AMD AM3+ Motherboard Thread

[frostedflakes]

I live in the UK so not sure,however some Gigabyte 990 models are available right now in the UK http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=1903&subid=2046 so would say probably soon.

Yeah I noticed availability outside the US was pretty good. Hopefully that's a sign they'll be available here very soon.

 

[drizek]

You won't see proper reviews until BD is released,as we still don't know how well or bad they will perform on 900 series boards.

I think a lot of sites will wait then for full benchmarks.



Speaking of USB 3.0, I read Asus went with ASMedia ASM1042 USB 3.0 chipset because they said it offers the fastest performance ie faster then NEC USB 3.0 chipset etc...

But every review shows the ASMedia not being any faster than the NEC.

 

[Mem]

But every review shows the ASMedia not being any faster than the NEC.

I did read this in one review,

With the Super Talent thumb drive we used for testing, the Sabertooth 990FX offered faster USB 3.0 read and write speeds than the GD80. The Asus board's CPU utilization is also lower, completing the sweep.

http://techreport.com/articles.x/21019/8 .

MSI uses Renesas USB 3.0 (Renesas Electronics formerly NEC Electronics)

Problem is there's not enough head to head USB 3.0 benchmarks to which is the better USB 3.0 chipset,end of the day what Asus say and what we believe can be two different things.

 

[drizek]

The Asus P67 board gets amazing SATA III performance in that review. I can't believe that just the controller between two top-end Asus boards can make a difference of 40MB/sec read and write.

The really hard part though is that I actually just bought a P8P67 Deluxe/ i7 2600K combo last night. I haven't picked it up yet, I have until Sunday to decide, but I'm starting to be pretty tempted. Total came out to around $490 including tax, which is a little less than what I would pay for a Sabertooth/8130P at MSRP.

I figured the 6 native SATA III ports on the Sabertooth were an advantage, but I'd rather have 2 really fast SATA III ports than 6 slow ones, and the Marvell controller on the P67 should be enough to use with SATA III mechanical drives.

SO hard to choose.

 

[Skott]

I don't like that SATA placement.

No SLI. No Blueeoth.

Pass.

Are there any available for sale anywhere other than the ASRock Deluxe and ASUS Sabertooth?

Also, any ideas about how much the Crosshair V is going to cost? I've pretty much decided that I need to get a 990fx board, but I feel like the Sabertooth just isn't very good value for money, and I'm afraid to use the 890FX ASRock, I don't want to have to hack SLI on there.

About $230:
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch...pset%20ATX%20A

 

[JimKiler]

Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7 review over@Tweaktown http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4140/gigabyte_990fxa_ud7_amd_990fx_motherboard_review/index.html .

Dissapointing that Gigabyte does not use a UEFI interface like Asus.

 

[Mem]

Dissapointing that Gigabyte does not use a UEFI interface like Asus.

Gigabyte have one touch BIOS(you either like or hate it) on their Z68 boards,I don't know why they did not release it on their AMD 990FX boards.
Asus,Asrock seem to have the best UEFI BIOS versions IMHO.


Btw Asus Crosshair V Formula 990FX manual is available in English for download here http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/#download

 

[Mem]

Asrock 990FX Extreme4 is now listed on Asrock's website,http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=990FX%20Extreme4 ,interesting it still has both IDE and floppy connections so it covers virtually everything.

 

[Eddie313]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/ASRock-990FX-Extreme4-AMD-Bulldozer-Motherboard-Gets-Pictured-201497.shtml .

I like the spacing on that asrock motherboard. You can run crossfire and the cards are not two close, plus like the top 1x for sound cards wish more companies would do that layout.

 

[JimKiler]

Gigabyte have one touch BIOS(you either like or hate it) on their Z68 boards,I don't know why they did not release it on their AMD 990FX boards.
Asus,Asrock seem to have the best UEFI BIOS versions IMHO.


Btw Asus Crosshair V Formula 990FX manual is available in English for download here http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/#download

Funny the Asus Crosshair V Formula 990FX has an intel NIC on it. LOL

That board looks too expensive for my price range. I only want to spend $100-$125 on a board. Hopefully the M5A97 EVO will suit my needs.

 

[JimKiler]

Does anyone know the native RAM speed the bulldozer processors will support. I was checking ASUS and Newegg and it appears 1866 will be the highest non OC speed. Is this the speed I need for bulldozer?

 

[Mem]

Funny the Asus Crosshair V Formula 990FX has an intel NIC on it. LOL

That board looks too expensive for my price range. I only want to spend $100-$125 on a board. Hopefully the M5A97 EVO will suit my needs.

It has an Intel Lan but to be honest the latest Realtek version thats on most boards ie 8111e model is not bad(one of their better Realtek Lan with low cpu usage),for most users you won't see any difference for day to day use,not like its going to put a lot of strain on modern multi core CPUs.

Interestingly the Asrock Extreme4 990FX is using Broadcom Lan which I hear is very good.

 

[Mem]

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Gigabyte-990FXA-UD5-Motherboard/1311


New Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 review@Hardware Secrets.

We were quite impressed by the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5, with its five PCI Express x16 slots, two FireWire ports, four USB 3.0 ports, eight SATA-600 ports, two BIOS chips, professional-grade audio quality with optical SPDIF output, and a very high-end voltage regulator circuit.

 

[eastyy123]

at the moment i have a phenom II dual core that my current motherboard has unlocked to a quad core

does anyone know if these new asus ones will be able to unlock the cores ?

 

[drizek]

yes

 

[eastyy123]

cheers will save me a few quid i didnt fancy getting a new processor aswell as a motherboard

 

[Mem]

Review of the ASUS M5A99X EVO AM3+ over@Techpowerup ,http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/M5A99X_EVO/1.html .

 

[Mem]

A very good review with some nice benchmarks of network,USB 3.0 etc for Asus Sabertooth 990FX over@Legitreviews ,http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1639/1/ .

The gaming performance of the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX motherboard took the top spot in all of our testing today. The single card performance in our games was right on track with what we have seen on our other boards. Where the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX stepped up was in scaling performance. In both CrossfireX and SLI the Sabertooth 990FX was able to edge out the performance of the MSI 990FXA-GD80 and the ASRock 890FX Deluxe4. Where the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX really took a lead, though, was the SATA III 6Gbps testing.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Just a thought: Why does AMD still wanna keep that big northbridge solely for the PCIE controller when Llano already doesn't?

 

[drizek]

They don't, which is why they didn't spend any time or money making it different from the one in 890FX.

Also, AM3+ boards will continue to support IGPs, so those ones need a northbridge.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I'm split between the M5A99X EVO and the Sabertooth. The Sabertooth has more features and a better power phase design but I don't think it's worth the extra $50.

Kinda sucks that the boards are already out and we have no CPUs until, at the very minimum, some four weeks from now.

 

[Mem]

I'm split between the M5A99X EVO and the Sabertooth. The Sabertooth has more features and a better power phase design but I don't think it's worth the extra $50.

Kinda sucks that the boards are already out and we have no CPUs until, at the very minimum, some four weeks from now.

I've my heart set on the Sabertooth .

drizek : Did you notice how well it did on the USB 3.0 HD test?

The ASUS Sabertooth 990FX continues to lead the pack today in testing. This time around we have the USB 3.0 testing and the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX stepped up to the plate and knocked the performance curve out of the park. The Average Read in HD Tach was an impressive 120.17MB/s. That's 12.8% faster than the MSI 990FXA-GD80 and 27.2% faster than the ASRock 890FX Deluxe4. The Average Write of the ASUS Sabertooth 990FX Deluxe was 117.03MB/s which is 12.1% faster than the MSI 990FXA-GD80 and 22.6% faster than the ASRock 890FX.

I still say its down to ASMedia they use for USB 3.0 chipset.

 

[Mem]

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1305.html Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 review @PureOC

On the performance side, the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 overclocks with the best boards we have seen. We achieved 4.5GHz stable which equals its older brother, the 890FXA-UD5, but in our tremendously fun dry ice runs, it beat the 890FXA by a few MHz and we achieved one of our best results on the Phenom II X4 980 to date.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I've my heart set on the Sabertooth .

drizek : Did you notice how well it did on the USB 3.0 HD test?



I still say its down to ASMedia they use for USB 3.0 chipset.

Hmm, yeah. I do think AMD is starting to tell partners to price motherboards too high. I got to think of it, I mean really, $150 for a board with 6+2 phase power and a crappy implementation of USB 3? $200 just to see that improved plus a bit more PCI-E lanes?

I'm eying going with Intel and the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3. There's just no way I'm paying $200 for a motherboard, and I already feel for $150 you should get better features than what the best AM3+ board for the price is offering. 6+2 phase power is fine for good OCing with mild over-voltage, but I think for the price it should have 8+2. That, and better USB 3.0.

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1305.html Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5 review @PureOC

4.5GHz stable out of a Phenom II X4. :hmm:
Never thought I'd see the day.

 

[Mem]

There's just no way I'm paying $200 for a motherboard, and I already feel for $150 you should get better features than what the best AM3+ board for the price is offering. 6+2 phase power is fine for good OCing with mild over-voltage, but I think for the price it should have 8+2. That, and better USB 3.0.

LOL_Wut_Axel: To be fair you are also paying for highest quality components TUF(the ultimate force) which is backed by 5 year warranty,very few boards give you that kind of warranty.