Introduction
The lower end of the PC market is anybody’s game at this moment.This segment is mostly dominated by HTPC’ or light to very light gaming rigs,as such the processor powering these PC’s need to be capable to handle Computing tasks for day to day work and a somewhat powerful GPU to support gaming at low resolutions.So the best solution for these rigs is a Processing Unit which has an on die GPU.
Now this segment is generally dominated by Lower end processor like Pentium or Core i3’s from Intel,but recently from 2011 AMD’s been giving stiff competition in that front first by releasing “llano” line of APU’s(Accelerated Processing Unit) with K10 Husky cores. Initially they offered similar performance to Intel counterparts but with the second generation APU’s based on the “piledriver” cores AMD offered considerable performance increase.
Since i got my hands on a setup including APU with a top of the line A85X Board i thought i would give you people some idea about how good or bad the platform is..you be the judge.I will reserve my judgement until i get my hands on an retail sample.
So without further ado lets dive into the preview.
An intro to AMD FM2 platform
The FM2 platform from AMD consists of a new socket and 3 new chipset and a lineup of 6 processor till now.Lets have a look at the line up and the specifications in general:
Processor Specifications:
| MANUFACTURER | AMD |
|---|---|
| Tech/package | 32 nm, FM2 socket |
| TDP: | 65W and 100W |
| PROCESSOR | “Piledriver” 32nm HKMG process core (up to 4 cores), up to 128 KB L1 Cache (64 KB Instruction, 64 KB Data) Up to 4 MB L2, 2 x 128-bit FPUs / compute module |
| MEMORY | Up to DDR3 1866 @ 1.5V |
| GRAPHICS | Up to 384 VLIW 4 Radeon Cores 2.0, DirectX 11 capable, UVD3, VCE , |
| POWER MANAGEMENT | Multiple low-power states 32-nm process for decreased power consumption System Management Mode (SMM) ACPI-compliant, including support for processor performance states (P-states), processor power states (C-states), and sleep states including S0, S3, S4, and S5 Per compute module power gating (CC6) PCIe core power gating PCIe speed power policy GPU power gating of Radeon Cores and video decode (UVD3) AMD Turbo Core 3.0 technology |
In terms of chip sets we have 3 varieties here:
A55
It has SATA 3 Gb/s support, and supports a single VGA slot. The AMD A55 is clearly for complete low end machines like thin clients and office machines.
A75
it offers SATA 6Gb/s support (six native ports total), adds FIS-based switching for those SATA ports, and has native USB 3.0 support. The AMD A75 is for mainstream guys who wants connectivity options
A85X
The AMD A85X supports eight total SATA 6 Gb/s ports with FIS-based switching, and adds in CrossfireX support. The new AMD A85X is targeted at gamers and enthusiasts favorably paired with unlocked K series APU’s.
So we are looking at an affordable platform with lots of connectivity option fit for light gaming and HTPC usage. Lets have a look at the motherboard we have on the bench,turn over please
The motherboard
The motherboard we have on the test bench today is the F2A85V PRO the high end FM2 motherboard offering from Asus based on A85 Chipset.
The board in itself has impressive specifications:
| CPU | AMD Socket FM2 Athlon™/A- Series Processors Supports CPU up to 4 cores Supports AMD® Turbo Core 3.0 Technology |
|---|---|
| Chipset | AMD A85X FCH(Hudson D4) |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM, Max. 64GB, DDR3 1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture Support AMD Memory Profile (AMP) memory |
| Graphics | Integrated AMD Radeon™ HD 7000 Series Graphics in A-series APU Multi-VGA output support : HDMI/DVI/RGB/DisplayPort ports – Supports HDMI with max. resolution 1920 x 1080 @ 60 Hz – Supports DVI with max. resolution 2560 x 1600 @ Hz – Supports RGB with max. resolution 1920 x 1600 @ 60 Hz – Supports DisplayPort with max. resolution 4096 x 2160 @ 60 Hz Maximum shared memory of 2048 MB AMD® Dual Graphics technology support Supports DirectX 11 |
| Multi-GPU Support | Supports AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™ Technology Supports LucidLogix® Virtu™ MVP Technology |
| Expansion Slots | 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 2 x PCI |
| Storage | AMD A85X FCH(Hudson D4) chipset : 7 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray 1 x eSATA 6Gb/s port(s), red Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD |
| LAN | Realtek® 8111F, 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s) |
| Audio | Realtek® ALC892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC – Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking Audio Feature : – Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel |
| Special Features | ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 3 with New DIGI+ Power Control : SMART DIGI+ : – Smart DIGI+ Key- Quickly delivers optimized VRM frequency, voltage and current for superior APU/DRAM overclocking performance with one click. ASUS TPU : – Auto Tuning – TurboV – GPU Boost – TPU switch ASUS EPU : – EPU – EPU switch ASUS Digital Power Design : – Industry leading Digital 6 +2 Phase Power Design – CPU Power Utility – DRAM Power Utility ASUS Exclusive Features : – Remote GO! – USB BIOS Flashback – MemOK! – AI Suite II – Ai Charger+ – USB Charger+ – Anti-Surge – ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode featuring friendly graphics user interface – Network iControl – USB 3.0 Boost – Disk Unlocker ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution : – Stylish Fanless Design Heat-pipe solution – ASUS Fan Xpert 2 ASUS EZ DIY : – DirectKey – Precision Tweaker 2 – ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 – ASUS EZ Flash 2 – ASUS MyLogo 2 ASUS Q-Design : – ASUS Q-Shield – ASUS Q-Slot – ASUS Q-Connector 100% All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors |
| Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX Power Connector 1 x 8-pin CPU Power Connector |
| Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 4 x CHA (4-pin) |
| Product page | Link |
Now that we are done with the specification lets have a look at the motherboard and the package.First the BOX!
Front side:
Back side:
Nothing to say here actually..just standard motherboard box with stuff written all over.
Box contents:
again there is enough stuff to start off a simple HTPC system.
Turn over for a closer look.
Showcase continued
The pictures are pretty much self explanatory but i will give description as and when necessary.
The I/O panel has lots of options
- 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port.
- 1 x DVI
- 1 x D-Sub
- 1 x DisplayPort
- 1 x HDMI
- 1 x eSATA
- 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s)
- 4 x USB 3.0 (blue)
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 1 x Optical S/PDIF out
- 6 x Audio jack(s
basically whatever you will need for an HTPC..its here.
At the lower right hand side we see the Hudson D4 FCH with all its bell and whistles along with 7 SATA 6GB/s ports and lots of USB connectors and front panel connectors although i was hoping for a power and reset button.
One Thing I would like to point out is the DirectKey button above the TPU switch(the one besides the front panel connectors).When pressed in the OS, it will shut down the system and on the next boot go straight into BIOS. When pressed if the system is off, it will start up the system and boot into the BIOS. This is highly useful for overclockers and reviewers as we dont have to hit the Del key every time to go to Bios.
Coming to the left side we see the the three PCIe 2.0 x16 Slots capable to 3-Way CrossFireX , I was hoping AMD would include SLI too but i guess there was some licensing issues.
The heatsink covering the VRM look the same as the P8Z77 V deluxe so lets hope we get similar cooling performance regardless of whats under it.
This pretty much covers up the Showcase part,i leave a few more pics for you guys and dive into the performance preview part.
Performance Numbers
Now its time for Performance numbers! I didn’t get time to run too many benchmarks but i will show whatever i have with me now..so please hold on till i get my hands on a retail sample chip.
Test bench:
- AMD A Series APU with 384 Radeon cores
- Asus F2 A85 V Pro
- 8 GB DDR3 running at 1333 Mhz C9
- AX 1200 W PSU
Benchmark Results
| Super Pi 1M | 29.573 sec |
|---|---|
| WPrime 32M | 24.32 sec |
| Cine bench 11 CPU | 2.83 points |
| Cine bench 11 GPU | 29.75 FPS |
| 3DMark 11 | P1340 |
| 3DMark Vantage | P4976 |
Well…there you have it…a small performance preview of the Trinity Platform.
I leave the judgement to you guys.
For me trinity looks like a little powerhouse which would take the HTPC segment with ease owing to its on die GPU which is far more superior than the Intel counterparts.