How to distinguish AM2 mobo's who are and who aren't

[MarcVenice]

Well, what the title sais... I really have no clue what AM2 mobo's are good to go, and which aren't. There's still people building AMD rigs, can you believe it, and if they do, I guess they might as well get a AM2 mobo that can handle a Phenom CPU when they feel like upgrading again. And, I think I read about certain mobo's taking a performance hit, could someone explain that too ?

Marc

 

[Heidfirst]

AM2 mobos have been good to go for quite a while ...
I think that you mean AM2+.

 

[GundamF91]

AM2 is okay, but AM2+ is what it takes to get some Phenom performance. The real deal is when AM3 takes over which will use DDR3 RAM and really use the Phenom to its potential. So right now AM2 is basically dead end.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Nobody's been able to demonstrate exactly why Phenom would be any slower on AM2 boards versus AM2+ boards aside from claiming that the split power planes feature, supported by AM2+ boards, will somehow improve memory controller performance. This should not be an issue when overclocking comes into play, or so I would think.

I too would like to know which AM2 boards are Phenom X4-ready and which are not. I already have an Abit NF-M2 nView and want to know if I can drop an X4 in here or what. I figure the X4-9500 would at least be an interesting experiment.

 

[sonoma1993]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
Nobody's been able to demonstrate exactly why Phenom would be any slower on AM2 boards versus AM2+ boards aside from claiming that the split power planes feature, supported by AM2+ boards, will somehow improve memory controller performance. This should not be an issue when overclocking comes into play, or so I would think.

I too would like to know which AM2 boards are Phenom X4-ready and which are not. I already have an Abit NF-M2 nView and want to know if I can drop an X4 in here or what. I figure the X4-9500 would at least be an interesting experiment.

The AM2+ motherboards are suppose to have hypertransport 3.0 and PCIE 16x 2.0 That might give somekind of performace boost. Then also whatever minor tweaks have been done in the new chipsets from AMD, Nvidia, and VIA. We'll find out when AM2+ motherboards and Phenon comes out and reviewers start posting the results.

All AM2 motherboards are suppose to work with the Phenom processors. It just comes down too, if your motherboard manfactuer releases a BIOS update that support Phenom for your motherboard.

 

[Peter]

There is so little news about this because all (yes all!) AM2 mainboards are technically capable of running the Phenoms. AM2+ mainboards can use the power saving features more efficiently and give a hair more memory and I/O performance, but the master plan is that any plain AM2 board runs them just fine. All it takes is a BIOS update to handle the new CPU type.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yeah, well, that's the thing . . . who is releasing BIOS updates and when? Are the going to be available before Phenom chips are finally available at etailers? Some shops are already taking pre-orders.

 

[j0j081]

yeah I wish the new mobos would come out already. there is one Gigabyte AM2+ board on newegg.com now but the price is $280 which is about triple my price range lol.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Well yes, new motherboards would be nice, but BIOS updates for existing boards would also be very nice. Honestly I wouldn't even be looking at Phenom chips if I knew I had to buy a new board just to be sure I could run one.

 

[will889]

It will be about like the older early nforce2 boards that weren't initially capable of running the 400FS native barton core (XP3000-3200) - then Abit and Asus released bios updates for those boards to be able to run them. Not much if any performance loss next to the newer gen NF2 boards of that era. Newer boards obviously had more features and some better overclocking abilities.

 

[akhilles]

http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=8435

ASUS Launches the World's First AMD AM2+ CPU Compatible Motherboard

Fremont, CA, September 14, 2007 - ASUS today announced the world's first motherboard supporting AMD's AM2+ CPU. After long-term cooperation with AMD, the M2A-VM motherboard series is the first to be available. More AM2+ CPU compatible motherboards will come from ASUS in the near future.

"As we have strive to be number one in providing the best quality, service and innovation to customers, ASUS gives the world the first motherboard, the M2A-VM, which is compatible with the latest AMD AM2+ CPU." said Joe Hsieh, Vice President of ASUS' motherboard business.

Get Ready for the AM2+ CPU
The motherboards listed below are the candidate motherboards compatible with the AM2+ CPU. Users can enjoy the ultimate experience with the AMD's next generation CPU by updating the latest BIOS on ASUS' support site.

AM2+ CPU Compatible Motherboard

CROSSHAIR
M2A -VM HDMI
M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition
M2N-E SLI
M2N32-SLI Deluxe/WiFi AP
M2N-E
M2N32 WS Professional
M2N-VM/DVI
M2N-SLI Deluxe
M2R32-MVP

Note: The above AM2+ CPU compatible motherboard candidates are partly listed. These candidates can be identified from the "Support AM2+ CPU" logo or sticker on the color box.

PR Contact
David Ray
ASUS Computer International
Email: David_ray@asus.com
Tel: 510-739-3777

 

[DrMrLordX]

Okay, so Asus seems to be on the ball here. Anyone else? I'm hoping Abit is ready for this launch.