First AM3+ board hits the egg

[darkswordsman17]

I went to the Asrock product page for this board and it says nothing about supporting AM3+. I would be cautious until the vendor says it. NewEgg is pretty good but does occasionally make mistakes when describing features.

Er, this is the very first thing listed about the board on ASRock's page:

Supports AM3+ Processor, 8-Core CPU Ready

 

[chucky2]

1, people will buy a AM3+ motherboard if it is available whether it has 8 series or 9 series chipset.

Yes, true. But people who aren't aware of the - hopefully - soon incoming 900 series chipset that bought an 800 series based AM3+ board, and could have waited for 900 series AM3+ (again, assuming that 900 series is indeed going to release when AM3+ CPU's release), probably won't be happy if 900 series hits the same time/very soon after AM3+ CPU's come out.

2, I'm pretty sure the AM3+ socket is a drop-in upgrade since it's missing 1 pin compared to AM3 sockets so there is no need to rework the board.

That's likely correct, but I haven't seen any mobo manufacturer confirm such. What about the traces for the extra 1 pin?

3, AMD has stated that the 8 series chipset does support AM3+ chips.

That's fine, I'm not saying it doesn't. All I'm saying is, buying an 800 series AM3+ board instead of waiting on a 900 series AM3+ board, would really suck long term for those that could wait. Obviously, for those that can't wait, having the 800 series AM3+ boards out now is great, as they can build now but have longer term support.

Really I just wish AMD would tell us what's in 900 series for sure, and, when they except volume shipments to mobo manufacturers.

Chuck

 

[Tanclearas]

3, AMD has stated that the 8 series chipset does support AM3+ chips.

What is your source for this? Link please. We are gathering such information in another thread. I search for AM3+ information almost every day, and have never seen that stated, especially by anyone from AMD.

 

[flexcore]

I really wish we could get some solid information on what the 900 series boards are going to offer. I am hoping we can get IOMMU support in the whole lineup, including the GX boards.

 

[Mem]

Yes, true. But people who aren't aware of the - hopefully - soon incoming 900 series chipset that bought an 800 series based AM3+ board, and could have waited for 900 series AM3+ (again, assuming that 900 series is indeed going to release when AM3+ CPU's release), probably won't be happy if 900 series hits the same time/very soon after AM3+ CPU's come out.



That's likely correct, but I haven't seen any mobo manufacturer confirm such. What about the traces for the extra 1 pin?



That's fine, I'm not saying it doesn't. All I'm saying is, buying an 800 series AM3+ board instead of waiting on a 900 series AM3+ board, would really suck long term for those that could wait. Obviously, for those that can't wait, having the 800 series AM3+ boards out now is great, as they can build now but have longer term support.

Really I just wish AMD would tell us what's in 900 series for sure, and, when they except volume shipments to mobo manufacturers.

Chuck

I also notice from Gigabyte's rev 3.1 version of their supported 8 series AM3+ boards is that the CPU socket is black as well unlike their AM3 boards which have white socket.

Looking at the Asrock model(890FX Deluxe 5) which also has a black socket which would confirm AM3+ support(apart from it also being listed in the specs),their AM3 ONLY boards have white socket CPU so they also follow the Gigabtye example of white socket for AM3 and black socket for AM3+.

Now the big question is what will be the main difference between 990 and 8 series chipsets for Bulldozer with regards to performance,as of right now I know nobody really knows(apart from AMD).

Btw found this about Gigabyte's black socket for AM3+ http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/04/07/gigabyte-announces-am3-black-socket-motherb/1

Gigabyte has announced a new line of revised motherboards that support AMD's AM3+ CPUs, which are due to be released later this year.

The motherboards, which will be based on AMD's 800- and 700-series chipsets, sport a black CPU socket to denote support for AMD's new range of CPUs. In addition to the black socket, the new boards, which are all revised versions of existing products, will also feature a 3.1 revision number to help aid identification.

 

[veri745]

3, AMD has stated that the 8 series chipset does support AM3+ chips.

What is your source for this? Link please. We are gathering such information in another thread. I search for AM3+ information almost every day, and have never seen that stated, especially by anyone from AMD.

I'd like to see a source for this as well. I've seen nothing official.

 

[busydude]

I really wish we could get some solid information on what the 900 series boards are going to offer. I am hoping we can get IOMMU support in the whole lineup, including the GX boards.

AMD just realeased IOMMU spec sheet for bulldozer.. I am not sure what platforms it will support though.

http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_TechDocs/48882.pdf

 

[dawp]

I'd like to see a source for this as well. I've seen nothing official.

I was mistaken, I thought I had read that somewhere but could not find it again. Still, if manufacturers are releasing am3+ bioses for current boards, like my 2 M4A89GTD Pro/USB3, which is AM3, they must know something we don't.