ASRock Fatal1ty FM2A88X+ Killer Motherboard

On Board Peripherals

The AMD A88X chipset is a single-chip solution. This chip supports eight SATA-600 ports with RAID (0, 1, 10, and 5). The ASRock Fatal1ty FM2A88X+ Killer has the eight SATA-600 ports available. They are installed on the motherboard edge and rotated 90°, so the installation of video cards will not block them.

Figure 4: SATA-600 ports

The AMD A88X chipset supports 10 USB 2.0 ports and four USB 3.0 ports. The ASRock Fatal1ty FM2A88X+ Killer offers ten USB 2.0 ports, four soldered on the rear panel and six available through three headers located on the motherboard; and six USB 3.0 ports, four located on the motherboard rear panel and two available on a header located on the motherboard. The two extra USB 3.0 ports at the rear panel are controlled by an ASMedia ASM1042 chip.

The ASRock Fatal1ty FM2A88X+ Killer does not have FireWire ports.

This motherboard supports 7.1+2 audio format, i.e., eight channels plus two independent channels for audio streaming. On this motherboard, the audio is generated by the chipset using the Realtek ALC1150 codec, which is an excellent audio codec, providing 115 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog outputs, 104 dB signal-to-noise ratio for the analog inputs, and up to 192 kHz sampling rate for both inputs and outputs, with 24-bit resolution. These specifications are good even for the user who wants to professionally capture and edit analog audio (e.g., converting LPs to CDs or MP3, converting VHS to DVDs or any other digital format, etc.)

The codec chip is shielded against electromagnetic interference, and the audio interface is equipped with a TI NE5532 amplifier for the front headphones output.

The analog audio outputs are independent and the motherboard also comes with an on-board optical SPDIF output.

The analog audio outputs are independent only if you use a 5.1 analog speaker set. If you install a 7.1 analog speaker set, you will need to use the “line in” jack.

The portrayed motherboard has one Gigabit Ethernet port controlled by an Atheros Killer E2200 chip, a high-performance Gigabit Ethernet controller. Like the codec, this chip is also shielded, as you can see in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Shielded audio codec and Killer E2200 chip

In Figure 6, you can see the motherboard rear panel with a shared keyboard/mouse PS/2 connector, two four USB 2.0 ports, VGA output, DVI-D output, HMDI output, four USB 3.0 ports, Clear CMOS button, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an optical SPDIF output, and the analog audio jacks.

Figure 6: Motherboard rear panel

In Figure 7, you can see all of the accessories that come with the ASRock Fatal1ty FM2A88X+ Killer.

Figure 7: Accessories