ASUS F2A85-V PRO: The A85X Chipset

With Trinity, AMD has launched a new chipset, the A85X, for the socket FM2. The A85X is able to support AMD 3-way CrossFireX, and LucidLogix Virtu MVP is also supported. The Trinity APUs support PCI Express 2.0 with 20 lanes that can be split into x16/x4 or x8/x8/x4 configurations. While the platform does not currently support PCI Express 3.0, it should not be a major issue since current GPUs are yet to saturate the PCI-E 2.0 bandwidth. Despite the fact that you can run multiple GPUs on the board, it will only support CrossFire and not SLI.

The ASUS F2A85V Pro is a top of the line board featuring the A85X chipset that is retailed at $140. The ASUS F2A85V Pro looks a lot like its predecessor, the F1A75-V Pro, with both boards featuring the same blue and black color scheme, dual-intelligent processor with Digi+VRAM, ASUS’s Auto-tuning, TurboV, AI Suite II, UEFI Bios, MemOK, and Anti-surge protection. Coming from the same lineage and design of many V Pro series from ASUS, the latest board from ASUS is packed with many updated technology that we have come to expect from the top of the line board.

The new F2A85V Pro is built with the third generation Dual Intelligent Processors with new DIGI+ power control for digital control of the APU and the RAM voltage. The new DIGI+ has been updated to work better with ASUS’ AI Suite where it provided a simple one-click solution in Windows for optimizing system performance. Among the new features are a digitalized 2 phase VDIMM and a built-in preset power profile for ease of overclocking. ASUS also enables power thermal control and real-time DRAM power control with the latest iteration. These are designed to provide the best overclocking potential. Another new feature that will help with overclocking is the T-Topology DRAM layout that replaces the standard daisy-chain design, which would help with 4 DIMM overclocking.