Gigabyte G1 Sniper A88X Review

 

 

Introduction

With the launch of the latest Kaveri APUs from AMD, we’ve decided to retest the Gigabyte Sniper G1 A88X. We first reviewed the Sniper earlier in the year with the older 6800K as the processor. This was due to the fact the A88X chipset was released before the next generation processors were available. As the A88X chipset, and of course the whole FM2+ socket was built for the Kaveri APUs, we felt it was right to retest one of the highest end boards for this socket.

As many of you will know, AMD’s line of APUs has improved a lot since the first generation of Llano chips. 2012’s Trinity APU was capable of tackling some of the latest games at playable frame rates, and the 2013 Richland variant improved on this still. Our review of the Kaveri processors earlier this week revealed far better graphics performance than any of the previous models, along with superior processing power in certain areas.

Our original review of the Kaveri processors was conducted on a Gigabyte F2A88XM-DS2 motherboard which is more of a budget solution so we are hoping to see some gains in performance here, as well as a far more advanced array of features, as you’d expect from any high end board regardless of the socket type.

 

Specifications