Zotac A75-ITX WiFi Review

Performance Analysis

Putting the A75-ITX WiFi through our test suite proved simple, and for such a small board, its performance was impressive. It was slightly slower than other A75 boards we’ve seen, such as the Gigabyte A75M-UD2H , but only by around 30 points in our benchmark suite. We think this is an acceptable discrepancy given the benefits of using such a small board.

Gaming performance was also a little poorer than the larger FM1 boards we’ve seen. The minimum frame rate in Left 4 Dead 2 at 1,680 x 1,050 was 34fps – 3fps slower than the Sapphire Pure Platinum and 6fps behind the cheaper Gigabyte board.


However, dipping into the EFI to see if we could tease any extra performance out of the A75-ITX WiFi proved a fruitless activity, as the board lacks any way to adjust the Reference Clock. This meant that we couldn’t raise the speed of the CPU, GPU or memory. The EFI provided the option to adjust the CPU multiplier but failed to apply any value we set – we couldn’t budge
the CPU multiplier from 29x. This rendered the board unable to overclock the APU, which is disappointing, but not surprising considering the size and power limitations of the mini-ITX form factor.

Conclusion
The A75-ITX WiFi is a great technical achievement, as the board is almost as fully featured as its full-sized ATX cousins, and we tip our collective hat to Zotac for cramming so much kit onto such a tiny board. Unfortunately, although a tiny integrated FM1 system is a compelling thought, the board is a niche product.

The main reason for this is the board’s price; at £108.35, you’re paying a premium for a small form factor board that doesn’t overclock. As a result, only those who specifically require a mini-ITX A75 board should consider the A75-ITX WiFi as a viable option.