GIGABYTE F2A88X-UP4 Review
by Ian Cutress on March 24, 2014 11:59 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- AMD
- Gigabyte
- FM2
Many thanks to...
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our test bed:
Thank you to OCZ for providing us with 1250W Gold Power Supplies and SSDs.
Thank you to G.Skill and ADATA for providing us with memory kits.
Thank you to Corsair for providing us with an AX1200i PSU, Corsair H80i CLC and 16GB 2400C10 memory.
Thank you to ASUS for providing us with the AMD HD7970 GPUs and some IO Testing kit.
Thank you to MSI for providing us with the NVIDIA GTX 770 Lightning GPUs.
Thank you to Rosewill for providing us with the 500W Platinum Power Supply for mITX testing, BlackHawk Ultra, and 1600W Hercules PSU for extreme dual CPU + quad GPU testing, and RK-9100 keyboards.
Thank you to ASRock for providing us with the 802.11ac wireless router for testing.
Test Setup
| Test Setup | |
| Processor |
AMD A10-7850K (ES) 2 Modules, 4 Threads |
| Motherboards | GIGABYTE G2A88X-UP4 |
| Cooling |
Corsair H80i Thermalright TRUE Copper |
| Power Supply |
OCZ 1250W Gold ZX Series Corsair AX1200i Platinum PSU |
| Memory | AMD Gaming 2x8GB DDR3-2133 10-11-11 Kit |
| Memory Settings | XMP |
| Video Cards |
MSI GTX 770 Lightning 2GB (1150/1202 Boost) ASUS HD7970 3GB (Reference) |
| Video Drivers |
Catalyst 13.12 NVIDIA Drivers 332.21 |
| Hard Drive | OCZ Vertex 3 256GB |
| Optical Drive | LG GH22NS50 |
| Case | Open Test Bed |
| Operating System | Windows 7 64-bit SP1 |
| USB 2/3 Testing | OCZ Vertex 3 240GB with SATA->USB Adaptor |
| WiFi Testing | D-Link DIR-865L 802.11ac Dual Band Router |
Power Consumption
Power consumption was tested on the system as a whole with a wall meter connected to the OCZ 1250W power supply, while in a single MSI GTX 770 Lightning GPU configuration. This power supply is Gold rated, and as I am in the UK on a 230-240 V supply, leads to ~75% efficiency > 50W, and 90%+ efficiency at 250W, which is suitable for both idle and multi-GPU loading. This method of power reading allows us to compare the power management of the UEFI and the board to supply components with power under load, and includes typical PSU losses due to efficiency. These are the real world values that consumers may expect from a typical system (minus the monitor) using this motherboard.
While this method for power measurement may not be ideal, and you feel these numbers are not representative due to the high wattage power supply being used (we use the same PSU to remain consistent over a series of reviews, and the fact that some boards on our test bed get tested with three or four high powered GPUs), the important point to take away is the relationship between the numbers. These boards are all under the same conditions, and thus the differences between them should be easy to spot.
The use of IR355x ICs on the F2A88X-UP4 brings a good reduction in load power, 20W better than our other FM2+ motherboard.
Windows 7 POST Time
Different motherboards have different POST sequences before an operating system is initialized. A lot of this is dependent on the board itself, and POST boot time is determined by the controllers on board (and the sequence of how those extras are organized). As part of our testing, we are now going to look at the POST Boot Time - this is the time from pressing the ON button on the computer to when Windows 7 starts loading. (We discount Windows loading as it is highly variable given Windows specific features.) These results are subject to human error, so please allow +/- 1 second in these results.
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PrimarchLion - Monday, March 24, 2014 - link
Nice catch. Hope they fix it (It's on the Teat Setup page).Ryan Smith - Tuesday, March 25, 2014 - link
Thanks. It has been corrected.ricster7227@gmail.com - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
Ian,I am finnding many of the same shortfalls in my build as you have mentioned. I did have a big hastle in the loading a fresh copy of Win 7 into my machine however I am using an older A5800K APU. I was lucky that the board came with the updated Bios but even then it was unstable. It has been a challenge. All said and done iot is working pretty well and is OC'd to 4.3 Mghz. Next step is to get the Kaveri and a graphics card for Adobe works.
frozenland - Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - link
Why do they keep making ATX boards with FM2+ socket? What is the point in researching boards with this much potential for additional graphics power when the CPU that is intended to be used here has GPU built-in? Why can't they spend more money into researching better AM3+ FX platforms where the CPU performance can be better than the top-of-line 7850K and better potential for graphics?APU in my opinion is for small form factors, and if you really want discrete graphics card, why bother with A series at all? FX + discrete card (or intel) makes more sense.
ricster7227@gmail.com - Thursday, March 27, 2014 - link
If you follow the logic of the overall effort that AMD is taking for website and Adobe type creation you will find that additional high powerred graphics cards will be added to make this all possible. Presently you can spend a good $ 30,000 for an Intel - Nvidia Solution and use it for a year only to start over again by your standards. Life is not all gaming or mining.Dirk Broer - Saturday, March 29, 2014 - link
I am using FM1 and FM2 ATX motherboards with great satisfaction as a cruncher. I prefer ATX above small form factors due to the greater flexibility in amout of memory and number of GPUs.warrenstraw222 - Monday, April 14, 2014 - link
Swiss watch brand Alpina <strong><a href="http://werachaiyodvilai.yolasite.com/">Rep... Watches</a></strong> continues development of its watches with the arrival at the end of the yearvic_neoh - Wednesday, April 30, 2014 - link
I purchased this motherboard and the AMD A-10-7850 CPU. This board meets my expectations and needs except in one area. It only provides one 10 pin audio connector on the board. If it is used for the case audio connections it is not available for my 5.25" usb/sata/eta/audio/power media front panel device. I have found not solution short of devising my own dual audio connection cable.