Foxconn A75M Review

👤by Tony Le Bourne Comments 📅25-10-11
Closer Look

Around the FM1 socket we can see the use of solid capacitors and chokes fed by digital VRMs. Due to the digital VRMs that run much cooler than traditional VRMs, there is no need for a heatsink. Arranged in 3 + 1 phases there is plenty of power on tap for the efficient 32nm Llano chips. We can also see the 4 pin 12v ATX power socket as well as dual 4 pin PWM headers for CPU cooling, handy for coolers with two fans running in push/ pull.


3+1 power phases with use of solid capacitors, smart.


The memory DIMMs are colour coded per channel (A1 A2, B1, B2) rather than marking primary/ secondary channels to run dual channel (A1, B1, A2, B2). Or more simply first channel is blue and second channel is yellow, what this means is, to run memory modules in dual channel you must place 1 module in a blue slot and the second in a yellow slot. This, in my experience, goes against how many other boards mark their DIMMS as to be able to easily spot which slots are best to run your memory in dual/ triple channel mode. We can see that the memory, too, has a dedicated power phase.


Apparently the A75M can support up to 64GB of DDR3 memory, Yikes!


Supporting dual graphics with the APU we see a PCI-E 2.0 16x lane with a dedicated power phase followed by a PCI-E 1x and 2x legacy PCI lanes. In this quadrant of the board we can also see another 4pin PWM fan header, the realtek lan controller and HD audio chip, front audio header, USB 3.0 front header supporting 2x USB 3.0 ports as well as the clear CMOS jumper.


Yellow on blue, sometimes contrast is good.


In the bottom right section of the A75M we see the black heatsink with the red Foxconn badge that is used to cool the Hudson D3 Fusion Controller Hub. This is what gives the motherboard it's Native SATA 3.0 6Gb/s goodness. To the right of the heatsink we see the 6 SATA 3.0 ports. The bottom edge is lined with 2x USB 2.0 headers, each supporting 2x USB 2.0 ports, the BIOS chip, dedicated buzzer header and the power/ reset headers as can be expected.


All the connectivity the average user would need.


The rear I/O connections are comprehensive with PS2 keyboard, 6x USB 2.0, VGA, DVI and HDMI 1.4a video outputs, gigabit lan, 2x USB 3.0 and 7.1 audio with line in and mic jacks.


The rear I/O panel.



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