New AMD Socket FM1 motherboards and CPU

[gas_man]

Hi, I have been checking out the new AMD FM1 CPU's and some FM1 motherboards the last few days on the web. In particular I was looking at the Asus F1A75-V Pro motherboard. Gigabyte also has a a full size FM1 board as well. Has any of the PC builder pros on the forum looked at these and have an opinion? In particular how would an FM1 rig stack up to a Sandybridge rig, and which Sandybridge would be compareable??
Thanks in advance for info/opinions.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by gas_man Hi, I have been checking out the new AMD FM1 CPU's and some FM1 motherboards the last few days on the web. In particular I was looking at the Asus F1A75-V Pro motherboard. Gigabyte also has a a full size FM1 board as well. Has any of the PC builder pros on the forum looked at these and have an opinion? In particular how would an FM1 rig stack up to a Sandybridge rig, and which Sandybridge would be compareable?? Thanks in advance for info/opinions.

I have a few on order. From what I read, the graphics are going to be way better than the SandyBridge but lack on the CPU side. The integrated chip graphics can be cross fired with a PCI express ATI card and the BIOS will upgrade the to to a new graphics level. I ordered that board, an M, and a M Pro. They all take the 1866 memory without an overclock as well, about time someone did that. The quad cores seem to be the way to go.

Here is a video explaining the APU (Bobcat). Click the video on the right.

Newegg.com - Feel the Power of DirectX® 11 with the New AMD A-Series APU

[Khalil]

I think this FM1 platform is an excellent value, I already built one with an Asrock motherboard for benchmarking and as a display unit. I am very impressed.

You combine it with a 6970 video card and I bet you will have a killer gaming system for a good bargain!
I ordered a few Asus FM1 boards and A8-3850 APUs, I plan on making them my main build for my walk-in traffic. What a great deal from AMD!

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Khalil I think this FM1 platform is an excellent value, I already built one with an Asrock motherboard for benchmarking and as a display unit. I am very impressed. You combine it with a 6970 video card and I bet you will have a killer gaming system for a good bargain! I ordered a few Asus FM1 boards and A8-3850 APUs, I plan on making them my main build for my walk-in traffic. What a great deal from AMD!

You scared me a little when you said ASRock Then I read your other thread...

I can't wait to get mine and see what the APU Graphics are like. I was really impressed with the Sandy Bridge graphics and from the specs I have been reading, the APU is even better. I also like the crossfire capability that bumps up the APU/GPU to a higher single card number in the BIOS, now there is real value. I wonder what they did to get the higher speed memory to work without an overclock? I have not tried hard to find out yet but that is impressive as well. It looks like AMD spanked Intel with this one in the graphics area.

[Khalil]

It is good that both manufacturers keep coming up with newer and better things, they keep each other on their toes.
It is a fact though, AMD is no competition to Intel when it comes to sales, Intel dominates 80% of the market. That said they are still a thorn in Intel's side specially when they come up with innovative designs like this Llano.
It is funny how some heavily Intel supported sites are trying to play down AMD, I have to give it to Intel, they are very crafty and deffinately have the resources to keep AMD in the shadows!

When was the last time you saw an AMD commercial if ever?
AMD sells everything they make within their marketing cycle, I am glad they exist and I support them as much as possible because the last thing we want is to be stuck with one brand processor!
Bottom line, the AMD vs. Intel competition is only in our favor the consumers and system builders, so give me more of it please!!

[jbheller]

Originally Posted by Khalil I think this FM1 platform is an excellent value, I already built one with an Asrock motherboard for benchmarking and as a display unit. I am very impressed. You combine it with a 6970 video card and I bet you will have a killer gaming system for a good bargain! I ordered a few Asus FM1 boards and A8-3850 APUs, I plan on making them my main build for my walk-in traffic. What a great deal from AMD!

Again people are missing the point of buying an AMD A8 chip. If you want to make a good low end gaming pc this chip is great. You can only combine with three discreate for Hybid Crossfire, the best bing the 6670. If you are going to make computers with 6970 cards, then don't buy AMD A8 chips. Just buy a resonable X4 or X6 chip and the system will be faster overall.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by jbheller Again people are missing the point of buying an AMD A8 chip. If you want to make a good low end gaming pc this chip is great. You can only combine with three discreate for Hybid Crossfire, the best bing the 6670. If you are going to make computers with 6970 cards, then don't buy AMD A8 chips. Just buy a resonable X4 or X6 chip and the system will be faster overall.

I am not missing the point as I recommend the APU/HD6670 as a budget gaming rig. I do agree if you want the faster GPU then it makes sense going for an X4 or X6 even if most games out there do not take advantage of the multi core.

The problem with the 1866 memory is that it is more expensive and offers very little performance gain even if you are tweaking it, that has been my experience. I am not an avid tweaker or overclocker. I do test it out a little bit and it bores me in all reality, I do not see the value but I can wrap my arms around the enthusiasm.

[David M]

The increase in memory bandwidth between 1600 and 1866 for this chip is next to nothing.
Making Memory Performance Matter Again : AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano Rocks Entry-Level Desktops Doesn't this make the sweet spot 1600 RAM and 1866 RAM a waste of money?

The Llano A8-3850's processing power ranks significantly weaker than an Intel i3-2105. Would you ever recommend an i3-2105 for a gaming rig much less the fastest of the Llano's?
Benchmark Results: PCMark 7 : AMD A8-3850 Review: Llano Rocks Entry-Level Desktops

[glc]

The i3-2105 is a fast processor - it makes for a great budget gaming rig as long as all you need is 2 cores.

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: October 2011 : Best Gaming CPUs For The Money, October Updates

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by glc The i3-2105 is a fast processor - it makes for a great budget gaming rig as long as all you need is 2 cores. Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: October 2011 : Best Gaming CPUs For The Money, October Updates

I agree. If your budget is real tight, the Liano is a great value when coupled with an HD6670.

[jbheller]

While I agree that there is not a huge difference in speed between 1600 and 1866, certainly not as much as going from the default 1333 to 1600, there are still some gains to be made.

I built my AMD system with the ASUS F1A75-I DELUXE board and after reading some bad reports of people having RAM chips not being recognised in a variety of different brand and model Socket FM1 motherboards at their native speed, and having to manually set ram parameters in their bios, i decided to be cautious in ram chip selection.

I went to the manafacturers QVL list for the motherboard and select ram chips recommended from their testing. Lo and behold, there are no 4 gig 1600 ram chips on the QVL for my motherboard. Link is below:-

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download F1A75-I DELUXE

As the ITX motherboard only has two slots and I wanted at least 6 gigs of ram, there was only one supported ram config

CORSAIR CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9(XMP) 8GB(2 x 4GB) DS - - 9-10-9-27 1.50V

This ram worked perfectly first time when installed. I have conservatively overclocked my machine as I not an avid overclocker either, but just wanted the CPU to get the best benefit from the fast ram. Below is a procedure that should work on most Socket FM1 motherboards.

AMD A-Series APU Overclocking and Gaming Performance - PC Perspective - YouTube

Overclocking does produce some additional heat, but with a Corsair H60 installed I have had no issues at all with stability. Im sure I could work the machine harder but I am happy with the results so far.

I bought all my parts from Newegg and had a friend ship them over to Australia. There were supply issues at the time in Australia with a few items including the AMD A8 chip, and i hate having to buy parts from half a dozen different stores just to get the best price. I could now build the same machine using a local supplier like pc case gear, but I would be paying probably 150 more than newegg for identical parts.

I also would like to buy a Llano based laptop for my daughter for college schoolwork and light gaming, but major companies like HP cant even meet demand in the USA yet, let alone ship them out to places like Australia. I think ill be ordering it from newegg or the like instead.

[Masaki 7-11]

The A series processors are great if you want to use the integrated graphics and need more than just basic graphics capabilites (ie you actually want to play some games at decent settings). If you're using a separate video card, I see no reason to go with A series processors, the Phenom II X4s are faster, have more cache, can cost less, and Sandy Bridge processors are faster yet, but usually cost more than the A series.

[jbheller]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 The A series processors are great if you want to use the integrated graphics and need more than just basic graphics capabilites (ie you actually want to play some games at decent settings). If you're using a separate video card, I see no reason to go with A series processors, the Phenom II X4s are faster, have more cache, can cost less, and Sandy Bridge processors are faster yet, but usually cost more than the A series.

Very well stated. I agree entirely. People who build systems with an A-series and a discreate graphics card that doesn't hybrid crossfire with the processor are building a poor system.

For a list of which discrete graphics cards team up with the various models of notebook and desktop llano processors, use the following link:-

AMD Radeon Dual Graphics