Question 1

Could someone recommend a 2 or 4gb memory for this board? I am completely clueless about them after 9 years on my old desktop.

Accepted Answer

This Motherboard will support a maximum of 64GB, if you are using a 64-bit operating system. If you are using a 32-bit operating system, the maximum is 3GB, as shown on page 1-7 of the A88X-PLUS manual. I have built quite a few computers over the years and have learned that memory size is important and have increased the amount of memory I use with most new computers which I have built. I just built my latest computer using the  A88X-PLUS Motherboard and the Windows 7 64bit Operating System. I could not find any memory which would total 64GB, as that would take four 16GB sticks, which I do not think any company makes yet. I ordered one G.SKILL Ares Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory  for installation in the computer. That is half the maximum amount supported and the most memory I have ever installed in one of my computers but I will be using this computer as my primary computer for some time so wanted to make sure it had enough memory to do anything I might ever do with it. I feel it is better to have more memory than I need than to have less than what I might need.

Question 2

Why does it say No Onboard Graphics when there are 3 monitor outputs on the board?

Accepted Answer

I noticed that discrepancy when I was looking at the FM2 boards on New Egg as well.  I think it is just an oversight in the listing of the specifications.  On the other hand, I don't think that the FM2 boards have traditional "On Board Video" as the video processing is in the AMD CPU rather than having a dedicated video chip on the motherboard.  The board just has the ports to output the video from the CPU.  
You asked New Egg listed the board that way, but I assume you really want to know if you need a video card with this motherboard or not.  The answer to that question is you do NOT need an add-in video card with any of the Socket FM motherboards for the AMD "A Series" APU's.

Question 3

Does this come with wireless?

Accepted Answer

no you need to add a wireless card or wireless usb device. i use one of each with my 2 boards and have no trouble. make sure they are compatible with your os.

Question 4

im a little confused one something. on newegg it say FM2 socket and FM2+ spcket, but asus website only says FM2+. is it both or is it just FM2+? so i know what cpu to get.

Accepted Answer

Hi Kevin. My name is John. I do Tech work here in my home town. If you search for a FM2+ or just FM2 either will fit this board. I just bought one to install for a friend and his old FM2 fit just fine for testing. Then when his new FM2+ chip arrived it worked great. The difference in the socket is 2 pins. So in a FM2+ socket you can use either one. But a FM2+ chip will not fit in a FM2 Socket. I hope this helps.

Question 5

It this Mobo doesn't have on-board video why does it have a HDMI,DVI and VGA port ?

Accepted Answer

Jeremy-

the reason this mobo has the HDMI, DVI and VGA ports is because it is an FM2/FM2+ socket mobo which means you will be most likely buying an APU (Accelerated or Advanced Proccessing Unit) which is a CPU with graphics integrated onto the CPU chip itself.

Just make sure that you stick with an FM2/FM2+ socket CPU and you will be able to take advantage of those ports

Question 6

does this have windows on it im new to this thing but it says windows 8 ready is that like a slogan thing?

Accepted Answer

It means that this board is able to run windows 8 as far as the requirements for on-board hardware go. No this board does not come with windows 8 installed and does not come with an install disk. For the most part it is just a slogan, because I have a 7 year old laptop and it can run windows 8 ok. But I built a PC about six months ago with this board in it and it runs much better than the laptop ever will. I Would be happy to answer anymore questions

Question 7

Im interesting pairing this with the A10-5800 for a home PC for a family member that is not a gamer! But intends on using the USB 3.0 for a video survelance camera set up using up to 2 to 3 camera,s! My question is can a separete externally powered USB Hub with 4 connectors be plugged in to one of th rear USB ports for more expansion and connectors and will it be compatable and handle the extra load from that desktop HUB?

Accepted Answer

You would likely be bottle necked by using a USB HUB. That is you would be sending all that information through one USB 3.0 port and being video (and I'm assuming high quality) I think it would be too much. USB 3.0 can do about 640 mbps (Megabits Per Second) which is about 78 MBps (Megabytes Per Second) so if you know what kind of bandwidth you'll be needing that would help.

Question 8

Is the BIOS version that comes with each board printed on the board or listed somewhere in the manual so I can see if a BIOS update is needed to get this board to work with an Athlon X4 860 before having to play phone/email tag with Asus trying to sort out why the system isn't POSTing?

Accepted Answer

OK,
You have to get it to boot to see the bios.
I have used this board about 30 times now and if you have at least 1 stick of memory and a compatible processor and a good power supply it should at least let you into the bios.
If it will NOT I would try a different Power supply first.

Question 9

I plan to use this board with an 860k. What is the current BIOS revision of your inventory?
If I should receive a board with an Incompatible BIOS will ASUS simply ship me an EEPROM with the current version upon request?
I will not make this purchase with the spectre of having to RMA the entire board and incur the added cost of shipping charges. Thank you.

Accepted Answer

I don't see why you cant use the 860k, If the bios that its ships with doesn't support it without an upgrade then its highly possible it will boot to bios so you can update it via flash drive.. When I ordered this board awhile back, I have only had 2 bios updates since..

Question 10

I've just purchased two of these boards but my Windows XP Professional System will not install.  Is there a problem with the RAM not being compatible or is it the architecture of the system that is not compatible?

Accepted Answer

I am currently using Windows XP Pro with this motherboard. You did not supply very much information. If trying to use 16g of ram and you only have little more than 3 available, That is normal for 32bit system.

Questions & Answers