AMD FM1 by stefan @ 2011-10-26
For users which are not pretentious, the A75M FM1 motherboard from Foxconn represents a solution to consider, in case we want to get the benefits of the Lynx platform, like the powerful IGP or the quad core APUs. For making this board even more attractive, the Dual Graphics feature should be enabled, along with the ability to be able to modify the memory speed and its timings.
At first I would like to thank CaseKing.de and Foxconn for offering their A75M FM1 motherboard for testing and reviewing.
“Guided by a belief that the electronics products would be an integral part of everyday life in every office and in every home, Terry Gou founded Hon Hai Precision Industry Company Ltd, the anchor company of Foxconn Technology Group in 1974 with US$7,500, a devotion in integrating expertise for mechanical and electrical parts and an uncommon concept to provide the lowest "total cost" solution to increase the affordability of electronics products for all mankind.
Today, Foxconn Technology Group is the most dependable partner for joint-design, joint-development, manufacturing, assembly and after-sales services to global Computer, Communication and Consumer-electronics ("3C") leaders. Aided by its legendary green manufacturing execution, uncompromising customer devotion and its award-winning proprietary business model, eCMMS, Foxconn has been the most trusted name in contract manufacturing services (including CEM, EMS, ODM and CMMS) in the world.
Focusing on fields of nanotechnology, heat transfer, wireless connectivity, material sciences, and green manufacturing process, besides from cooperating with the establishment of the research institution for nanotech, new material, and optical electric, Foxconn also sets up several research centers and testing laboratories for mechanism, material, electronics to conduct the services of science research and technology development worldwide.
Furthermore, Foxconn’s devotion to develop nanotech, thermal treatment, nano measure, wireless network, environmental protection, CAD/CAE, optical plating technique, precision/nano processing, SMT, and network CMOS chips, in terms, allows Foxconn to accumulate over 25,000 patents granted worldwide by 2010. This made Foxconn a recognized leader of innovation and technical know-how in rankings such as MIT's or IPIQ’s patent scorecard.
Aside from hardware related technology research and development investment, Foxconn also relentlessly seeks to provide customers ever fuller menu of end-to-end services to choose from. Logistic planning and e-supplying system adopted for the global supply chain management, computer software development and computer programming, sales channel solutions are just some of the latest investment and involvement that have continued to gain appreciation from the worldwide customers.
Foxconn's commitment to continual education, investing in its people long term and localization globally not only leads to the deep collaborating relationships with leading institutions of higher learning, but also helps to make this Fortune Global 500 group's global operations including the largest exporter in Greater China and the second largest exporter in Czech Republic.”
AMD Turbo Core Technology
A series APU including A4/A6/A8 are AMD’s newest creation and all are equipped with AMD’s new Turbo CORE technology 2.0. Turbo CORE increases APU performance by dynamically adjusting processor speeds for the best application performance within thermal and power limits.
DirectX 11 & Dual Graphics
Dual Graphics Technology utilizes the power of both the APU graphics and the discrete GPU to deliver increased performance. Combining this technology with DirectX 11 will deliver an excellent graphics experience.
AMD Radeon™ HD6xxx & UVD 3.0
Both AMD Radeon™ HD6xxx & UVD 3.0 Technologies provide users with high definition video playback with 30Mb/s HD-DVD and 40Mb/s Blu-Ray.
Support USB 3.0, SATAIII
Both boards are equipped with USB 3.0 and SATA III to take advantage of the new technologies. USB 3.0 not only doubles the bandwidth of the PCIe interface from Gen 1 to Gen 2 but also delivers up to ten times faster throughput than the previous USB 2.0 standard.
Support 3D display, HDMI 1.4(A75M only), Support 7.1 HD Audio ,Optical S/PDIF Out
The Foxconn A75M motherboard features HDMI 1.4, giving you support for 3D video playback. The boards feature a comprehensive range of video output options, such as HDMI/DVI/D-Sub and an optical audio output to allow you to enjoy your movies at their very best.
Smart Charger
With today’s devices requiring more power to charge, Foxconn has developed Smart Charger, allowing you to connect and charge your iPad, iPod, iPhone or HTC device from, any USB port.
Fox One , Fox DMI, Fox Logo & Fox Live Update
The A75A and A75M come equipped with a range of software to enhance and increase the user experience. Fox One monitors vital system stats such as temperature, fan speed and voltages.
To keep everything up to date, including local and online BIOS updates within Windows, is Fox Update, which will also keep drivers and utilities updated. Fox DMI will display all of the system DMI information to aid in system identification and troubleshooting should problems occur. And finally, for some fun, Fox Logo is a Windows software tool that allows the user to change the system startup logo to whatever they like and even randomise the start up image.
The A75M mATX board from Foxconn is packed inside a medium-sized box, with the logos of the supported technologies on top:
On one of the box sides, we can find a small sticker which contains product serial numbers:
The main product highlights can be found written on the bottom of the box, in multiple languages:
Inside, we can find the board fully wrapped inside an anti-static bag; its bundle is located right under it:
The received sample comes with two SATA cables, the I/O shield and a small paper titled “For China Market Only”; the retail product should also contain a manual and the CD with drivers and utilities:
A75M comes with a blue PCB and the connectors/slots have different colors to differentiate between the types; as expansion slots, we can find one PCI-Express x16, one PCI-Express x1 and two PCI. Thanks to the included PCI slots, we can install our older TV tuner and/or sound card, so we will have a fully featured media center. The motherboard does contain solid capacitors only in the VRM areas, the rest being filled with electrolytic ones:
Here is a closer look on the CPU VRM; we can see that the area is not covered at all by a heatsink so it might not be a very good idea to perform CPU overclocking on this motherboard:
Near the PCI-Express x16 slot, we can find a SYS_FAN1 header:
The Realtek RTL8112B Gigabit Ethernet Controller can be found on the left side of the PCB:
Near it, there is the Realtek ALC888S high-performance 7.1+2 Channel High Definition Audio Codec:
The CMOS battery is located near the PCI-Express x1 slot; near it we can also find the CLR_CMOS jumper:
On the lower side of the PCB, we can find:
- Front Audio Header
- CD_IN Connector
- SPDIF-OUT Connector
- 1x Front Panel USB 3.0 Header
- 2x Front Panel USB 2.0 Headers
- Speaker Connector
- Front Panel Connector
The 6 SATA connectors are pointed upwards and are found near the chipsets' heatsink:
Also on the right side, near the 24-pin ATX Power Connector, we can find the IrDA/CIR header, along with the LPT connector and the Chassis Intrusion Alarm header:
On the top right side, we can find the SuperIO chip and the COM1 header:
Near the top side of the CPU socket, we can find two CPU_FAN headers, useful when we have a cooler with a push-pull configuration:
In the top left corner, we can find the Intersil ISL6328, which is a Dual PWM Controller:
The board does also come with the following back panel connectors:
-PS/2 Keyboard Port
-6x USB 2.0 Ports
-DVI-D Port
-VGA Port
-HDMI Port
-LAN Port
-2x USB 3.0 Ports
-Audio Ports
The Alpenfohn Panorama low profile CPU cooler is shipped inside a cardboard box, with the photo of the product on the front:
On one of the sides, we can see the main features of the product highlighted:
The opposite side contains the full list of specifications:
A small product description is included on the back, along with a drawing showing the placement of the heatpipes:
To avoid unauthorized access inside, the box is sealed on both sides:
Along with the heatsink and the fan, which are placed inside a transparent plastic enclosure, we can also find one of the backplates and a small white cardboard box with the rest of the accessories:
Mounting mechanisms are present for all supported sockets (LGA775, LGA1155, LGA1156, AM2, AM2+, AM3); the box also contains a small tube with thermal grease and a manual:
Inside the manual, all the necessary mounting steps are described with lots of drawings:
The 11-blade fan has the Alpenfohn logo in the middle:
On the back, we can see its serial number:
The fan is PWM, so its speed will be fully regulated by the mainboard:
Here are the full specifications of the 100mm fan:
The heatsink has the following measurements 111mm length, 105mm width and 51mm height; the total weight is 198g:
When looking from underside the heatsink, we can see the three 6mm heatpipes with HDC; the bottom plate is covered with a transparent plastic protective film:
Even the bottom plate is designed like a small heatsink; on its laterals we can find holes for mounting the clips:
Here is how the clips look like, for mounting on AMD platforms:
With the help of the two included screws, we can mount them really easy:
The last steps would be to put a small quantity of thermal compound on the CPU HSF and to fix the heatsink onto the CPU, by pressing the clips down:
The fan can be installed on the heatsink with the supplied rubber mounts, which act as noise dampeners:
The BIOS Foxconn A75M board comes with does not have a lot of options that we can set and would influence system performance (like overclocking). The latest available version is P05 and can be downloaded from the Foxconn Support website. Inside the Main tab of the interface, we can set the date, time, but we can also see details regarding regarding the current BIOS build, installed CPU, installed memory or MAC address:
The F-Center menu, comes with usual sub-menus like Voltage Options, CPU Configuration, along with manufacturer specific menus like Smart BIOS or Fox Intelligent Stepping:
In the Smart BIOS menu, we can only enable or disable options like Smart Power LED or Smart Boot Menu:
One of the menus with only one option is Fox Intelligent Stepping, where we can find the Spread Spectrum function:
The memory voltage can be adjusted in small predefined increments, by using the Voltage Options menu:
Inside the F-Center, we can see specifications regarding the installed APU, but we can also enable/disable options like C6 Mode, Cool 'N' Quiet or SVM Mode:
The Advanced BIOS configuration menu allows us to set options regarding Trusted Computing, North Bridge, Onboard Device Configuration and so on:
In case we have TPM hardware installed, we should enable the specific option:
The North Bridge Configuration menu lets us know advanced information regarding the memory populated slots, the memory quantity and the speed it is running at; here we can also adjust the Integrated Graphics functionality. With the P05 BIOS, when running without a dedicated video card, it is recommended to leave the option on Auto, or Manual, where we can set the reserved RAM for the IGP; in case we are planning to install a dedicated VGA card, we can set the option on Disabled, save and exit and shutdown the system for performing the VGA card installation. In this case, video will be output only by the dedicated card:
Inside the Onboard Device Configuration menu, we can disable or enable the onboard interfaces like audio, LAN or USB:
The SATA Configuration menu lets us choose the SATA mode, and we can also see the currently connected drives to the ports:
The Super IO Configuration menu takes care of the Serial, Parallel or CIR interfaces:
Inside the Boot Configuration menu, we can adjust the priority of the boot devices, enable/disable the Quiet Boot feature, or set the NumLock state at boot:
The Power menu contains the usual power management options:
The Health menu informs us of the system temperatures, fan speeds and voltages; here we can also customize the fan speeds by using the Smart Fan Control feature:
The Security Configuration menu lets us set the Administrator and User passwords, along with the HDD Boot Sector Write protection:
Finally, the Exit menu lets us save, discard or can restore the factory defaults:
CPU: AMD A6-3650 APU
CPU Cooler: Alpenfohn Panorama
Motherboard: Foxconn A75M
RAM: Excelleram EP3001A PC3-10666 2x2GB
Video: IGP / AMD RADEON HD 6670
Power Supply: Nexus RX-1.1K Gold
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200.10
With the help of AIDA64 utility, we could extract some more information regarding the Fusion platform components:
Here are the reports gathered with the latest version of CPU-Z, with the APU at stock speed:
For each chart:
Run 1: APU Stock
Run 2: APU Stock + RADEON HD 6670
For each chart:
Run 1: APU Stock
Run 2: APU Stock + RADEON HD 6670
The new A75M board from Foxconn comes with enough expansion slots for building a decent media center, which could include a mainstream video card, along with a TV tuner or high performance multichannel sound card.
The motherboard does not support APU overclocking unfortunately, but this is not such a big issue compared to the lack of settings inside the BIOS for adjusting memory timings or speed; no matter what memory we will install in the spare slots, it will always run at 1333MHz. As we have seen from the previous Lynx platform review, the IGP seems to benefit a lot in games or other 3D applications from increased memory bandwidth (while setting the RAM at 1600Mhz or 1866Mhz) so it's expected to get lower performance scores at only 1333Mhz, even if the memory installed is rated at a higher speed.
The Lynx platform is also known for its Dual Graphics feature, where we can run the IGP in Crossfire with a dedicated VGA card (from the supported series). The older BIOSes for this board ending with version P03 supported this feature, but starting with P04 this was eliminated and now we can keep activated either the IGP or the dedicated VGA, but not at the same time. If we try to force the IGP to be kept active while a VGA card is installed (by using the manual settings inside the BIOS), we will be welcomed with a blank screen and an unbootable system.
The issues mentioned before can be, fortunately, fixed with some future BIOS revisions (at least Dual Graphics since it was activated before), but it would have been better to have all these fixed before the board was launched.
Regarding the board stability, there are no complaints at all, the A75M being solid during all performed tests and benchmarks.
The Foxconn A75M can be found at CaseKing.de for about 67.90 Euros; certainly after activating the Dual Graphics and memory customization options inside the BIOS, this board will become a steal at this price.
I would like to thank again to CaseKing.de for making this review possible!
UPDATE: Foxconn has now made available an unofficial BIOS based on P05 which also supports Dual Graphics. It can be provided here also on request. (until an official version will be available)