Review of GA-F2A85X-UP4 Socket FM2 board with AMD A10-5800K APU
Bluetooth 21 Oct 2012

A few weeks ago, AMD launches it’s newest A85X chipset and FM2 socket processors. The socket FM2 processors are improved versions of the FM1 processors, especially in the graphics and data encoding function but they do not share the same socket type.

The GA-F2A85X-UP4 is one of the new boards that Gigabyte release to support these new processors.

Featuring the AMD A85X chipset, it supports native USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps. The board itself supports 4 DIMM memory slots with a total of 64GB of memory. It supports up to an official DDR3-1866 but can be overclocked up to DDR3-2400+. It also supporst the AMD memory profile (AMP) standard.

As for graphics, the integrated graphics within the APU, in our A10-5800K is a Radeon 6770D class graphics running at 800MHz. The graphics output can be from the D-SUB, DVI-D (up to 2560×1600), HDMI (up to 1920×1200) or DisplayPort (up to 2560×1600). The board also support Virtu MVP to boost graphics performance with any NVIDIA or AMD card on board together with the APU integrated graphics.

Alternatively external graphics card can be used. It has 3 full length PCIe slots that operates in PCIe x16, PCIe x8 (dual cards) and another PCIe slot at PCIe x4. There are 3 PCIe x1 and 1 PCI slot. The graphics card can run in CrossFire configuration or AMD dual graphics (selected cards in tandem with the integrated graphics in APU).

There are plenty of USB and SATA ports on board. There are 4 USB 3.0/2.0 (2 at back panel and 2 others thru internal USB header). Another 10 USB 2.0/1.1 can be supported (2 ports on the back panel and 8 ports thru USB headers). In addition, Gigabyte supports another 2 more USB 3.0/2.0 ports with the Etron EJ168 chipset.

In terms of features, the specific ones for Gigabyte boards are quite standard. They are @BIOS, Q-Flash, EasyTune, DualBIOS, Auto green, On/Off charge, 3D UEFI BIOS, 3TB+ Unlock etc.

The GIGABYTE motherboard employ award winning GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 technology that includes high current capable components for the CPU power zone including IR3550 PowIRstage® ICs from International Rectifier, 2X Copper PCB and high current Ferrite Core Chokes rated up to 60A, which together are able to deliver cooler temperatures than traditional motherboards. Featured on a range of new motherboards based the AMD A85X Chipset, GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ 5 technology is the next evolution in quality motherboard design.

In the next few pages, we will go through the details and benchmark it against the BIOSTAR FM2 board and compare it with A8-3850 (FM1) and Intel Core i5-3570K.

MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 is MSI’s FM2 board with some great overclocking potential. From the usual vast range of options in BIOS. It also has voltage probes for you to measure the voltages in real time using probes.

In addition, it comes with OC Genie II which allows you one press overclocking. Just press it before powering up and it will auto overclock it to a safe overclocking level to boost your system performance within stable limits for daily usage.

In our test, MSI is a bit conversative as it clocks up the A10-5800K to 39 x 105MHz giving it a boost to the system to 4GHz. This is surprising because the turbo speed is 4.2GHz. No matter what, the overclocked speed is within the Turbo speed which should give it a boost without compromising stability.

The new FM2 boards have started to surface together with processors in retail stores. We managed to get hold of a the processor A10-5800K and paired it up with the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 to do a quick overclocking test.

The processor is rated 3.8GHz turbo at 4.2GHz. As the multiplier is unlocked, we push it up to 44x. CPU CLK is marginally increased to 103MHz. The internal Radeon 6770D GPU Clk is also increased from 800MHz to 1000MHz. Memory is set to used XMP Profile #2 which later is somewhat lowered to CAS 12-13-12-31.

The system seems to have max. out at 4.5GHz with air cooling. It might be able to go higher if water cooling is used.

Vcore is set to 1.5v and VDimm at 1.65v. The rest of the voltages can be seen on the screen shot below :

BIOSTAR HiFi A85X Socket FM2 Trinity motherboard

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Review of BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X socket FM2 motherboard
28 Sept 2012

In a few days time, AMD will introduce their next generation of graphics integrated processor or APU. The new APU uses a different socket type FM2 from the previous generation Socket FM1. The new series of processors, also has an improved performance especially in the area of multimedia encoding compared to the earlier generation.

In conjunction with the new generation of AMD processors, BIOSTAR releases a A85 chipset motherboard. This motherboard belongs to the HiFi Series and is known as BIOSTAR HiFi A85X.

The mothboard HiFi A85X supports the newest FM2 socket processors A4, A6, A8 and A10 + Athlon II X4 processors with a maximum TDP of 100W. It has 4 DIMM slots which operates in Dual channel mode and supports up to 64GB of memory.

The board also caters for those who wants maximum graphics performance. It has 3 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots that can work in X16+x8+x4 in CrossFireX mode. There is also 3 PCIe 2.0 and 1 PCI slot.

Native support of SATA3 or SATA 6Gbps supporting 7 SATA 6Gbps + 1 eSATA in RAID 0,1,5,10 modes. There is also native support for USB 3.0. There are two USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 3.0 header, 4 USB 2.0 ports and 3 USB 2.0 header on board.

Depending on the APU used, it supports dual graphics technology and CrossFire with selected models of graphcis card (see manual). Alternatively, you can use Virtu MVP to boost performance with Virtu’s Hyperformance and Vsync feature.

The board is also Windows 8 compatible and comes with software like BIO-Remote2, Rapid Switch2, Debug3, BIOSFLasher, Charger booster, BIOS online Update etc to complement the UEFI BIOS.

The BIOSTAR HiFi A85X stands out from it’s competitors as it emphasis on good quality audio. The HiFi series of motherboard provides autio compoenents with independent power design to reduce electronic noise. In addition, it uses noise block multi layer PCB to isolate audio signals from digital sources. The board uses High quality ESD and a Hi-Fi AMP which can drive headphones with over 100dB loads and wide bandwidth of frequencies. There is also Hi-Fi Resistor and Hi-Fi cap which helps in the audio.

To complement the hardware, it has software that can do multi channel calibration (MCC). Audio performance is automatically calibrated to the dimensions of your room. There is another software known as Smart Ear which you can optimize your headphone experience. The board supports THX TruStudio Pro.

So much about the features, how will it perform against the Socket FM1 and Intel equivalent ? We will use the A10-5800K APU to test it against the A8-3850 (FM1) and INtel Core i5-3570K.

Virtu MVP isn’t a new player on motherboards. We first witness it’s performance gains on the Intel Z77 platform.

So, how well will it perform under the AMD platform you might ask. Basically virtu mvp works the same way. You can enable Virtu Hyperformance or Hyperformace + Vsync. This will give it a performance boost.

We witness a run of virtual mvp and found the results to be quite decent. In fact, we compared the results the our own Intel Z77 + Core i5 3570K + Radeon HD 7970 results, the AMD platform is just slightly behind it.

In 3DMark11 (X – 1920×1080), the benchmark was boosted by around 35%. In comparison to the Intel platform, it gave a 39% boost. The slightly better result could be due to Intel’s PCIe 3.0 as AMD is still running in PCIe 2.0 mode.

Below are benchmark results on the Intel Z77 platform for reference.

Normal HD 7970
X2760

With HD 7970+VSync+Hyperperfomrance turned on
X3836

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According to a news article on techworld australia, it is said that the upcoming Advanced Micro Devices’ latest A-series quad-core desktop processors runs at up to 4.2GHz, but can be overclocked to 6.5GHz with liquid nitrogen cooling, the company said.

The two unlocked processors, which we have already listed as A10-5800K and the A8-5600K
are faster and cheaper than competitive Intel chips, said AMD desktop products manager Adam Kozak during a conference call to discuss the new chips.

Compared to the equivalent Intel, the AMD is in the US$100 to $150 price range, Kozak said. Intel’s unlockable processors start at $216, according to a Sept. 2 price list.

The chips are based on the Piledriver microarchitecture, which is also used in the latest laptop processors code-named Trinity released by AMD starting in the middle of this year. AMD’s internal benchmarks revealed the new chips provide 25 percent to 37 percent overall faster system performance than the older desktop chips code-named Llano, which were released last year.

The unlocked chip A10-5800K has 4MB Cache rated 100W and has a max. clock speed turbo at 4.2GHz. The internal graphics clock is rated at 800MHz and has 384 cores. The A8-5600K has a maximum clock speed of 3.9GHz and 256 graphics cores with 760MHz GPU clock speed.

AMD did not reveal actual pricing but it should be in the range of USD 120 in units of 1000. The processor will be available from Oct 2 2012.

Source

BIOSTAR Officially Launches Latest AMD “Trinity” Based Hi-Fi Motherboard with Exclusive Integrated BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Technology

September 19, 2012, Taipei, Taiwan – BIOSTAR, a manufacturer of motherboards, VGA cards, industrial computer systems and other peripherals, has officially launched their latest edition to their high-end motherboard lineup, the Hi-Fi A85X. This newest ATX form factor motherboard supports all AMD Socket FM2 CPUs and offers native support for SuperSpeed USB 3.0 and dual-channel memory up to DDR3 – 2400 in over-clocking mode. Socket FM2 is a CPU socket used by AMD’s upcoming Trinity Fusion APU’s which will also utilize AMD’s new A85X chipset. The Hi-Fi A85X has also received the official Windows 8 hardware certification from Microsoft.
One feature set that sets the BIOSTAR Hi-Fi A85X above and beyond typical motherboards is the integrated BIOSTAR Hi-Fi technology called “Puro Hi-Fi Technology”. Marketing Manager Eric Tung gets excited when given a chance to explain the value proposition with these motherboards. “It’s pretty cool how we have put a unique power delivery system just for the audio aficionados out there, like me” explained Eric. “With our professional quality sound and video capabilities on this board, a user can set up a full PC based home theater system with full THX support and true 7.1 surround sound…I mean the real thing, this isn’t simulated. You have to hear it to believe it”, he enthused.

Targeting audiophiles, HTPC enthusiasts and high-end gamers alike, Puro Hi-Fi sports an integrated independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier. The technology utilizes audio components with an independent power design for a significant reduction in electronic noise producing superb sound quality. The unique noise-blocking multi-layer PCB layout is conducive for an exceptionally clean signal. That design feature, together with a sampling rate of 192kHz/24-bit, delivers a high quality audio through an analog connection to your home theater system, multi-channel speakers or high-end headphones allowing you to enjoy true high-definition 7.1-channel surround sound.

Part of the Puro Hi-Fi design includes high-quality “Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors” for each individual audio channel circuit delivering low noise, low distortion, and a wide bandwidth to achieve the highest sound resolution and sound expansion for the most realistic sound effects. Furthermore, the resistors used by the system are of the metal-oxide film type with metal oxides such as tin. The electric characteristics are that of greater stability and reliability than regular metal film resistors when operating in an extremely broad working temperature range. These special components are typically used in applications with high endurance audio demands.

With BIOSTAR’s implementation of four unique technologies, Puro Hi-Fi, THX, Lucid MVP and SmartSpeedLAN, the brand new Hi-Fi series of motherboards increases sound, network and graphics performance dramatically. For a powerful gaming masterpiece with even a limited budget, this new Hi-Fi series motherboard is the best choice and will become a new favorite among gamers and movie watchers.

In less than 2 weeks time, AMD is back with it’s newer incarnation of APUs. It will launch it’s new series of Trinity APU for the desktop market on October 1.

The Trinity APU adopts a 32nm process from Globalfoundries. It has an integrated graphics of Radeon HD 7000.

The models of APUs to be launched are A10-5800K, A10-5700, A8-5600K, A8-5500, Athlon X4 750K/740, A6-5400K and A4-5300 together with the new A55, A75 and A85X.