GIGABYTE F2A85XN-WiFi Review: FM2 and Richland in mini-ITX
by Ian Cutress on August 21, 2013 10:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE F2A85XN-WiFi Conclusion
Building a mini-ITX FM2 based system results in less than a handful of choices when it comes to motherboards, all around a hundred dollars or less. At this price point, and for the size of the motherboard, each SKU available for sale comes with a different physical setup and as a user it means that it all depends on the setup you plan to have. GIGABYTE’s main selling point with the F2A85XN-WiFi is the dual band 802.11b/g/n WiFi itself, as well as using higher quality VRMs in their power delivery and AMD Wireless Display support.
Obviously when deciding on FM2, one of the big selling points of the platform is the integrated graphics, meaning users going along a discrete GPU path will end up not using that IGP, unless a non-IGP CPU is used (Athlon X4 760K). This is where mini-ITX comes in, as it reduces the extra GPU space that comes with an ATX or mATX size. There is a small reduction in other features as well that comes with the size – for example we have only four of the eight SATA 6 Gbps that the A85X chipset affords.
GIGABYTE’s other main selling point is also the use of two HDMI ports on the rear IO, suitable for multi-monitor on the IGP. For the BIOS and software, while we have the older classic mode and EasyTune6, users of other GIGABYTE motherboards should be familiar with these setups. Should GIGABYTE decide to release a mini-ITX FM2+ model alongside their current A88X announcement, I would hope the new EasyTune this would be part of the equation.
The F2A85XN-WiFi sits vicariously on the edge of Kaveri, with FM2+ motherboards and APUs expected sometime Q4 2013/Q1 2014. However if a user needs an AMD APU based A85X WiFi motherboard for a small build, GIGABYTE’s overclock performance on the F2A85XN-WiFi offers a promising solution.
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ShieTar - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
"The main failure of AMD counterparts in our testing scenario is with Civilization V, which loves single threaded performance."The word "failure" seems a bit harsh when the CPU allows you to play at close to 60 FPS on 1440p in a game that does not even require fast responses.
Alan G - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
Nice review. I've done three builds now with the Intel equivalent of this board and it's really a nice board (one office PC and two HTPCs). The WiFi is exceptional and there have been no dropouts at all. Fortunately on the Intel board the 4 pin power connector is in a more manageable space.Joel Kleppinger - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
I think this missed the biggest reason to do this review... comparing against other mini-ITX systems in cases that don't support graphics cards. That's where this setup is truly interesting. It felt more like a CPU review with a motherboard review tacked onto it and missed the uniqueness this combo could offer.arthur449 - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
For the boot time tests, is Windows 7 being installed with the UEFI boot option?arthur449 - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
I ask because, in my experience with UEFI BIOSes, going with a UEFI installation and disabling the Legacy boot options speeds up POST times considerably.torp - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
Why no power consumption tests with no video card?porto32 - Wednesday, August 21, 2013 - link
How long does GIGABYTE usually take to stop providing BIOS updates? Looking at some of their older boards on their site shows the latest BIOS is a beta BIOS and was only less than a year from the initial BIOS date. Providing a beta BIOS as the latest version doesn't very good either.lichoblack - Thursday, August 22, 2013 - link
The Motherboard specs in Newegg list it as also supporting Bluetooth from the same miniPCIe. Is that info incorrect?davegraham - Friday, August 23, 2013 - link
does this support Registered/ECC memory?Lazzerman - Friday, August 30, 2013 - link
I just built a HTPC with this board. Works like a charm! One thing to think about though, I bought the "Streacom FC8S EVO Silver", fanless HTPC case. The case uses 4 heatpipes connected to the CPU, but due to the placing of the ATX connector on this MB, I could only connect 3 heatpipes. No big deal, but had I known before I might had choosen another board.