ASUS F2A85-M PRO Review
Closer Look
4 +2 digital power phases fed by DIGI+ VRMs to aid a reliable power suppy to the APU.
At the top we can see dual CPU 4pin PWM fan headers, handy for all those heatsinks with more than one CPU fan. To the right we can see the 4 memory DIMMs the 24pin ATX power supply socket as well as an edge mounted front USB 3.0 header, convenient for cable routing.
In the bottom left quadrant of the mATX motherboard we find the usual suspects, the RTL8111F gigabit LAN controller in the top left, moving down under the NVT6779D we find the Realtek ALC892 audio codec. At the bottom is the headers for front panel audio, another 4pin fan header and the COM headers.
Here we find 6x right angled SATA 3 (6Gb/s) ports and another SATA port surface mounted. ASUS have chosen to use the 8th SATA port as an eSATA on the I/O so at least there are no redundant SATA connections. At the very bottom right we find the front panel headers for power, reset and activity LEDs. We can also see the clear CMOS jumper should it be needed, while a clrCMOS button is always welcome, ASUS seemingly have omitted one as to rely on their C.P.R. recovery system, regardless a jumper is still handy.
PCIe lanes in order, x16, x1, x1, x8, a little bit of a shame that the first expansion slot isn't an x1 as many who use a sound card would surely prefer to have it at the top and out of the way rather than under a discrete graphics card potentially blocking air flow to the graphics card, nothing too major however. Along the bottom we see 4x USB 2.0 headers, giving a total of 8x USB 2.0 off the board, this means that ASUS have allowed users the ability to tap into ALL USB 3.0 and 2.0 that the A85X chipset has to offer, not bad at all.
Mouse/Keyboard PS/2, 2x USB 2.0, Displayport, HDMI, Optical S/PDIF out, D-Sub, DVI, 4x USB 3.0, eSATA, Gigabit LAN and the 8 channel HD audio jacks. It is interesting to see that this board offers 4x video out ports which means that this motherboard is capable of offering AMD Eyefinity out the box when paired with an APU. For users wanting to jump on with 4K res AKA Ultra HD, it is supported via the Displayport connection only.
4 +2 digital power phases fed by DIGI+ VRMs to aid a reliable power suppy to the APU.
At the top we can see dual CPU 4pin PWM fan headers, handy for all those heatsinks with more than one CPU fan. To the right we can see the 4 memory DIMMs the 24pin ATX power supply socket as well as an edge mounted front USB 3.0 header, convenient for cable routing.
In the bottom left quadrant of the mATX motherboard we find the usual suspects, the RTL8111F gigabit LAN controller in the top left, moving down under the NVT6779D we find the Realtek ALC892 audio codec. At the bottom is the headers for front panel audio, another 4pin fan header and the COM headers.
Here we find 6x right angled SATA 3 (6Gb/s) ports and another SATA port surface mounted. ASUS have chosen to use the 8th SATA port as an eSATA on the I/O so at least there are no redundant SATA connections. At the very bottom right we find the front panel headers for power, reset and activity LEDs. We can also see the clear CMOS jumper should it be needed, while a clrCMOS button is always welcome, ASUS seemingly have omitted one as to rely on their C.P.R. recovery system, regardless a jumper is still handy.
PCIe lanes in order, x16, x1, x1, x8, a little bit of a shame that the first expansion slot isn't an x1 as many who use a sound card would surely prefer to have it at the top and out of the way rather than under a discrete graphics card potentially blocking air flow to the graphics card, nothing too major however. Along the bottom we see 4x USB 2.0 headers, giving a total of 8x USB 2.0 off the board, this means that ASUS have allowed users the ability to tap into ALL USB 3.0 and 2.0 that the A85X chipset has to offer, not bad at all.
Mouse/Keyboard PS/2, 2x USB 2.0, Displayport, HDMI, Optical S/PDIF out, D-Sub, DVI, 4x USB 3.0, eSATA, Gigabit LAN and the 8 channel HD audio jacks. It is interesting to see that this board offers 4x video out ports which means that this motherboard is capable of offering AMD Eyefinity out the box when paired with an APU. For users wanting to jump on with 4K res AKA Ultra HD, it is supported via the Displayport connection only.
