Motherboard tier list: A88X chipset

[MeteorsRaining]

A88X chipset:


A88X is the top of the line FM2+ chipset. The overall VRM thermals and power phases quality is good on this chipset.

A88X on the FM2+ platform supports PCI-e Gen3 slots when coupled with a Kaveri processor, but only when paired with Kaveri; although Richland is supported on A88X, it will not make use of PCI-e Gen3 capabilities and will instead revert to Gen2. PCI-e lane allocation is: 1x16 or 2x8, so two GPUs is the best you'll do.

A88X offer 8xSATA III 6 Gbps ports, 4xUSB3.0 ports, 10xUSB2.0 ports, and 2xUSB1.1 ports. Note that just because the chipsets will support this does not guarantee the presence of each port on the board -- it is up to the board manufacturer to include them. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 are all supported on A88X. Read tier description for more info.

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Tier one: High quality. Great Crossfire capable boards with high quality thermals and good enough power phases to drive (and OC) any current FM2+ CPU/ APU. Quality is high overall, and no known issues. The best FM2+ boards on the market.

ATX Form Factor:

CROSSBLADE RANGER
G45 GAMING
Extreme6+
FM2A88X+ Killer
A88X-PRO
GA-F2A88X-UP4
A88X-PLUS
A88X-G43
GA-G1.Sniper A88X
Extreme4+
PRO3+
A88X-G41 PC MATE (See NOTE1)(V2 as well)

mATX Form Factor:

A88XM GAMING
A88XM-PLUS/CSM
FM2A88M EXTREME4+
A88XM-E45 (See NOTE1)(V2 as well)
GA-F2A88XM-D3H
GA-F2A88XM-HD3 (See NOTE1)

Mini-ITX Form Factor (not CFX capable but have WiFi):

GA-F2A88XN-WIFI
MSI A88XI AC (V2 as well)
FM2A88X-ITX+

NOTE1: Not amazing boards for OCing, because of no heatsinks on VRM, but still good boards regardless.


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Tier Two: Fine quality. Decent boards, not meant for high OCing, no dual GPU support but are good enough to support all current APU/CPU on stock speeds atleast. Quality is decent and no known issues.

A88XM-E
FM2A88M-HD+
GA-F2A88XM-DS2
A88XM-E35(V2 as well)
A88XM-A
A88XM-P33 (V2 as well)
FM2A88M PRO3+

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NOTE: This thread is a part of the article series 'Motherboard tier list'.

 

[Echoceres]

if i use this mobos on my a10-6800k richland can i run it on PCI-e Gen3 cos i think my mobo is bottlenecking my Gtx 960 and i dont have funds yet for an i5 + mobo

 

[Echoceres]

btw iam thinking of GA-F2A88XM-D3H + my a10-6800k richland can i run PCI-e Gen3? cos my current mobo is msi fm2 a55-e33 i think it only runs gen 2

 

[DeathRabit]

On A88XM-A With added heatsinks on VRM, Good OC is possible I tested X4 740 @4,5Ghz *(motherboard FSB is locked at 140) 6 months and stable at 1,45V in bios drop to 1,4V in load
Without heat-sinks looks 1,525V /1,396V
Anything beyond 4,5Ghz on this mobo is not possible due Weak VRM
Tested X4 860K @4,5Ghz 1,525V in bios idle 1,478V Load 1,464V * VRM was to weak to keep CPU Clock and end with VRM throttling :/
4,4Ghz 1,485V work fully stable.

A88XM-A and A88XM-E have visually this same VRM section can have similar OC.