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Well, the A75 motherboards have had their 20 minutes of fame. ASRock is moving on the AMD A55 Hudson FCH for their newest lineup of great motherboards for the FM1 Fusion socket.

In microATX size, we have the ASRock A55M-HVS, which is all business. The A55M-HVS has two RAM slots that support up to 2400 MHz memory (overclocked), one x16 PCIe, one x1 PCIe, and one legacy PCI slot. As all the options here are provided by the AMD Hudson-D2 FCH, the HVS also has 6 SATA3 (6 Gb/s), 1 VGA connection, and 1 HDMI output. The VIA VT1705 Audio Codec supports up to 5.1 THX TruStudio sound.

The next level up is the ATX ASRock A55iCafe. This motherboard is a true big brother to the A55M-HVS by simply beefing up most of the options, since it has more real estate. The iCafe has 4 RAM slots, one x16 PCIe, two x1 PCIe, and two legecy PCI slots. It trades the HDMI output for a DVI-D and swaps the VIA audio codec for a Realtek ALC662 (still supporting 5.1 THX TruStudio).

The leader of the pack in the A55 lineup is the ASRock A55 Pro3, which expands on the features provided by the Hudson-D2 FCH. Like the HVS, the Pro3 has one HDMI 1.4a and one VGA port. It has three legacy PCI slots, two x16 PCIe slots (one at x16 speed and the other at x4 speed), and one x1 PCIe slot. The audio is provided by the Realtek ALC892 Codec with 7.1 THX TruStudio sound. Going beyond the Hudson FCH, the ASRock Pro3 has two USB 3.0 ports provided by an Etron EJ168A.

All of these A55 offerings have ASRock staple features such as XFast USB, XFast LAN Technologies, graphical UEFI, On/Off Play, CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 Trial, and ASRock MAGIX Multimedia Suite. They also support the latest specs, such as energy efficient ethernet 802.3az, DirectX 11, CrossFireX, and up to 512 MB of shared memory for the on-die GPUs included with AMD APUs. This is a strong lineup of motherboards. I do find it strange ASRock states all three of these use a Hudson-D2 FCH, which would mean all the SATA ports should be listed as SATA3 (6 Gb/s); this means it is either a Hudson-D1 or the ports are all incorrect in the specs.

For more details about these motherboards, click on the links below:

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TAIPEI, Taiwan, August 23, 2011 – AMD’s release of APU processor is a huge revolution. The new Llano architectures are a shot in the arm for integrated graphics, delivering the most powerful discrete-level graphics performance in mainstream market. Following the great launch of ASRock A75 mobo platform, ASRock is delighted to introduce its fantastic APU Motherboard Series based on the AMD A55 chipset. Supporting AMD Fusion A-Series APU, Socket FM1, DirectX® 11 technology and a wide range of ASRock signature functions, ASRock brand new A55 APU Motherboard Series will surely bring the perfect components and combos to build up the ultimate rig!

Commenting on the new release, James Lee, V.P of ASRock Sales and Marketing, is with confidence. “ASRock A55 APU Motherboard Series has more to offer than just the combined powers of integrated graphics processor, as ASRock motherboards are best known for its perfect balance between price and performance. If users are looking for a value mobo supporting AMD’s full-power 32nm Llano processor, then ASRock A55 platform is unambiguously the best choice!” He stated.

A55 Pro3, the vanguard of the latest A55 APU Motherboard Series. The innovative AMD Radeon™ Dual Graphics Technology combines the powers of APU and discrete GPU, providing significant performance boost and immersive gaming experience. The most charming feature of A55 Pro3 is obviously the perfect performance of APU graphics. Paired with A55 Hudson-D2 chipset and APU processor, the board brings advanced visual excitements in the field of integrated graphics. It delivers the most powerful APU graphics ever.

Compared with other A55 motherboard, the ASRock A55 series MB provides up to 50.82% performance boost in 3DMark Vantage (performance mode) test. In terms of Onboard APU Graphics and Dual Graphics Performance items, ASRock A55 Pro3 shows its distinctive test result.

Another highlight here is the DRAM support. ASRock A55 platform is the world’s fastest motherboard coming with DDR3 2400+ support!

Users will get a whole new socket in the shape of the FM1 which is compatible of AMD’s 32nm transistor Llano APU. The APU processor integrates AMD Radeon HD 65XX/64XX and DirectX®11 graphics technology, delivering the optimized visual enjoyment to users. Steady Video™ leverages the processing power of the GPU in order to remove shakiness from the home/online video.

Considering high-speed SATA3 and USB 3.0 is a must, ASRock A55 Pro3 provides 2 SATA3 and 2 USB 3.0 ports to satisfy users’ needs. Other features include 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots cater for Quad CrossFireX and CrossFireX settings, dual-VGA outputs (D-Sub and HDMI) and 7.1CH HD Audio with THX TruStudio™ support.

Three ASRock A55 motherboards are available at launch – A55 Pro3, A55iCafe and A55M-HVS, two ATX and one Micro ATX models. In addition to the AMD’s exciting functions, there’s a couple of extra goodies thrown in too. To name a few, ASRock A55 platform comes with graphical UEFI, XFast LAN, XFast USB, On/Off Play, CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5 (trial) and MAGIX Multimedia suite to facilitate computing environment. ASRock A55 Motherboard Series have superior software tools and better features on other A55 motherboards you’ve seen!

As the pioneer in motherboard industry, ASRock pays special attention to detail in order to provide consumers premium quality and feature-rich motherboards. We always give you more than you expected!

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