ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi Review

👤by Tony Le Bourne Comments 📅14-03-12
Conclusion

In our benchmark tests the ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi was no stranger to the top and the bottom of of the lists. This explains that the motherboard peforms just as well as the larger offerings in a small form factor. Going the extra mile by packing it with extra USB 3.0, WiFi & Bluetooth mPCIe card and dual gigabit lan. That sounds all great except when you look at the price. For the same price as this motherboard you could be looking at a high-end A75 ATX motherboard which is likely to feature similar features or more, bar maybe the addition of an mPCIe dual WiFi card. That being said I would suggest that this ITX board is not aimed at hardcore gamers who want the very best FPS in games, they would indeed choose a more conventional form factor or if they wanted an ITX gaming machine, they would be more inclined to choose a Z68 version. Again, if this was aimed at HTPC users, surely a HTPC would be better off using a more low power setup such as an AMD 'Brazos' platform that uses a low power 'Bobcat' APU. So the A75-ITX WiFi exists in ITX limbo, that's not a bad thing, here's why. If this particular board was used as a relatively low power HTPC, it would be packing substantial performance which will in turn give better usability and general application, on top of that, the integrated HD 6550D graphics port has enough muscle for some light gaming too. Considering this flexibility, it shows that the Lynx platform from AMD does exactly what it has set out to do, provide a benchmark in 'mainstream performance' and ZOTAC has enabled the public to tap into that performance in a fully featured ITX package.



The A75-ITX WiFi is not without it's faults, during the arguement I had with the board, I had stopped to evil eye those pesky baby blue SATA ports, then I heard a screaming in my ear. The board was running off of the HD 6550D at the time so I knew it was not the HD 6570, I then checked out my power supply, nope not that. Unfortunately this motherboard was suffering from some coil whine and was chirping away like a cockroach at the edge of hearing. Like most things of this nature, once you notice it, you notice it more. It is a shame to think that all those nice extra features come at the expense of component quality, not to mention that this particular board is priced a little higher than competitors A75 ITX motherboards. It could just be this particular sample, or just a random spell of Tinnitus but it is certainly not a welcome feature.

All things considered, the ZOTAC A75-ITX WiFi delivers some genius features and allows access to the benefits of AMDs A-Series APUs in a small form factor.

Pros.
+ Lots of USB 3.0
+ WiFi & Bluetooth
+ Small form factor - mini ITX

Cons.
- Price
- It's a squealer






Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to ZOTAC for providing today’s review sample.


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