Wednesday, January 30th 2013

ASRock Unveils FM2A85X-ITX Motherboard

by
btarunr
 Discuss (34 Comments)
In what could bring an ear-to-ear grin on DIY NAS/home-server builders, ASRock launched the industry's first mini-ITX motherboard with a total of eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports (of which one is eSATA 6 Gb/s). The new FM2A85X-ITX, as the name suggests, is a socket FM2 motherboard based on the AMD A85X chipset, in the mini-ITX form-factor. Everything on this board is just where you'd want it to be: the centrally-located APU socket is powered by a fairly strong 6-phase VRM, which along with ancillary phases, draws power from 24-pin ATX and 4-pin CPU power connectors.

The APU socket, which supports today's AMD A-series "Trinity" APUs, and likely tomorrow's A-series "Richland" APUs, is wired to two DDR3-DIMM slots supporting a maximum of 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3-1866 memory; and the lone expansion slot, a PCI-Express 2.0 x16. The AMD A85X FCH wires out seven internal SATA 6 Gb/s ports (with RAID 0/1/10 support), and an eSATA 6 Gb/s port. Display connectivity includes one each of dual-link DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. The board features a total of four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers). Gigabit Ethernet, 8-channel HD audio, PS/2 keyboard, and a number of USB 2.0/1.1 ports make for the rest of the connectivity. The ASRock FM2A85X-ITX is expected to be priced around US $110.

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34 Comments on ASRock Unveils FM2A85X-ITX Motherboard

#26
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
blibbaSeems like the best value bet would be a lame old C2D era MATX board with an undervolted chip and some PCI sata cards.
That kinda depends on what you want to do with the data. For pure cheap storage it would work quite well.
Posted on Reply
#27
blibba
TheGuruStudBut I won't use intel :p

I have a nice RAID card, but I F'd myself. I bought it with the intention of running tons of 2 TB drives...I ended up buying 3TBers and it's an enterprise card that wasn't updated (assholes), so no 3TB support.
Hence C2D era :)
Posted on Reply
#28
TheGuruStud
blibbaHence C2D era :)
I see what you did there...

I could really under-volt/clock this x2 555, but I'm lazy :laugh:
Of course, board power is still more than I'd like, but probably lower than I think.
Posted on Reply
#29
blibba
TheGuruStudI see what you did there...

I could really under-volt/clock this x2 555, but I'm lazy :laugh:
Of course, board power is still more than I'd like, but probably lower than I think.
Certainly the amount you'll save in power by using an FM2 system rather than an underclocked Athlon X2 won't pay for the cost of acquiring tge FM2 system.
Posted on Reply
#30
TheGuruStud
blibbaCertainly the amount you'll save in power by using an FM2 system rather than an underclocked Athlon X2 won't pay for the cost of acquiring tge FM2 system.
Correct, but I've yet to build an APU system :ohwell: . It's not cost effective vs. a mATX/ATX solution, since those will be much more powerful and only slightly more expensive (with a lot more features).
Posted on Reply
#31
blibba
TheGuruStudCorrect, but I've yet to build an APU system :ohwell: . It's not cost effective vs. a mATX/ATX solution, since those will be much more powerful and only slightly more expensive (with a lot more features).
I don't feel like a file server is the best application, seeing as the main strength is graphics within a tight power envelope, space envelope and budget. HTPC?
Posted on Reply
#32
Frick
Fishfaced Nincompoop
blibbaI don't feel like a file server is the best application, seeing as the main strength is graphics within a tight power envelope, space envelope and budget. HTPC?
HTPC material indeed. For file servers i'd go with a decent board and the cheapest celeron or whatever intels lowest are called nowadays.
Posted on Reply
#33
RaZZ3R
Not OC'ed
brandonwh64Its not ASRocks fault if you were OCing a CPU on a media style board that is suppose to be used at stock settings.
I didn't OC'ed it. I was changing the boot order so I can install windows from USB. And ASRock didn't reply to my e-mails for about a month now. I don't think I'm getting my money back. I had a good history with ASRock until this problem arose.
Posted on Reply
#34
suraswami
TheGuruStudAt least they're not ECS :roll:

Their mid and high end boards are fine. Z77/970 extreme 4 and 990fx pro builds I have done are running great, even when OCed.

They've actually become my go to board for anything in that sector b/c they're built well and are much cheaper than competitors. Microcenter also has great deals/combos on them :cool:
When is the last time you used an ECS board?
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