ASUS F1A75-M Pro Review - Micro-ATX Llano at $110
by Brendan van Varik on January 22, 2012 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Llano
Test Setup
| Processor |
AMD Llano A6-3650 4 Cores, 4 Threads, 2.6 GHz |
| Motherboards | ASUS F1A75-M Pro |
| Cooling | Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme |
| Memory | G.Skill RipjawsX Series 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1866MHz |
| Memory Settings | DDR3-1866MHz - 9-10-9-24 1T at 1.65v |
| Video Cards | Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1GB |
| Video Drivers | 11.8 |
| Hard Drive | Micron C300 |
| Optical Drive | Samsung SH-S223Q |
| Case | Dimastech Bench Table |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate |
| SATA Testing | Micron C300 |
| USB 2/3 Testing | Patriot 64GB SuperSonic USB 3.0 |
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system as a whole with a wall meter connected to the power supply, while in a dual GPU configuration. This method allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
Power usage across the board is highly representative of a typical Llano system.
CPU Temperatures
With most users’ running boards on purely default BIOS settings, we are running at default settings for the CPU temperature tests. This is, in our outward view, an indication of how well (or how adventurous) the vendor has their BIOS configured on automatic settings. With a certain number of vendors not making CPU voltage, turbo voltage or LLC options configurable to the end user, which would directly affect power consumption and CPU temperatures at various usage levels, we find the test appropriate for the majority of cases. This does conflict somewhat with some vendors' methodology of providing a list of 'suggested' settings for reviewers to use. But unless those settings being implemented automatically for the end user, all these settings do for us it attempt to skew the results, and thus provide an unbalanced 'out of the box' result list to the readers who will rely on those default settings to make a judgment. CPU Temperatures are not really indicative of quality or performance, even though one would postulate that worse parts may produce higher temperatures. However, if a manufacturer uses more conductive material in the power plane, this reduces resistance and increases the voltage at the CPU, causing a higher temperature but potentially better stability.
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32 Comments
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amxn - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
I don't know if the tables are wrong or if Asus are actually expecting people to pay more for a product that loses quite a few features than its lower priced variant?just4U - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
Well it's mini-itx so that's likely the reason why the deluxe version is more expensive.StevoLincolnite - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
That's Micro-ATX.Mini-ITX only has the one PCI/PCI-E slot.
Death666Angel - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
What? The Deluxe version is mini-ITX and costs more (and pretty much all mITX boards I know come with PCIe x4-x16 depending on CPU/chipset). The tested version in this article is micro-ATX and has 1 PCIe x16, 1 PCIe x1, 1 PCIe x4 and 1 PCI slot. So I'm not sure what your comment is referring to. :-)chui101 - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
I didn't realize CPU temperatures could be measured in FPS too! ;)Great review, thanks! I'm really tempted to build a mini ITX Llano system... this might be the board I go with!
BLaber - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
Please mention power supply used on Power consumption test page to help make sense of power consumption test numbers.bobbozzo - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
Also, I would like to see power consumption without any added video cards.thanks
Dobs - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
Totally agree !!! Prolly a 1000W monster PSU like last time."These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system" ummmmmmm whose real world?
Why does it seem sooo hard for Anandtech to give decent psu and power consumption info on anything related to Llano? Seriously
fic2 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Have to agree. This would probably make a good HTPC, but who would put dual 5850s in an HTPC. Seems like bizarro test setup to measure the power consumption of a motherboard. Like measuring the mpg of a car when it is pulling a horse trailer and calling it "typical".Kevin G - Sunday, January 22, 2012 - link
I'm curious how far this board can take the unlocked A8-3870K when overclocked.