[Review] MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 + AMD A10 5800K

[KeYoKe]

[Review] MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 + AMD A10 5800K

MSI FM2-A85XA-G65

MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 motherboard is an ATX form factor motherboard which comes with the below features:

1. DigitALL Power - Motherboard is equipped with a digital PWM controller which ensure an efficient, precise and stable power delivery to motherboards
2. Military Class III Components - Motherboard uses Military Class III Components (HI-c CAP, SFC, DrMOSII and Solid CAP) which increase the lifespan, stability and reliability of the motherboard
3. OC Genie II - Overclocking of CPU Frequency, RAM Frequency and iGPU Frequency in 1 second
4. Click BIOS II – Interactive and easy to use UEFI graphical user interface

Specification of the MSI-FM2-A85XA-G65:
CPU:
AMD A10/8/6/4 series processors

Chipset:
AMD A85X Chipset

Memory:
4 DIMM 1.5v DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1866/2133/2400*(OC), 64GB MAX

Slots:
2 x PCI-e Gen 2 x 16 slots
3 x PCI-e Gen2 x 1 slots
2 x PCI slots

On-Board SATA:
8 x SATA 6Gb/s ports

Audio:
Realtek ALC892

LAN:
Realtek PCI-e GbLAN controller RTL8111E

USB:
3 x Internal USB 2.0 connectors
1 x Internal USB 3.0 connectors
4 x Rear USB 2.0 ports
2 x Rear USB 3.0 ports

 

[KeYoKe]

Lets take a look at the motherboard:
Packaging:

Front of the box

Back of the box showing the features that comes with the motherboard such as Military Class III components,OC Genie II, Click Bios II, Back I/O of the motherboard :

Accessories that came with the motherboard:

Front view of the MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 motherboard
I find that this motherboard is quite cleanly laid out and neat not putting the MSI Z77 MPower into consideration. As usual, MSI uses a blue and black theme for this motherboard. I have personally used a MSI P67A GD80, I love the design of VRM and chipset heatsink of this motherboard. The new design of the heatsinks makes the motherboard looks cleaner and more professional.

More shots of the VRM and chipset heatsinks
The VRM heatsinks are joined together by a SuperPipe
Look at the beauty of the VRM and chipset heatsinks:

 

[KeYoKe]

Additional information and features of the motherboard:
CPU 2 x 4 pins to provide more power for overclocking:
It is in an ideal location at the top left hand corner of the motherboard which allows neater cable management.

Realtek ALC 892 Audio Controller:

Realtek RTL8111E Ethernet Controller:

Fintek F71889AD chip which allows voltage monitoring, controlling of fan speeds along with temperature monitoring:

USB front panel header and Clear CMOS button:
USB front panel header which has the Super Charger feature on is labeled clearly on the motherboard.
There is also a clear CMOS button which I am a great fan of as clearing the CMOS by using jumper is a nightmare.

 

[KeYoKe]

6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors orientation:

PCI slots orientation:

MSI Click BIOS II:

Easy Button 3 and OC Genie Button:

Military Class III Components:
Super Ferrite Choke:

Hi-c CAP:

Solid CAP and DrMOSII (Covered by the VRM heatsink):

 

[KeYoKe]

The place where Trinity comes to life:

Back view of the MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 motherboard
The back of the motherboard is clean which allow after market CPU cooler bracket to be mounted on it without any difficulty

Back panel I/O of the motherboard:

 

[KeYoKe]

AMD Trinity A10 5800K
This is the newest processor from AMD (also known as APU) which incorporates processor and a graphic core. AMD A10 5800K comes with an AMD HD7660D graphic core which allows budget gamers to game using onboard graphics without spending additional budget for a dedicated graphic card, and also allows them to buy a low end dedicated graphic card such as HD6670, 6570 to “crossfire” it with the graphic core for a 100% gain in gaming performance.
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Lets take a look at the AMD Trinity A10 5800K:

Front and side view of the packaging:

The APU and the heatsink:

 

[KeYoKe]

Now let us look at how an Intel I5 3570K processor and its onboard Intel HD 4000 series GPU performs against an AMD Trinity A10 5800K with its onboard HD7660D GPU

Test Bench 1:
Motherboard: MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 @ 4.2Ghz Max Turbo
Processor: AMD Trinity A10 5800K
Memory: 4 x 4GB GSkill RipjawZ DDR3 2133Mhz 1.55v 9-11-10-28 Kit
Power supply: Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W
Operating System: Windows 8 Professional 64 bit

Test Bench 2:
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77 V Pro
Processor: Intel I5 3570K Oced @ 4.2Ghz
Memory: 2 x 4GB GSkill RipjawX DDR3 2133Mhz 1.65v 9-11-10-28
Power supply: Superflower Golden King 550W
Operating System: Windows 8 Professional 64 bit

CPU-Z and GPU-Z Screenshot:
Test Bench 1:

Test Bench 2:

Cinebench Benchmarks (Determine CPU Processing Power):
Test Bench 1 (3.31):

Test Bench 2 (7.02):

3D Mark Vantage (Performance Preset) (Combined GPU and CPU Test):
Test Bench 1:
CPU Score: 8907
GPU Score: 5312

Test Bench 2:
CPU Score: 23334
GPU Score: 3293

3D Mark11 (Performance Preset) (Combined GPU and CPU Test):
Test Bench 1:
CPU Score: 3644
GPU Score: 1486

Test Bench 2:
CPU Score: 7406
GPU Score: 669

From the above combined test, the APU processing power is not as strong as the I5 3570K but the HD7660D Graphic Core outperforms the Intel HD4000 series by quite a margin

 

[KeYoKe]

Unigine Benchmark (1920 x 1080 Resolution) (GPU Processing Power Test):
Test Bench 1:
FPS: 18.5

Test Bench 2:
FPS: 11.4

Street Fighter 4 Benchmark:
Settings used:

Test Bench 1:
FPS: 30.00

Test Bench 2:
FPS: 25.85

The Last Remnant (1920 x 1080):
Test Bench 1:
FPS: 33.53

Test Bench 2:
FPS: 26.20

 

[KeYoKe]

The Lost Planet Test A (1920 x 1080, other settings default):
Test Bench 1:
FPS: 16.7

Test Bench 2:
FPS: 10.3

The Lost Planet Test B (1920 x 1080, other settings default):
Test Bench 1:
FPS: 14.3

Test Bench 2:
FPS: 7.7

 

[KeYoKe]

Conclusion:

From the above table, one can see that the onboard graphics of the AMD A10 5800K performs better than the Intel HD4000 Series. However, AMD does not perform as well as Intel in terms of CPU Processing Power. Hence, AMD Trinity APU is more suited for consumers whom are building a budget rig for gaming as it performs better than Intel's onboard graphics in gaming aspects in the similar price point.
Despite that, it also allows consumers with tight budget to buy a low-end graphic card to crossfire with the graphic core on the APU for better performance which the Intel HD4000 series does not allow their consumers to do so.

MSI FM-2 A85XA-G65 is one of the decent motherboards to pair up with the AMD Trinity A10 5800K as it provides stability and reliability to the consumer and also has features which allows overclockers to easily tune and improve the performance of the entire PC with the necessary third party CPU coolers. (OCed results are not displayed as the stock cooler is not performing its job well =x common issue for AMD, so hope that they can improve on the quality of the heatsinks so that consumers with limited budget can push additional performance out of the APU) with MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 motherboard

First time doing review for mobo and CPU, so pardon me if its not a job well done =x

 

[Elijahonli]

nice review... looks like Intel still has a long way to go in terms of iGPU

 

[zelda1031]

nice review !!!!

 

[KeYoKe]

nice review... looks like Intel still has a long way to go in terms of iGPU

nice review !!!!

Thanks bros!!

 

[clon22]

Nice review bro.
APU performance is good.
Definitely a good improvement over llano.

 

[tErOn]

support support!!

 

[KeYoKe]

Nice review bro.
APU performance is good.
Definitely a good improvement over llano.

Thanks bro... yea yea agreed

support support!!

Thanks bro!!

 

[ah hui]

Swee swee! Support Support!!

AMD APU beats Intel Intergrated graphics!

 

[eminus]

I would take Trintiy over any i3 anytime anyday!!! i3 is boring whilst AMD Trinity you can do a lot with it hehehe

 

[KeYoKe]

I would take Trintiy over any i3 anytime anyday!!! i3 is boring whilst AMD Trinity you can do a lot with it hehehe

+1 for this bro

 

[escksu]

Lol I just bought the same board and CPU for my cousin. And top it up with a 7970PE.