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Biostar TA75M+ AMD A75 socket FM1 Motherboard Review
Biostar TA75M+ AMD A75 socket FM1 Motherboard Review  - PCSTATS
Biostar's TA75M+ motherboard is a micro-ATX entry level platform with relatively robust onboard graphics care of the AMD Fusion APU processor and thorough storage options via AMDs A75 chipset. Built around the AMD Fusion A75 chipset, the board supports socket FM1 AMD A8/A6-series processors which feature integrated graphics in the form of a Radeon HD 6550D/6530D graphics core.
 78% Rating:   
Filed under: Motherboards Published:  Author: 
External Mfg. Website: Biostar Jun 05 2012   Max Page  
Home > Reviews > Motherboards > Biostar TA75M+

AMD A75/A8 Fusion Platform & Socket FM1

AMD Fusion Platform - AMD A75 Chipset

In the case of the Biostar TA75M+ motherboard PCSTATS is testing in this review, AMD's Fusion platform consists of the AMD A75 chipset and socket FM1, AMD A8-3850 FPU processor. This 'Fusion' platform is both an upgrade from previous IGP chipsets such as the AMD 890GX, and a departure from that era.

The AMD A75 core logic largely fulfills the role of 'southbridge chipset' while the AMD A8 FPU processor takes on all northbridge tasks, the integrated graphics processor and main CPU duties.

The AMD A75 'Fusion Controller Hub' chipset supports six SATA III 6GB/s devices (with RAID 0,1,10), FIS-based switching, four PCI Express 2.0 x1 lanes, three 32-bit PCI slots, four USB 3.0 & ten USB 2.0 ports, and HD audio. The remaining platform features are allocated to the processor. The CPU handles eighteen PCI Express lanes, a dual channel DDR3 memory controller, various video outputs and the integrated graphics core (dependent on the specific CPU model).

The AMD A8-series APU has a somewhat higher powered IGP than the AMD A6-series FPU, as you'd expect.

AMD A75 Chipset Comparison
AMD A75
(*with A8-3850 APU)
AMD 890GX
CPU Socket Socket FM1 Socket AM3
Chipset Codename 'Hudson-D3' (65nm) 'RS880D' (65nm)
Bus Interface / Speed - 2600MHz HT 3.0
Memory Support (dual channel) DDR3-1866 DDR3-1333
Maximum Memory Capacity 64GB (64-bit) 16GB
Southbridge A75 SB850
Integrated Graphics

AMD Radeon HD 6550D*

Radeon HD 4290
Integrated Graphics Video Ports DVI/HDMI/DP/VGA DVI/HDMI/DP/VGA
Shader Processors/MHz 400 Shaders / 600MHz* 40/700MHz
DirectX Support DX11* DX10.1
PCI Express 2.0 Lanes 4 + 20* 22
SATA 6Gb/s | SATA 3Gb/s 6 / 0 6 / 0
RAID 0, 1, 10 0, 1, 10
Intelgrated LAN 10/100/1000 MAC 10/100/1000 MAC
USB 3.0 Ports 4 2
USB 2.0 Ports 10 14
PCI Masters 3 3

AMD Fusion A8-3850 processors (or FPU as AMD calls it) are equipped with a Radeon HD 6550D graphics core. The Radeon HD 6550D IGP supports DirectX 11, DirectCompute, Blu-Ray 3D, UVD3 and OpenCL. Video outputs will depend on the particular motherboard, but the technology can support HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.1a, DVI-D and Analog VGA video connections.

When dual link is enabled on the DVI-D port, the IGP can handle monitor resolutions of 2560x1600. Ditto for DisplayPort. HDMI connected displays can be set to a resolution of 1920x1200. AMD Dual Graphics enables the onboard graphics to be paired with a Radeon HD 6000-class discreet graphics card in a hybrid CrossfireX arrangement. The usefulness of this is completely debatable, I think most consumers are more likely spend the extra $50 bucks on faster videocard...

Tied to AMD Fusion A8 3850 processor, the Radeon HD 6550D graphics core operates at 600MHz and features 400 Radeon Cores (shaders). Peak GPU Compute is 480 GFLOPS while 20 texture units and 5 SIMDs round out the limits of its 3D gaming abilities.

AMD Socket FM1

The AMD Fusion APU architecture differs from previous AMD Athlon and Phenom CPUs in that it integrates not only the memory controller onto the CPU die, but also the functions of the northbridge chipset and integrated graphics processor. Consequently, the transistor count for the AMD Fusion A8-3850 APU has ballooned to nearly 1 Billion transistors. Despite the roughly 300 Million increase to transistor count, AMD was able to keep the outward size and shape of its APU processor package identical to previous generation CPUs. It did this by implementing a 32nm die shrink.

The only physical change is the processors 905-pin socket FM1 format.

Both AMD A8 & A6 Fusion processors are compatible with AMD 'Socket FM1' motherboards. As you would expect, Socket FM1 processors are NOT backwards compatible with socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+ platforms or vice versa.

AMD hasn't given up on its longstanding dedication to upgradability either; we can still install just about any AMD heatsink manufactured in the past 8 years onto a socket FM1 CPU. The heatsink retention cage hasn't really changed much, so socket FM1 and Socket AM2/AM3 heatsinks are entirely interchangeable. Thermal design power (TDP) is a modest 100 watts for the AMD Fusion A8-3850 PCSTATS is testing the Biostar TA75M+ motherboard out with.

Next up, a 360 degree look at the Biostar TA75M+ motherboard, then it's onto AMD A8-3850/A75 overclocking.

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Contents of Article: Biostar TA75M+
 Pg 1.  Biostar TA75M+ AMD A75 socket FM1 Motherboard Review
 Pg 2.  — AMD A75/A8 Fusion Platform & Socket FM1
 Pg 3.  360-Degree Motherboard Gallery: Biostar A75M+
 Pg 4.  Overclocking the Biostar TA75M+
 Pg 5.  Test System Hardware & BIOS
 Pg 6.  Sysmark 2007 Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 7.  SiSoft Sandra: CPU Motherboard Benchmarks:
 Pg 8.  Sandra: Memory Motherboard Benchmarks:
 Pg 9.  PCMark Vantage Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 10.  3DMark 11 Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 11.  3DMark Vantage Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 12.  3DMark 06 Motherboard Benchmarks
 Pg 13.  IGP vs. IGP DX11 Gaming: 3DMark 11, Stalker, Heaven 2.0
 Pg 14.  IGP vs. IGP Synthetic Gaming: 3DMark 06, 3DMark Vantage Benchmarks
 Pg 15.  IGP vs. IGP Synthetic Gaming: Call of Juarez, Crysis, FEAR
 Pg 16.  IGP vs IGP Motherboard Benchmarks: PCMark Vantage
 Pg 17.  System Power Draw and Final Conclusions

 
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