Asus F1A75-M Pro Llano Motherboard Review

You can’t go on the internet these days without seeing some information on Intel, AMD and their latest products. With Intel it’s all about Sandy Bridge and their upcoming offering of Ivy Bridge, whilst AMD has potential fantastic products in the pipeline but are still hot on releasing slightly “cut-down” versions if you will.

We saw the initial release of AMD Fusion a few months back which saw the pure potential behind AMD’s latest technology of fusing a CPU and GPU together to form an APU. Whilst this was fine for light usage in terms of HTPC and server systems, it wasn’t aimed at a mainstream market. Enter Llano!

Llano is a new range of products from AMD and their partners which harnesses the technology saw in the original Fusion range but features a higher clock speed and higher range built-in graphics. Due to this it’s market is slightly different and whilst being perfect for HTPC usage, users should be able to experience the technology on a mainstream level with the inclusion of gaming.

Today sees us putting the F1A75-M Pro motherboard from Asus through its paces to see what performance can be unlocked from these new APU’s and what is on offer in terms of features from this leading motherboard manufacturer.

Specifications

[TABLE=class: grid]
[TR]
[TD]CPU[/TD]
[TD]AMD Socket FM1 A- Series/E2- Series Accelerated Processors
Supports CPU up to 4 cores
Supports AMD® Turbo Core 2.0 Technology
* The AMD® Turbo Core 2.0 Technology Support depends on the APU types[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Chipset[/TD]
[TD]AMD A75 FCH (Hudson D3)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Memory[/TD]
[TD]4 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR3 1866/1600/1333/1066 Hz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel Memory Architecture
* The Max. 64GB memory capacity can be supported with DIMMs of 16GB (or above). ASUS will update QVL once the DIMMs are available on the market.
* Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for the Memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists).
* Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Install a 64-bit Windows® OS when you want to install 4GB or more memory on the motherboard.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Graphic[/TD]
[TD]Integrated AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 Series Graphics in Llano APU
Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI/RGB ports
– Supports HDMI with max. resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz
– Supports DVI with max. resolution 1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
– Supports RGB with max. resolution 1920 x 1600 @ 60 Hz
Dual independent displays support with HDMI/DVI and D-Sub
AMD® Dual Graphics technology support *¹
Supports DirectX 11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Multi-GPU Support[/TD]
[TD]Supports AMD CrossFireX™ Technology[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Expansion Slots[/TD]
[TD]1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x1
1 x PCI[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Storage[/TD]
[TD]AMD A75 FCH (Hudson D3) chipset : *²
6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray
Support Raid 0, 1, 10, JBOD[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LAN[/TD]
[TD]Realtek® 8111E , 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Audio[/TD]
[TD]Realtek® ALC 892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
– Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking
Audio Feature :
– Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]USB Ports[/TD]
[TD]AMD A75 FCH (Hudson D3) chipset :
4 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board)
AMD A75 FCH (Hudson D3) chipset :
10 x USB 2.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, black, 8 at mid-board)
ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :
2 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Overclocking Features[/TD]
[TD]Overclocking Protection :
– ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Special Features[/TD]
[TD]ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 2 with DIGI+ VRM :
ASUS TPU :
– Auto Tuning
– TurboV
– TPU switch
ASUS EPU :
– EPU
– EPU switch
ASUS Digital Power Design :
– Industry leading Digital 4 +2 Phase Power Design
ASUS Exclusive Features :
– MemOK!
– AI Suite II
– Ai Charger+
– Anti-Surge
– ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode featuring friendly graphics user interface
ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution :
– Stylish Fanless Design Heat-sink solution
– ASUS Fan Xpert
ASUS EZ DIY :
– ASUS Q-Shield
– ASUS O.C. Profile
– ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
– ASUS EZ Flash 2
– ASUS MyLogo 2
– Multi-language BIOS
100% All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Back I/O Ports[/TD]
[TD]1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s)
1 x DVI-D
1 x D-Sub
1 x HDMI
1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
4 x USB 3.0
2 x USB 2.0
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
6 x Audio jack(s)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Internal I/O Ports[/TD]
[TD]1 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.0 port(s)
4 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 8 USB 2.0 port(s)
1 x COM port(s) connector(s)
6 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s)
1 x CPU Fan connector(s)
2 x Chassis Fan connector(s)
1 x Power Fan connector(s)
1 x S/PDIF out header(s)
1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s)
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s)
1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP)
1 x System panel(s)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Accessories[/TD]
[TD]User’s manual
ASUS Q-Shield
2 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]BIOS[/TD]
[TD]32 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI v2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS V2.6, ACPI V2.0a[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Support Disc[/TD]
[TD]Drivers
ASUS PC Probe II
ASUS Update
Anti-virus software (OEM version)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Form Factor[/TD]
[TD]uATX Form Factor
9.6 inch x 9.6 inch ( 24.4 cm x 24.4 cm )[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Note[/TD]
[TD]*1: Refer to www.amd.com for the discrete GPUs which support Dual Graphics.
*2: These SATA ports are for data hard drives only. ATAPI devices are not supported.[/TD]
[/TR]
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