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
3D Movement Algorithm Test
The algorithms in 3DPM employ both uniform random number generation or normal distribution random number generation, and vary in various amounts of trigonometric operations, conditional statements, generation and rejection, fused operations, etc. The benchmark runs through six algorithms for a specified number of particles and steps, and calculates the speed of each algorithm, then sums them all for a final score. This is an example of a real world situation that a computational scientist may find themselves in, rather than a pure synthetic benchmark. The benchmark is also parallel between particles simulated, and we test the single thread performance as well as the multi-threaded performance.
While the F1A75-M Pro is the top A75 in Single Thread and the bottom A75 in Multithread for our 3DPM tests, neither results are vastly different from the other A75 boards, as expected.
WinRAR x64 3.93 - link
With 64-bit WinRAR, we compress the set of files used in the USB speed tests. WinRAR x64 3.93 attempts to use multithreading when possible.
The F1A75-M Pro secures top spot in our WinRAR benchmark for A75, beating the F1A75-I Deluxe by eight seconds.
FastStone Image Viewer 4.2 - link
FastStone Image Viewer is a free piece of software I have been using for quite a few years now. It allows quick viewing of flat images, as well as resizing, changing color depth, adding simple text or simple filters. It also has a bulk image conversion tool, which we use here. The software currently operates only in single-thread mode, which should change in later versions of the software. For this test, we convert a series of 170 files, of various resolutions, dimensions and types (of a total size of 163MB), all to the .gif format of 640x480 dimensions.
Somehow the FastStone test gave a score which was a lot lower than the other A75 boards. This result was extremely repeatable.
Sorenson Squeeze 6.0 - link
Sorenson Squeeze is a professional video encoder, complete with a vast array of options. For this test, we convert 32 HD videos, each a minute long and approximately 42 MB in size, to WMV 512KBps format. Squeeze can encode multiple videos at once, one for each thread.
On the lower powered systems, we see a wider spread of times for our Squeeze test, depending on the background software and/or other processes deciding to eat CPU time from a full install including vendor software. The F1A75-M Pro performs similarly to the A75-UD4H in this regard.
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cjs150 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I have found Anandtechs reviews of the IGP to be very helpful, and I agree for boards which could be for an HTPC it would be a good idea to at least link back to the original IGP review.I cannot remember seeing a detailed review of on-board sound from Anand - other than whether it could be channeled through the HDMI port. Great suggestion - ANAND time to pick up on this one.
Whilst there is no need for U-ATX board for an HTPC build I keep looking at a Wesena case and thinking it could look very good
Also ANAND any chance of a review of the Pico-ITX announced by both Zotac and VIA, bit worried about the fans in them, but they could be a really stunning mini-HTPC (although would need to use USB for TV card which is not ideal) also maybe the Zotac AD04 announced at CES
geniekid - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
FWIW, I use one of these in my HTPC and I haven't had any problems so far.ASUSTechMKT - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Kudos and glad to read everything has been smooth!edward2 - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
PLEASE everyone who wants to buy this MB read this carefully!I bought an Asus F1A75-V Pro MB, before that I've read a lot of review about it and even the asus website specification etc. None of these were mentioning the following:
****These ASUS MBs are not supporting HDMI and DVI-D simultaneous use****
So the whole FM1 platform is completely useless for an HTPC and for a normal setup like HDTV + DVI monitor.
Death666Angel - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
Then you didn't read very carefully:http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_Socket_FM1/F1...
"Note *1: HDMI and DVI-D cannot work simultaneously."
I don't really see how this affects the standard HTPC environment though, as I only know people with one TV in their living room. But if you do need that, you have to look elsewhere. :-)
ASUSTechMKT - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
you can run HDMI/DVI out as the same time as VGA but dual digital output is not supported.Should you want this functionality you can enabled the multi display option within the UEFI and add an additional GPU like a 6500 or 6600 series GPU and then have dual digital output support.
As the user additionally notes this is listed on our support page.
ASUSTechMKT - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
That is great thanks for the support and glad to read you have had a smooth and solid experience. Do not forgot to check out USB3 Boost which should be posted to your support site shortly or download it from our USB3 Boost landing page directly.rodrigo.dk - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
I bought one of these in december, and WakeOnLan didn't worked at all. With recent updates it is working ;)D3xx - Monday, January 23, 2012 - link
How would this board and chip compare with an i5 2500 in Z68? Assume both are using 5850 graphics.fluxtatic - Tuesday, January 24, 2012 - link
Are you trolling?On topic, I've got to agree with some of the above - if the graph was labeled correctly, how are you going to publish power consumption numbers on a Llano board with 2 5850s (and then call it typical)? Especially given that half the appeal of Llano is that you don't need discrete graphics at all in most cases?
I can see 1 discrete card for the HTPC market, but likely a low-noise model - lower-end mainstream with either a massive, slow fan, or a colossal heat sink and no fan at all.