PCD design and functionality
Just like the packaging, a few design
features in F2A85-V PRO indicate that it is an Asus
product. The board itself looks quite common. We can just take it for granted, but
we are also suprised about it. Many mainboards for Socket FM2 processors have
some unique distinguishing features, letting you know it is an inexpensive and
simple model. Among themsmaller PCB dimensions, 4-pin ATX12V Power Connector,
the lack of additional heatsinks or something similar. Asus F2A85-V PRO does
not have anything like that. It seems that it is a fully functional mainboard
without any "ifs" or "buts".
PCD
design and functionality
The mainboard is equipped with a pretty
powerful voltage regulator that works as 6+2. The new “DIGI+Power Control”
voltage regulator circuitry guarantees stable settings as well as simple and
precise voltage adjustment not only for the core processor and integrated
graphics in it, but also for memory. It supports all modern Socket FM2
processors, and four DIMM memory slots can be filled with up to 64GB of RAM.
The voltage regulator components that may run warm during operation are covered
with two additional heatsinks, and the cooling contour includes a heatpipe
connecting one of them with the heatsink on the chipset.
It
supports all modern Socket FM2 processors
A85X AMD chips offer support for AMD
CrossFireX graphics configurations. You can use two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots
that share 16 PCI-E lanes as well as the third slot working at x4 speed.
Besides that the expansion card can be installed in two PCI Express 2.0 x1
slots, and two PCI slots. Out of eight SATA 6 Gbps ports available in the
mainboard chipset, we have seven plus one eSATA on the back panel.
The
mainboard's back panel
The mainboard's back panel has following
ports and connectors:
·
Universal PS/2 connector for keyboard or mouse
·
Four USB 2.0 ports, another eight ports are laid
out as four onboard pin-connectors;
·
D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI and DisplayPort video output
·
eSATA 6 Gbps port implemented via AMD A85X
chipset, like seven internal SATA 6Gbps ports
·
Four USB 3.0 ports (blue connection), two of
which are deployed through ASMedia ASM1042 controller. Another two ports and
one more internal pin-connector for two additional USB 3.0 ports are provided
by the mainboard chipset
·
A local network port (network adapter is built
on Gigabit Realtek RTL8111F controller)
·
An optical S/PDIF and six analogue audio-jacks
provided by eight-channel Realtek ALC892 codec
Just like all
other mainrboards from Asus, F2A85-V PRO uses wide Q-Slot latches on graphics
card slots. TPU switch (TurboV Processing Unit) will allow you to automatically
overclock the processor, while the EPU switch (Energy Processing Unit) will
enable the energy saving activities. USB BIOS Flashback button will update the
mainboard's BIOS using the utility with the same name even when the system is
not fully assembled: you do not need to install the processor, memory, graphics
card or display connection to run the update tool. Just plug in the power
cable, insert the USB flash drive into the corresponding port and press and
hold the BIOS Flashback button. Also, there is a MemOK button! It allows
mainboard to successfully boost even when memory problems occur. There is a new
button called "DirectKey", by clicking on it, you can automatically
login to mainboard's BIOS setup. There are five four-pin fan connectors
available: one processor fan connector and four system fan connectors.
USB
BIOS Flashback button will update the mainboard's BIOS
