Six Socket FM2 Motherboards For AMD's Trinity APUs
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?
Pure Platinum A85XT Firmware
We don’t see too many motherboards from Sapphire (the company is best known for its graphics cards). So, we were pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of its Q-BIOS.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to increase the multiplier ratio to overclock our APU, nor were we able to reboot after changing the processor core and northbridge ratios simultaneously. Instead, all of our overclocking efforts were limited to the APU's stock 38x ratio, and we used nothing other than the platform’s reference clock to control frequency.
Without a way to determine our memory kit's secondary timings, we were forced to manually configure them using screenshots from another motherboard’s firmware. That’s not going to be possible for most of Sapphire’s customers.
Our CPU core operated at 1.45 V under full load with the Pure Platinum A85XT set to 1.425 V and “CPU Loadline Enabled." We only reached 4.4 GHz on a CPU known to run at 4.5 GHz, but we already know our problem was a result of multiplier control issues, rather than voltage. If you want to alter the APU's multiplier without running into the same issue we encountered, switch to software-based overclocking or wait for Sapphire to release a firmware update.
We haven’t focused much on user profiles lately, except to note when they’re missing. Sapphire doesn’t lack this feature entirely, but does limit it to a single register.
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