Gigabyte GA-F2A85X-UP4 vs Asrock FM2A85X Extreme6

[Nil Einne]

Hi,

I'm looking for a motherboard for a new PC, I won't go in to the other details but I've decided to settle on a high end FM2 full ATX mobo and basically the two options here are the Gigabyte GA-F2A85X-UP4 and Asrock FM2A85X Extreme6. The AsRock actually ends up being slightly more expensive then the GB here and the GB will have better warranty support since the AsRock is being imported directly by a retailer. (The Asus F2A85-V PRO isn't available here in fact no ASUS full ATX, nor are the higher end Sapphire, BioStar or MSI and to be honest I don't really trust BioStar nor ECS. It's basically this or the Extreme4/D3H if I want a decent full ATX.)

In terms of feature set, the GB actually seems better except for the possibly weaker power design as it'll be more useful to have the extra PCI express 1x then the PCI (even with the limitations) and the better Realtek codec on the Asrock is likely to be unused since I'll be using HDMI audio I suspect. Plus dual BIOS is always nice even with the modern attempts to increase the chance of recovery from a BIOS flashing problem. (I don't think I'm like to use the IR or CIR on the AsRock board or the TPM on the GB board.) GB also has a more robust and efficient power regulation design

But from reviews and a look at their BIOS updates, it seems to me that on the whole Asrock have the better BIOS support particularly when it comes to OCing and high speed (IMC OC) memory support even if the official support list for GB seems to list more options then the AsRock for high speed memory. At least AsRock seems to have a fair amount more BIOS updates relating to that whereas GB have been fairly quiet (unless they're just very bad at release notes). Although AsRock seem to have had some dumb limitations in their BIOS like the lack of IOMMU and >512MB shared memory support, I don't think it's just AsRock making up for lost ground. In particular, I've read reports of people finding it's easier to get the Asrock working with high speed memory and also extreme overclocking and preferring (from experience) the Asrock's power control. I may do some minor overclocking but I'm particularly interested in the high speed memory support.

Any opinions?

Cheers

 

[Sleepingforest]

Could I inquire as to why you want to go AM2? A Trinity A10-5800K is $130--with the motherboard, about a $230-250 purchase total. However, you can get an Intel Pentium G2020, a motherboard, and Radeon 7770 for $240 total (before a $10 rebate!)

The G2020 will be roughly the same in single-threaded CPU tasks, like the majority of games, and will be more power efficient at idle. The 7770 will generally provide twice the framerate of the Trinity iGPU and also comes with a free copy of Far Cry 3.

 

[Nil Einne]

Could I inquire as to why you want to go AM2? A Trinity A10-5800K is $130--with the motherboard, about a $230-250 purchase total. However, you can get an Intel Pentium G2020, a motherboard, and Radeon 7770 for $240 total (before a $10 rebate!)

The G2020 will be roughly the same in single-threaded CPU tasks, like the majority of games, and will be more power efficient at idle. The 7770 will generally provide twice the framerate of the Trinity iGPU and also comes with a free copy of Far Cry 3.

Well I already have a A10-5800K and also don't live in the US (so NewEgg/Amazon prices, rebates and free copies of Far Cry are fairly irrelevant) the later of which I thought was clear from my post. But anyway, the G2020 will not likely be more power efficient at idle (at CPU load sure) when combined with a 7770. Also the G2020 lacks AES and VT-d (I already mention IOMMU). Also I never said this computer was primarily for gaming. The motherboard you showed is a microATX and in this (only 2 PCI express and actually only 1 since as you mentioned I need a graphics card) and other ways (e.g. 6 SATA, 4 USB 3.0 no built in eSATA) isn't at all equivalent to what I'm looking at. (There are many cheaper motherboards for FM2 even ATX.)

P.S. I had a look and couldn't find any actual reliable test results for a G2020 idle power consumption. There are some results for a G2120 and of course Core i3 Ivy Bridges. As their idle states are very similar (and this is also born out comparing the G2120 and the various Ivy Bridge i3s), I expect the G2020 to be similar in idle consumption. Most benchmarks have shown the Trinitys including the A10-5800K to idle about equivalent of the Ivy Bridges depending on motherboard and other factors. E.g. http://techreport.com/review/23662/amd-a10-5800k-and-a8-5600k-trinity-apus-reviewed/7 (the G2120 is with a 7950 but the marked i3 3225 is IGP only. I'm not really sure why the A10-5800K gets so inefficient when you add a GPU but it's largely irrelevant as it's rather unlikely I ever will hence the Trinity.) Also http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/46005-amd-a10-5800k-trinity-apu/?page=6 http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2012/10/03/amd-a10-review/8

From what I read, the 7770 is quite good at idle (particularly the long idle either monitor off) but obviously if you're already roughly equivalent, adding more power is never going to improve power consumption, at best it may stay equivalent. In reality it's only probably long idle that you can really say this. Under more normal idle conditions it's likely to be less efficient. This may be worth it if the CPU was actually better, but the G2020 can't really be said to be that. Some of the i3s can perhaps be said to be better then the A10-5800K in terms of average CPU performance (and when you add load power consumption obvious win), but I'm reasonably (at least it seemed like it last time I looked) sure you need to go up to an i5 to get AES and VT-d. And an i3 is about the same as the A10-5800K, the i5 more, and that's before you add the GPU (admittedly I'd be getting cheaper RAM if I was using an Intel since there would be any real advantage to high speed RAM). So considering gaming isn't the primary goal, I decided a while ago it didn't make sense. (In reality I probably don't really need the A10-5800K or 16GB of RAM or the such a fancy motherboard although I do need ATX and more USB3 and SATA are useful. But I decided the difference was small enough that I might as well, but pushing to 7770 or Core i5 or both, is beyond that.)

 

[Sleepingforest]

To be honest, I could not tell that you were from outside the United States from your post, nor could I tell that gaming was not your primary goal. Since you've already analyzed the benefits of the APU pretty thoroughly and it seems to fit what you need, I'd say you should go for it.

My question is: what do you get out of the extra features of the motherboard? For example, how often would you even need to use a clearCMOS button or use the PCI/PCIe slots? I think from your own comments, it should be obvious that the Gigabyte is better simply because it supports IOMMU and the Asrock does not.

Some of your points about each board also seem contradictory. At one part, you mention that the Gigabyte has a more efficient power delivery system, which implies that you care about power consumption. But then you list the Asrock's overclocking superiority as a feature, when overclocking pretty much means you will be consuming more power--furthermore, the board with the purportedly inferior power delivery system is somehow better at overclocking. Do you have access to professional reviews that directly compare these boards? Because I have yet to see a site that has both of these boards using the same testbed and methodology. That makes any power consumption comparisons and overclocking ability comparisons extremely difficult.

 

[Centauri]

To be honest, I could not tell that you were from outside the United States from your post, nor could I tell that gaming was not your primary goal.

Yeah, because he only asked which of two motherboards to get, not CPU advice...

 

[Sleepingforest]

Okay, how was I suppose to tell that he was from outside the US? Point me to the contextual clues within his first post. I'll admit I should have seen the not-gaming part from the context (cares about IOMMU).

If it were a gaming machine, I was just pointing him to a solution that offers more frames per second in pretty much every game for the same price. But since it's not, the APU is appropriate and a better chioce.