GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 AMD FM2 Motherboard Review

[Apoptosis]

GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 AMD FM2 Motherboard Review

GIGABYTE has been a key player in AMD overclocking for awhile now. Their latest generation of motherboards for the AMD FM2 platform aren't looking to break that streak either. Earlier this week it was announced that the GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 was able to set the record for the highest clock speed on the AMD A10-5800K 'Trinity' APU. Today we are going take a look at the GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 in all of it's glory and put it through the paces! Read on to find out how well it does!

The GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 proved to be a rock solid motherboard today. Then again I wouldn't expect any less from the top AMD FM2 motherboard from GIGABYTE. I wasn't able to find any real issues with the F2A85X-UP4 during my time with it. Everything we did was smooth, and ran great. When it comes to the graphics performance of this system, we couldn't have been happier...

Article Title: GIGABYTE F2A85X-UP4 AMD FM2 Motherboard Review
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2079/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $127.06 Shipped

[Major_A]

This looks like the cooler that came with my Opteron 170.
http://www.legitreviews.com/images/revi ... cooler.jpg

Seeing as AMD is having a pretty good deal of success with the APU and terrible results with the FX line I have a bad feeling. I can envision a day where AMD just stops trying to compete with Intel on the highend market. If that becomes the case then that's bad news for all of us. As most of us know competition drives innovation. See AMD/Intel, ATi/NVIDIA, Qualcomm/ARM, etc...

[Kaos Kid]

Nice price, plenty of features, and I like the way the heatsinks surrounding the socket are low-profile so as not to interfere with air cooling--although I'm betting that if most tech forum know that it can hit 5Ghz on water they will not rest until they do, too

The only thing that made me wonder "what?" was that memory is only supported up to 1866, heck my 3yo GA-M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 supports 2000 on OC.

[Kaos Kid]

This looks like the cooler that came with my Opteron 170.
http://www.legitreviews.com/images/revi ... cooler.jpg

Seeing as AMD is having a pretty good deal of success with the APU and terrible results with the FX line I have a bad feeling. I can envision a day where AMD just stops trying to compete with Intel on the highend market. If that becomes the case then that's bad news for all of us. As most of us know competition drives innovation. See AMD/Intel, ATi/NVIDIA, Qualcomm/ARM, etc...

AMD will get my business as long as they continue to use socketed CPUs with defined upgrade paths, with Intel moving towards embedded only solutions and inferior graphics I am NOT going to pay their asking prices for something that is obsolete in a year, or that you have to junk the whole board for if only one component fails.

[Apoptosis]

I can envision a day where AMD just stops trying to compete with Intel on the highend market. If that becomes the case then that's bad news for all of us. As most of us know competition drives innovation. See AMD/Intel, ATi/NVIDIA, Qualcomm/ARM, etc...

That day already arrived over a year ago when AMD said they are not going to compete with Intel on the high-end market! Sad, but true. Not that Intel is planning on going with BGA desktop solutions it might not really matter.

The race now appears to be for an all in one chip... From what I understand the Intel Haswell processor line will be the first to really test that model. For example... The Haswell version of the nuc has no chipset... It's just a processor (SOC) that is soldered to the board with the supporting components. That is why I was highly interested in reviewing the NUC. It really could be where we are all headed. Less processor choices, less board choices and soldered on processors. It will cut costs and simplify things greatly. The high-end processors like the Intel Extreme Edition will still be around... They'll just be fully enabled Intel Xeon Server Processors ;)

So, for those that have unlimited budgets the server side will still be socketed with the high-end processors. The mainstream desktop PC market will be simplified greatly.

The bad news for sites like Legit Reviews is that means there will be far less stuff to review.

AMD will get my business as long as they continue to use socketed CPUs with defined upgrade paths, with Intel moving towards embedded only solutions and inferior graphics I am NOT going to pay their asking prices for something that is obsolete in a year, or that you have to junk the whole board for if only one component fails.

Trust me AMD is looking heavily into embedded solutions as well. They had the head start with the E-350 APU and the brazos platform, but they didn't have the marketing money to get it promoted right. Expect to see AMD making another embedded push here in the future. They just need to sell off everything they own to come up with the cash to do everything they need to ;)

[Major_A]

When Intel goes SOC are they going to allow Gigabyte, ASUS, Asrock, etc... make boards? Right now I have an Intel motherboard and it's a huge POS.

[Apoptosis]

When Intel goes SOC are they going to allow Gigabyte, ASUS, Asrock, etc... make boards? Right now I have an Intel motherboard and it's a huge POS.

From what I can tell yes, but it is likely some makers will have to do other things. A trend that we have seen in recent years anyway.

[Kaos Kid]

It will definitely contribute towards the estrangement of the overclocking community, and without overclocking who needs super air- and water-cooling solutions? Who will want to overclock if it means they may fubar not just an easily replaceable chip, but the whole board? Looks like dark clouds on the horizon if you ask me.

[Apoptosis]

Looks like dark clouds on the horizon if you ask me.

The PC market is different now than what is was in the past... Seeing companies like Scythe and Danger Den closing down this month is a sign of how slow things are getting. Let's be honest with each other... The desktop PC needs to evolve to survive.

The CPU Cooler companies that are doing well have server/enterprise cooling solutions that are carrying them right now.

Go look at the Asetek website. They are a CPU cooling company that is doing really well and just won a major licensing lawsuit in the pc sector that really helped them - http://www.asetek.com/

What do you see? desktop pc is becoming non-profitable or not a major area of growth for numerous companies. We are just now on that downwards trajectory.

I totally just hijacked this thread...

[DragonFury]

That is correct you must now go sit in the corner and reflect on what you just did LMAO.........

[vbironchef]

Kaos Kid, I agree! To me it looks like Intel is going to do what Apple is doing. That is building everything in house. Intel is late to the game in mobile, once they have the products to sell, it's game over.

Question? In mobile chips, how can ARM chips compete with X86 chips? How about that for a hijacked thread.

[bubba]

I like cookies

[Apoptosis]

Question? In mobile chips, how can ARM chips compete with X86 chips?

You are already seeing them compete... Most smartphones and tablets are all ARM based and look at the momentum there. Intel told me at IDF they need to team up with AMD to show that x86 is still valid. The major battle that is taking place right now is x86 versus ARM.

[vbironchef]

I read that x86 is easier to write code for. Does that make a difference or is that just for graphic cards. I also read that x86 chips are faster, is this true?
Who is going to Las Vegas for the CES Conference?

[molitar]

I have loved the features and pricing of Gigabyte but I have lost belief in the product quality. I had two mobo die on me of Gigabyte within a short time and my nieces husband has gone through two himself. They just don't seem to have good reliability if your buying for short term and plan to update than go ahead they are good priced, good features, and usually fast.

[INeedAFnSuffix]

I have loved the features and pricing of Gigabyte but I have lost belief in the product quality. I had two mobo die on me of Gigabyte within a short time and my nieces husband has gone through two himself. They just don't seem to have good reliability if your buying for short term and plan to update than go ahead they are good priced, good features, and usually fast.

Good luck with a ASUS then, i cannot believe how many Rampages and Maximuses have been dead with a few weeks and that's not limited to my asus netbook which is a ticking timebomb
I would buy a MSI A85XA-G65 instead but that thing lacks what i need ... A TOTALLY BLACK MOTHERBOARD and 2 extra usb ports but i'm torn between both of them
@The rest of the thread
Whether to get a not so black motherboard an extra PCI-E x4 slot with 2 extra USB ports or the MSI with a larger heatsink but needing such heatsinks is worrying though because i'm buying a Deepcool ICE BLADE GS (for 30$) and i'm worried about cooler clearance (Oh yes and throw in a AFB1212SHE as well ... 150CFM)

[INeedAFnSuffix]

Oh yeah Dan, could you try 16GB of RAM @ 1866MHz?

[amdcrankitup]

Hell of a good review!!! I am an AMD fan and its kind of hard to deny the performance of this board and all it has to offer! Really like the Black PCB layout thats a plus! The oveclocking potential is just Amazing ! With a price point for the CPU and this board its hard not to consider it as my next build instead of and FX 8150 and the Sabertooth which price range is quite a bit higher of course you get 4 more cores but is their enough of a performance differance to justify spending the Xtra cash! Im curious the The Corsair Vengenance 8GB 1866Mhz memory kit used in this review do you have the part number? Again a great review!

[XstollieX]

Hell of a good review!!! I am an AMD fan and its kind of hard to deny the performance of this board and all it has to offer! Really like the Black PCB layout thats a plus! The oveclocking potential is just Amazing ! With a price point for the CPU and this board its hard not to consider it as my next build instead of and FX 8150 and the Sabertooth which price range is quite a bit higher of course you get 4 more cores but is their enough of a performance differance to justify spending the Xtra cash! Im curious the The Corsair Vengenance 8GB 1866Mhz memory kit used in this review do you have the part number? Again a great review!

First off, Thanks! I tend to agree with you about this system over a FX-8150. It's all going to come down to what you are looking to do with it. If you are planning on gaming, you'll be golden either way. There may be a few FPS difference between the two systems, but it will also rely on what graphics card you're using.It's actually the Corsair Dominator Platinum



and the part number is CMD8GX3M2A1600C9

Oh yeah Dan, could you try 16GB of RAM @ 1866MHz?

Not sure how I missed your post, but I already broke the system down and working on another board. If I set it back up I will certainly see what I can do. Anything specific you would like to see?

[INeedAFnSuffix]

Overclocking the CPU+GPU with 1866 16GB as well as trying out Virtu MVP with a HD7770 if you can
Thanks dan, fantastic review