Sapphire Works on Two Value Motherboards

Sapphire is working on two new entry-level motherboards for AMD FM1 and Intel LGA1155 platforms. The FM1 board, called the Pure White A55, is a budget micro-ATX board based on the AMD A55 FCH; while the LGA1155 board is the Pure Platinum H61P, an ATX board based on the Intel H61 chipset. The Pure White A55 uses a simple 5+1 phase VRM to power the AMD A-Series APU or Athlon II FM1 CPU. The FM1 socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3 memory. The "Memory Free" feature stabilizes memory clock speeds, voltages, and timings if wrong settings make the system fail POST, at the push of a button.

Expansion slots of the Pure White A55 include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, two PCIe 2.0 x1, and a legacy PCI. All six SATA 3 Gb/s ports of the A55 FCH are assigned as internal ports. Display outputs include HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub. Other connectivity features include 6-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The board uses redundant BIOS on separate ROM chips, that protect it against bad BIOS updates. The Pure Platinum H61P uses a 6 phase VRM to power the LGA1155 processor. The socket is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory.

Expansion slots on the Pure Platinum H61P include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16, two PCIe x1, and three legacy PCI slots. Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s (wired to an ASMedia controller since H61 PCH doesn't feature SATA 6 Gb/s), and four SATA 3 Gb/s from the PCH. Other connectivity includes 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Display options include HDMI, DVI, and D-Sub. Pricing or availability details are not known.