Gigabyte's GA-A75M-UD2H is an entry level motherboard with
onboard graphics, excellent connectivity and a rather appealing low total system
price tag. This microATX motherboard is of course built around the
AMD A75 chipset and supports socket FM1
AMD Fusion processors which offer integrated DX11 graphics. The
GA-A75M-UD2H motherboard marries the standard AMD A75 feature set with
better than average electrical components and four video outputs. Being a
budget-oriented platform, the Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H does not support nVidia SLI or AMD
Crossfire or particularly amazing overclocking... and by all accounts the AMD
A8-3850 Fusion CPU is a bit anemic
in the benchmarks. However the AMD Fusion integrated
graphics core is better than competing Intel IGPs and the
platform is very capable for both HTPC and run of the mill
office work. The Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H motherboard can be found online for around a $100
bucks.
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 this oversight.
Top of
the list of features for the Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H motherboard? Onboard
graphics. Setting aside IGP clock speeds because these are dependent on which
Socket FM1 CPU is installed, the GA-A75M-UD2H motherboard offers users DVI-D,
DisplayPort, HDMI and Analog VGA video output. Resolutions of up to
2560x1600 are possible 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. AMD Radeon Dual Graphics permits a sort of
hybrid Crossfire set up between the IGP and Radeon HD 6000-series
videocards (SEE: AMD
). In all honesty though, you'd be better
off with a faster physical videocard than going the "Dual Graphics"
route.
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Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H
Motherboard |
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INCLUDES:
User's Manual, Driver DVD, (4) SATA
cables, I/O shield. |
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Chipsets: AMD A75
CPU
Support: AMD Socket FM1 (905-pin)
Memory
Type: Dual Channel DDR3
Max
Videocard
Support: (2) PCI Express x16 2.0 (x16/x4)
Integrated
Graphics: Yes (HDMI,
DP, DVI, Analog VGA)
Cost: $109
USD/CDN | |
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The GA-A75M-UD2H's four memory slot accommodate up
to 32GB of dual channel DDR3-1066/1333/1600/1866 RAM, with overclocking memory
can be pushed to 2400MHz. This microATX motherboard incorporates one PCI Express
2.0 x16 slot at 16-lanes and one at 4-lanes for discrete videocards. Further
expansion consists of a PCI Express x1 and legacy 32-bit PCI slot.
Storage options consist of six native 6Gb/s SATA
III ports, with one of those tasked to an eSATA port at the rear I/O. The SATA
ports can be configured to RAID 0, 1, 10 and JBOD modes. The GA-A75M-UD2H's
offers up a Firewire, two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 header. Unfortunately, being a
budget-oriented product Gigabyte doesn't supply even one USB bracket to make use
of the headers. Around back there are four USB 2.0, one Firewire and two USB 3.0
ports. As expected, no FDD or IDE devices are supported on this
motherboard.
At the back of the Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H
motherboard you'll find two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports, four USB
2.0 ports, one powered eSATA and Firewire port, a Gigabit Ethernet network jack,
7.1-channel sound jacks, an optical S/PDIF output and four display ports (DVI-D,
DisplayPort, HDMI and Analog VGA). The audio system is Dolby Home Theatre
compliant.
Expect to find the Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H
motherboard for less than $110 CDN, ($110 USD, £55 GBP) online. An AMD A8-3850
CPU will run you about $100CDN/USD, so a complete system is going to be quite
economical.
Integrated Graphics
The Gigabyte GA-A75M-UD2H 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 also not hot swapable, if you want to add a second monitor or
switch displays you'll need to hook up the cables and restart the PC each time.
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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 at anything approaching high image quality settings. The same can be said
of Intel's socket LGA1155 Core i5 processors which have pretty bland IGP
graphics too. With a discreet Radeon HD 6670/6570/6450 PCI Express
graphics card, AMD "Dual Graphics" can also be configured.
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Radeon HD 6550D IGP Parameters (via
A8-3850 CPU)
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Now it's time to go in for a closer look at the Gigabyte
GA-A75M-UD2H motherboard, but first a quick look at what the AMD A75 chipset and
Socket FM1 Fusion CPU processors bring to the table.
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