The higher end of the 890FX chipset

Subject: Motherboards | September 16, 2010 - 01:54 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The MSI 890FXA-G70 that Josh just finished reviewing represents the evolution of this chipset over time.  Originally lauded as a big step up for AMD whose last chipset was none too impressive, motherboard makers have continued to add features to boards based on this chipset.  This is fairly expensive for an AMD motherboard but after you read the review you will understand why.

Jon Peddie Research Announces Report on CPUs with Embedded Graphics Processors

Subject: Motherboards | September 13, 2010 - 12:11 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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TIBURON, Calif--September 13, 2010--Today, Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced its market study: Opportunities, Threats, and Changes Created by the EPG & HPU - Tension at the Inflection Point.

A genuine inflection point is occurring in the PC and related industries, the integration of powerful SIMD graphics processing elements with multi-core, multi-stage scalar X86 CPUs.

ASUS takes a fourth try at the Crosshair

Subject: Motherboards | September 10, 2010 - 02:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The ASUS ROG Crosshair series has been with us for a while now and they are entering their fourth iteration with the Crosshair IV Extreme.  OC3D took a quick peek at this unreleased motherboard that features the 890FX/SB850 chipsets as well as a long list of features.  For instance in a corner of the motherboard are ports that will allow you to use a multimeter to measure the voltages on your board while it is running.

ASRock makes a lean, mean 880G board

Subject: Motherboards | September 2, 2010 - 01:49 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The ASRock 880G Extreme3 motherboard packs a lot of features for a board you can pick up for $110.  You will find two USB 3.0 ports, six SATA6 Gb/s ports and even an eSATA3 port on the back.  Onboard is AMD's HD4250 GPU which won't get you gaming in style but means you can choose whether to purchase a discreet GPU or if you are not going to push it, to remain with the embedded solution.  In the BIOS ACC can help you unlock any cores that

Bringing down the price on the 890FX with the GIGABYTE 890FXA-UD5

Subject: Motherboards | August 27, 2010 - 12:22 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Just what goes into a $700 X58 motherboard?

Subject: Motherboards | August 20, 2010 - 01:14 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If you thought the EVGA Classified SR-2 was expensive at $606 then you probably aren't going to be impressed with the $700 Gigabyte X58A-UD9 Extreme.  At least the SR-2 is a dual socket motherboard which do tend to cost significantly more than your average single socket board but the X58A-UD9 is a sin

Does 16x/16x make a difference on a dual graphics card system?

Subject: Motherboards | August 16, 2010 - 03:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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[H]ard|OCP wanted to know just what the difference in performance was between a motherboard whose second PCIe slot runs at 8x versus one that can hit the full 16x when it has a second graphics card in it.  Using an MSI X58 Eclipse which is capable of 16x with both slots populated and some tape on the second graphics card to reduce it to 8x they started benchmarking.  As it turns out the difference in performance is minuscule and
that paying a large premium for a board capable of dual 16x bandwidth is not really necessary. 

MSI brings the P55 chipset and Hydra together

Subject: Motherboards | August 9, 2010 - 01:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The MSI P55a Fuzion sports Intel's P55 chipset along with the Lucid LT22102 aka Hydra, which allows you to mix and match graphics cards into a multiple GPU setup that is neither Crossfire nor SLI.  Overclock3D's review tested this by using an ATI HD5870 and a GeForce GTX480 together when running benchmarks.  The results are rather interesting when they benc

ASUS Rampage III Formula board offers tons of features for overclocking

Subject: Motherboards | August 5, 2010 - 05:24 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Our friends over at ASUS fired over a few "spy shots" of the upcoming Rampage III Formula motherboard that will offer a great set of hardware features as well as some pretty extensive and impressive overclocking options.  

MSI's new board can keep you very happy until the arrival of Bulldozer

Subject: Motherboards | August 2, 2010 - 04:10 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The new MSI 890FXA-GD70 will run you $200 to try out and sports the AMD RD890 and SB850 chipset pairing which offers some interesting features.  NEC provides a pair of USB 3.0 ports on top of the features of the AMD chipset which offers the ability to run a pair of graphics cards at a full 16x, numerous SATA 3 ports and an array of audio ports for just about any setup.  [H]ard|OCP liked to see the features but were more interested in the layout of

Two different takes on the 890GX

Subject: Motherboards | July 27, 2010 - 02:42 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Though they are based on the same chipset, the Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H and ASRock 890GX Extreme3 do have differences.  The Gigabyte board is a member of the Power of 3 family, so it sports USB 3, S-ATA 3 and USB Power 3x as well as a pair of PCIe 16x slots.  The ASRock also has threes, advertising USB 3.0, SATA 3 and e-SATA 3 (even though the later pair are the same) and three PCIe 16x slots.  ASRock also decided to drop IDE completely from the board and you can also spot differences on the back panels.  Take a peek at MektuMods for the full details.

"Two motherboards with AMD's 890GX chipset goes head to head to see which one takes the top spot."

Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:

  Motherboards

• ASUS Crosshair IV Formula 890FX Chipset Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
• BIOS Option Of The Week - 2T Command @ TechARP
• Gigabyte P55 USB3 @ Funky Kit
• Gigabyte X58A-UD9 @ Legion Hardware
• MSI Big Bang XPOWER Motherboard @ TechwareLabs
• SUS Rampage III Gene @ Tweaktown
• MSI Big Bang XPower Intel X58 Motherboard Review @ OCIA

Four of the baddest X58 motherboards around

Subject: Motherboards | July 22, 2010 - 02:30 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The gang of motherboards that AnandTech has assembled don't mess around, these motherboards are the flagship X58 boards from these respective manufacturers.  The ASUS Rampage III Extreme, EVGA X58 4 way Classified,

The GeForce 7025 chipset lives on

Subject: Motherboards | July 16, 2010 - 02:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Bringing back a three year old chipset for the ASRock N68C-S UCC
might seem strange to a user of an 890GX board, but for someone who really doesn't want to spend $100 on a motherboard it does make a lot of sense.  The chipset is mature and fairly flexible, this board can handle either DDR2 or DDR3, depending on how much you want to invest in your memory and it has a nice mix of slots for an mATX board.  The onboard GPU is not going to handle HD movies, nor is there much choice in the way of video outputs but as an inexpensive office machine that matters very little; nor will the pr

The ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 offers fine features and serious overclocking

Subject: Motherboards | July 13, 2010 - 01:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If you are looking for a relatively inexpensive 890GX based board that doesn't cut out all of the features the chipset provides, a popular choice is ASUS' M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 board.  The ASUS specific features like Core Unlocker, GPU Boost, Hybrid Processor, Turbo EVO, and Turbo Key II
only add to the two main feature offered on this board, a pair of USB 3.0 ports and six SATA 6GB/s ports; the single eSATA 6GB/s and the even dozen USB 2.0 ports just add

Low entry fee HTPC from MSI, the H55M-ED55

Subject: Motherboards | July 5, 2010 - 05:41 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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For $112 the MSI H55M-ED55 offers a board with the H55 chipsets integrated graphics which will have you playing HD movies without an issue, or the need to invest in a graphics card.  Even nicer is the fact that this board, which was obviously intended as a basis for an HTPC also gives you the ability to do some mild overclocking.  Steve was quite happy with the results he saw when

Comparing the high end of the AMD 890FX based motherboards

Subject: Motherboards | June 28, 2010 - 06:14 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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X-Bit Labs have chosen two boards to represent the upper echelons of the 890FX based motherboard market, the Asus Crosshair IV Formula and Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7, both sporting a price similar to an average X58 board.  Although both motherboards are targeted

It will be a hefty investment but the EVGA Classified SR-2 is impressive

Subject: Motherboards | June 18, 2010 - 01:06 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The EVGA Classified SR-2 comes in a fairly uncommon form factor, High Performance Technology eXtended or
HPTX, which means you have to find a case that will fit a board that is 13.6" x 15".  The reason that the motherboard is so large is to fit the 7 PCIe slots, three of which will function at their full 16x speed concurrently.  They manage that with an impressive mix of chipsets, the Intel 5520 chipset provides 36 PCI Express x1 lanes and the ICH10R provides six more lanes, plus there is a pair of nForce 200 bridge chips.  It is a dual socket board, though don't expect t

The Gigabyte X58A-UD3R mixes serious features with a moderate price

Subject: Motherboards | June 14, 2010 - 06:14 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The latest motherboard to make it off of Steve's test bench is the Gigabyte X58A-UD3R, a $210 LGA 1366 board with a nice set of features including Gigabyte's Power of 3 set.   The back plate is a gadget lovers dream, with 4 USB 2.0 ports, a a pair of USB 3.0, standard and mini Firewire ports and even a clear CMOS button.  Inside you will find a pair of PCIe 16x slots and a pair of 8x slots that share bandwidth with the 16x slots.