ASUS A88X-Pro AMD Motherboard Review

By Hank Tolman

Manufacturer: ASUSTek Computer Inc.

Full Disclosure: AMD provided the product sample used in this article.

With the new Kaveri APUs out in full force, the Mantle API being used for high-profile games like Battlefield 4, and HSA finally coming into its own, FM2+ motherboards are all over the place. The A88X chipset paired with an FM2+ APU is a solid platform all by itself, but manufacturers have to spice things up in order to sell motherboards. In this article, Benchmark Reviews takes a look at the ASUS A88X-Pro FM2+ Motherboard.

The ASUS A88X-Pro FM2+ Motherboard is the flagship FM2+ motherboard for ASUS. It contains a full compliment of three PCI-E ports allowing for 3-Way Crossfire or CrossfireX configurations. The A88X Pro is also home to more robust cooling features than any of the other ASUS FM2+ motherboards, and more than any of the other FM2+ motherboards I have tested.

ASUS has always provided a lot of extras to draw consumer’s to their products and the A88X Pro is no different. Dual Intelligent processors 4, MemOK!, Fan Xpert 2, and EZ Flash are just a few of the features that can be found on the A88X Pro. We’ll discuss those features, as well as the rest of the details on the A88X Pro, in this review. So what are you waiting for? Jump on in.
 

The Microsoft DirectX-11 graphics API is native to the Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System, and will be the primary OS for our test platform. DX11 is also available as a Microsoft Update for the Windows Vista OS, so our test results apply to both versions of the operating system. All of the tests in this review were run with DX11 graphics.

While a lot of gamers use the 1680×1050 desktop resolution, 1920×1080 is rapidly becoming the most popular. Because it is the more demanding of the two, I ran all of my tests at a resolution of 1920×1080. You can expect slightly better frame rates if you are using 1680×1050, but the difference probably won’t be dramatic.

I used a combination of synthetic and video game benchmark tests in this article to illustrate relative performance among graphics solutions. Our benchmark frame rate results are not intended to represent real-world graphics performance, as this experience would change based on supporting hardware and the perception of individuals playing the video game.

• Motherboards: ASRock FM2A88X Extreme6+, ASUS A88X Pro, Biostar HiFi Z87W, Biostar HiFi Z77X
• Processor: AMD A10-7850K ($185), AMD A10-6800K ($140), Intel Core i5-4670 ($220), Intel Core i3-3220 ($125)
• System Memory: 8GB AMD Radeon DDR3 2400MHz
• Disk Drive: Seagate 1TB SSHD ST1000LM014
• PSU: Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W 80-Plus Certified
• Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

• AIDA 64
• SiSoft Sandra 2014
• PCMark 8

Synthetic Benchmarks

• 3DMark
  • Firestrike, Cloudgate, Ice Storm
• 3DMark11
  • “Performance” settings (1280×720)
• Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0
  • Tesselation, Low Settings

Gaming Benchmarks

• Tomb Raider
  • Normal Settings
• Bioshock Infinite
  • Low Settings

• Battlefield 4
  • Normal Settings

AIDA64 is a full 64-bit benchmark and test suite utilizing MMX, 3DNow! and SSE instruction set extensions, and will scale up to 32 processor cores. An enhanced 64-bit System Stability Test module is also available to stress the whole system to its limits. For legacy processors all benchmarks and the System Stability Test are available in 32-bit versions as well.
The Queen benchmark is a simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. The Photoworxx benchmark performs common photo and image editing tasks. The AMD APUs certainly excel in the Queen tests, but come down below the i5-4670 in Photoworxx.

The next two benchmarks both go to the Intel CPU. The AES benchmark tests CPU performance using AES. The Hash benchmark measures CPU performance using SHA-1. The A10-7850K does better in the Hash tests, actually beating the previous generation A10-6800K. In the AES tests, it doesn’t quite make it.

This integer benchmark measures combined CPU and memory subsystem performance through the public ZLib compression library. CPU ZLib test uses only the basic x86 instructions, and it is HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware.

The final benchmarks are the floating point benchmarks. Julia tests single-point precision (32-bit) and Mandel tests double-point precision (64-bit). Not only to the Intel CPUs dominate in these two tests, but the A10-7850K also loses out to the A10-6800K again.

The VP8 benchmark measures video compression performance using the Google VP8 (WebM) video codec Version 1.1.0. The SinJulia benchmark measures the extended precision (also known as 80-bit) floating-point performance through the computation of a single frame of a modified “Julia” fractal.

SiSoftware Sandra is a 32- and 64-bit client/server Windows system analyzer that includes benchmarking, testing and listing modules. It tries to go beyond other utilities to show you more of what is really going on under the hood so you draw comparisons at both a high and low-level in a single product. You can get information about the CPU, GPGPU, chipset, video adapter (GPU), ports, printers, sound card, memory, network, Windows internals even .NET and Java.

The A10-7850K does extremely well in the Memory Bandwidth tests, unsurprisingly. The APU also outperforms the more expensive i5-4670 in the Sandra Aggregate score. The cryptography benchmarks, like in the AIDA64 tests, go to the Intel CPU.

It is also no surprise that the A10-7850K completely destroys all of the other CPUs in the GP Processing tests. It also does well in the Arithmetic processing tests, but not nearly as well in the Multi-Media tests, which don’t actually depend as much on the GPU as you might think.

3DMark11 is Futuremark’s latest iteration of the video card software benchmark suite, building on the features of 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark 06 as well as earlier version. It’s optimized and intended for testing DirectX-11 capable hardware running under Windows Vista or Windows 7.

• 3DMark11
  • “Extreme” settings, 1920×1080 resolution

The Unigine Heaven benchmark is a free publicly available tool that grants the power to unleash the graphics capabilities in DirectX-11 for Windows 7 or updated Vista Operating Systems. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. With the interactive mode, emerging experience of exploring the intricate world is within reach. Through its advanced renderer, Unigine is one of the first to set precedence in showcasing the art assets with tessellation, bringing compelling visual finesse, utilizing the technology to the full extend and exhibiting the possibilities of enriching 3D gaming. The distinguishing feature in the Unigine Heaven benchmark is a hardware tessellation that is a scalable technology aimed for automatic subdivision of polygons into smaller and finer pieces, so that developers can gain a more detailed look of their games almost free of charge in terms of performance. Thanks to this procedure, the elaboration of the rendered image finally approaches the boundary of veridical visual perception: the virtual reality transcends conjured by your hand. The Heaven benchmark excels at providing the following key features:

• Native support of OpenGL, DirectX 9, DirectX-10 and DirectX-11
• Comprehensive use of tessellation technology
• Advanced SSAO (screen-space ambient occlusion)
• Volumetric cumulonimbus clouds generated by a physically accurate algorithm
• Dynamic simulation of changing environment with high physical fidelity
• Interactive experience with fly/walk-through modes
• ATI Eyefinity support

• Unigine Heaven 3.0
  • High Shaders, Extreme tessellation,8xAA, 4xAF

The Tomb Raider game includes a benchmark in it that highlights the TressFX features used in the game. TressFX is specifically a hair quality physics feature that aids in realistic looking hair in games. Each strand of hair is given dozens of connections in a chain-like fashion. Each strand can be affected by gravity, wind, and head movements. The hair is also given collision, so that the overlapping hairs don’t merge together and they don’t penetrate solid surfaces like the character’s head.
Bioshock Infinite, by Irrational Games, was one of the most highly anticipated games of its time. According the vast majority of reviews on the game, it didn’t disappoint. Having played it, I can tell you that the story line grabs you and doesn’t let go. The moral and ethical quandries and twisting plot will keep you in front of your screen for hours on end. The graphics are nothing to shake a stick at either. That being said, Bioshock Infinite was built on the aging (although still widely used) Unreal Engine 3. That same engine has been in use since DX9 and was designed to take full advantage of shader hardware. In Bioshock Infinite, of course, the engine uses DX11 features to make the graphics that much more realistic.

The graphics engine behind Battlefield 4 is called Frostbite 3, which offers more realistic environments with higher resolution textures and next-generation particle effects. A first-time ‘networked water’ fluid system allows players in the game to see the same wave at the same time. Tessellation has also been improved since Frostbite 2 in BF3.
That’s it for the benchmarks.
We know that the A10-7850K can pair with an R7 GPU in a CrossFireX configuration. Benchmark Reviews has an R7-250 on hand and I wanted to give you a taste of the performance that you can expect from adding a $90 video card to your A10-7850K setup. Look out for my full review of the MSI R7-250 to see how this performance compares with other discrete GPUs.

16.2 more FPS in the Heaven benchmark.

How about 21.2 more FPS in Tomb Raider.

Bioshock Infinite experiences an increase of 26 FPS.

Battlefield 4, using the Mantle API, increases in performance by 27.9 FPS.

The Performance score on 3DMark 11 nearly doubles.

Adding the R7-250 increases the Firestrike score by over 54% and the Cloudgate score by nearly 30%.
– Very Skimpy on the Accessories
– A little pricey

• Performance: 8.00
• Appearance: 9.00
• Construction: 8.50
• Functionality: 8.75
• Value: 7.00