Coinciding with the launch of the desktop AMD Trinity APU range of processors today, Sapphire has announced a new mainboard specially developed to make the most of the new Trinity family. The new mainboard is called the Sapphire Pure Platinum A85XT. As the name may suggest this mainboard includes a full implementation of the A85X chipset features “including USB 3.0, SATA 6G, PCI-Express expansion and extensive I/O support”. The A85X chipset is the most advanced available for FM2 socket Trinity APUs.
The full sized ATX Pure Platinum A85XT mainboard has the following specifications:
|
CPU |
Support AMD Socket FM2: AMD A-series APU with AMD Radeon™ HD Graphics |
|
Chipset |
AMD™ A85XT (Hudson-D4 FCH) |
|
BIOS |
AMI BIOS, 32Mb Flash ROM |
|
Memory |
4 slots 240-pin DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600+ non-ECC ,un-buffered memory |
|
Graphics |
AMD Radeon™ HD7000D series GPU Integrated in Socket FM2 A-series APU |
|
Expansion Slots |
1 x MINI PCI-E x1 slots |
|
Storage |
Supports HDDs with RAID 0, 1,5,10 functions |
|
Audio |
Realtek ALC892 HD Audio CODEC with 8-Channel |
|
Ethernet LAN |
Realtek RTL8111F PCI Express Gigabit LAN |
|
Rear Panel I / O |
4 x USB 2.0 port |
|
Internal I / O |
2 x USB 2.0 headers |
|
Form Factor |
ATX, Size 12" x 9.6" |
|
OS support |
Windows 7 (32/64) bit |
Highlights of the specifications include the support of the whole of the latest generation FM2 Trinity APUs, chipset features including USB 3.0, SATA 6GB, DisplayPort, Dual Link DVI-D, HDMI and VGA. Triple view is supported with VGA, DVI and either HDMI or DisplayPort. Up to four independent high resolution DirectX 11 displays are supported by the integrated Southern Islands graphics.
Sapphire says the new mainboard has a very high build quality and includes gold plated connectors for USB 3.0 and LAN ports. Solid capacitors are used throughout, for better reliability. The chipset is passively cooled and low profile so you can have a better wider choice of APU cooling solutions without any obstructions.
Enthusiasts and overclockers will appreciate the Sapphire hardware monitoring tools and TriXX software which allows “users to review and adjust a range of system parameters while optimizing performance of the APU”. The push-button resettable UEFI dual-BIOS is useful for experimentation, updates and backup.
As we say in the HEXUS AMD A10-5800K Trinity APU review, there will be other FM2 boards out imminently from ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte for you to compare this Sapphire A85X effort with, including some entry level and mid-range boards.
