Thursday, February 7th 2013
ASUS Intros F2A85-V Socket FM2 Motherboard
ASUS augmented its socket FM2 motherboard lineup with the F2A85-V, a lite variant of the F2A85-V Pro the company kicked off its Trinity APU-compatible motherboard lineup with. The new F2A85-V trims down on a few things over the -Pro variant, such as simpler independent VRM and FCH heatsinks with no heat-pipe connecting them, fewer APU power phases, and a lighter expansion slot layout that isn't ideal for multi-GPU setups.
To begin with, the F2A85-V features a 6-phase APU VRM that draws power from a 4-pin ATX connector, compared to the 8-phase one drawing from an 8-pin EPS, on the F2A85-V Pro. The FM2 socket is connected to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting a maximum of 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory; and a single PCI-Express 2.0 x16. Other expansion slots include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the A85X FCH), two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and three legacy PCI slots.
Display connectivity on the F2A85-V includes one each of dual-link DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. Storage includes seven SATA 6 Gb/s, and an eSATA 6 Gb/s. The rest of the connectivity includes four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by header), 8-channel HD audio with optical TOSLINK output, gigabit Ethernet, PS/2 mouse/keyboard, and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports. The board is driven by AMI UEFI BIOS. It is expected to hold a sub-$100 price-point.
To begin with, the F2A85-V features a 6-phase APU VRM that draws power from a 4-pin ATX connector, compared to the 8-phase one drawing from an 8-pin EPS, on the F2A85-V Pro. The FM2 socket is connected to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting a maximum of 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory; and a single PCI-Express 2.0 x16. Other expansion slots include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x4, wired to the A85X FCH), two PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and three legacy PCI slots.
15 Comments on ASUS Intros F2A85-V Socket FM2 Motherboard
And no 90º angled SATA ports....still?
Also that SATA layout is awful, i see that layout on P4 boards xD
I use them for Sound card and TV Tuner cards. This 3 PCI slot is perfect for my media center upgrade as the third slot is needed for a parallel port so I can use the front LED display on my Ahanix case (I would have preferred a built-in parallel port right on the board). Why throw those perfectly working PCI devices?
I guess if you need high end go with AM3+ 990FX chipset.
1 x8 PCI-E slot full sized, 2 x2 PCI-E and 2 slots for ram is all that's needed for any FM2 board anything else and you're missing the point....completely
As for ATX boards, will probably always find them with PCI as there just not enough lanes available from CPU and PCH to have all those slots. Well they could, but you'd wouldn't have a NIC onboard.
is that easier to get assembled maybe :D
No idea why they specifically put those non-angled connectors (and PCI slots) on this board. I guess the strange board config is probably special request of some sort from a customer with unconventional requirements. :ohwell:
The extra PCI slots and size gives plenty of breathing air space for the PCIE graphics card, and any extra cards I might put in ( I have a TV card lying around somewhere). With the oldish Radeon 6900 dedicated card and the A19 5800K combo I have a pretty decent rig that`ll run most games really well and it`ll suit me fine for a while till I upgrade.
I say, ASUS was thinking imaginatively, not just for people with the most `bragging rights` cash.