Asus F2A85-V Pro review

Packed with features… maybe too many features?

Asus F2A85-V Pro
Asus F2A85-V Pro

TechRadar Verdict

Pros

  • +

    CrossFire support

  • +

    Good display output options

  • +

    4K support

Cons

  • -

    Too much mobo for Trinity CPUs

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Fusing graphics and processor into a single chip is a major change to chip architecture, so when AMD's first Fusion chip, otherwise known as Llano or the A Series Accelerated Processor, appeared it was inevitable that a new CPU socket would be part of the mix.

Put simply that change has meant that you need to wire the thing up differently to allow for video output. Thus, AMD rolled out the FM1 socket and we didn't have any complaints when it wasn't compatible with AMD's various desktop sockets, despite AMD's track record for maintaining backwards compatibility when it comes to sockets and CPUs.

Benchmarks

Memory bandwidth performance
Sisoft Sandra: Gigabytes per second: Bigger is better

ASUS F2A85-V PRO WITH A10 5800K: 10.48
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 WITH i3-3225: 17

Rendering performance
Cinebench 11.5: Index : Higher is better

ASUS F2A85-V PRO WITH A10 5800K: 3.16
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 WITH i3-3225: 3.28

Encoding performance
x264 3.0 HD: Frames per second: Higher is better

ASUS F2A85-V PRO WITH A10 5800K: 20
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 WITH i3-3225: 19

As for performance, well, that's pretty much prescribed by AMD's A Series APUs. Currently, that means a maximum of four AMD Piledriver cores running around 4GHz, give or take. Quick enough, for now, we'd say, but with that FM2 socket, the upgrade path is far from clear.

AMD's FX desktop processors will be sticking to AM3+ sockets for the next few generations. All of which means it's best to view this motherboard with any Trinity CPU you buy as something of a permanent marriage.

Future Fusion chips will no doubt be made available, for instance, AMD plans to release some cheap 'Athlon' chips without graphics for FM2. But there's no upgrade path to full-fat FX chips.

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Technology and cars. Increasingly the twain shall meet. Which is handy, because Jeremy (Twitter) is addicted to both. Long-time tech journalist, former editor of iCar magazine and incumbent car guru for T3 magazine, Jeremy reckons in-car technology is about to go thermonuclear. No, not exploding cars. That would be silly. And dangerous. But rather an explosive period of unprecedented innovation. Enjoy the ride.