ASRock Unveils its First Socket FM2+ Motherboards Based on AMD A88X Chipset

[btarunr]

ASRock unveiled its first socket FM2+ motherboards, ready for the upcoming A-Series "Kaveri" APUs, and backwards-compatible with A-Series "Richland" and "Trinity" ones. Among the most notable of ASRock's FM2+ products are the FM2A88X-Extreme6+ and the FM2A88M-Extreme4+. The former is a feature-rich ATX form-factor offering, while the latter isn't too far behind with its feature-set, albeit in the micro-ATX form-factor. The FM2A88X-Extreme6+ features a 10-phase VRM to power the APU socket, which is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (electrical x8/x8 when both are populated). A third PCI-Express x16 is electrical gen 2.0 x4, and wired to the A88X FCH. Two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and legacy PCI make for the rest of the expansion.

Storage connectivity on the FM2A88X-Extreme6+ includes seven SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and one eSATA 6 Gb/s. Display connectivity includes dual-link DVI, DisplayPort 1.2, and possibly HDMI 2.0. 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF output, gigabit Ethernet, and six USB 3.0 ports. Moving on, the FM2A88M-Extreme4+ features a simpler 6-phase VRM for the APU socket, which is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, and a single PCI-Express 3.0 x16. The other long slot is electrical gen 2.0 x4. One each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI make for the rest of its expansion. Display connectivity includes dual-link DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI (2.0?). Four USB 3.0 ports, 8-channel HD audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of it.



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[Volkszorn88]

Looking very nice

 

[Melvis]

I must admit ASrock have some dam fine boards these days, these two boards look very very nice. In the near future I might be trying out some of these ASrock boards. Only problem with these boards is the FM2+ Socket, APU CPU performance just isn't enough to use one of these mighty boards IMHO. AM3+ is a different story though.

 

[bencrutz]

looking in between those sata ports, it seems the FM2A88X-Extreme6+ have two eeprom chips, dual BIOS, eh? that's nice

 

[Sempron Guy]

I must admit ASrock have some dam fine boards these days, these two boards look very very nice. In the near future I might be trying out some of these ASrock boards. Only problem with these boards is the FM2+ Socket, APU CPU performance just isn't enough to use one of these mighty boards IMHO. AM3+ is a different story though.

True, but Kaveri looks like a tide turner. And if the rumors are true regarding the removal of the AM3+ platform and the placement of the FM2+ as their main desktop line-up it is most probable they'd bump up cpu performance.

 

[SIGSEGV]

it's very interesting. Gigabyte has also already unveiled their top end/high end board for FM2+.

 

[Jorge]

Kaveri desktop will ship in Q4 of '13 and Kaveria laptop in Q1 of '14. They will both be impressive and change the PC landscape forever.

 

[The Von Matrices]

Can someone explain to me what features the A88X chipset has versus the A85X/A75/A55? I can't find anything about it.

Kaveri desktop will ship in Q4 of '13 and Kaveria laptop in Q1 of '14. They will both be impressive and change the PC landscape forever.

In recent history there have been too many AMD processors that failed to live up to the pre-launch hype. I'll wait until I see benchmarks before I believe it.

 

[RCoon]

Kaveri desktop will ship in Q4 of '13 and Kaveria laptop in Q1 of '14. They will both be impressive and change the PC landscape forever.

Damn man, you hit the nail right on the head. AMD should pay you for PR. Not that anything you say means anything at all though.

 

[micropage7]

umm nice and makes me want a m-atx board

 

[_JP_]

Can someone explain to me what features the A88X chipset has versus the A85X/A75/A55? I can't find anything about it.

• Supports both FM2 and FM2+ processors

That's what I've found so far...

 

[Phobia9651]

Damn man, you hit the nail right on the head. AMD should pay you for PR. Not that anything you say means anything at all though.

He might be referring to this: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/AMDs-Processor-Shift-Future-Really-Fusion
Interesting read imo.

 

[Casecutter]

This has me thinking AM3+ and the high-end desktop CPU (only) are off the road-map. I suppose Intel is at this point chiefly offering CPU + graphics, so AMD considers why they need to put two products in the arena especially one they might never hold "top-dog".

Might be interesting if AMD could fuse off the graphics section and sell a low cost CPU's, for this type of mobo as a gaming foundation. Might have merits on the product side for AMD and motherboard manufactures consolidating what they have to support. Given AMD would've had a tough-haul to be completive in high-end desktop CPU's it probably a logical move, to cover various platforms. For AMD there isn't/wasn't money in support of CPU’s, especially seeing a shrinking desktop market. Going forward they can remain competitive in multiple-core throughput with chips from A-Series "Kaveri" and beyond. The market is/has changed to tablets, laptops, HTPC, while high-end (gaming) CPU's aren't viable to support. Heck they don't absolutely need them for the sever market going forward either. If AMD can situate themselves with an effective and competitive low cost platform for gaming that might be fine.

 

[Solidstate89]

This looks to be the final nail in the coffin of the AM3+ series of high-end CPUs. Just look at those features afforded by the chipset of what is supposed to be a "mid-range" lineup of APUs.

This is quite clearly designed to replace the AM3+ series of motherboards to go along with the discontinuing of the FX series.

 

[sttubs]

What's up with the bare VRM's on the mAtx board?

 

[de.das.dude]

I must admit ASrock have some dam fine boards these days, these two boards look very very nice. In the near future I might be trying out some of these ASrock boards. Only problem with these boards is the FM2+ Socket, APU CPU performance just isn't enough to use one of these mighty boards IMHO. AM3+ is a different story though.

asrock is definitely a good bargain. i got here after asus and so far so good

 

[btarunr]

Can someone explain to me what features the A88X chipset has versus the A85X/A75/A55?

The platform supports PCI-Express 3.0, and FM2+ socket. FM2+ is ready for future APUs with four modules and bigger iGPUs.

 

[erocker]

What's up with the bare VRM's on the mAtx board?

I was wondering that as well. Looks to be a nice board, it would be unfortunate if it was somewhat ruined by not having a VRM heatsink on it.

 

[micropage7]

asrock is definitely a good bargain. i got here after asus and so far so good

yeah, asus kinda pricey and asrock offer you better price and value

 

[The Von Matrices]

The platform supports PCI-Express 3.0, and FM2+ socket. FM2+ is ready for future APUs with four modules and bigger iGPUs.

Maybe I'm missing something - could you elaborate on why the chipset needs to be changed for this? All the features you're mentioning are ones that are integral to the processor and socket, not the chipset. From what I know AMD's chipsets connect to the processor by PCIe 2.0 x4 link, which makes them interchangeable among sockets. Can't you just modify the motherboard for the upgraded FM2+ socket but still use the A85X chipset without issue? What I interpret from this is that the A88X silicon is identical to the A85X silicon; the only reason for the A88X designation is that with A88X branding you are guaranteed a FM2+ socket.

 

[de.das.dude]

yeah, asus kinda pricey and asrock offer you better price and value

i dont have problems with the price if its worth it. asus boards are plain crap now. dont last more than a year before giving problems. and their RMA service isnt one of the best either.

 

[NeoXF]

Quite frankly... it should have been pretty damn clear that AMD would discontinue any non-APU processors... It would be a sign of lack of trust in their own products if they'd do otherwise and also a shift of focus from them (but just a little, cause as it is... their APUs outsell the CPUs by quite a bit to begin with).

However, I don't see it to be farfetched for them to release in the future a high-end APU. Yes, more cores, sure, but mostly bigger caches, higher frequencies and a ton more GCN CUs.

I would have mentioned how AMD released a while back 140W TDP Phenoms... but seeing as how the FX-9Ks have a 220W, even more so...

Also, Kaveri will have a 95W TDP, the lower power models probably still 65/45W tho. And Carrizo, 65W (supposedly) for the high end. That's a decent amount of headroom to work with. I wouldn't mind seeing a 8-core Carizzo/Excavator w/ L3 (and 4?) cache, w/ quad-channel DDR4 and and a 16-24 VI/PI GCN CUs.
That would be an absolute computational monster... if HSA kicks off...