My LLano A4-3300 Review [Old thread - necro]

[waltchan]

Well, then, he's committing federal Postal Fraud. Stealing Priority Mail boxes, and not shipping them USPS priority, is a violation of the law.

Already sent a message to seller on this error. That's why this APU depreciated down to $8.55, assuming you won't get caught paying any extra postage fee.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, I decided to use these older (but "new") parts, to teach a friend that I do computer work for, how to build a computer. He managed it pretty well, actually, given that he's not a strong tech-y. Got a little stressed when it came time to connect the front-panel I/O wires, since they weren't labeled on the motherboard, and we had to dig out the instruction sheet for the mobo. I think I might have helped him with that step.

It all came together pretty easily, and if he had screwed something up, well, I've got more boards + CPUs where that came from.

Edit: Waltchan, or anyone else - what video drivers are you using for the A4-3300 FM1 APU / iGPU? I've put Win7 64-bit on here. Wondering if Catalyst 15.12 will run, or if the hardware is too legacy for that driver. Currently using the video drivers that installed off of the CD that came with the mobo (so likely to be very out-of-date).

Edit: Using this rig to browse the forum (not overclocked, 2.5Ghz dual-core FM1), I'm fairly impressed. These might be older chips, and may not clock nearly as high as the FM2 Richland CPUs, but they feel... more responsive than the single-module 3.7Ghz Richland CPUs? Could it be because they have two real cores?

I've been doing WU, after a fresh install, and the CPU is pinned at 100%, and I can still listen to internet radio and browse this forum with Firefox, no problem. I'm sure that the GPU acceleration helps a bit here as well.

I kind of like this rig. I don't have NoScript installed, and there are ads on this forum, but between the GPU acceleration, lack of Flash Player, and the 120GB Corsair SSD, it's still fairly snappy.

It's basically like a much-improved E5200, with a better IGP. Which, the rig it may be replacing is an E5200, with a 500GB 7200RPM desktop HDD, and G41 GMA graphics. At least this machine has an HDMI-output.

 

[escrow4]

Well, I decided to use these older (but "new") parts, to teach a friend that I do computer work for, how to build a computer. He managed it pretty well, actually, given that he's not a strong tech-y. Got a little stressed when it came time to connect the front-panel I/O wires, since they weren't labeled on the motherboard, and we had to dig out the instruction sheet for the mobo. I think I might have helped him with that step.

It all came together pretty easily, and if he had screwed something up, well, I've got more boards + CPUs where that came from.

Edit: Waltchan, or anyone else - what video drivers are you using for the A4-3300 FM1 APU / iGPU? I've put Win7 64-bit on here. Wondering if Catalyst 15.12 will run, or if the hardware is too legacy for that driver. Currently using the video drivers that installed off of the CD that came with the mobo (so likely to be very out-of-date).

Edit: Using this rig to browse the forum (not overclocked, 2.5Ghz dual-core FM1), I'm fairly impressed. These might be older chips, and may not clock nearly as high as the FM2 Richland CPUs, but they feel... more responsive than the single-module 3.7Ghz Richland CPUs? Could it be because they have two real cores?

I've been doing WU, after a fresh install, and the CPU is pinned at 100%, and I can still listen to internet radio and browse this forum with Firefox, no problem. I'm sure that the GPU acceleration helps a bit here as well.

I kind of like this rig. I don't have NoScript installed, and there are ads on this forum, but between the GPU acceleration, lack of Flash Player, and the 120GB Corsair SSD, it's still fairly snappy.

It's basically like a much-improved E5200, with a better IGP. Which, the rig it may be replacing is an E5200, with a 500GB 7200RPM desktop HDD, and G41 GMA graphics. At least this machine has an HDMI-output.

Absolutely hilarious, the AMD chip is barely faster than the E5200:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+E5200+@+2.50GHz

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A4-3300+APU

Sure that is only an indicator, but its HILARIOUS.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Absolutely hilarious, the AMD chip is barely faster than the E5200:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Pentium+E5200+@+2.50GHz

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=AMD+A4-3300+APU

Sure that is only an indicator, but its HILARIOUS.

Well, maybe it could be a backup computer, rather than an outright replacement.

Anyways, it was a cheap (for me) learning experience (for my friend). It's all good.

 

[SPBHM]

the worst e5200 I ever used had no problems running at 3.33GHz, the good ones could do 3.7-4.0GHz easily,
I doubt the A4 3300 can keep up with that, and stock they are not to different, the big advantage is the better IGP (and the platform, I think FM1 had native sata III/USB 3.0 for example with A75, and even with the cheaper A55 boards you get PCIE 2.0)...

and yes Llano should be like any HD5000/6000 Crimson Legacy should work, and Catalyst up to 15.7 supported it (and some newer betas)
I think

 

[VirtualLarry]

the worst e5200 I ever used had no problems running at 3.33GHz, the good ones could do 3.7-4.0GHz easily,
I doubt the A4 3300 can keep up with that, and stock they are not to different, the big advantage is the better IGP (and the platform, I think FM1 had native sata III/USB 3.0 for example with A75, and even with the cheaper A55 boards you get PCIE 2.0)...

and yes Llano should be like any HD5000/6000 Crimson Legacy should work, and Catalyst up to 15.7 supported it (and some newer betas)
I think

Good point. The E5200 CPUs are a lot more overclockable than the FM1 APUs are. If only there were a source of cheap new A75 boards with SATA6G and USB3.0. That would be like a dream. That, and if you could find new FM1 APUs that were quad-cores for $20, like the AM1 Sempron 3850 APUs that I managed to snag a while ago. Those are only 1.3Ghz without overclocking. I bought overclocking ITX boards (ASRock, I think), with two additional SATA6G ports. Unfortunately, I chose to equip those builds with DVD-RW drives, and those flake out entirely it seems once you OC the bus speed past around 105Mhz.

So, potentially, a 2Ghz+ FM1 rig would be better.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Waltchan, you said you got your A4-3300 up to 3.1Ghz on this ECS A55 board.

HOW???

I tried setting CPU overclock to Enabled, changed the bus freq from 100 to 105, it booted Win7 64-bit, I ended up with 2.625-2.630Ghz.

So I tried 115, and had to clear CMOS, couldn't even boot BIOS.

Tried 110, couldn't boot Win7.

Tried 107, couldn't boot Win7.

So what's the secret?

I tried enabling the IGD OC feature, and then changing the freq from 600 to 400 (attempt to underclock. Likewise, I tried setting the memory freq. to Manual, and set it to 667. No go.)

Edit: Btw, is there any issue OCing when using the HDMI-out on the mobo? I seem to recall some issues OCing certain platforms while using the HDMI output wouldn't work, you had to use the VGA-out. I forgot which platform though, maybe AM1? Is FM1 the same way?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ECS/A75F-A/12.html

https://hardforum.com/threads/another-overclocking-breakthrogh-ecs-a75f-a-motherbaord.1646376/

The second link mentions setting SATA mode to IDE. I'll try that.

Edit: I got it to boot one time at 115, but now I can't. Also, restarting and attempting to enter the BIOS again was fruitless. I had to power-off at the back of the PSU, and then try to boot again. Had to Clear CMOS several times when attempting 115, because it wouldn't even boot to BIOS. Unsure if that was an HDMI issue, or what.

I'm through trying to OC this machine, FM1 is garbage for OCing.

 

[waltchan]

Waltchan, you said you got your A4-3300 up to 3.1Ghz on this ECS A55 board.

HOW???

I tried setting CPU overclock to Enabled, changed the bus freq from 100 to 105, it booted Win7 64-bit, I ended up with 2.625-2.630Ghz.

So I tried 115, and had to clear CMOS, couldn't even boot BIOS.

Tried 110, couldn't boot Win7.

Tried 107, couldn't boot Win7.

So what's the secret?

Downgrade memory RAM speed manually to 1066 or 1333 first, assuming you're using 1333 or 1600 stick. That's all, don't touch the IGD. If overclocking on auto memory speed, you can only get 105 max, because a 1600 MHz stick will become 1680 MHz speed at 2.63 GHz processor. So far, I'm at 114 around 1500 MHz, but overclocking depends on chipset voltage. My A4-3300 I'm using is set at 1.40 V stock voltage. What's yours?

 

[waltchan]

Edit: Waltchan, or anyone else - what video drivers are you using for the A4-3300 FM1 APU / iGPU? I've put Win7 64-bit on here. Wondering if Catalyst 15.12 will run, or if the hardware is too legacy for that driver. Currently using the video drivers that installed off of the CD that came with the mobo (so likely to be very out-of-date).

Edit: Using this rig to browse the forum (not overclocked, 2.5Ghz dual-core FM1), I'm fairly impressed. These might be older chips, and may not clock nearly as high as the FM2 Richland CPUs, but they feel... more responsive than the single-module 3.7Ghz Richland CPUs? Could it be because they have two real cores?

FM1s can only take Catalyst 15.7.1 max. Tried installing Crimson Beta, but it downgraded to 15.7.1 automatically.

All FM1s are true, native dual-core (or quad-core) based on older K10.5 architecture. A4-5300 FM2, which was the successor to A4-3300, now comes with only single-core with two-threads. A4-4000 was released shortly as a cheaper solution to A4-5300, but its 3.0 GHz rating is pitiful with lower total benchmark score than A4-3300.

A4-3420 2.8GHz (or 3.0 GHz at safe 105) is available for $13.75 shipped from same seller ($5.20 more than A4-3300). It probably will blow out A4-7300 too easily on responsiveness, as A4-3420 can be overclocked up to 3.5 GHz max depending on motherboard quality.

DON'T be too greedy with your A4-3300 combo. This is no performance board. For safe mild overclocking, lock the speed at 105 max, at 2.63 GHz and 1680 MHz RAM. ECS never released a A75 board that is Windows 8 certified. A55F-M4 V2.0 was the last and final FM1 model by ECS.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My A4-3300 I'm using is set at 1.40 V stock voltage. What's yours?

The A4-3300 in the one my friend built, was 1.415 or thereabouts.

 

[waltchan]

The A4-3300 in the one my friend built, was 1.415 or thereabouts.

Yes, 1.415 V is more than enough to overclock it at 3.1 GHz max, but it depends on memory quality and right timing clock.

 

[waltchan]

Hey VirtualLarry, I see you bought three more of the same ECS A55F-M4 V2.0 boards today, plus three of A4-3420 2.8GHz this time. Nice... I'm in no hurry to buy A4-3420 yet, it will eventually depreciate down to $8 next year. But $13.75 price is still far cheaper than A4-5300 FM2, plus A4-3420 is the fastest and newest FM1 dual-core.

What six ECS boards you plan to use for? For me, I hide three NIBs away in my basement chest, waiting for my future kids to use it, and then all the FM1 APUs depreciated down to $5 or less, including most quad-cores.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hey VirtualLarry, I see you bought three more of the same ECS A55F-M4 V2.0 boards today, plus three of A4-3420 2.8GHz this time. Nice... I'm in no hurry to buy A4-3420 yet, it will eventually depreciate down to $8 next year. But $13.75 price is still far cheaper than A4-5300 FM2, plus A4-3420 is the fastest and newest FM1 dual-core.

What six ECS boards you plan to use for?

Well, I didn't want to wait around for a whole year for them to drop in price. Plus, there's no telling if they will be available "new" in a year. They might be only available in single qtys used from individuals.

So yes, I did buy three more of those mobos, and three of the A4-3420 APUs. I hope that I can run them at 105 bus speed, for nearly 3Ghz. Because it seems like that's all that those ECS A55 boards will do reliably.

I don't have any specific use for them. But comparing the FM1 A4-3300 in Win7 64-bit (with 8GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel RAM), to an A4-6300 FM2 in Linux, with a similar RAM setup, the FM1 seemed a little snappier? Maybe it's just the lack of good video drivers in Linux? Or maybe the module concept, and Bulldozer and derivatives, just suck? Either way, cheap fun, I guess. (If I had a business customer, I would probably direct them to a Haswell Celeron G1820, picked up a few of those and mobos recently too.)

Edit: Could build some "donation PCs" with them too. I picked up some 160GB "refurb" (zero POH) WD HDDs a while back for $15 ea. I could use those as boot drives. I think that I have some 80GB HDDs too, somewhere, that tested good. Could build a really cheap rig for donation use with those FM1 and some cheap boot drives. Although, I would prefer to put 8GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD in them. (That's like $30 + $40 right there though.)

 

[waltchan]

I don't have any specific use for them. But comparing the FM1 A4-3300 in Win7 64-bit (with 8GB DDR3-1600 dual-channel RAM), to an A4-6300 FM2 in Linux, with a similar RAM setup, the FM1 seemed a little snappier? Maybe it's just the lack of good video drivers in Linux? Or maybe the module concept, and Bulldozer and derivatives, just suck? Either way, cheap fun, I guess. (If I had a business customer, I would probably direct them to a Haswell Celeron G1820, picked up a few of those and mobos recently too.)

Edit: Could build some "donation PCs" with them too. I picked up some 160GB "refurb" (zero POH) WD HDDs a while back for $15 ea. I could use those as boot drives. I think that I have some 80GB HDDs too, somewhere, that tested good. Could build a really cheap rig for donation use with those FM1 and some cheap boot drives. Although, I would prefer to put 8GB of RAM and a 120GB SSD in them. (That's like $30 + $40 right there though.)

Installing this board with only Windows 7 is a waste I think, you may as well save an additional $5 and buy V1.0 or refurb A75 instead for the same price without secure boot mode (only UEFI).

This V2.0 board works best for Windows 10 only, and it only needs 4GB of RAM as Windows 10 uses less RAM than Windows 7. I wouldn't even bother putting in 8GB for A55 chipset, looks inappropriate, save it for A75 instead. I will try putting in 2GB RAM someday with solid-state, and shrink GPU memory from 512MB stock to 64MB, and see how it goes. 2GBs are dirt-cheap, only $7 shipped on eBay.

Based on A4-3300's $8 APU price, only 2GB RAM is deserved. If I want 4GB RAM, I use A4-3420 instead, or A6-3600 quad-core when it depreciates down to $15 or less. E1-2100 ITX only gets 2GB RAM by me, while J1800 ITX gets 4GB RAM. That's my rule for building. Lots of opportunity here...probably more exciting than LGA775 right now.

Try installing Windows 10 someday, and see for yourself.

 

[VirtualLarry]

4x4GB DDR3-1600 kit "for AMD only" for $36.10 shipped from China.

They said it was only for AM3 or AM3+, but I'm going to try it with FM1, and maybe FM2.

That's ~$9 for 4GB of DDR3. I wouldn't stick anyone with only 2GB of RAM intentionally. Even with an SSD. Exception for the resale of Atom-based laptops or tablets that come with only 2GB soldered.

Edit: mp3superstore has case + PSU for like $36 (iMicro brand), and case + PSU + keyboard + mouse + USB-powered speakers (they're crap) for $50.

Also, antonline had Kingston V300 120GB MLC SSDs for like $35 or so, on sale. Almost sold out.

 

[Vortex6700]

4x4GB DDR3-1600 kit "for AMD only" for $36.10 shipped from China.

They said it was only for AM3 or AM3+, but I'm going to try it with FM1, and maybe FM2.

That's ~$9 for 4GB of DDR3. I wouldn't stick anyone with only 2GB of RAM intentionally. Even with an SSD. Exception for the resale of Atom-based laptops or tablets that come with only 2GB soldered.

I have one of these same builds and that "for amd" kit wouldn't post. I had to manually change ram timings on another stick and then boot off the chinese one. If I cleared cmos, it wouldn't post.

Since it sounds like you already got it, I'll take a look and let you know the timings I have.

 

[waltchan]

That's ~$9 for 4GB of DDR3. I wouldn't stick anyone with only 2GB of RAM intentionally. Even with an SSD. Exception for the resale of Atom-based laptops or tablets that come with only 2GB soldered.

That's a good deal. AMD's high-density RAMs cost less than Intel's low-density RAMs. I only buy low-density RAMs, want to use for both AMD and Intel, hence the higher-price I paid.

 

[VirtualLarry]

After I bought 3x Kingston HyperX Fury Red 8GB DDR3-1866 DIMMs for $29.99 ea, thinking I could use them for my A4-3420 rigs, then I started looking at cheaper (Chinese) DIMMs, and then I came upon some 4GB "AMD only" ones for $11.20, so I looked at their store, and they had a 4x4GB DDR3-1600 "AMD only" kit for $36.10, which I thought was a good deal, so I bought one, and then a bit later reading this thread, I realized I had a 4x2GB kit of GSkill I had bought off of ebay last month, and forgot about it, because they were only 2GB DIMMs. But they would be perfect for the ECS A55 boards, if I were to put 2GB in them.

 

[Soulkeeper]

Waltchan, you said you got your A4-3300 up to 3.1Ghz on this ECS A55 board.

HOW???

I tried setting CPU overclock to Enabled, changed the bus freq from 100 to 105, it booted Win7 64-bit, I ended up with 2.625-2.630Ghz.

So I tried 115, and had to clear CMOS, couldn't even boot BIOS.

Tried 110, couldn't boot Win7.

Tried 107, couldn't boot Win7.

So what's the secret?

I tried enabling the IGD OC feature, and then changing the freq from 600 to 400 (attempt to underclock. Likewise, I tried setting the memory freq. to Manual, and set it to 667. No go.)

Edit: Btw, is there any issue OCing when using the HDMI-out on the mobo? I seem to recall some issues OCing certain platforms while using the HDMI output wouldn't work, you had to use the VGA-out. I forgot which platform though, maybe AM1? Is FM1 the same way?

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ECS/A75F-A/12.html

https://hardforum.com/threads/another-overclocking-breakthrogh-ecs-a75f-a-motherbaord.1646376/

The second link mentions setting SATA mode to IDE. I'll try that.

Edit: I got it to boot one time at 115, but now I can't. Also, restarting and attempting to enter the BIOS again was fruitless. I had to power-off at the back of the PSU, and then try to boot again. Had to Clear CMOS several times when attempting 115, because it wouldn't even boot to BIOS. Unsure if that was an HDMI issue, or what.

I'm through trying to OC this machine, FM1 is garbage for OCing.

The hudson/Lynx platform is horrible for overclocking bclk.
It'll change gpu, nb, mem, etc. speed behind the scene.

I used these dividers as key, although each motherboard varies a bit (some seem to tie nb to mem divider ie: 9.33 will get you 5.0):
http://sterlingdesktops.com/f1a75-v/divs.txt
36 is the internal divider they use somehow.
The first block of numbers is NB/GPU.
Some of the boards will quietly round down to the nearest div if you have MHz as input.
133MHz bclk required digital (non vga), and an addon card for sata for me.

It's common for the MHz displayed in the bios to not be what is actually set once you get off 100 bclk

 

[Soulkeeper]

Also worth noting, 133 bclk was needed for 2133 mem
Set the mem at 1600 in the bios and up the bclk to 133 for that.

Underclock the GPU/NB options to the lowest possible during any testing.
Be prepared to overvolt them as well.

 

[Vortex6700]

Memory Timings for 4gb "AMD only" shady Chinese ram: 11 & 24's

 

[waltchan]

Well, I didn't want to wait around for a whole year for them to drop in price. Plus, there's no telling if they will be available "new" in a year. They might be only available in single qtys used from individuals.

So yes, I did buy three more of those mobos, and three of the A4-3420 APUs. I hope that I can run them at 105 bus speed, for nearly 3Ghz. Because it seems like that's all that those ECS A55 boards will do reliably.

Sales on this ECS/A4-3300 combo deal is upticking a little, and I add this sales-pitch in SlickDeals forum.

"This board is an investment a little and will pay you back happily. Come back five years later, all the FM1 quad-cores depreciate down to $5 price on eBay, while FM2 quad-cores (actually dual-core with four-threads) will struggle at $40 price.

Since everybody wants a $5 quad-core processor, expect all the FM1 boards APPRECIATE in value to $60 easily, including this ECS. You have nothing to lose with this $27.99 ECS board today. Processors depreciate in price while board prices go up after few years is common after end of socket life."

 

[VirtualLarry]

expect all the FM1 boards APPRECIATE in value to $60 easily, including this ECS. You have nothing to lose with this $27.99 ECS board today. Processors depreciate in price while board prices go up after few years is common after end of socket life."

Some days, I can't tell if you're trolling, or just delusional. Or Tweakboy.

FM1 boards were cheap, and not in high demand, even when FM1 was a current socket. Now that it's thoroughly obsolete, I doubt that prices on boards will rebound much, if at all.

Don't forget, the FM1 iGPUs in the APUs are "unsupported". So that means, not much demand. I still run Win7, and there were Win7 drivers for them, so that's OK with me.

Edit: The only reason some mobos appreciated in value, was because of increased demand, due to availability of cheap SERVER CHIPS, that would drop into that socket. (Speaking of X58 and Socket 2011 / X79 board.) There are no server chips for FM1, that I know of. And they overclock like crap.

 

[waltchan]

Some days, I can't tell if you're trolling, or just delusional. Or Tweakboy.

FM1 boards were cheap, and not in high demand, even when FM1 was a current socket. Now that it's thoroughly obsolete, I doubt that prices on boards will rebound much, if at all.

Not trolling, but having a blast time here on FM1's new depreciated price. Never say never, and I can tell you this board WON'T sell for $27.99 new again 5 years later when $5 quad-core APUs come out. I'm currently selling a NIB MSI G41MT-P33 combo LGA775 for $120 shipped on eBay right now, and I DID sell one a few months ago.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Waltchan, did you see this Dell yet?

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Dell-Blac...25663551323514481556&affillinktype=10&veh=aff