AMD A8-3850 & Gigabyte A75M-UD2H Review
Introducing the Gigabyte A75M-UD2H
Published: 1st August 2011 | Source: Gigabyte | Price: £89.99 @ Aria |
The Gigabyte A75M-UD2H
As you should have guessed, the new AMD A Series processors are only available on Socket FM1 - hence, even existing AMD users will need to purchase a new motherboard. At present most popular brands have an A75 based motherboard available to purchase between £70 and £120; today's Gigabyte A75M-UD2H is priced towards the lower end of the spectrum. With this in mind, lets see what it has to offer us.
Motherboard Model | Gigabyte A75M-UD2H |
Form Factor | mATX |
Processor Support | AMD A Series (Socket FM1) Processors |
Chipset | A75 |
Overclocking Support | Yes |
Memory | 4 x DIMM, Max. 32 GB 1866/1600/1333 DDR3 |
Expansion Slots | 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 |
Multi-GPU Support | Yes - 16x/4x |
Onboard Video | N/A |
Storage | 5 x SATA 6.0Gb/s 1 x eSATA 6.0Gb/s |
LAN | Gigabit LAN |
Audio | Realtek ALC889 7.1 |
USB | 4 x USB 2.0 (+4 additional PCI) 2 x USB 3.0 Rear (+2 additional PCI) |
Firewire | 2 x 1394 (1 x back, 1 x internal) |
Video I/O | DVI, HDMI, VGA, Display Port |
All in all a relatively well specified motherboard. Priced at around £85, it features everything that one would usually expect on a mid range Micro ATX board. Notable mentions include Crossfire support and all 4 video input options.
Most Recent Comments

Mostly because there is nothing else like it on the market.
I'm a little confused as to why this was pitted against an I5 when the I5 is clearly far more expensive.
£103.99 inc for the Llano from Ebuyer, £137 inc for the I5.
The comparissons should be against the I3. Now sure, as a CPU the I3 is faster. However, the GPU aboard the 3850 poos on the I3 and is actually playable at sensible resolutions. Every other review I have read have pitted it like for like, so I can't understand why this has been benched against a CPU that puts another 35% on top of what the 3850 costs.
I can only summise it was because OC3D maybe didn't have an I3 to put it against?Quote

I can only summise it was because OC3D maybe didn't have an I3 to put it against? |

Indeed an i3 wasn't available to compare it with, however I had left hints along the way that the price of the A8-3850 accounts for its inferior core for core and clock for clock (gag) performance. However, I feel that the article was able to highlight what was most important. Entry level multimedia users don't need outright core processor performance - combine an average CPU with a good enough GPU and their most complex needs are satisfied. Intel's Atom + nVidia ION as well as AMD's own FUZION E350 is a testament to this.
I maintain that so long as you build a FM1 system in a cut price fashion, it represents very good value for money. However as I've said in the review, you've got to be bonkers to spend big £££ on a A75 FM1 board.Quote