AMD A75 mobos for A-series processors

I need to replace my main unRAID server with a mobo that has 2 or more PCIe slots (8x8 or better).

A couple of reviews reported really nice idle power consumption and good prices for mobos using the A75 chipset with the new AMD A-series processors.

Performance is on par with the lower clocked i3.

So has anyone played with them yet?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/llano-apu-a75-motherboard,3008.html

http://www.techspot.com/review/437-amd-a75-motherboard-comparison/

I just started a similar thread this morning in the "hardware" section and judging by the 70-something hits and no replies we may have to do some testing.

FYI http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=16446.0

I might do a build at work and install unRAID to see what happens. Will get back to you.

Well, I hate to mess around so I got right to it. Plus, being at work I had loads of free time

System Specs

CPU: AMD A4-3400 (2.7Ghz Dual Core)

Motherboard: Gigabyte A75M-D2H (rev 1.0)

Memory: 4GB DDR3-1333 Silicon Power

HDD: 1x 1TB WD GP (WD10EARS)

Optical: Pioneer DVR-219LBK DVD Burner

Flash: 4GB SanDisk Flash Drive

unRAID Version: 4.7 Stable (Basic)

After 10 minutes on idle the CPU temp was 24 degrees! Impressed

WebUI works perfect, no issues. Haven't assigned disks or done any copies but this was purely to check it boots OK.

We currently sell these at PC Land for $149 although are able to match Umart's current price of $138.

Edit: Syslog Attached

Screenshot:

syslog.txt

Just tested booting 5.0b13, although this motherboard is running the Realtek RTL8111E everything seems to work OK although as said previously, I haven't done any extensive testing/copying etc. however I can ACCESS the server.

WebUI works OK although I did notice a weird message on the login screen. I guess this appeared after I clicked "identify" on the webUI but the command was pasted onto the login section?

Tower Login: run_cmd: /usr/local/sbin/emhttp_identify sdb

Syslog attached.

syslog_v5.0b13.txt

Thanks.

Any ability to measure Wattage being used?  That's the biggest question I have.

I know the CPU runs coolish... how about the chipset heatsinks?  Are they hot/warm/cold to the touch?

Thanks.

 

Any ability to measure Wattage being used?  That's the biggest question I have.

 

I know the CPU runs coolish... how about the chipset heatsinks?  Are they hot/warm/cold to the touch?

No sorry, I don't have any power measuring tools available at present. Judging from what I can tell though I wouldn't imagine it's very much at all.

Most likely similar or less to a Core i3 box.

The PC is no longer running unRAID but on display with a video on loop, been on all morning and the chipset is room temperature, I wouldn't even call it "warm." The MOSFET's are also cold and don't even have a heatsink on them. There is no noticeable heat coming off the motherboard at all, it's built in an Antec 300 with the stock case fans and stock CPU cooler. It now also has a 6670 connected but everything is still cool.

I'll update the post if I am able to measure the power usage at some stage. 

I just set up a server with the Biostar A75MH motherboard but added an Intel Gigabit NIC to avoid using the onboard Realtek 8111E.

After problems getting the network to work it is now running on 5.0b13. I am pretty sure it should be able to run on 4.7 as well. See this thread: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=16687.0

I will try to come back and post some information on the BIOS settings for this board as that seemed to be a bit of an issue for getting the USB to mount correctly in my case.

Looking at those reviews, it shows some of the A-series power usages at the same level as my UnRAID server is at.

Asus M4A78LT-M with integrated GPU @ 300MHz (down from 350MHz)

4x2GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz @ 1333MHz (no change from 1066Mhz at idle, barely 0.5W when being hammered by Prime95)

AMD Phenom X2 550 @ 955 @ 0.8-3.2Ghz @ 0.9-1.3V.

At 800Mhz and 900mv (doesn't matter how many cores are unlocked btw) it sucks 56W idle and about 110W under load.

So if you got a low power AM3 CPU then you could be under 50W idle/100W load easily.

The A-series CPUs aren't really aimed at UnRAIDers tbh. The GPU is far more powerful than it needs to be.

This is worth a read: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/pcs/2010/02/24/energy-efficient-hardware-investigated

I am now building my second UNRAID server with the "A" series Processors.

My first attempt was using the following:

A6 3650 chip

8 GB RAM DDR3

ASUS F1A75-M PRO/CSM MB

Corsair 1200W power supply

1@Hitachi Deskstar 7200 rpm 3TB HD

2@Hitachi Deskstar 7200 rpm 2TB HD

3@Seagate 2TB 5900 rpm ST32000542AS HD

I use the Ethernet port from the motherboard and it connects at 1Gb/s every time with no issues.

My first server case is a stock HAF 932 Cooler master Full Tower.

I used a Belkin AC power measuring device.

I fresh booted the Server and let it boot fully with the Power SUpply plugged into the Belkin. I then read and wrote to the server from several network based computers. I did this for over an hour to let the system come up to temperature.

I continuously measured the AC power consumption and determined that with the equipment shown above, this server ran at about 100 watts.

I felt like an idiot for selecting such a huge power supply.  I bought a Corsair 850 Watt (recommended is a 750 watt) and it shows the same type of total power consumption.

Drive temp never exceed low 30C values. I have the server in my basement in a well ventilated area. Room temp was 20C.

I then decided to build a much larger UNRAID for my next project. It will use a A8-3850 and an ASRock A75 Extreme6 MB. 16GB of RAM just because I already had it.

Lian Li PC-A77FB Full Tower case (20 drives). And modified it to hold 22 drives.

4@Supermicro 5in3 fite the data drives.

Looking at those reviews, it shows some of the A-series power usages at the same level as my UnRAID server is at.

 

Asus M4A78LT-M with integrated GPU @ 300MHz (down from 350MHz)

4x2GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz @ 1333MHz (no change from 1066Mhz at idle, barely 0.5W when being hammered by Prime95)

AMD Phenom X2 550 @ 955 @ 0.8-3.2Ghz @ 0.9-1.3V.

 

At 800Mhz and 900mv (doesn't matter how many cores are unlocked btw) it sucks 56W idle and about 110W under load.

 

So if you got a low power AM3 CPU then you could be under 50W idle/100W load easily.

 

The A-series CPUs aren't really aimed at UnRAIDers tbh. The GPU is far more powerful than it needs to be.

 

This is worth a read: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/pcs/2010/02/24/energy-efficient-hardware-investigated

For an unraid machine that will run AirVideo, is there a better performance/$ than the A4 series? The only other cheaper chip is a Sempron 145. Even the Athlons are more expensive. The graphics are overkill, but I can't think of a better solution. I'm nervous about a Sempron 145 running AirVideo, even with 4GB RAM.

Looking at those reviews, it shows some of the A-series power usages at the same level as my UnRAID server is at.

 

Asus M4A78LT-M with integrated GPU @ 300MHz (down from 350MHz)

4x2GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz @ 1333MHz (no change from 1066Mhz at idle, barely 0.5W when being hammered by Prime95)

AMD Phenom X2 550 @ 955 @ 0.8-3.2Ghz @ 0.9-1.3V.

 

At 800Mhz and 900mv (doesn't matter how many cores are unlocked btw) it sucks 56W idle and about 110W under load.

 

So if you got a low power AM3 CPU then you could be under 50W idle/100W load easily.

 

The A-series CPUs aren't really aimed at UnRAIDers tbh. The GPU is far more powerful than it needs to be.

 

This is worth a read: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/pcs/2010/02/24/energy-efficient-hardware-investigated

 

For an unraid machine that will run AirVideo, is there a better performance/$ than the A4 series? The only other cheaper chip is a Sempron 145. Even the Athlons are more expensive. The graphics are overkill, but I can't think of a better solution. I'm nervous about a Sempron 145 running AirVideo, even with 4GB RAM.

Looking at the hardware requirements on http://www.inmethod.com/forum/posts/list/1856.page I would say that something like an Athlon II X2-245e setup or similar would be perfect; they're cheap, dual core, low power, socket AM3 which is also cheap/readily available & supported. AFAIK now a lot of the FM1 stuff is already going EOL as well, AM3/AM3+ would also be a better choice if you're future proofing.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/processors/athlon-ii-x2/pages/amd-athlon-ii-x2-processor-model-numbers-feature-comparison.aspx

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3921#sp (suitable motherboard or similar)

That board is sporting a Realtek RTL8211CL, not sure if there are any issues with that NIC + unRAID though, worth double checking.

Looking at those reviews, it shows some of the A-series power usages at the same level as my UnRAID server is at.

 

Asus M4A78LT-M with integrated GPU @ 300MHz (down from 350MHz)

4x2GB DDR3 ECC 1066MHz @ 1333MHz (no change from 1066Mhz at idle, barely 0.5W when being hammered by Prime95)

AMD Phenom X2 550 @ 955 @ 0.8-3.2Ghz @ 0.9-1.3V.

 

At 800Mhz and 900mv (doesn't matter how many cores are unlocked btw) it sucks 56W idle and about 110W under load.

 

So if you got a low power AM3 CPU then you could be under 50W idle/100W load easily.

 

The A-series CPUs aren't really aimed at UnRAIDers tbh. The GPU is far more powerful than it needs to be.

 

This is worth a read: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/pcs/2010/02/24/energy-efficient-hardware-investigated

 

For an unraid machine that will run AirVideo, is there a better performance/$ than the A4 series? The only other cheaper chip is a Sempron 145. Even the Athlons are more expensive. The graphics are overkill, but I can't think of a better solution. I'm nervous about a Sempron 145 running AirVideo, even with 4GB RAM.

 

Looking at the hardware requirements on http://www.inmethod.com/forum/posts/list/1856.page I would say that something like an Athlon II X2-245e setup or similar would be perfect; they're cheap, dual core, low power, socket AM3 which is also cheap/readily available & supported. AFAIK now a lot of the FM1 stuff is already going EOL as well, AM3/AM3+ would also be a better choice if you're future proofing.

 

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/processors/athlon-ii-x2/pages/amd-athlon-ii-x2-processor-model-numbers-feature-comparison.aspx

http://www.gigabyte.com.au/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3921#sp (suitable motherboard or similar)

 

That board is sporting a Realtek RTL8211CL, not sure if there are any issues with that NIC + unRAID though, worth double checking.

Yeah, unfortunately, it appears one cannot purchase an Athlon II x2 e CPU anymore. The 45w is very appealing. The closest thing is a 240 or 250, and that is OEM about $55.00. Plus its 65w. That makes it more expensive than an A4 class APU.

Where abouts do you live? In AU Umart seem to be able to get them but they're $78.00 and listed as "PreOrder" so they probably arent in stock.

Newegg have this deal if you're in the US http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103904 although no 240/245e that I could see.

Where abouts do you live? In AU Umart seem to be able to get them but they're $78.00 and listed as "PreOrder" so they probably arent in stock.

 

Newegg have this deal if you're in the US http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103904 although no 240/245e that I could see.

Yeah, thats the same deal that I am eyeing. My goal is to get the whole build (minus hard drives) for 200$USD, so I'm trying my best to be frugal.

Where abouts do you live? In AU Umart seem to be able to get them but they're $78.00 and listed as "PreOrder" so they probably arent in stock.

 

Newegg have this deal if you're in the US http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103904 although no 240/245e that I could see.

 

Yeah, thats the same deal that I am eyeing. My goal is to get the whole build (minus hard drives) for 200$USD, so I'm trying my best to be frugal.

Just dont skimp too much on the PSU Corsair/TT/Antec if you can squeeze it.