• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Sapphire Unveils Atomic 990FX Motherboard with FC Water Block

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,308 (7.52/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
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
Sapphire's Atomic brand often sprung up some surprising products in the VGA space, including some of the very first graphics cards with factory-fitted liquid-cooling solutions. Its latest creation is the Atomic 990FX, a socket AM3+ motherboard in the ATX form-factor, with a full-coverage water-block. "Full coverage and motherboards?" you ask? Yes! This board features a full-coverage block that features coolant channels that pass through not just the CPU, but also CPU VRM, and the chipset. It features three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, four DDR3 DIMM slots, six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, gigabit Ethernet, and 8-channel audio.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Joined
Jan 21, 2013
Messages
3,842 (0.88/day)
System Name Zotan
Processor i9-10850K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X AX
Cooling H100
Memory 32GB Viper 3200
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX3080
Case Airflow 275R
Power Supply RMX850
Benchmark Scores d1nky@hwbot.org
What no?! Why build an out dated motherboard with not in date features?!

I love AMD and 990fx platform but this isn't right!
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
2,785 (0.57/day)
Location
New Zealand
System Name MoneySink
Processor 2600K @ 4.8
Motherboard P8Z77-V
Cooling AC NexXxos XT45 360, RayStorm, D5T+XSPC tank, Tygon R-3603, Bitspower
Memory 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600C8
Video Card(s) GTX 780 SLI (EVGA SC ACX + Giga GHz Ed.)
Storage Kingston HyperX SSD (128) OS, WD RE4 (1TB), RE2 (1TB), Cav. Black (2 x 500GB), Red (4TB)
Display(s) Achieva Shimian QH270-IPSMS (2560x1440) S-IPS
Case NZXT Switch 810
Audio Device(s) onboard Realtek yawn edition
Power Supply Seasonic X-1050
Software Win8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores 3.5 litres of Pale Ale in 18 minutes.
You'd really need to have the graphics card(s) watercooled as well for this one. A standard dual slot air cooled card really cuts down the SATA connectivity. Which begs the questions, why have vertical SATA ports?
 
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
4,636 (0.92/day)
Ain't this AM3+ socket dead? If I recall correctly AMD is no more going to release any new processors for this platform unless Sapphires knows otherwise. I really do like the idea of the FC block. I am skeptical about the success of this board at this moment in time.

I still have a PC running on a AM3+ socket at home, although most of my workstations are all based on 2011 socket Intel i7 with quadros.
 
Joined
Sep 4, 2013
Messages
90 (0.02/day)
System Name OLD TRUSTY PC
Processor Intel i3-530 @3.7Ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte H55-USB3M
Cooling Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo
Memory Avexir Core Series 1600Mhz 4GB X 2
Video Card(s) Asus R9270-DC2OC-2GD5
Storage Kingston HyperX 128GB+2TB WD Blue
Display(s) AOC 2236vw
Case Corsair Carbide 200R
Power Supply Acbel 550W 80plus
Software Microsoft 7 Ultimate 64bit
Go home Sapphire, You're Drunk....
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
4,305 (1.11/day)
Location
Texas
System Name SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s) GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s) Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s) Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Logitech G19S
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016
Odd that they would release something like this so late in the game for AM3+ platform. I mean at least last year you could have said this would be awesome to combo with a FX 9370/9590 chip but right now I feel its a bit late in the game. Maybe there is something we don't know coming soon but I feel this is odd to come out at this point.

But, it is a cool motherboard and concept in general!
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
9,130 (1.72/day)
Location
Internet is borked, please help.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| J1nnx took Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
Ain't this AM3+ socket dead? If I recall correctly AMD is no more going to release any new processors for this platform unless Sapphires knows otherwise. I really do like the idea of the FC block. I am skeptical about the success of this board at this moment in time.

I still have a PC running on a AM3+ socket at home, although most of my workstations are all based on 2011 socket Intel i7 with quadros.
AMD never said so. they only said there wont be any new processors for this financial year.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2005
Messages
3,059 (0.44/day)
Location
Baltimore MD
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
AMD never said so. they only said there wont be any new processors for this financial year.

If they do release new CPU's they need a new chipset to go with them the 990fx is far far beihind
 

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man
Joined
Jan 28, 2012
Messages
13,171 (2.79/day)
Location
Concord, NH, USA
System Name Apollo
Processor Intel Core i9 9880H
Motherboard Some proprietary Apple thing.
Memory 64GB DDR4-2667
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon Pro 5600M, 8GB HBM2
Storage 1TB Apple NVMe, 4TB External
Display(s) Laptop @ 3072x1920 + 2x LG 5k Ultrafine TB3 displays
Case MacBook Pro (16", 2019)
Audio Device(s) AirPods Pro, Sennheiser HD 380s w/ FIIO Alpen 2, or Logitech 2.1 Speakers
Power Supply 96w Power Adapter
Mouse Logitech MX Master 3
Keyboard Logitech G915, GL Clicky
Software MacOS 12.1
If they do release new CPU's they need a new chipset to go with them the 990fx is far far beihind
It's not that far behind except for that fact that it's still using PCI-E 2.0. Consider for a moment that it offers 38 PCI-E lanes total, (8/8/8/8/4/1/1 max). Assuming AMD were to release a new chipset, it probably would use a newer revision of HyperTransport, have a lower TDP, and use PCI-E 3.0.

990FX is just the PCI-E root complex plus the communication (via dedicated PCI-E lanes no less,) for the south bridge. The 990FX is more like Intel's IOH (I/O Hub) on skt1366 where Intel used QPI between the CPU and the IOH to provide PCI-E lanes where now the PCH is more like a glorified south bridge.

I think what you're really complaining about is the shortcomings of the SB950 (the south bridge which offers USB, SATA, etc) which really only lacks USB 3.0 since it supports 6 SATA3 (6gb) ports already and 4x PCI-E 2.0 is more than enough to drive that.

I suspect by the time AMD is ready to release a new processor for this socket (assuming it's not dead), they'll have a new chipset/south bridge combo to go along with it, unless they take the route Intel has been going and moves the PCI-E root complex to the CPU like they did on their APUs where the FCH is really like Intel's PCH; an over glorified south bridge. Although AMD would have to completely change the platform if they did decide to move the PCI-E root complex to the CPU, so I doubt that would happen unless it was a completely new socket.

Edit: On a side note, I would like to see AMD merge the chipset and the south bridge if they hold on to the 939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+ socket design. HyperTransport would offer more than enough bandwidth to offer any kind of high performance I/O. I think people need to consider that AMD offered a lot of PCI-E lanes for the price on the 790FX, 890FX and 990FX.

Intel's philosophy has been to base the platform on the CPU. AMD's for AM3+ and prior was to base the CPU on the platform. Assuming CPUs were the same speed, I'm not sure which philosophy would be better. I kind of like the idea of getting a cheap CPU but a decent priced motherboard just to get a ton of PCI-E slots. To get a ton of PCI-E slots with an Intel CPU, you're looking at a good chunk of change for the hardware in comparison to AMD, so from a price perspective AMD really has the one up. The problem is that they can't get their shit together with their CPUs. I almost feel like Bulldozer was a waste a time (albeit an ambitious project,) and that they would have been better off doing what Intel did and simply their core and reduce the length of the pipeline. Branch prediction can be a bitch and adding more stages to the pipeline makes it worse and stalls only hit you harder.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Nov 18, 2011
Messages
124 (0.03/day)
Location
Toronto, Canada
Processor Intel Atom 270
Cooling Passive
Memory 2GB DDR3-1333
Storage 160GB WD 2.5"
Case Custom
Power Supply Seasonic-Passive
:respect: This board is F***ing sexy!

There is still a little demand for AM3+ boards, though it is strange that they wouldn't do the same with z97. :confused:

Only things I don't like are the SATA ports and the molex in the middle of the board.
 

de.das.dude

Pro Indian Modder
Joined
Jun 13, 2010
Messages
9,130 (1.72/day)
Location
Internet is borked, please help.
System Name Monke | Work Thinkpad| J1nnx took Old Monke
Processor Ryzen 5600X | Ryzen 5500U | FX8320
Motherboard ASRock B550 Extreme4 | ? | Asrock 990FX Extreme 4
Cooling 240mm Rad | Not needed | hyper 212 EVO
Memory 2x16GB DDR4 3600 Corsair RGB | 16 GB DDR4 3600 | 16GB DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse RX6700XT 12GB | Vega 8 | Sapphire Pulse RX580 8GB
Storage Samsung 980 nvme (Primary) | some samsung SSD
Display(s) Dell 2723DS | Some 14" 1080p 98%sRGB IPS | Dell 2240L
Case Ant Esports Tempered case | Thinkpad | Antec
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z333 | Jabra corpo stuff
Power Supply Corsair RM750e | not needed | Corsair GS 600
Mouse Logitech G400 | nipple
Keyboard Logitech G213 | stock kb is awesome | Logitech K230
VR HMD ;_;
Software Windows 10 Professional x3
Benchmark Scores There are no marks on my bench
If they do release new CPU's they need a new chipset to go with them the 990fx is far far beihind
as mentioned, its not far far behind.

also since the amd imc is on the cpu itself they might come out with ddr4 ram too.
 
Top