APU A-Series from AMD has already proved itself as a fair correlation of performance and consumer properties. This allows users to create budgetary home systems that can readily cope with all contemporary tasks, video games, simultaneously providing a considerable speed increase. MSI is one of the companies to develop a motherboard on the basis of this platform, ensuring in its FM2-A85XA-G65 rich functional and maximal performance. The developers have managed to design the board with a minimal amount of additional controllers, though expansion facilities are sure to satisfy the majority of potential customers.



Design and Layout


Motherboard MSI FM2-A85XA-G65 belongs to Military Class III line and is developed in ATX form-factor. Similar to other products of this line, this model is differentiated by a voluminous cooling system and a quite powerful VRM node. This board is destined for Socket FM2 logics and is ready to accommodate processors of A-Series and Athlon. It is based …

Fractal Design, a highly-acclaimed Swedish hardware manufacturer, announces the launch of mid-tower Core 2500 PC enclosure. The new-comer is ready to offer a unique combination of an austere design, an efficient cooling, a marvelous functionality, and an affordable price. The model is already on sale for the recommended by the manufacturer price tag of $59.90.



Fractal Design Core 2500 features totally black interior and exterior. Aluminum frontal panel is differentiated by a 3D grain-oriented coating. The enclosure is ready to welcome motherboards of ATX standard, as well as CPU coolers as high as 162 mm and graphics cards as long as 380 mm. Frontal and bottom perforated sites have got dust filters that prevent litter from shrinking into the components.


Besides, the internal layout of the case offers two vacant places for the installation of 5.25-inch drives, eight places for 3.5/2.5-inch drives (SSD/HDD), and seven PCI slots for expansion cards. It should be noted that …

Gigabyte has officially introduced a new line of motherboards based on the innovative Intel Z97/H97 chipsets. The G1 Gaming series features a traditional black-and-red PCB design and is supposed to cooperate with Intel Core CPUs (4th and 5th generation). Far and by, the series counts thirteen models of varied formats (ATX, micro-ATX, mini-ITX), with varied functional. Such a variety will help gamers of different levels to select an optimal model so far as the price and facilities are concerned.



Indeed, each motherboard boasts a singular set of facilities, although there are some common to all 13 models specifications:

— support for Multi-GPU technologies, i.e. Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFireX;

— availability of SATA Express connector with 10 Gb/sec bandwidth;

— integration of high-speed M.2 port with up to 10 Gb/sec bandwidth;

— availability of two external ports for a stable output voltage: Gigabyte USB DAC-UP;

— implementation of high-efficiency network …