The MSI FM2 A85XA-G65 locked and loaded with features
There's a pretty good chance you have just read our A10 series APU review from AMD. These APU's slash processors offer value for money in the entry level PC market. Obviously the APU needs some sort of infrastructure as well, and that's where FM2 motherboards jump in. In the weeks to come you are going to notice a lot of reviews on A85X motherboards from various manufacturers. Now we have multiple of these motherboards in the lab here so for the APu reviews we used ASUS board in this review an MSI board and there will be more.
But what are these new motherboards all about ? Well, the chip used on these puppies is the FCH and alongside the Trinity processor APUs the new A85X FCH is born.
First off, to clear some confusion, Trinity-based APUs are not socket-compatible with Llano. So the new A10 APU would not fit on the older models motherboards. The old chipset and the new one however are hard to separate. The A85X FCH gives you eight SATA 6Gb/s-capable ports, RAID 5 support, and the ability to divide the APU’s 16 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 into a pair of x8 links. That really is the big difference right there. Then of course the motherboard manufacturers will add more ICs and designs to make the products more attractive.
MSI for example, offer the board as tested today with "Military Class III" components for prolonged stable power delivery and longevity, albeit most Taiwanese OEMs have already been using solid-state capacitors and high quality chokes for quite some time.
The A85 chipset and Socket FM2
With the launch of Llano alongside came A75 Fusion controller hubs (FCH) based motherboards, with Trinity that would be A85 (or I should really say A85X). The APU's all have an embedded Northbridge, the motherboards do need some sort of a Southbridge for external connectivity and other controllers. This takes the form of the A75/A85X chipset, also known as the Southbridge or FCH. It connects from the APU's PCI-Express 2.0 bus over four links to the chipset.
New is the A85X series chipsets for FM2 socket processors. It's a little more enthusiast in terms of features.
It is important to understand that most FM2 motherboards will ship with one of two Fusion Controller Hubs (FCH) - either A85X or A75. To add confusion to the mix, A75 can be used with both Llano and Piledriver, so some vendors will be using the A75 FCH but naming their boards as 'A85'. Vendors will be using A85X chipset and also naming their boards as 'A85'. The differences between the two indicate that A85X has eight SATA 6 Gbps ports native compared to six on A75, and that A85X can support RAID 5 operation whereas A75 cannot.
A second difference is that A85X can support 2x8 lane Crossfire. So for A85 up-to eight SATA-600 ports are supported with support for RAID 0, 1 and 10. That is alongside 10 USB 2.0 ports, 2 USB 1.1 ports and yes, USB 3.0 leads native straight out of the A85 chipset as well with four USB 3.0 ports. Obviously the chipset also offers support for the older PCI slot, up-to three of them.
This is all embedded inside the FCH, thus motherboard manufacturers do not have to purchase extra USB 3.0 and SATA controllers, making the bill of materials a chunk smaller and cheaper. An interesting point with Trinity processors is that AMD introduces a new socket FM2.
Otherwise, you’re looking at the same combination of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports (4 + 10), the same four-lane Unified Media Interface, four lanes of second-gen PCIe, and four-channel audio (along with FIS-based switching, mSATA support, legacy PCI, and so on). AMD has not yet added PCI Express 3.0 support to any of its platforms, and isn’t expected to for some time.
More than likely, you’ll look to A75-based boards with Socket FM2 interfaces to save a little money, or A85-based platforms as a more feature-complete step up.
The Trinity APUs overview
At launch AMD will be releasing six Trinity based APUs with two different TDPs (100/65W). Have a look at the overview below as to what you may expect.