Horses for courses isn’t just a tired cliché, it’s
chronically fatigued to the point of near implosion, but we’re afraid you’re
just going to have to suck it up because it applies to some extent here.
That’s
because several remits are at play when it comes to any motherboard, and
especially if we’re talking about a board for AMD’s latest Kaveri APUs. That’s
because it’s easy to imagine using Kaveri for anything from a super-thin client
box for streaming to a cheap gaming rig, to a home theatre or console-like
living room box sitting under your telly.
AMD
Motherboard with fast shipping and top-rated customer service
Full ATX
tower, tiny mini-ITX box, there are just so many options and no one board can possibly
be best at everything. With that in mind, let’s get to the prize giving.
Without a
doubt, the bargain basement award goes to the preposterously cheap Gigabyte
F2A88XM-DS2. $73 is comedy money and it’s great to think just how cheaply you
could make a small micro-ATX PC based on this board, a cheap chassis and a
middling Kaveri chip. It’s an excellent option for a bargain streaming box
based on a hard-wired network.
For a
slightly higher-end SFF solution, the ASRock FM2A88X-ITX+ is darned appealing. It’s
the only board with mSATA support for onboard storage, and it comes complete
with wireless networking. That said, the Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI also makes a
strong case as the best game streaming board courtesy of its AC-spec wireless
networking capability. Decisions, decisions, eh?
The
ASUS A88X-PRO FM2+ motherboard is a great choice to
pair up with the latest AMD Kaveri APU's
Meanwhile,
the Gigabyte G1-SNIPER A88X doesn’t look half bad as the basis of a cheap
gaming tower. It also sports some nice audio features that should catch the
attention of anyone who wants the cleanest sound quality from their gaming
machine. Then there are the ASUS A88X-Pro and ASRock Fatal1ty FM2A88X+ KILLER
to consider. Both are surprisingly fully-featured and will help you make the
most of a Kaveri-based rig, even if the ASRock’s somewhat iffy CPU-overclocking
does compromise that board’s overall appeal. All of which means every entrant
this month can make a decent case for itself. There are no stinkers, but two
boards undoubtedly stand out. We really like the cut of the ASRock
FM2A88X-ITX+’s jib. That feature set, complete with wireless networking and
mSATA, is great, and the CPU-overclocking, which topped out at an impressive
4.4GHz with our AMD A10-7850k APU, is absolutely excellent for a mini-ITX
board. It’s our SFF board of choice.
ASUS
A88X – One click boost APU performance
Finally
there’s the ASUS A88X-Pro. Predictable as it is for an ASUS board to pick up
some kind of gong, you just can’t deny the features, quality and performance.
The back panel is rammed with outputs, it’s got all the video options covered,
it’s the best overclocker here and it does some pretty special things when it
comes to integrated graphics performance. It’s a bit more expensive than the
rest, but only by a small margin and one that’s well worth paying.
