Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 Motherboard Review

1. Introduction2. Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2: Packaging and Bundle3. Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2; Layout and Features4. Testing Methodology and Overclocking5. Synthetic: PCMark 86. Synthetic: 3DMark7. Synthetic: 3Dmark 118. Synthetic: 3DMark Vantage9. Synthetic: SiSoft Sandra 201310. Synthetic: Cinebench R11.511. Synthetic: Cinebench R1512. Synthetic: Super Pi13. Real World: MKV Playback14. Real World: Media Encoding15. Gaming: Battlefield 416. Gaming: Call of Duty Black Ops 217. Gaming: DiRT Showdown18. Technical: Power Consumption19. Closing Thoughts20. View All Pages

Today we are going to take a look at the Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 motherboard, aimed at those looking to build an AMD APU based system with a limited budget.  This particular motherboard is a bit of a departure from the usual high end product we are used to receiving from Gigabyte and we are interested to see how it overclocks, especially when factoring in the companies excellent reputation.

The F2A88XM-DS2 is a £47 budget board and Gigabyte have clearly stripped down on features heavily to keep the price down to a minimum.  However, for those users who would miss these features, there are plenty of other models in Gigabyte's range that would be suitable.

Key Features

• Socket FM2+ supports AMD FM2+/FM2 A-series APU
• GIGABYTE Ultra Durable 4 Plus Technology
• GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS
• GIGABYTE On/Off Charge for USB devices
• 4 USB 3.0 ports with GIGABYTE 3x USB power
• Features Dual-link DVI for high resolution displays of up to 2560 x 1600 pixels
• High ESD Protection on GbE LAN and USB ports
• All solid capacitors design

Specifications

• CPU Support for AMD FM2+ A Series and Athlon Series Processors
• AMD A88X Chipset
• 2 x 1.5V Dual Channel DDR3 2400/2133/1866/1600/1333 MHz with support for AMP/XMP modules
• Support for AMD APU with Integrated Radeon HD 7000/8000 Series Graphics
• 1x D-Sub (VGA) Port
• 1x DVI-D Port supporting a maximum resolution of 2560×1600
• 7.1 Realtek HD Audio with S/PDIF Output
• Realtek Gigabit LAN
• 1x PCI-Express X16 Slot
• 1x PCI-Express x1 Slot
• 1x PCI Slot
• Support for AMD Dual Graphics- only with A Series APU
• 4x SATA 6Gb/s Ports with support for RAID 0,1,5,10 and JBOD
• 4x USB 3.0 ports (2 rear, 2 internal)
• 8x USB 2.0 Ports (4 rear, 4 internal)

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