Gigabyte GA-F2A85XN-WIFI (A85X Mini-ITX) Motherboard

Software Bundles

Gigabyte bundles the GA-F2A85XN-WIFI with the typical array of drivers that includes AMD Chipset driver 12.102, Realtek HD audio R2.7, Realtek 811/8168 Lan driver, AMD AHCI Driver 1.2.001.0337, ON/OFF Charge. In addition, it also includes Gigabyte’s in house and other utilities such as Easy Tune 6, @BIOS,  Smart Recovery 7, DMI Viewer, Face-wizard, Update Manager, Auto Green, Realtek Ethernet Diagnostic Utility, Lan Optimizer, AMD GAME, and Gigabyte 3TB Utility. Furthermore, other included software are Chrome browser, Google Toolbar for IE, Norton Internet Security 2013 60 days trial, and a list of Cyberlink software that includes PowerDVD 12, PowerDirector 11, Power2Go 8, PhotoDirector 4, YouCam 5, and MediaExpresso 6.7. The Cyberlink software titles are not included but rather they will direct to the Cyberlink’s website to download the trial version of the software.

The EasyTune 6 is Gigabyte’s own system monitoring and overclocking tool. It has not changed much since we first saw it a few years back. While the interface is easy to navigate, its interface is slightly outdated. It does get the job done and its small footprint is something worth mentioning that is not as bloated as the Asus AI Suite. If you have used older Gigabyte’s board, you should not be a stranger to the EasyTune.

The @BIOS provides the ability to update BIOS through internet and the Smart Recovery 7 is based on the Windows 7 Shadow Copy Service technology that provides system backup. The DMI viewer provides motherboard hardware information, the Face Wizard provides customizing BIOS boot up screen, the Update Manager lets you automatic update Gigabyte’s software by the Internet, and the Auto Green works with Bluetooth device where if a device is out of the range after a certain period of time, the hard drive will turn off to save power.

A few special tool included with the board is the WiFi Share where it lets you share files and folders with other devices over the wireless network. The good thing about this is that it will work with any wireless adapters and motherboards so you are not limited to just Gigabyte products. You are able to share files across different PCs and laptops. All you have to do is install the software on both devices and enable the features to get ready to share files across both devices. We tried to use the WiFi Share with the Asus UX31E but could not get the program to start the share. While we had no problem installing the software, we were not able to turn on the WiFi share option, we encountered error saying that “WiFi Share softAP could not be started.”

The same software also provides the ability to turn the PC into a wireless hotspot so that you can share internet connection across multiple devices. At the moment, the WiFi Share only works with PCs since it requires both devices to have the WiFi Share software installed and Gigabyte has yet to release a mobile version so you are not able to use it to share files between PC and the mobile devices. We hope that Gigabyte will release a software update.

The GIGABYTE Cloud Station utility helps GIGABYTE Apps (and future GIGABYTE Apps) to communicate, share resources and control desktop PC systems. The Apps interact with the PC via Bluetooth, WiFi, or USB.  At the moment it only works with iOS devices and Windows 7/8. Currently, there are two pieces of software that will interact with the board: EasyTune Touch and Picture View. The EasyTune Touch allows you to remotely control the PC that offers the ability to change CPU and memory frequency and voltages. There is also three levels of automatic system tuning. It also displays system information and provides hardware monitor as well as reboot and shut down the PC. Gigabyte also bundles Picture View App that allows sharing photos from the iOS to the desktop much easier process.

BIOS

The BIOS for the F2A85XN-WIFI has not yet been updated to the new 3D UI that we have seen with the Z77 chipset or the latest Z87 boards from Gigabyte. While the BIOS is UEFI, it lacks the pretty interface from the Intel counterpart and looks more like the Advanced Mode from Gigabyte’s 3D BIOS. Do not think that this actually a bad thing  since we found that the 3D BIOS was a bit laggy and we were much prefer the text based BIOS as it gets the job done without the lag. The overall layout BIOS has not changed much where on the top we got six menu and underneath them is where we will find the sbumenu. Gigabyte has organized the settings into: M.I.T, System, BIOS Features, Peripherals, Power Management, and Save and Exit.

Under the M.I.T is where all of the overclocking settings are located. The board offers the ability to adjust the CPU and memory frequency. It also offers the ability to adjust voltages for the CPU, NB core, DRAM, Vcore and NBVID loadline calibration. Obviously, if you are an overclocker, it is most likely that you would be choosing the A10-6800K or any of the K series APU where overclocking is as simple as raising the CPU clock ratio as oppose to messing with the BCLK clock speed.

The System give a quick overview of the system information that includes the BIOS version. Here is where we can adjust the time and the date. In addition, it provides a quick glance of the ATA port information.

The BIOS feature is where we find the boot options.

The Peripherals is where we can adjust the rest of the motherboard ports. Here is also where we can switching between the initial display setting from the onboard to the PCI express.

Power Management does not need much information as we can see that the board offers the ability to resume by Alarm, keyboard, or mouse.

Lastly, the board’s BIOS offers the abiliyt to save up to 8 profiles and Q-Flash where we can flash BIOS directly within the BIOS. We also have the option to take screenshots by pressing the F12 key (useful feature for reviewers or share BIOS setting).