Friday, December 11th 2009

MSI Readies First AMD 890-FX Based Motherboard

Here it is - the industry's first motherboard ready for market, based on the AMD 890FX chipset. This socket AM3 motherboard features a platform overhaul with its new chipset, support for USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps, and as many as six PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. The electrical configuration of these slots isn't known as yet, but seeing that there are only two apparent groups of external PCI-Express lane switching, four of these could be electrical x8. The carries the markings of "quad-CrossFireX graphics support", which leads us to believe that at least four out of six of these are wired to the new northbridge.

The CPU is powered by a 5+1 phase VRM, with a large heatsink cooling both the VRM areas and the northbridge.Besides the six PCI-Express x16 slots, there is a lone PCI slot. This is also perhaps the first motherboard with native SATA 6 Gbps support, with as many as six SATA 6 Gbps ports. An additional controller seems to be in place for a couple of extra SATA 3 Gbps ports, and an IDE controller (indicating that the chipset has given up native IDE support). An additional NEC controller provides two USB 3.0 ports color-coded blue, on the rear panel. Its neighbours include powered eSATA, 8-channel audio with optical and co-axial SPDIF, a number of other USB 2.0 ports, FireWire one Gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth. There is no word on the pricing or availability, though hopefully more could be learned about 890FX-based motherboards at the upcoming CES event.
Source: Coolaler
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85 Comments on MSI Readies First AMD 890-FX Based Motherboard

#26
Meizuman
What is that connector next to the RJ-45? USB? Rounded edges? Does not compute :confused:
Posted on Reply
#27
Zubasa
MeizumanWhat is that connector next to the RJ-45? USB? Rounded edges? Does not compute :confused:
Most likely eSATA+USB combo jack.
Posted on Reply
#28
javaking
So what's the difference in the 980a and the 890a
Posted on Reply
#29
Zubasa
javakingSo what's the difference in the 980a and the 890a
Two completely unrelated chipsets? :p
890FX > 890a ;)
Posted on Reply
#31
Zubasa
javakingwhitch is better chipset
As far as I see it, the 980a chipset is no better than the 790FX.
So I guess its call PWN'd?
Posted on Reply
#32
javaking
I'am a noob I quess I'am in for little more reading
Posted on Reply
#33
HossHuge
Does this mean that AMD won't be going tri-channel with Bulldozer?
Posted on Reply
#34
Steevo
I predict a MSI board that has issues, like most of the other MSI boards i have used. Alot of PCI-e but only four useable, but at least when you encounter a wierd issue you can use the rear reset button instead of trying to dig into a crowded case to reset a completely locked up system.
Posted on Reply
#35
Polarman
6 PCIe is pretty pointless. Why not make it red instead of blue ?
Posted on Reply
#36
Hunt3r
the price will be a little salty so make to see..
:)
Posted on Reply
#37
Zubasa
Polarman6 PCIe is pretty pointless. Why not make it red instead of blue ?
On top of that, MSI have some of the dumbest slot layouts on the market.
Just look at their 790FX-GD70, where on earth should you put your sound card? :shadedshu

They are smart enough to put an x1 slot right under the first x16 slot, so dual x16 CF = onboard sound.
Yes, the other 2 slots are only capable of x8.
Isn't the whole poitn of 790FX is dual X16 / quad x4? :wtf:
Posted on Reply
#38
Disparia
They give in to the "sound card" crowd, get flack from the quad Crossfire crowd. MSI just can't win ;)
Posted on Reply
#39
Zubasa
JizzlerThey give in to the "sound card" crowd, get flack from the quad Crossfire crowd. MSI just can't win ;)
All they need to do is to swap the pci-e x1 slot with the middle pci slot that nobody uses anymore.
Since the only x16 slots are the first and the third.
Posted on Reply
#40
Disparia
Ahhh... true. I was thinking of a different board.

And even better, don't swap, just make them all x1!
Posted on Reply
#41
theubersmurf
HossHugeDoes this mean that AMD won't be going tri-channel with Bulldozer?
Somehow I doubt it will be a common thing for anything but LGA 1366 socket mobos. Besides which, AMD tends to be slow in the updating of it's memory controllers. It seems like they get reused from generation to generation of processor, and only update it every once in a while.
Posted on Reply
#42
theubersmurf
JizzlerThey give in to the "sound card" crowd, get flack from the quad Crossfire crowd. MSI just can't win ;)
A lot of those people have never owned an MSI board, if they knew how stable they were they might change their tune, besides which, when you hear about most "extreme" overclocks, people aren't using MSI boards, with overclocking being the hip thing for enthusiasts, they tend to flock to the most well regarded in the light of overclocking. I love my Eclipse, it's been a great board since day one...Just over a year ago now.
Posted on Reply
#43
MK4512
Wow, I could keep my house warm if I had 6 Xfire setup! :roll:

Who REALLY needs that much power...
Posted on Reply
#44
Zubasa
theubersmurfSomehow I doubt it will be a common thing for anything but LGA 1366 socket mobos. Besides which, AMD tends to be slow in the updating of it's memory controllers. It seems like they get reused from generation to generation of processor, and only update it every once in a while.
The same goes both ways.
Intel haven't updated their memory controller for quite a while until the the LGA 1156 and 1366 platforms.
As far as tri-channel goes, not even the i7 needs that bandwidth, this is evident from how the 1156 i7 performs.
Posted on Reply
#45
soryuuha
human_errorI can't help but feel that this board needs more PCI-E slots :p
5x PCie not good enough? :nutkick:
Posted on Reply
#46
Gjohnst4
Now if MSI would only let me trade in my 790FX-GD70 I'd be all set ><
Posted on Reply
#47
PP Mguire
ZubasaOn top of that, MSI have some of the dumbest slot layouts on the market.
Just look at their 790FX-GD70, where on earth should you put your sound card? :shadedshu

They are smart enough to put an x1 slot right under the first x16 slot, so dual x16 CF = onboard sound.
Yes, the other 2 slots are only capable of x8.
Isn't the whole poitn of 790FX is dual X16 / quad x4? :wtf:
In any of the other pci-e slots that are provided :rolleyes:

You dont need a dedicated 1x slot for a sound card. If you have 4 pci-e slots and are only using 2 for crossfire then stick a sound card in one of the other availible slots.

For instance.

Posted on Reply
#48
aj28
I think it's worth pointing out the obvious for a few of the people posting earlier in the thread: PCI-E 16x slots may be used for any PCI-E configuration all the way down to PCI-E 1x cards. It's not that they're useless so much as they're giving you a wide array of options in how you want to orient your graphics cards relative to the rest of the system, which is great given the fact that almost all current-gen cards are or will be dual-slot, and some custom configurations now call for as many as three.

Now all we need are those cheap PCI-E 1x add-on cards... That we've needed... For years now...
Posted on Reply
#49
Zubasa
PP MguireIn any of the other pci-e slots that are provided :rolleyes:

You dont need a dedicated 1x slot for a sound card. If you have 4 pci-e slots and are only using 2 for crossfire then stick a sound card in one of the other availible slots.

For instance.

img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/pp_mguire/Cars%20and%20PCs/DSCN0854.jpg
I know what you mean, but according to the manual only the 2 of ths slots are electrically x16.
That is the slot your GTX 280 is in, and the slot that your X-Fi is in. :shadedshu

The other 2 slots are x8 only and, and when pluged in it switches to x16/x8/x8 mode.
It doesn't say what happens if you put an x1 card in.
The most "logical" way is assuming that the bios is dumb.....
Since I haven't seen anyone try out what happens.

Posted on Reply
#50
PP Mguire
In that setup with 2 4870s in the 2 main slots and the xfi in the 2nd pci-e slot according to gpuz both vid card where running 16x.
Posted on Reply
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