Advanced on-board graphics put AMD’s Llano-based APU far ahead of Intel’s Sandy Bridge architecture, at least when it comes to 3D apps. But you’ll still need a new motherboard to support the Socket FM1 platform. Today we test six affordable contenders.

Never before has the term “adequate” sounded so good.

Following years of what we were expected to recognize as groundbreaking advances in integrated graphics (which were almost always completely insufficient for gaming, mind you), the Llano APU’s Radeon HD 6500-series graphics processors are the first to actually support a minimum level of playability across many popular 3D titles. While we discovered that fast DDR3 memory plays a role in improving graphics performance, this is incidentally what we were led to expect from Intel's HD Graphics 3000, but never actually saw.

Going head-to-head against Intel’s low-cost second-gen Core i3 lineup, AMD's solution doesn't just have a better graphics processor. Its accompanying A75 chipset also features integrated USB 3.0, potentially cutting motherboard cost. The APU also sports four additional PCIe 2.0 lanes, and AMD wouldn’t want us to forget its often-forgettable support for Dual Graphics.

These capabilities join up to enable a low-cost, low-energy platform with far better 3D performance than the competition offers. If that's the combination you're looking for, the hardest decision is going to be picking the right motherboard. And that's where we step in to help. Our first A75-based round-up consists of six contenders from as many manufacturers.