Before we get into the motherboard, I feel it’s important to help you guys to differentiate AMD’s chipsets. Gigabyte F2A88X-UP4 was used to test the AMD A10 7800 APU, so I spent a good amount of time with this.
They are as follows, continuing from FM1 socket:
| A55 | A75 | A78 | A85X | A88X | |
| Socket | FM1/FM2/FM2+ | FM1/FM2 | FM2+ | FM2 | FM2+ |
| PCI-e | 2.0 | 3.0 | |||
| Lanes | 1 x16 | 1 x16/ 2 x8 | 1 x16 | 1 x16/2 x8 | 1 x16/2 x8 |
| SATA | 6x SATA II | 6x SATA III | 6x SATA III | 8x SATA III | 8x SATA III |
| USB | 14x USB2.0 2x USB1.1 |
4x USB3.0 10x USB2.0 2x USB1.1 |
4x USB3.0 10x USB2.0 2x USB1.1 |
4x USB3.0 10x USB2.0 2x USB1.1 |
4x USB3.0 10x USB2.0 2x USB1.1 |
Other than the socket difference between the A85X and the A88X, the latter is the only FM2+ chipset at the time of writing that provides PCIe 3.0. FM2+ socket motherboards have backward compatibility with FM2, but there are some restrictions. Only the FM2+ processors provide PCIe 3.0 lanes for the A88X platform. It also should be noted that the chipset provides native support to up to 8 SATA III ports.
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Gigabyte F2A88X-UP4 is an ATX form-factor motherboard, but unlike the Intel chipset based Gigabyte motherboards I tested earlier, the layout made a good impression. It reminded me of the good times when Gigabyte was well known with 780G/880G/890G/790FX/890FX was rolling out. Phenom II was a good processor and the combo was great. Gigabyte F2A88X-UP4 layout was awfully familiar. It should be noted that my days of putting up reviews started from Gigabyte motherboards.
It’s another part of the story that successor to AMD FX series is nowhere in sight. Phenom II days are long gone.
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