog Richtek RT8871A which has 4 integrated drivers is used. ECS uses three Nikos MOSFETs, these are not the Low RDS(ON) that we see on most boards now, so their efficiency will be lower than the other two boards we have seen. Richtek does infact upgrade part of their VR, by using two low-side MOSFETs and a single high-side MOSFET. This also helps stabilize the output, and we see this 3-FET technique used on many ASUS boards on the Intel side, but with higher grade FETs.

Now let's move onto the memory areas of the boards.



Memory Area

ASUS F1A75-V Pro:


ASUS is using the new 2-piece heatsink hold down, and we do see this on the other two boards as well. This board has 3 fan connectors around the CPU socket alone, two are located above the PCI-E slots and 1 is a 4-pin PWM fan connector. The memory on this board is driven by a single phase VR, using the Nikos MOSFETs, same as the ECS CPU VRM, just different spec. What intrigues us are the 3 switches located next to the 24-pin connector. One them is a Mem-OK button that helps users configure their memory if there is some compatibly issue. Then we have two switches, one for enabling EPU power saving, and another for the TPU power saving. The EPU refers to the PWM, which can help better regulate the phases for better efficiency, and the TPU is ASUS OC Chip, which can help reduce CPU frequencies for better power saving. We can also see that ASUS decided to move the USB 3.0 internal header north to make it easier for users to reach a USB 3.0 front panel.

GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H:


GIGABYTE is really good at matching blue on blue, but that is if you enjoy the blue. GIGABYTE is using a single phase VR for the memory, but with higher quality MOSFETs than the other two boards. The low RDS (ON) MOSFETs that they use for the CPU VRM are also used here which should result in higher efficiency for the memory VR. GIGABYTE didn't move their USB 3.0 internal header north, which we like to see; instead we have a Parallel Port and TPM header! Imagine that, a parallel port header! A single 4-pin PWM fan connector is located above the CPU socket.

ECS A55F-A:


ECS enjoys their gray/black/white color scheme, and its actually pretty sleek. They are using the tri-FET design with a single phase VR for the memory. We see no front panel headers moved north, and this board doesn't have USB 3.0 anyways because the A55 FCH doesn't support it. We do have a single 4-pin PWM fan connector for the CPU fan.

All the boards seem to have the same exact standard spacing between the CPU socket and the DIMMs. Now let's move to the area of interest for many, the FCH area.




FCH Area

ASUS F1A75-V Pro:


We already mentioned the USB 3.0 internal header, but we also have some extra SATA6GB/s that ASUS provides located north of the 6 white SATA6GB/s ports which are angled. We can also see four internal USB 2.0 headers, for a total of eight extra USB 2.0 ports. You can also notice the BIOS ROM which is replaceable in case of BIOS corruption during OC or update. This is great for those of you who don't want to ship your board in if OC goes wrong, and it’s more cost effective than putting dual BIOS onto a board. A TPU IC and its BIOS are located a bit west of the BIOS ROM, and this IC support ASUS’s overclocking support and some power saving.

GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H:


We immediately see that our SATA connectors are all straight angled, and that one of them seems to be missing. That extra SATA6GB/s port is actually re-routed to the back panel for eSATA SATA6GB/s. This being a mATX board, it really isn't missing many ports that a full sized board has, the USB 3.0 connector is along the bottom of the board, like the rest of the internal USB connectors. What we do like is that the front panel headers are color coded.

ECS A55F-A:


ECS chose the straight SATA connectors as well, and once again we only have 5, but the last one is missing. This being a A55 chipset board, it doesn't have SATA6GB/s not USB 3.0, and we don't see any of those expensive controllers to add support for either specification. What is surprising is that this board is loaded with USB 2.0, it has a total of 4 internal USB 2.0 headers to support 8 extra USB 2.0 devices.

[OmegaRed]

wow.. nana pud lain..nindota nas mga board oi...

[siopao1984]

In this section we will investigate the boards and their individual slot spacing, as well as the clearance between the DIMMs and the first 16x slot. To begin with, lets take a look at how big the boards are compared to eachother, to see what we have to work with.



It is almost hard to see the difference between the ASUS and ECS board, but the ASUS is a bit wider. You can see how much shorter the GIGABYTE is than the rest as well.

Now lets move to PCI-E spacing.


ASUS F1A75-V Pro:


This board stands by itself in this comparison, as it is the only one that can run 8x/8x CrossFireX. we have triple slot spacing between the PCI-E 16X slots as well, which is great for users with large GPU coolers. ASUS has taken full advantage of the 3 PCI slots available, and used only 2 PCI-E 1x slots.

GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H:


Now this board also has triple slot spacing, but the last 16x slot is actually a 4x electrically wired to the FCH, so if you use a GPU in the first slot, and use a soundcard in the last, the first slot will still run at 16x. This board is also mATA, so we are left with a single PCI slot, and a 1x slot.

ECS A55F-A:


Now the ECS board is a full length ATX board, but they decided to use the same 16x slot electrical spec as GIGABYTE, in that the second slot is a 4x slot. This board can have triple slot spacing, but if it does have a 3 slot GPU in place you can't use the second 16x slot. Just like the ASUS, the ECS A55F-A uses all 3 PCI slots and two PCI-E 1x slots. We also see a parallel port connector in there as well.



Now lets move to somthing a bit different, DIMM connector clearance.

The purpose of this section is to see if you install a long GPU, wether or not trying to replace your memory will be possible without removing the GPU.

ASUS F1A75-V Pro:


Cleared with enough space to fit your fingers in-between.

GIGABYTE A75M-UD2H:


Not cleared, but not surprising becuase its mATX.

ECS A55F-A:


Not cleared, surprisingly, you will have trouble with this board if you are trying to replace the memory while a long GPU is in place. This is the same amount of clearance as on the GIGABYTE board, which is surprising because the GIGABYTE board is micro-ATX while this is full sized ATX.

[siopao1984]

ASUS has started to use their UEFI in place of the traditional BIOS, even on the AMD side of things. What is surprising is that they even brought it onto the Lynx platform, giving them a huge edge over much of the competition. There are two operating modes, Easy Mode and Advanced. Easy Mode is for those with less BIOS experience, and Advanced is for those who know their way around.



Now for Advanced Mode:













Finally the boot menu.

[siopao1984]

GIGABYTE has stuck with the traditional AWARD style BIOS. This makes it simple for those of us who know how to use a BIOS to use it, but it's a bit less visually appealing than the UEFI that ASUS has.

Most users have already used a BIOS like this, so we will start with the MIT menu.













Here we see that this BIOS can store CMOS profiles for easy access.



Finally we have the load CMOS profiles.

[siopao1984]

ECS has also opted to use their UEFI in place of the traditional BIOS. It is pretty basic, but it gets the job done. Take a look at the overclocking settings, as they are very basic, to the point in which that you have to calculate your multiplier.

Here is the main BIOS screen:



Overclocking Menu: