After just one generation, Socket FM1 is dead. We test six Socket FM2-based motherboards able to take AMD's newest APUs built using the Trinity architecture. Can any of these platforms, armed with AMD A85X Fusion Controller Hubs, get us to upgrade?
BIOS Frequency and Voltage settings (for overclocking)
Row 0 - Cell 0
ASRock FM2A85X Extreme6
Asus F2A85-V Pro
ECS A85F2-A GOLDEN
Reference Clock
100-136 MHz (1 MHz)
90-300 MHz (1 MHz)
90-200 MHz (1 MHz)
CPU Multiplier
14-63x (1x)
8-63x (1x)
5-63x (1x)
DRAM Data Rates
800-1866 (266.6 MHz)
800-2400 (266.6 MHz)
800-2400 (266.6 MHz)
CPU Vcore
0.60-1.55V (6.25 mV)
0.68-2.08V (6.25 mV)
1.50-1.98V (20 mV)
CPU NB
0.60-1.55V (6.25 mV)
0.50-1.90V (6.25 mV)
1.30-1.80V (20 mV)
A85X Voltage
1.10-1.40V (100 mV)
1.10-1.40V (10 mV)
1.11-1.21V (~35 mV)
DRAM Voltage
1.17-1.80V (5 mV)
1.35-2.135V (5 mV)
1.20-2.01V (10 mV)
CAS Latency
5-14 Cycles
5-16 Cycles
5-14 Cycles
tRCD
5-19 Cycles
2-19 Cycles
2-19 Cycles
tRP
5-19 Cycles
5-19 Cycles
5-19 Cycles
tRAS
15-40 Cycles
8-42 Cycles
8-42 Cycles
Swipe to scroll horizontally
BIOS Frequency and Voltage settings (for overclocking)
Row 0 - Cell 0
Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4
MSI FM2-A85XA-G65
Sapphire Pure Platinum A85XT
Reference Clock
100-200 MHz (1 MHz)
90-190 MHz (1 MHz)
100-300 MHz (1 MHz)
CPU Multiplier
8-79x (1x)
8-63x (1x)
16-58x (1x)
DRAM Data Rates
800-2400 (266.6 MHz)
800-2133 (266.6 MHz)
800-2133 (266.6 MHz)
CPU Vcore
0.80-2.10V (6.25 mV)
1.20-1.90V (12.5 mV)
1.20-1.70V (6.25 mV)
CPU NB
0.80-2.10V (6.25 mV)
1.00-1.50V (12.5 mV)
1.20-1.54V (6.25 mV)
A85X Voltage
1.00-1.40V (10 mV)
0.91-1.51V (~11.5 mV)
1.10-2.30V (10 mV)
DRAM Voltage
1.10-2.62V (10 mV)
1.29-2.01V (15 mV)
1.30-2.30V (10 mV)
CAS Latency
5-16 Cycles
5-16 Cycles
5-14 Cycles
tRCD
2-19 Cycles
2-19 Cycles
2-19 Cycles
tRP
5-19 Cycles
5-19 Cycles
2-19 Cycles
tRAS
8-42 Cycles
8-42 Cycles
8-40 Cycles
Some motherboards have far broader frequency ranges than others, but a 300 MHz reference clock limit on Sapphire’s motherboard is about as realistic as a 300 MPH speedometer on a Honda Civic. PCIe and integrated GPU overclocking limits are far more restrictive.
Asus, ASRock, and Gigabyte support our 45 x 100 MHz setting, with the difference between each vendor's board attributable to reference clock rounding errors.
Gigabyte reaches the highest reference clock with its integrated GPU intact. The second-place Asus F2A85-V Pro achieves a 156 MHz base clock with full CPU stability, but reference clocks over 130 MHz destabilize the APU’s integrated Radeon HD engine. Similar problems on the PCIe bus would affect graphics cards in a similar manner.
The F2A85-V Pro take top honors in memory overclocking, allowing us to use its highest 24x memory multiplier with four DIMMs installed. ASRock doesn't support a high memory ratio, but the board is able to reach a high data rate through increases in reference clock.
SakkuraSneaky, lol. Now he's going to be downvoted.Not sneaky, I just see a lot of sniping in here. I checked the article and didn't find it, and I really need to find it before I can gripe at the person who made the final revisions to this article. His comment could be completely false for all I know...
buzznutAnd I would penalize Asrock for the brown PCB. Its an otherwise nice looking board, but this is a trend I don't care for.Penalizing a company over a PCB's color is asinine and petty. Even if you have a case with an acrylic window, do you stare into your PC all day and night? If so, that is trend I don't care for.
There are much more important things to worry about, like quality, price, and features, to name a few...
looniam"Adoby Creative Suite"just one? who cares, good job to crash and the rest of the crew . . .edit: i had to fix a typo . .oh karma!Heh, apparently, editing motherboard round-ups in a Thanksgiving food coma is not conducive to catching typos. Got that one as well--thanks looniam! :)
