Asrock A75 Pro4 review

While Intel changes socket type almost every time it launches a new processor range, AMD has normally been more consistent – the later Socket AM3 Phenom II processors, for example, would also work with Socket AM2+ motherboards with a simple BIOS update.

Desktop processors with the new Llano architecture (AMD calls the new desktop range ‘Lynx’) have a very different architecture from previous AMD chips, not least because there are graphics built onto the chip. They also require a new socket – FM1 – and Asrock’s A75 Pro4 is the first board we’ve seen with this socket type.

It’s relatively expensive for an AMD board, but it has an impressive specification. There are two PCI Express x16 and two PCI Express x1 slots, although you’ll block one of the x1 slots if you fit a dedicated graphics card. There are also two PCI slots for older expansion cards. Storage is taken care of with five SATA3 ports, which is a fairly typical number, but, as with most of the Intel Socket 1155 motherboards we saw in our last components Labs in Shopper 279, there are no IDE or floppy ports. The lack of a floppy port probably won’t bother you, but if you have an older IDE hard disk or optical drive you may want to upgrade or use a SATA to IDE converter, which cost around £8.

The rear panel has more room for expansion, with two USB2, four USB3 and an eSATA port. The small number of USB2 ports was a problem during setup; Windows wouldn’t recognise the USB3 ports during installation, and there weren’t enough USB2 ports for our keyboard, mouse and the USB stick containing the Windows installer. If you also install Windows from a USB key, you can get around the problem by using a USB hub, a wireless keyboard and mouse set with a single dongle or a PS/2 keyboard. Setup was otherwise easy; the motherboard has buttons for power and reset, as well as a dedicated CMOS clear button on the rear in case the system won’t boot. The A75 Pro4 has a UEFI instead of a BIOS. This gives you an easy-to-use mouse-driven graphical interface to set up your PC. There aren’t any overclocking presets, but you can adjust processor multiplier, bus frequency and processor and RAM voltage, so you’ll still be able to eke out some more performance from your processor.

You can run two monitors from the motherboard, but one of them has to be VGA

If you’re not planning on adding a dedicated graphics card, you can use an AMD A6 or A8 processor’s integrated graphics to run your system. As we saw in our AMD A8-3850 review this is a graphics chipset with some gaming prowess, and the motherboard’s HDMI, VGA and DVI ports mean you won’t have any problems connecting a display. You can run two displays from the motherboard, but you can’t use both the DVI and HDMI at the same time – we had to connect one monitor to HDMI or DVI and the other to the VGA port.

It’s hard to judge Asrock’s A75 Pro4, as it’s the first motherboard we’ve seen with AMD’s new socket. However, it’s easy to set up, has plenty of room for expansion and a friendly UEFI BIOS, and as regular system builders we always appreciate board-mounted power, reset and clear CMOS buttons. Until we’ve seen FM1 boards from the competition we can’t give it an award, but if you’re planning on building an AMD Llano-based PC, the A75 Pro4 is a good place to start.