AMD brought their newest Piledriver architecture to their APU chips first with the release of Trinity. We have already looked at the Trinity chips themselves, so lets take a better look at the motherboards designed to support them. Today, our AMD A10-5800K APU will be paired with three great FM2 socket motherboards with three leading manufacturers and we’ve selected the MSi FM2-A85XA-G65, GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4, and ASUS F2A85-V PRO. May the best board win!
Shared Key Features and Specifications
There are a number of features these three motherboards share being based on the new AMD A85X FCH (Fusion Controller Hub) and Virgo Platform. The difference between the new A85X and the A75 from the FM1 socket is an updated I/O control. The A85X adds two additional 6 Gb/s SATA connectors (bring this up to 8 total) and support for RAID 5. This is great for those looking to use an AMD APU system as a network storage hub, media center, or require a lot of drives.
As there is no other changes to speak of with the A85X, all FM2 socket motherboards carry over all the features from the previous generation. This includes support for up to 4 USB 3.0 connections, 10 USB 2.0, Gigabyte Ethernet, 4 channel audio support (up to 7.1 surround sound), and HDCP video output via the AMD APU on-die graphics. New with Virgo is support for CrossfireX in addition to AMD Dual Graphics.
There is also a handful of physical similarities as all three boards on the rear I/O such as Realtek ALC892, 1 x DisplayPort, 1 x VGA, 1 DVI-D, and 1 x HDMI output. This ensures you have full support without addition hardware beyond the AMD APU for your sound and video. Each of these boards also has powered USB port to help recharge USB devices faster than standard USB ports and are Windows 8 ready. Lets start with a overview of each motherboard.
ASUS F2A85-V PRO
The final member of this round up is the ASUS F2A85-V PRO. If you are a big fan of software features for your FM2 system, then this is the board for you. The F2A85-V PRO has everything from a robust Windows-based control system to several physical, dedicated buttons for instant control.
Going beyond the EPU and TPU switch (which allows you to switch power/performance modes), the board also has a MemOK!, BIOS Flashback, and DirectKey. The DirectKey button allows you to enter the BIOS from standby without needing to wait to press delete. It seems trivial, but it’s great for those who need access to the BIOS repeatedly.
The USB BIOS Flashback is located just to the right of the DirectKey below the SATA ports labeled BIOS_FLBK. This allows you to take a USB thumb drive and update the BIOS with the press of a single button. There is no need to enter the BIOS or start your OS though these options are also available. You can even update the F2A85-V PRO’s BIOS prior installing the CPU or other components making this the most enthusiast friendly board of the round up.
The ASUS is also the only board with a secondary USB 3.0 controller, which adds two additional USB 3.0 ports to the rear I/O. These ports should not be used for your mouse or keyboard as they do not respond during installation or in BIOS when connected to them. But they will provide the data transfer speeds that USB 3.0 is known for once you are booted.
Moving on to the UEFI BIOS and all the great software ASUS included, the ASUS F2A85-V PRO is the most well refined. It is the only BIOS among these boards to include help descriptions for every single option. In fact, this is something that reviewers have been asking board manufacturers to do for quite some time and it exists on this board. The BIOS and ASUS AI Suite II is identical to the ASUS F1 A75-V EVO I reviewed previously. The BIOS has nothing new to offer, but the AI Suite does come with some new items specific to this platform.
The ASUS AI Suite, if you are not familiar with it, is a complete collection of software for controlling your motherboard’s various feature. This time around the ASUS F2A85-V PRO brings some additions to the previous features such as hardware monitoring, voltage controls, overclocking features, and power/performance switching. The F2A85-V PRO introduces Network iControl and Remote GO! to the menu options.
The Network iControl allows you to quickly and easily manage network traffic at an individual program level. This includes access time, priority, restrictions, and/or bandwidth limitation which is all presented well. Remote GO! is a HTPC file sharing system that allows file sharing between your PC, smart phone, and/or DLNA device. You can also control your PC via your smartphone. We intended to test this software and include some information about it, but it did not support Win7 phones at the time of this review.
The ASUS AI Suite II is good software overall and these new features help to diversify its usefulness. I also love the fact I can pick and chose which pieces are included during the install. My issue here is the lack of the same refinement as the ASUS UEFI BIOS. Certain parts of the software are badly or not explained. The presentation for the AI Suite is just not there yet as features keep getting added as a new tab or button.
The ASUS F2A85-V PRO comes in with the highest MSRP of $139.99, but may be justified based on what it brings to the table in terms of features. The Futurelooks Price Engine finds this board available for $136.35 here which is not much lower than the MSRP unfortunately.
Lets move onto the next motherboard in the round up, the GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4.
GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4
The GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 goes against the normal baby blue color scheme for many GIGABYTE products with a black and gray scheme which I personally enjoy. In addition to features AMD brings to the table, GIGABYTE adds another layer with their featured addition of Lucid Virtu MVP, AMD AMP! support, INTEL XMP profile support, and a great looking UEFI BIOS.
The F2A85X-UP4 has the best BIOS layout of the trio here. Everything is clear, well-organized, and designed so that almost any user can understand it. The default EZ Mode allows one to set one of the three board energy profiles to focus on energy efficiency, high performance, or a balance of the two. You can also set the boot priority with a single click. Switching to Advanced Mode has a layout much like the tradition BIOS with mouse support.
All the GIGABYTE features are designed to provide options and compatibility. Within the well designed UEFI BIOS you will find this board can access Intel XMP profiles to ensure your RAM runs at its best settings. Alternatively, you can enable the AMD AMP! to ensure your RAM runs at the best timing and speeds for your platform. This will improve your system’s responsiveness and provide minor gains to integrated graphical performance.
Once you are within your OS you will find the same great utilities GIGABYTE offers with all their motherboards such as EasyTune 6. The featured piece is the Lucid Virtu MVP which allows you to dynamically control which graphics solution your system uses for a given program. This means you can use the on-die GPU for your day-to-day tasks to save power and turn on your discrete graphics card only when 3D gaming. Combined with AMD ZeroCore technology, this can be a huge savings in power use.
The Lucid Virtu MVP also allows you to access Lucid Logix dynamic Vsync technology and Hyper Performance mode. I did not get a chance to test these features in this round-up as we wanted to focus on internal GPU performance only. This is the gravy on top for all the graphical options available on this board. While not my favorite feature, it is the most versatile.
GIGABYTE is offering the FM2 UP4 with an MSRP of $129.99. You can once again use our Futurelooks Price Engine to find this board as low as $110.81 here. This lands this board firmly in the middle of the three boards in this round up.
MSi FM2-A85XA-G65
The MSI FM2 G65 has four DIMM slots for support of up to 64 GB of RAM at up to 2400 MHz speed. There are eight SATA connectors, USB 3.0 header, two PCIe x16 slots. three PCIe x1 slots, 2 PCI slots, and a Realtek 8111E Ethernet controller. You will find no added controller chips to add extra connectors. This means you have 4 total USB 3.0 plugs (2 x rear I/O and 2 via onboard header) as AMD intended it.
MSI did do something unique that we love about their ClickBIOS II and that is pair it with Windows software that looks and functions just like it. It’s accessible without a reboot and makes a world of difference when you are changing features and options since they appear in the same location no matter how you access it. You quickly gain a familiarity with the BIOS during the initial Windows 7 installation and pleased to see the overclocking utility is exactly same.
There is a bit of a draw back as the MSI ClickBIOS II UEFI interface is cluttered and a bit confusing at times. It seems the system was a bit rushed and not completed on release. This was apparent as the help menu was often empty when I was looking for descriptions of options with the OC area. Some options are not visible until other options are selected and can make enabling some features more complicated than it needs to be.
Winki 3 gives you access to a simple file manager, web browser, Skype, and HDD backup. This means you can still get in touch with your friends to ask why your system is giving you a BSOD or manually replace missing boot files to fix your OS. All Winki 3 needs is a virus scanner and access to Windows diagnostic tools. This is by far my favorite unique feature of all three motherboards, but it also the only truly unique feature the FM2-A85XA-G65 has to offer.
The MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 comes in with the lowest MSRP of the group at $109.99 MSRP but you can find this board available for as low as $89.99 using the Futurelooks price engine here. It’ll be interesting to see what corners were cut to accommodate this price point.
Now that we have the player profiles in place, let’s touch on overclocking expectations, then get down to setup and testing.
Easy Overclocking
Each board is very capable, feature rich, and unrestricted when it comes to overclocking. I easily achieve stable 4.6 GHz with all three boards with ASUS getting a slight advantage thanks to well written help info in the BIOS.
The ASUS F2A85-V PRO and MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 both have mechanical methods of overclocking with the TPU toggle switch and the OC Genie II button respectively. These will switch the board and set all options to tested safe overclocks your APU is known to be stable using. On board boards this resulted in a 4.3 GHz overclock with voltage settings around 1.4 V which is a little high for only 100 MHz over the AMD Turbo Core speed.
The GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 does not have a physical overclocking button, but does have a high performance mode. The ASUS F2A85-V PRO also has this same feature and both offer one click access to this via the standard BIOS view. These modes are an interesting hybrid overclock as it keeps most of the power management options enabled, allowing you to have the best of both worlds.
The High Performance Mode increases the AMD Turbo Core speed up to 4.3 GHz and increases the voltage by 0.5 to ensure stability. The increased speed doesn’t seem to be the reason for the minimum performance improvement. It seems to steam from how the power management features are set as AMD Turbo Core is used more often and longer since the system is no longer attempting to save energy first.
The manual option is always the one you go with when you want the maximum yields. Once I disabled the low power states, AMD Cool & Quiet, and AMD Turbo Core I moved on to each boards respective overclocking sections. While all offer a number of power options, I found it best to leave most of them alone and only use the CPU voltage and loadline calibration. I was able to get my AMD A10-5800K up to 4.6 GHz stable with minimal effort. Going beyond this speed always resulted in stability issues.
Test System Setup
The test system is pretty much the same configuration from previous AMD APU testing. The system reflects what I consider a common build around the Trinity and Virgo platform with the bonus of an SSD. The SSD ensures data access speed is not limiting performance results in any way. I decided to leave out a dedicated graphics card as I believe most people who use this platform will either never have one or will add one later on as an upgrade. Plus, we’ll want to see how each board affects the performance of the APU specifically.
Hardware
- Motherboards:
- GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4GA (BIOS version F3k)
- ASUS F2A85-V PRO (BIOS version 5109)
- MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 (BIOS version 1.5)
- CPU: AMD A10-5800K 3.8 GHz (4.2 GHz Max Turbo) Socket FM2
- GPU: AMD on-die Radeon HD 7660D
- Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 2133 MHz (9-11-10-27) @ 1866 MHz (9-10-9-27)
- Power Supply: Antec 850W HCP 80+ Gold
- Case: SilverStone TJ04-EW
- SSD: Patriot Pyro SATA III MLC 60 GB (Sandforce 2281 controller)
- HDD: Western Digital WD1000DHTZ 1 TB VelociRaptor 10k RPM
- USB 2.0: Corsair Flash Voyager 16 GB
- USB 3.0: Rosewill External Enclosure + Western Digital WD1000DHTZ 1 TB VelociRaptor 10k RPM
Software
- PCMark07
- 3DMark11
- Alien Vs. Predator DX11 benchmark
- Resident Evil 5 DX10/DX9 benchmark
- FRAPS
- Metro 2033
- Battlefield 3
- CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1
- OCCT’
- ATTO Disk Benchmark
- FurMark Burn-in
- RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.2.3
- AMD Catalyst 12.11 Drivers
Although Windows 8 is the latest OS on the block, Windows 7 will remain our desktop OS of choice for now. Let’s get testing!
Overall System Performance (PCMark07)
PCMark07 provides a very comprehensive set of real world simulations to gauge performance. Results show a variety of categories and can often comparatively show weaknesses in a system.
I did get very erratic performance from the GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 and ASUS F2A85-V PRO due to the aggressive power management systems. Tests were done with these two in High Performance modes enabled instead of normal, but with auto overclocking features all disabled. MSI does not have this issue as it only has two power modes, Power Saving and Normal. Its third mode is OC Genie II which is manual overclocking control, and is not the same as what is offered with the two other boards.
MSI comes out ahead here as it seems to have no restrictions on performance when in normal mode. GIGABYTE and ASUS both come in behind in most tests, but not by enough to matter and both of them pull ahead in the Entertainment and Computational tests, despite the aforementioned erratic behaviour.
Synthetic Graphical Performance (3DMark11)
This is very straight forward test of the theoretical gaming performance. All three boards having the same 6+2 power phase design, but three different engineering designs. While the overall performance was similar there is some deviation. We will see if that difference continues into graphical performance.
In this test it would seem GIGABYTE and ASUS have taken off the kid gloves. The power management system seems to have taken a back seat here as both move ahead of MSI by a small margin with ASUS taking the lead. Even with the auto OC features disabled on all boards, I am not sure if these results are a fluke or not.
Real World Graphical Performance (Alien Vs. Predator, Resident Evil 5)
The best way to determine if a test result is believable is to test again from a different perspective. As always, the AvP benchmark is done with the default settings with DX11 mode enabled, tessellation on, with high detail at 1920 x 1080. Resident Evil 5 is tested at max settings with frame rate unlocked and Vsync disabled with the same screen resolution.
These results are a lot more ambiguous as each motherboard falls very close to each other in performance. ASUS takes the lead in DX9 and MSI takies the other two. With all three boards coming between 0.7 to 1.1 FPS of each other in these tests, I can’t say there is a clear victory to be had.
Now lets push the boundaries to the absolute edge by finishing off with Battlefield 3 peformance!
Extreme Graphical Performance (Battlefield 3)
These kinds of test are often used a measurement stick with modified settings to focus on one aspect. I want to know the same thing you want to know: Ccan an AMD APU play BF3 at a reasonable frame rate. The only thing you need to know here is I forced the shared memory to 1 GB to prevent graphical tearing. I tested with Battlefield set to High settings, the chosen default.
This time the MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 falls behind the other two with the GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 taking a slight lead in average FPS. I repeated this test on several 64-man servers on different levels and chose the best performance figures to use. The performance is virtually the same when you take into account play variance.
Now let’s check out how the hardware stacks up on the IO side of the equation.
SATA 6 Gbps I/O Performance (CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 and ATTO Disk Benchmark)
My testing system now includes a new Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB 10K RPM hard drive. This should allow the SATA control to perform much better in these tests as it is limted by the drive’s speed. It is also something we believe people would consider as a configuration for their own system by consolidating their storage and OS drive into one.
First let me say these new hard drives are loud but very awesome. AMD needs to work on their SATA drivers as I experience sporadic behavior with dips in performance on all three motherboards in various tests. There is no pattern and affects every board which is why it is likely the driver and not the motherboards.
USB 2.0 I/O Performance (CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1)
Now we will look back to USB 2.0 performance as it is still the most used interface on the PC market. USB 2.0 is still limited in its upper limits and I am still restricted by the performance of the device used in my tests. We will address this testing weakness in future reviews.
These results also have sporadic drops of 2 to 3 MB/s in data throughput; however, it only seems to affect the MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 and GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4. The ASUS F2A85-V PRO seems to maintain comparatively consistent performance levels for USB 2.0.
USB 3.0 I/O Performance (CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1)
Moving on to the next generation in USB with the 3.0 standards. Once again use of the WD VelociRaptor 1TB 10K RPM hard drive is leveraged. As we now have a baseline for comparison of the drives performance from the SATA testing, we can also account for possible overhead performance loss. To ensure consistency I tested all three boards with ports on the front panel which directly link to the AMD FCH native controller.
The MSI consistently takes the lead in these tests. The GIGABYTE takes a very noticeable drop during sequential read/write testing even when compared to just the ASUS. I retested these results with different ports, but could never get performance up to the same range as the other boards. GIGABYTE boards have done this before, but the issue is often corrected by the next AMD controller update. Hopefully this will be the case here as well.
Audio Performance (RightMark Audio Analyzer 6.2.3)
The audio test as always is done at 24-bit at 48 kHz with a crossover linking the Mic input to the audio output. Audio performance is often overlooked as people usually suggest getting a dedicated sound card. A dedicated sound card is a luxury few make room in their budget for, so this is something I want to working well out of the box. All three motherboards are using the same Realtek ALC892 codec.
Although all the boards use the same Realtek ALC892, implementation is key. The GIGABYTE has the best showing overall but general performance is rated to the same as the ASUS PRO. The GIGABYTE still has the best dynamic range and noise reduction though. The MSI turns in an average performance for an on-board audio system. It goes to show that the components are just as important as the implementation and if you have to have the best audio, then the GIGABYTE would be your best choice in this round up.
Power Consumption
To avoid any possible advantages I switched all boards back to their default Standard power schemes and restored all power management options to default. Keep in mind all three FM2 motherboards can be switched to a power saving mode that further reduces power consumption beyond my results. Lets look into if the overly aggressive power management systems on the GIGABYTE UP4 and ASUS PRO are worth their metal.
The MSI FM2 G65 and GIGABYTE FM2 UP4 have very similar power consumption figures. The UP4 comes in with the lowest idle power use and the MSI has the lowest maximum. The ASUS FM2 PRO falls in the middle at idle, but burns an extra 32 watts at full load. It seems to be related to the Fan Xpert 2, which I forgot to disable, since it was a sudden spike in power after several minutes at full load. The voltage increase to the fans to regulate heat increased the power draw.
I thought about disabling the software and retesting, but Fan Xpert 2 is a feature of the board I expect many to use. Disabling the software does bring the ASUS maximum power draw at full load down to 135.2 watts. We did expect the ASUS board to be more power hungry due to the extra components on board compared to the other boards. Burning a little more power for the Fan Xpert 2 functionality does result in CPU, GPU, and case temperatures coming down an average of 3°C, which can increase component life long term.
Now that all the testing is out of the way, it’s time to give you our final thoughts on each board and let you know which board is our pick (if possible).
The End Of The Round Up
We are a little conflicted about which board is the one we’d give an overall recommendation to. The AMD FM2 Virgo platform is engineered to be flexible and versatile to cover all PCs from entry-level to mid-range systems. The MSI FM2-A85XA-G65, GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4, and ASUS F2A85-V PRO are not the only offerings in the market, but clearly can hold their own and are the most accessible to most users due to good distribution and availability. Let’s summarize what makes each board special.
Final Thoughts – ASUS F2A85-V PRO
Price: MSRP $139.99 Warranty: 3 Years
Pros:
- Plenty of Software Features
- Plenty of Hardware Features
- 2 additional USB 3.0 ports
- Support for 3-way CrossfireX
- Comprehensive UEFI BIOS
- Support for Lucid Logix MVP
Cons:
- High Power Consumption when Fan Xpert 2 Active
- Physical Controls may not be as intuitive as the other boards
- Most expensive board in round up
ASUS simply does the best job of expanding on the concept that AMD created with the Virgo Platform which is to provide a high level of versatility. It seems to have software or hardware for any and everything you could need from your motherboard and then some. It can be anything from the core of a high-end gaming system running discrete graphics to a low power HTPC. There are also some features I could live without, but ASUS doesn’t force that on you either as it is easy enough not to install the software and enable them.
If you like to tinker and tweak, the ASUS is definitely for you. You literally run into things to play with on this board.
Final Thoughts – GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4
Price: MSRP $129.99 Warranty: 3 Years
Pros:
- Features Lucid Logix MVP
- Support for AMD AMP!
- Support for Intel XMP Profiles
- Support for 3-way CrossfireX
- Good Audio Quality
Cons:
- Lack of Unique Software Features
- Comparatively Low USB 3.0 sequential performance
I really can’t find any faults with the F2A85X-UP4 other than it lacking the number of features its competitors (the ASUS in particular) brought to the table. If I have to recommend a board without knowing what your budget or intended use would be though, this would probably be the one.
While there is not a lot in the way of software features, the ones included can be used by everyone, which includes things such as EasyTune 6 and ON/OFF Charge. It also helps to have a BIOS where everything is easy to find, even when you are not sure what the listed item is supposed to do.
It also has the best audio quality of the group so if you are someone that enjoys music, movies or who is thinking about building an HTPC, this would probably be the best choice. At the same time though, like the ASUS, it could easily be the basis for a gaming system thanks to its Lucid MVP and CrossFireX support. This might be a good start to a dedicated STEAM big picture system.
MSI FM2-A85XA-G65
Price: $109.99 Warranty: 3 Years
Pros:
- Low MSRP
- Winki 3
- Click BIOS 2 the same in UEFI and Windows OS
- Great I/O Performance
Cons:
- UEFI BIOS can be Confusing
- Winki 3 UI not intuitive
- Extremely Slow BIOS update using Automatic Download
The MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 just seems to be missing that certain something. It has the best I/O performance and more software features than the GIGABYTE, but didn’t really seem to offer anything special. I am glad to see the return of Winki, but it needs some refinement to bring out its true value. It just seems like MSI is working on something great, but hasn’t quite made it there just yet.
What the MSI board does have going for it is very solid performance and a great price. This would be our pick for someone looking to build a budget gaming system or even an office system that does more than just office work.
Overall Thoughts
In the end, these are all good motherboards if you are planning to build an AMD FM2 system today. All were a great complement to the AMD A10 5800K APU at our disposal.
But if you are not under a strict budget then go ahead and spend the money on the ASUS F2A85-V PRO, it is well worth it. In our opinion, it’s the best overall board. Yes it is the highest priced in the round up by a good $20 over the GIGABYTE and $30 over the MSI, but the ASUS PRO is the motherboard we enjoyed working with the most in this round up. User experience is everything and the ASUS definitely gave the best one for the enthusiast/tweaker out there.
If you simply wanted something solid with great audio, or you’re building for someone else, then the GIGABYTE GA-F2A85X-UP4 would be our next pick of the bunch with a moderate set of features. On a budget, there is no further to go than the MSI FM2-A85XA-G65.
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