The Board - A Closer Look

Gigabyte has released the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 with quite a few overclocking-specific features; many of which I didn't expect. First of all, you get the full Gigabyte DualBIOS treatment with a POST-code display right next to the actual BIOS chips. Second, you get a set of ON/OFF, RESET, and "CMOS Clear" switches near the top-right corner of the board. Their position allows you to utilize them with a fully populated board.


Like mentioned on the front of the box, the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 also has an overclocking-friendly VRM design; one that uses some of the most expensive components on the market to ensure you can deliver clean power to your delicate silicon. All International Rectifier parts shown above are on the IR3567A controller. The VRM itself is made up of many International Rectifier IR3550M PowerStages shown in the second image above.


The DIMM VRM uses a more traditional design, but is still built with International Rectifier parts that offer a couple user-level customization options in the BIOS. Monitoring for all the fancy VRM stuff, as well as providing support for the PS/2 port, is the ITE8728F Super I/O, a chip I have put on these pages time and time again. Honestly, it's one of my favorites as far as Super I/Os go.


Audio on the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 is provided by a Realtek ALC892. I had hoped to find an ALC898 here, but I fully understand why Gigabyte picked the ALC892 given that this is a value-oriented product. Circuit design plays a large role in motherboard audio anyways, so we'll have to see how well it performs in RightMark Audio Analyzer.


USB 3.0 support, outside of what is offered by the AMD A85X FCH, is provided by an EtronTech EJ168A. I've seen it used pretty often, and it does perform quite well. I found a Pericom PI3HDMI4 TMDS switch for TMDS shifting.


The FCH cooler on the Gigabyte F2A85X-UP4 is really simple, clad in a shiny grey finish. It had no issues keeping the AMD A85X FCH cool during my tests with a dual HD7950 setup.