GIGABYTE GA-F2A85XM-D3H FM2 AMD A85X (Hudson D4) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: This board is working as it should.....mostly

Cons: See below

Other Thoughts: As with the first board, this board is reporting different temperatures through different measures. The BIOS reports an idle CPU temperature of 60° C. Easy Tune 6 & Open Hardware Monitor are reporting 20° to 25° C. A case sensor in the CPU fins is reporting a temperature of 33° to 36° C. I have no explanation for this, but the heatsink does not feel unusually hot, and the board has been functioning as it should. It appears as though the case sensor is the only accurate measure of CPU temperature while there appears to be a problem with the other two measures. After an initial interest by a Gigabyte representative, who even supplied a case number to my initial complaint about this board, their interest appears to have now waned even though I alerted them to this temperature problem with both boards, and I have not received any response from them since their initial response.

Pros: None.

Cons: This board died after booting about 3 times into the OS. Couldn't even enter the BIOS after that. It would only restart itself no matter what I did.

Other Thoughts: Not a Gigabyte buyer anymore. I don't need the headaches of going through the rebate process after spending $800.00 on the components for this computer. Will go for a Biostar in the future instead.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your comments. We apologize for your difficulty with your GIGABYTE product. Please contact us at newegg-support@gigabyteusa.com with the case number 95883 in the subject line. We will provide personalized service and analysis to help solve your issue ASAP. If the matter is urgent, please send us your contact number, and we will contact you.

GIGABYTE VIP Support Team

Pros: Gigabyte's construction quality is amazing. Whenever I get a new piece from any vendor, the first thing I do is look under a µ-scope, (I have stuff shipped to work to thwart the delivery companies' propensity to leave electronic components in the rain or snow) I always see clean solder, no flux residue and no spot-free rinse residue. Quality "glue" components, too. Add to that, the board performs FLAWLESSLY. This board replaces another brand that was somewhat unstable. (My fault... that system was an upgrade, but I didn't have the time or inclination to do a fresh Windows install.) I have a whole bunch of drives connected, and it never gets confused or lost.

Cons: I couldn't think of a better title than the disco era sales pitch for Oberheim Synthesizers... which really were better back in the day. (Personally, I was an ARP fan-boy, but where do you write reviews for the Odyssey or 2600?) Hey Tom, if you have a museum quality OB-8 just taking up space...

Other Thoughts: My "Tech Knowledge" rating of 4 is based the average of 3 (on a good day) for software but 5 for having over 30 years experience as a "soldering iron jockey." Seriously. I know what terms like "plate voltage" and "grid bias" mean, and how a hardware stack chip works, but have no clue what function it serves to the OS. This build has a total of 5 mechanical (4 SATA, 1 USB) drives and 1 SSD, (long story...) and is the third MB on this Windows installation. I can't blame the board that this one replaced for freaking out, and both the previous ones are working perfectly in more normal builds. This one's just that much better.

Pros: Supports 8 x SATA 6Gb/s ports

Cons: 8 x SATA 6Gb/s with 0/1/5/10/JBOD RAID support - misleading information.

Other Thoughts: I purchased this motherboard specifically to utilize 8 x SATA 6Gb/s ports with high speed SSD drives in RAID configuration. You can create 2 separate RAID arrays (4+4 or 6+2 drives), but you CAN'T CREATE ANY RAID array with 8 drives. As soon as you switch from AHCI mode to RAID mode in BIOS, performance of 6Gb/s SATA ports drops at least twice. I hope it will be fixed with future BIOS update.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your comments. We apologize for your difficulty with your GIGABYTE product. Please contact us at newegg-support@gigabyteusa.com with the case number 95607 in the subject line. We will provide personalized service and analysis to help solve your issue ASAP. If the matter is urgent, please send us your contact number, and we will contact you.

GIGABYTE VIP Support Team

Pros: Easy to follow manual, easy to work around and install. This board has a hefty solid feel. It was too simple to put together. Dropped the AMD A10-5800k into the FM2 socket, dropped in my Kingston HyperX Blu Red Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model KHX16C9B1RK2/4 ram. Slipped the mb wires onto appropriate connectors, power plugs and that was it. The board booted up with no problems. It was no real challenge at all which I sort of miss but in these later days of my life, easy is good. The default settings will get you up and running on the conservative side. The 1.65v Ram will operate 1.5v at 1333.
The BIOS (that word will not be dropped form the lexicon ueif'ers), from a cursory overview is incredibly detailed and has two modes, a text screen mode, legacy interface and a new 3D mode that is really user friendly. I have not tweeked settings and won't for a while but I can change the RAM voltage.
After 24 hour burn-in the board rocks. Installed Win 7 64bit no problem.
I really liked the out of box conservative approach. 'Lets make sure it all works on the nominal side before overclocking.' Can't wait to take her up a notch. Using a 400 Watt PS with 4 gig Ram and 1 tb SATA 3gbs drive. A bit slow for this chip but it works for now.
So, it is a great motherboard at a good price and I am glad to have invested 264 on MB, RAM and Chip to update my old box. Good going Gigabyte!! BTW, this is my first Gigabyte Board and will not be my last!

Cons: 1394 - Just wish it had one. 1666 1.65 v not available without tweek for ram.

Other Thoughts: UEFI Took me by suprise as it has been a few years since I setup a mb. Had to do some homework to figure out that MBR is on the way out (don't let the door hit you in the ff).

Pros: This is a great motherboard. USB 3.0, FM2, 4 RAM slots. Nice layout. installed without any problems.

Cons: Only thing here and reason for 4 eggs is this, unable to use a VGA adaptor on the DVI port. Not sure why at this point but five adaptors and not one fits.

Other Thoughts: Dvi adaptor problem I had only pertains when your trying to run 2 older monitors. Maybe I'm missing something and you have an answer for the issue. I just ordered an HDMI to VGA adaptor to resolve it.still extra cost involved here.

Pros: Works as it should, seems rock solid so far. Bios offers a decent amount of flexibility and customization options. Definitely worth the price at 89.99

Cons: Space is a little tight with this board in some cases. Used it for an HTPC and had to adjust RAM into positions 2 and 4 to fit everything into place. However, shouldn't be an issue in larger cases.

Pros: This is my 3rd ultra durable giga byte board. It has not disappointed. Booted clean, runs cool with stock heat sinks, bios is easy and instructions are clear. Plenty of USB 3 connections.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Build:
Silverstone GD05B
AMD A10-5800
Corsair Vengeance 8Gb RAM
Lite On Blu Ray writer w/3D playback
Hauppage HVR 2250
OCZ SSD system disk
WD Blue 1 TB data disks (2)
Thermaltake Gold Plus PSU

Pros: -Overall good build quality. Have had great experiences with Gigabyte "Ultra Durable" motherboards in the past.
-Great RAID functionality (all 8 SATA ports can be used for RAID).
-BIOS is pretty well-polished for first release.
-This board can take a ton of RAM (64GB).
-FM2 platform is very power efficient.

Cons: -Realtek LAN... if this was an Intel controller, this board would be perfect!!
-Price... discount/promotions make this board much more appealing.

Other Thoughts: Used this board as a base for a new Windows Home Server build. The RAID function on this board (A85X to be more specific) are what sold me. All 8 SATA ports can be used under the same RAID controller. Also AMD's "RAIDXpert" software works on this system! Without going to a true hardware RAID controller (much more $$$), this is a great option.

This is an easy board to work with. Good feature set for the price. I was also surprised by how power efficient the FM2 platform is. With 7 HDDs and an A4, this system only draws 65W from the wall at idle!! I have had no issues with the chipset (or any other component) overheating. Highly recommend this board if it's in your price range.

The System:
GA-F2A85XM-D3H (This board)
A4-5300 CPU
8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
5x 1TB HDDs in RAID5
2x 500GB HDDs in RAID0
WHS 2011 x64

Pros: *Plenty of SATA inputs.
*Not a bad base price and I got it $30 off.
*As a first-time builder, the BIOS is really easy to understand.
*Documentation is thorough enough.
*Everything worked on first try.

Cons: *I haven't come across any problems.