In the
world of AMD Fusion motherboards, the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H is the flagship model. Built
around the AMD A75 chipset and socket FM1 processor, the
GA-A75-UD4H is a slightly beefier version of the microATX GA-A75M-UD2H board
PCSTATS recently tested, but with more expansion slots and
a whack of extra USB 3.0 ports. The question is, are these extras
really needed on what's essentially an entry-level computing platform? Find out as PCSTATS
slices and dices its way through every facet of this fascinating Gigabyte motherboard!
First and
foremost, the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H motherboard features extensive onboard
graphics ports, excellent connectivity and of course, DX11
integrated graphics capabilities. This board marries the standard AMD A75
feature set with better than average electrical components, four video outputs
and two Etron USB 3.0 controllers. Being a budget-oriented platform, the
Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H does not support nVidia SLI or AMD Crossfire, but does
support AMD Radeon Dual Graphics - a sort of hybrid
Crossfire set up between the Fusion IGP and Radeon HD 6000-series
videocards (SEE: AMD ). Realistically, you're better
off installing a faster physical videocard if the IGP Radeon HD 6550D proves insufficient for your
tasks.
Most office PC users will find the
AMD Fusion integrated graphics core better than competing Intel IGPs. The
platform is quite capable for both HTPC and run of the mill
office work. The Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H motherboard can be found online for around a $130
dollars.
When it
comes to packing in value, AMD
always manages score one over Intel. The AMD A75 Fusion Controller
Hub (FCH) features six native SATA III ports and four native USB 3.0 ports,
whereas Intel has only just recently brought USB 3.0 into the fold. Socket
FM1 CPUs like the AMD A8-3850 CPU PCSTATS selected for this review, contain a
Radeon HD 6550D integrated graphics core which is DX11 capable. The slightly
less powerful AMD A6-series Fusion processors also support DX11.
Comparable Intel IGP platforms have until recently only been available with
DX10.1 integrated graphics, although the Intel Ivy Bridge CPU has
corrected that oversight.
Top of
the list of features for the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H motherboard is onboard
graphics. Setting aside IGP clock speeds because these are dependent on the FM1
CPU, the GA-A75-UD4H motherboard offers users DVI-D, DisplayPort, HDMI and
Analog VGA video output. Resolutions of up to 2560x1600 are supported with all
but the HDMI port (1920x1200). Up to
two monitors can be connected to the onboard
graphics ports if you want to expand the desktop across two
displays.
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Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H
Motherboard |
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INCLUDES: User's Manual,
Driver DVD, (4) SATA cables, I/O shield. |
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Chipsets: AMD A75
Northbridge CPU Support: AMD Socket FM1
(905-pin) Memory Type: Dual Channel
DDR3 Max Videocard Support: (2) PCI
Express x16 2.0 (x16/x8) Integrated Graphics:
Yes (HDMI, DP, DVI, Analog VGA)
Cost: $130
USD | |
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The
GA-A75-UD4H's four memory slot accommodate up to 32GB of dual
channel DDR3-1066/1333/1600/1866 memory. The board offers up two PCI Express
2.0 x16 slots, one at 16-lanes and one at 8-lanes bandwidth for discrete
videocards. Further expansion consists of three PCI Express x1 and two legacy 32-bit
PCI slots. The PCI Express slots are 2.0 compliant, but not 3.0.
Storage
options are limited to the six native 6Gb/s SATA III ports supplied by the
AMD A75 chipset. One of these SATA channels is routed to the rear I/O pane
as an eSATA port. The SATA
ports can be configured to RAID 0, 1, 10 and JBOD modes. The GA-A75-UD4H
board provides users with two Firewire connections, four USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 headers (with not a single bracket
provided!). Around back there are four USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0
ports, one Firewire, one eSATA III, a gigabit networking jack and the usual assortment of 7.1 channel audio (optical
SP/DIF and 1/8" headphone) jacks and display connections (DVI-D, DisplayPort, HDMI and Analog
VGA). The audio system is Dolby Home Theatre compliant and based around the Realtek ALC889
codec. The additional USB 3.0 comes via a pair of Etron EJ168
controllers.
Expect to
find the Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H motherboard for less than $130 CDN, ($110 USD, £55
GBP) online (ie. NCIX.com
). An AMD
A8-3850 CPU will run you about $100CDN/USD, so a complete system is very economical to put
together.
Integrated Graphics
The
Gigabyte GA-A75-UD4H does support dual-displays from the integrated
graphics ports, but only over combinations of analog+digital
ports such as; Analog+DVI-D, Analog+DisplayPort, HDMI+DVI-D or
HDMI+DisplayPort. The onboard graphics ports are not hot swap capable, if you want to add a
second monitor or switch displays you'll must hook up the cables and restart the PC.
Video outputs:
Analog VGA, DVI-D, HDMI,
DislayPort.
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While the AMD A8-3850's IGP (a Radeon HD
6550D) proves itself capable of light DX11 gaming as you'll shortly see in
PCSTATS extensive benchmarks, it can't keep up with even mainstream graphics cards.
The same can be said of Intel's socket LGA1155 Core
i5 processors which have quite bland IGP graphics too.
With a discreet Radeon HD 6670/6570/6450 PCI
Express graphics card AMD "Dual Graphics" can be configured, personally
we at PCSTATS wouldn't bother going down that route.
Now it's time to go in for a closer look at Gigabyte's
GA-A75-UD4H motherboard, but first a quick look at what the AMD A75 chipset and
Socket FM1 Fusion CPU processors bring to the table.