Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H FM2 ATX Sized Motherboard

Motherboard makers haven’t really launched as many FM2 motherboards as they could have, in anticipation of AMD's release of desktop-compatible Trinity accelerated processing units, but they are at least trying to make up for lost time.

After introducing a micro-ATX motherboard featuring the FM2 socket, Gigabyte has revealed a full-ATX platform equipped with the same chip interface. Called F2A85X-D3H, the newcomer is, as one might have guessed, powered by the AMD A85X chipset, which is wired to eight SATA 6.0 Gbps ports (all internal, two are angled). Meanwhile, since Trinity Accelerated Processing Units integrate not just a GPU (Radeon HD 7000 series) but the memory controller as well, the four DDR3 DIMM slots on the mainboard are directly wired to the socket. That goes for the PCI Express slots as well, of which there are several: one PCI Express 2.0 x16 (for graphics cards), a PCI Express 2.0 x4 slot (this one is actually an x16 physical slot wired to the A85X FCH) and three PCI Express 2.0 x1. A pair of legacy PCI connectors, for older sound cards or network adapters, are found on the dark blue PCB as well.

Essentially, the mainboard can allow the creation of computer systems with high-end graphics (assuming the integrated chip in the APU is insufficient) and up to 64 GB of random access memory (RAM). Even overclocking should be easy enough to implement. Safe too, due to the Ultra Durable 4 Classic construction and dual AMI Aptio UEFI BIOS (with two BIOS chips, it is easy to restore the board to functionality if the main one was programmed badly or updated poorly). Other features include 4-pin PWM fan headers, a 4+2 phase VRM, four USB 3.0 ports (two on the back panel, two via headers), 8-channel HD audio (optical SPDIF), Gigabit Ethernet, eight USB 2.0 connectors, the mouse/keyboard combo PS/2 port, a legacy COM header, a TPM header (trusted platform module) and multiple display outputs (dual-link DVI, D-Sub and HDMI). Sales should start “soon” for $100, or 100 Euro in Europe, even though exchange rates would suggest 76.40 Euro.

Gigabyte F2A85X-D3H FM2 motherboard
Images credits to Gigabyte

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