FM2+ Motherboard recommendations

pr2thej · 5 Feb 2014 at 13:34

Requirements:

FM2+ socket
2400 MHz RAM speed (OC or not, either is fine) only 2 slots in dual channel required
HDMI Out
Sata III
mATX Form factor

After a recent bad experience I would prefer to stay away from Asus.
I would also be grateful for suggestions on 2x4GB RAM sticks.

This is all to go with a A10 7850K Kaveri APU, in a HTPC.

Thank you.

Grimley · 5 Feb 2014 at 15:44

I would say this board, I owned its predecessor for about a year & couldn't fault it. Its now in my nephews rig & I now own the ATX version of this board (Been OK so far, but I'm running a trinity CPU in it at the moment until AMD decide to release the A8-7600)

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte F2A88XM-D3H AMD A88X Chipset (Socket FM2+) DDR3 Micro ATX Motherboard £59.99
Total : £68.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).

shadowscotland · 5 Feb 2014 at 15:56

I just got a Asrock FM2A88M Extreme4+ and it's working like a dream.
The on board fan controller is also a bonus - similar to asus's FanExpert2
And the oc suite (now called A-Tuning) is also a big leap forward from the previous versions.
It doesn't have a VRM heatsink which I thought odd for a 'extreme' branded board,
but I've had no issues with overheating in my single fan case

If you shop around it can be had for the same money as the lesser gigabyte boards
It replaced a FM2A75 Pro4-M which was also better that expected.

Both have run my 4 sticks of Ares at 2400

pr2thej · 5 Feb 2014 at 17:39

Thanks, I had the Gigabyte boards pegged but this line in the specs puts me off:

"4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 64 GB of system memory"

Thats pretty much the message across their range, whereas other mobo manufacturers dont seem to quote a figure. For that reason I'd lean towards the Asrock, regardless of cost although the extra features look nice. Heat may well be a problem but Ive got headroom for more cooling.

The 1.5V is a concern as I have already forked out 1.65V 2133 RAM (intended for a different board).

stulid · 5 Feb 2014 at 17:50

1.65v RAM is fine on those boards.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 5 Feb 2014 at 18:06

A mate has a few FM2 builds and 1.65V 1866MHZ+ RAM seemed fine with the ASRock and Gigabyte boards he used.

pr2thej · 6 Feb 2014 at 14:33

Thanks, ill disregard the voltage spec then. I do eventually want 2400MHz RAM as that gets the best out of these APUs supposedly but for now ill stick with what I have.
Cheers!