ASUS officially launces AM2+ Mobo Series!

[GeneralFailure]

From our dear FUAD: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2826&Itemid=1

Ten boards in total

Asus has officially released a list of AM2+ boards on its website and the list includes a total of ten boards. Some of the boards are older products and they're aparently compatible with the new CPUs.

The M2A-VM is the first board with official support, but Asus will be releasing BIOS upgrades for the remaining nine boards shortly.

It seems like Nvidia's chipsets is already compatible with AM2+ as most of the boards on the list features Nvidia chipsets. This is good news for those that have invested money in more expensive boards like the Crosshair R.O.G. board which is on the list.

And on ASUS site: http://www.asus.com.tw/news_show.aspx?id=8305

Well, just the news, no specs for now...

[bigdroo]

Just to clarify this since the headline on the front page is false.

These are ASUS' first AM2+ boards, NOT the overall first AM2+ boards.

Actually, BIOSTAR released the first commercially available AM2+ board. In fact I bought one on NewEgg over a month ago. It uses the nForce 560 chipset.

That's not to knock Asus by any means. They make some of the best quality motherboards around.

Of course, the point is really moot since there aren't any native AM2+ processors out yet. (sept 10?)

[brutis]

So droo, what do you think of that Biostar?

I've been thinking of one for the 10th if I upgrade.


sgt_brutis

[Mechanix]

Ok, these are just the same motherboards they have been making. There's nothing special about any of them. They will just run an AM2+ chip with the latest BIOS. I see not one board with a new chipset. Just because Asus made this announcement does not mean in any way that every other motherboard manufacturer can't make the same claim.

[bigdroo]

Mechanix: Well, yes and no. These AM2+ do have the higher speed hypertransport feature not found in the regular AM2 boards. Now, whether or not that really equates to a performance increase remains to be seen.

Brutis: I don't know. I still need memory and a processor. Until then, I basically just have the motherboard in a box. lol

I've been considering getting some Patriot 2x2gb pc6400 memory and buying a sub $100 AM2 processor, but now I'm considering waiting until after the 10th (I'll be in Vegas until the 13th anyway) to see how Barcelona prices shake out. No sense in buying a new processor when you know you'll be replacing it in a few weeks. I suspect sticker shock will have me waiting beyond that. lol

[brutis]

So that?s what you wanted the memory for! I was looking at assembling a quad core together over time but may get it all in one shot. We will see about sticker shock, as you said, and go from there.

Vegas! I haven't been there for 4-5 years now. Business or pleasure, what ever have fun.


sgt_brutis

[Mechanix]

The M2A-VM is an AMD 690G chipset board, and has been out for a little while now. As far as I know, they do not support faster hypertransport. If it did, then every other board around that chipset would. I see no reason why what I said earlier is untrue. I see no board by Asus that supports a higher hypertransport speed, just like the Biostar "AM2+" board, that uses an older chipset.

[bigdroo]

What you said wasn't untrue. The headline on the AMDZone front page that announced the same thing, announced it slightly differently, which was untrue. I only saw this one post, so that's why I used it instead of starting a whole new one on the same subject.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant the headline on the AMDZone front page, not the one on this thread. My bad.

As far as chipsets are concerned, do we really know what each chipset is capable of doing "natively"? According to the BIOSTAR website, the board I have does support the faster Hypertransport speed.

http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=TFORCE%20TF560%20A2%20+

"Hyper Transport Technology up to 2G"

Now, of course I'm honestly not smart enough to tell you that this is native to the nForce 560 chipset or if this is a chipset tweak, similar to the old Intel BX/TX lines years ago... but the board does support it.

[bigdroo]

So that?s what you wanted the memory for! I was looking at assembling a quad core together over time but may get it all in one shot. We will see about sticker shock, as you said, and go from there.

Vegas! I haven't been there for 4-5 years now. Business or pleasure, what ever have fun.


sgt_brutis

Brutis,

The BIOSTAR board has a nice layout, but I do have a mild preference towards the ASUS boards in general. On something as new as the K10 line, I'm sure BIOSTAR is okay, but if I had it to do over again, I probably would have gone with ASUS, ABIT or MSI.

But I'm here now. :lol:

Honestly I bought the board only because I had a $25 NewEgg credit to use, which made this thing REALLY cheap.

Vegas - same here. used to go every year, but my last trip was on 9/11.

No worries mods, any more mentioning of the BIOSTAR board or Vegas, and I'll take this out of the ASUS forum. :)

Anyone thought of closing one of the dead motherboard forums and opening a BIOSTAR one?

[Mechanix]

I think I'll jump on one of the first new AMD chipset boards when they come out. Asus seems to be quick on the draw in this regard. So is ECS, but... ugh... Anyway, the Biostar site describes Hypertransport 2.0. You'll find the same description in all their AM2 boards, as well as their socket 939 boards.