GIGABYTE F2A85XN-WiFi Review: FM2 and Richland in mini-ITX

GIGABYTE 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.