GIGABYTE Unveils the 990FX-Gaming Socket AM3+ Motherboard

btarunr · Feb 18, 2016

GIGABYTE unveiled its flagship socket AM3+ motherboard featuring an up-to-date feature-set, the 990FX-Gaming. The board is part of the new wave of socket AM3+ motherboards AMD promised, in its recent AMD FX + Wraith release, to serve up modern connectivity such as USB 3.1 and M.2 slots with NVMe support. The board supports 220W FX-9000 series processors, in addition to the latest FX-8370, out of the box. It draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it using a 10-phase VRM.

The AM3+ socket is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting up to 64 GB of dual-channel DDR3-2400 MHz memory; and the AMD 990FX north bridge. This chip puts out two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. The board's third PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot is electrical x4, and wired to the SB950 southbridge. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, and an M.2 (20 Gb/s) slot. The board features GIGABYTE's top of the line AMP-Up onboard audio implementation, including a 110 dBA SNR CODEC, a TI Burr Brown OPA2134 user-replaceable OPAMP, Nichicon Muse capacitors, and ground-layer isolation. Networking is care of a Killer E2201 controller. Modern connectivity includes two USB 3.1 ports, and four USB 3.0 ports. The board is driven by UEFI BIOS, and features GIGABYTE's dual-UEFI tech. GIGABYTE is pricing the 990FX-Gaming at US $150.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Chaitanya · Feb 18, 2016

This is old news, I don't know why techpowerup was sleeping so long. You there is a 970 gaming board that gigabyte introduced at the same time as this one.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/news/39866/

Kyrios74 · Feb 18, 2016

a good upgrade for those who do not immediately switch to zen

dj-electric · Feb 18, 2016

Chaitanya said:
This is old news, I don't know why techpowerup was sleeping so long. You there is a 970 gaming board that gigabyte introduced at the same time as this one.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/news/39866/

Well... its not THAT old...

mxthunder · Feb 18, 2016

Its nice to see something new from Gigabyte on the AMD platform, but this is a far cry from a flagship board. Ill stick with my UD7. This thing can only run 2 way. Looks very cheap too.

cdawall · Feb 18, 2016

I hate how gigabyte and MSI have gone to the same naming and color scheme.

Batou1986 · Feb 18, 2016

Still putting makeup on the AM3+ pig I see :shadedshu:

Basard · Feb 18, 2016

Kyrios74 said:
a good upgrade for those who do not immediately switch to zen

I've been eyeballing this board for almost a month now... but my little Phenom still seems good enough. Well, maybe the 8350 just isn't a good enough upgrade (to me). Sure it's about twice as fast, when you OC.... And sure, this board supports faster hard drives, and stuff.... and USB 3..... But then my OEM Windows will go to hell, but at least the full versions are getting cheaper than they've been.

Meh.... I'll probably end up waiting for zen. Then I can really soak up a good upgrade feeling when I finally do switch from USB 2, SATA II, and hard disks to something about 4-5x faster.

Holy crap I'm a cheap fucker.

Dj-ElectriC said:
Well... its not THAT old...

Actually it's been out for a month or more, I believe. It's pretty old news, and for such a cool board (frig off, haters, it's a cool board!

) I'm surprised it wasn't on TPU already.....

I haven't found an actual review of it though.

ThE_MaD_ShOt · Feb 18, 2016

Nice looking board but I don't see a reason to move from my Ud3. Oh an @btarunr , per Gigabytes website this board only supports up to 32gb of memory.

Ruru · Feb 19, 2016

Gigabyte FTW, but thinking that AM3+ is about 5 years old.. Thinking about that, it would be funny if Intel would still have 1155 at their main socket.

Jism · Feb 19, 2016

AMD still sells AM3 based CPU's. This is why you see vendors still putting out AM3 motherboards. You can get an 8 core CPU for less the money an intel-system costs.

It's good news. It gives both AMD and Gigabyte cashflow again.

You need a beefy motherboard anyway to run a high-end AM3+ 8 Core CPU, esp when overclocking. I am still working on my Thuban X6 1055T at 4.2GHz with a crosshair IV.

Steevo · Feb 20, 2016

Still waiting for zen before I upgrade to Intel or a new AMD system.

Also... where is the more cores meme, it appropriate.

Countryside · Feb 20, 2016

Steevo said:
Still waiting for zen before I upgrade to Intel or a new AMD system.

Also... where is the more cores meme, it appropriate.

Hood · Feb 20, 2016

PCIe 2.0? Why bother? 2007 tech...PCIe 3.0 has been out since 2010. The gimped M.2 slot is useless as well (20gb/s) - as if any AMD budget builder would buy an expensive M.2 drive and then run it at half speed!

Melvis · Feb 21, 2016

Basard said:
I've been eyeballing this board for almost a month now... but my little Phenom still seems good enough. Well, maybe the 8350 just isn't a good enough upgrade (to me). Sure it's about twice as fast, when you OC.... And sure, this board supports faster hard drives, and stuff.... and USB 3..... But then my OEM Windows will go to hell, but at least the full versions are getting cheaper than they've been.

Depends on what you use your PC for I guess? mainly gaming or if you do any sort of transcoding? multitasking etc. I found my 8350 to give (depending on the game) anywhere from the same performance to double the performance and in transcoding it just smashed my Phenom II 965 out of the park. 3yrs down the track and that gap has increased even more to be honest with the 965 having to work alot more now in pretty much everything I do on the PC. The 8350 still runs everything out there with no issues and with a bit of room to breath

cdawall · Feb 22, 2016

Hood said:
PCIe 2.0? Why bother? 2007 tech...PCIe 3.0 has been out since 2010. The gimped M.2 slot is useless as well (20gb/s) - as if any AMD budget builder would buy an expensive M.2 drive and then run it at half speed!

Find me a drive where it matters. Even the 10gb/s max out the speeds the nvme parts hit in real world use, you know after the controller has overheated and gone into gimp mode.

Basard · Feb 22, 2016

Melvis said:
Depends on what you use your PC for I guess? mainly gaming or if you do any sort of transcoding? multitasking etc. I found my 8350 to give (depending on the game) anywhere from the same performance to double the performance and in transcoding it just smashed my Phenom II 965 out of the park. 3yrs down the track and that gap has increased even more to be honest with the 965 having to work alot more now in pretty much everything I do on the PC. The 8350 still runs everything out there with no issues and with a bit of room to breath

Just bought this along with an 850 EVO 250GB and Win10 Pro full version! MUA HAHA!!! And, if I cant torture my Phenom II up past 4Ghz, I'll be buying an 8350 for it soon too (they're gettin cheap, cheap!)!

SO EXCITING! There better be a bad-ass sticker in the box!

AND I ordered the old lady a Phanteks Enthoo Pro! That case makes me wanna orgasm!

Eric_Cartman · Feb 22, 2016

AMD's just beating a dead horse.

Melvis · Feb 23, 2016

Basard said:
Just bought this along with an 850 EVO 250GB and Win10 Pro full version! MUA HAHA!!! And, if I cant torture my Phenom II up past 4Ghz, I'll be buying an 8350 for it soon too (they're gettin cheap, cheap!)!

SO EXCITING! There better be a bad-ass sticker in the box!

AND I ordered the old lady a Phanteks Enthoo Pro! That case makes me wanna orgasm!

I wish the prices here for the FX CPU's where cheap, they have gone UP in price not down, it sux!

Basard · Feb 23, 2016

Melvis said:
I wish the prices here for the FX CPU's where cheap, they have gone UP in price not down, it sux!

Damn... that sucks... 8350's are at 170 bucks here.

Melvis · Feb 24, 2016

Basard said:
Damn... that sucks... 8350's are at 170 bucks here.

Your looking at around $260 for the 8350 at the moment...when I got mine it was $220 I think by memory.

eidairaman1 · Feb 25, 2016

ThE_MaD_ShOt said:
Nice looking board but I don't see a reason to move from my Ud3. Oh an @btarunr , per Gigabytes website this board only supports up to 32gb of memory.

Im not Moving Until Zen is out. My wifes rig will get my Am3 board, cpu, ram. Pretty good upgrade for her, my gpu will have a wc complete cover block on it when im on zen

System Name	RBMK-1000
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling	DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory	2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage	Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s)	BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case	Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s)	ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply	Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse	ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard	Gamdias Hermes E2
Software	Windows 11 Pro

Processor	FX 8320
Motherboard	ASUS M5A99X Evo R2.0
Cooling	Enermax TCS-T40-W
Memory	Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer
Video Card(s)	Radeon HD5750
Storage	Crucial MX200 250GB
Display(s)	BenQ 19"
Case	Enermax Ostrog White
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar DG
Power Supply	Enermax Revolution XT 530 Gold
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64bit

System Name	Daily driver
Processor	i9 13900k
Motherboard	Z690 Aorus Master
Cooling	Custom loop
Memory	2x16 GB GSkill DDR5 @ 6000
Video Card(s)	RTX4090 FE
Storage	2x 2TB 990 Pro SSD 1x 2TB 970 evo SSD, 1x 4TB HDD
Display(s)	LG 32" 2560x1440
Case	Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	beQuiet Dark Power 12 1000W
Mouse	Razer Death adder
Keyboard	Razer blackwidow v3
VR HMD	n/a
Software	Windows 11 pro
Benchmark Scores	Heaven 4.0 @ 2560x1440 270.5 FPS

System Name	All the cores
Processor	2990WX
Motherboard	Asrock X399M
Cooling	CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory	4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s)	(2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage	2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s)	Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case	Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s)	Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse	Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard	Keychron K8
Software	W10P

Processor	Ryzen 5900X
Motherboard	ASUS Prime X470 Pro
Cooling	Arctic liquid freezer II 240
Memory	2 x 16 Gb Gskill Trident Z 3600 Mhz
Video Card(s)	MSI Ventus 3060 Ti OC
Storage	Samsung 960 EVO 500 Gb / 860 EVO 1 Tb
Display(s)	Dell S2719DGF
Case	Lian Li Lancool II Mesh
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster Z
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x
Mouse	Logitech G703
Keyboard	Logitech G513
Software	Win 11

GIGABYTE Unveils the 990FX-Gaming Socket AM3+ Motherboard

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator

Chaitanya

Kyrios74

dj-electric

mxthunder

cdawall

where the hell are my stars

Batou1986

Basard

ThE_MaD_ShOt

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

Jism

Steevo

Countryside

Hood

Melvis

cdawall

where the hell are my stars

Basard

Eric_Cartman

Melvis

Basard

Melvis

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

System Name	ChoreBoy
Processor	8700k Delided
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z390 Master
Cooling	420mm Custom Loop
Memory	CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 2x8GB @ 3000Mhz
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080 SC
Storage	1TB SX8200, 250GB 850 EVO, 250GB Barracuda
Display(s)	Pixio PX329 and Dell E228WFP
Case	Fractal R6
Audio Device(s)	On-Board
Power Supply	1000w Corsair
Software	Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	A million on everything....

System Name	Agent Texas / Selene / Eve
Processor	Ryzen7 5800x / Fx 8350 / Fx 8350
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite Ax V2 / Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 r4.0 / Msi 970a Krait
Cooling	Msi Mag Core liquid / H100i / Cryo-pc Cooler
Memory	2 x32 GB Gskil Ripjaws v series / 4x 8gb G.Skill Snipers / 2x 8gb G.Skill Ripjaws
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Rx 6800xt / Msi RX580 / Gigabyte R9 290x
Storage	1tb M.2, 2tb wd / 500 gb ssd, 2x 2tb Wd Blacks/ 500 gb ssd, 1tb WD Black
Display(s)	Dell Ultra Sharp 2408 WFp / Hp w2207 / Sanyo tv
Case	Corsair 780t White / Raidmax Vampire / NZXT Phantom 240
Audio Device(s)	Onboard Hd Audio / Onboard Hd Audio / Onboard Hd Audio
Power Supply	Corsair Rm 850 watt / Corsair TX 850 watt / Corsair TX 750 watt
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero / Logitech G500s / Logitech wireless
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe / Corsair k50 / Logitech wireless
Software	Win 11 pro / Win 11 pro / Win 11 pro
Benchmark Scores	What are benchmarks anyway?

System Name	4K-gaming / media-PC
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X / Intel Core i7-6700K
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero / Asus Z170-A
Cooling	Arctic Freezer 50 / Thermaltake Contac 21
Memory	32GB DDR4-3466 / 16GB DDR4-3000
Video Card(s)	RTX 3080 10GB / RX 6700 XT
Storage	3.3TB of SSDs / several small SSDs
Display(s)	27" 4K120 IPS + 32" 4K60 IPS + 24" 1080p60
Case	Corsair 4000D AF White / DeepCool CC560 WH
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless / Corsair HS35
Power Supply	EVGA G2 750W / Fractal ION Gold 550W
Mouse	Logitech MX518 / Logitech G400s
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO / NOS C450 Mini Pro
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	They run Crysis

System Name	Compy 386
Processor	7800X3D
Motherboard	Asus
Cooling	Air for now.....
Memory	64 GB DDR5 6400Mhz
Video Card(s)	7900XTX 310 Merc
Storage	Samsung 990 2TB, 2 SP 2TB SSDs, 24TB Enterprise drives
Display(s)	55" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s)	ATI HDMI
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Razer
Software	A lot.
Benchmark Scores	Its fast. Enough.

Processor	11700
Motherboard	TUF z590
Memory	G.Skill 32gb 3600mhz
Video Card(s)	ROG Vega 56
Case	Deepcool
Power Supply	RM 850

System Name	DEVIL'S ABYSS
Processor	i7-4790K@4.6 GHz
Motherboard	Asus Z97-Deluxe
Cooling	Corsair H110 (2 x 140mm)(3 x 140mm case fans)
Memory	16GB Adata XPG V2 2400MHz
Video Card(s)	EVGA 780 Ti Classified
Storage	Intel 750 Series 400GB (AIC), Plextor M6e 256GB (M.2), 13 TB storage
Display(s)	Crossover 27QW (27"@ 2560x1440)
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply	Cooler Master V1000
Mouse	Ttsports Talon Blu
Keyboard	Logitech G510
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64 version 1803
Benchmark Scores	Passmark CPU score = 13080

System Name	Night Rider \| Mini LAN PC \| Workhorse
Processor	AMD R7 5800X3D \| Ryzen 1600X \| i7 970
Motherboard	MSi AM4 Pro Carbon \| GA- \| Gigabyte EX58-UD5
Cooling	Noctua U9S Twin Fan\| Stock Cooler, Copper Core)\| Big shairkan B
Memory	2x8GB DDR4 G.Skill Ripjaws 3600MHz\| 2x8GB Corsair 3000 \| 6x2GB DDR3 1300 Corsair
Video Card(s)	MSI AMD 6750XT \| 6500XT \| MSI RX 580 8GB
Storage	1TB WD Black NVME / 250GB SSD /2TB WD Black \| 500GB SSD WD, 2x1TB, 1x750 \| WD 500 SSD/Seagate 320
Display(s)	LG 27" 1440P\| Samsung 20" S20C300L/DELL 15" \| 22" DELL/19"DELL
Case	LIAN LI PC-18 \| Mini ATX Case (custom) \| Atrix C4 9001
Audio Device(s)	Onboard \| Onbaord \| Onboard
Power Supply	Silverstone 850 \| Silverstone Mini 450W \| Corsair CX-750
Mouse	Coolermaster Pro \| Rapoo V900 \| Gigabyte 6850X
Keyboard	MAX Keyboard Nighthawk X8 \| Creative Fatal1ty eluminx \| Some POS Logitech
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 \| Windows 10 Pro 64 \| Windows 7 Pro 64/Windows 10 Home

Processor	Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard	AsRock Z97 Extreme4
Cooling	Hyper 212 Evo
Memory	16GB
Video Card(s)	R9 Nano
Storage	256GB SATA SSD 2TB WD Blue
Display(s)	1920x1080
Case	Cooler Master Elite 130
Power Supply	CX650M
Software	Argh, Windows 10. I hated Windows 7. I hate Windows 10 more. Give me back XP!!!

System Name	PCGOD
Processor	AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard	Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling	Scythe Ashura, 2×BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory	16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s)	AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage	Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s)	NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case	AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply	Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse	Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard	Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64