Gigabyte's F2A88XN-WIFI is one of a few FM2+ mini-ITX boards available, matching the low cost of AMD's APUs with a highly affordable price of £75, making it over £25 cheaper than the cheapest Intel-based boards on test.
That saving immediately makes this board a contender for cheaper builds based on AMD's integrated CPU for modest work and play, rather than small, powerful gaming machines. In some areas, though, the F2A88XN-WIFI's specification matches - or beats - its Intel-based rivals. Its 64GB maximum memory is four times the capacity offered by most mini-ITX boards (although you'll need 32CB DIMMs), and it also sports Gigabit Ethernet and dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, like most affordable Intel boards.
It's equipped with the standard 16x PCI-E 3 slot too, and a quartet of SATA 6Gbps ports but, in other departments, the limitations of AMD’s chipset are clear. There's no sign of a SATA Express or M.2 connector, for example. Plus the board only offers two fan headers, and the low budget means there are no snazzy audio or networking options.
The I/O panel isn't bursting with options either. There are only two USB 3 ports and four slower USB 2 connectors, and there's no DisplayPort, so no support for a proper 4K resolution, which would be ideal if you wanted to build a modest 4K system for work rather than games.
It isn't the best-looking board either, thanks to plain metal heatsinks and a lack of enthusiast features, but that's to be forgiven for the price. The layout is middling though: the SATA connectors, front panel and USB 3 headers and the main power socket are all along the top edge, which helps with building, but the CPU socket is in the bottom-right corner and is a tad too close to the memory slots and PCI-E slot. The EFI looks dated compared to other systems too, but it's easily navigable and has a dual-BIOS feature.
Our test machine included an AMD A10-7850K APU, so the Gigabyte’s test results aren't comparable with those recorded by our Core i7 test sample on the Z97 boards.
Interestingly, though, the Gigabyte’s SATA performance - controlled by AMD's chipset -proved inconsistent. Its sequential read pace of 554MB/sec was better than any Intel board in this month's test, but the Gigabyte slipped to 488MB/sec in the write test, putting it at the bottom of the pile. The less powerful AMD kit was no less power-frugal; the Gigabyte's idle power draw of 54 W was only 1W behind the worst Intel offenders, and its peak stock speed draw of 134W was mid-table too.
The Gigabyte also offers some overclocking abilities too, taking our test chip up to 4.5GHz, although the Gigabyte required a 1.475V vcore to hit that speed. When overclocked, though, the idle power consumption was 79 W higher than any other Intel board, but its 177W load draw was still on a par with the Intel boards.
The Gigabyte F2A88XN-WIFI might not have the high-end features and performance of equivalent Z97 boards with Core i7 CPUs, but that doesn't make it a write-off. Its support for AMD APUs and its low price are a good combination for building more affordable gaming and work rigs without forking out for both a CPU and a graphics card, and it has a decent enough specification to cover most bases. Just be wary that, by spending a little more cash, you'll be able to get an Intel-based board with better features and support for a far broader selection of processors, though you'll also need to add the cost of a half-decent graphics card for gaming.
VERDICT
A solid base for affordable gaming and work rigs, but it lacks the enthusiast features of Z97 enthusiast boards.
SPECIFICATIONS
Chipset AMD A88X
CPU socket AMD FM2+
Memory support 2 slots: max 64CB DDR3 (up to 2,400MHz overclocked)
Expansion slots One 16x PCI-E 3 Sound Realtek ALC892
Networking 1 x Gigabit Ethernet LAN, dual-band 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Overclocking Base clock 100-140MHz, CPU multiplier 8-79x
Ports 4 x SATA 6Gbps, 2 x USB 3, 4 x USB 2, 1 x LAN, 1 x PS/2, 5 x audio out, line-in, mic, 1 x optical S/PDIF
Dimensions (mm) 170 x 170