GIGABYTE announced its third G1.Gaming series socket AM3+ motherboard, the 990X-Gaming SLI. This board closely follows recent launches by the company based on the AMD 970 and AMD 990FX chipsets. As its name suggests, this board is based on the AMD 990X chipset, and features NVIDIA SLI support. In addition to out-of-the-box support for the latest FX-8370 processor, the board also supports 220W TDP chips from the FX-9000 series. Based on the ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS power connectors, and conditions it for the CPU with a 11-phase VRM.

The board supports up to 32 GB of dual-channel DDR3-2400 memory. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 when both are populated), PCI-Express 2.0 x1, and legacy PCI. Storage connectivity includes a 20 Gb/s M.2 slot, and six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Among its modern connectivity features are two USB 3.1 ports (both type-A) and four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers). Networking is care of an Intel I-218V gigabit Ethernet. The onboard 10-channel audio solution combines a 115 dBA SNR CODEC with ground-layer isolation and electrolytic capacitors. The board is driven by UEFI BIOS, with NVMe boot device support. Expect this to be priced just over $100.

GIGABYTE introduced its latest socket AM3+ motherboard, and its first in a long while, the 990XA-UD3 R5. Built in the standard ATX form-factor, the board draws power from a combination of 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS connectors, and conditions it using a 10-phase CPU VRM. The board, however, does not support FX-9000 series chips. Based on AMD 990X chipset, featuring AMD SB950 southbridge, expansion slots of the board include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x8/x8 when both are populated), supporting NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX, a third PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (electrical x4, wired to the southbridge), and two each of PCIe 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI slots.

Storage connectivity on the 990XA-UD3 R5 include six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. The board's onboard audio solution features a Realtek ALC1150 CODEC, offering 115 dBA SNR, audio-grade electrolytic capacitors on the audio circuit, a TI-made headphones amplifier with support for headphones impedance as high as 600Ω, and PCB ground-layer isolation. Also on offer are a gigabit Ethernet connection, driven by a Realtek-made controller, four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two by headers), and PS/2 mouse/keyboard combo port. The board is driven by AMI UEFI BIOS, and supports Windows 8 SecureBoot and FastBoot. Expect this board to be priced around US $130.

NVIDIA today released its latest version of the GeForce software suite, version 275.50 BETA. With this release, NVIDIA enables SLI support on AMD socket AM3+ platform. The driver enables SLI multi-GPU technology certified AMD 990FX, AMD 990X, and AMD 970 motherboards. Keep in mind, not every AMD 9-series chipset-based motherboard will run SLI, only certified ones, just like not every Intel 5-series and 6-series chipset based motherboard features SLI. Look for the SLI logo when buying the motherboard.

Besides this major change, GeForce 275.50 improves 3D Vision performance on Duke Nukem Forever. It adds new 3D Vision profiles for Duke Nukem Forever Demo, Mars benchmark, Rise of the Immortals, and Rusty Hearts. 3D Vision profile for Alice: Madness Returns is improved. This is a BETA release, use of which is not covered by product warranties. SLI support on AMD, and all features in this release will be carried forward by future WHQL-signed driver releases.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 275.50 BETA

Here is the complete socket AM3+ motherboard first-wave of ASUS, the M5A series, short and sweet. Based entirely on AMD 9-series chipset, including 9-series southbridge chips, the first-wave caters to gamer, performance, and enthusiast market segments, and only includes those chipset models that rely on discrete graphics (leaving out AMD 980G, 990GX). The lineup even includes models from ASUS' gamer/enthusiast-oriented Republic of Gamers (ROG) family, and The Ultimate Force (TUF) family.

The lineup starts with three models based on AMD 970 + SB950 chipset, which is a single discrete graphics card platform. The M5A97 is the entry-point, it bases itself entirely on what the chipset offers, plus two USB 3.0 ports. Moving up is M5A97 Pro, which has everything its little sibling has, plus a stronger 6+2 phase Digi+ VRM, and two eSATA ports. The M5A97 EVO, which was pictured a little while ago. This has everything the Pro variant has, plus two front-panel USB 3.0 ports, and FireWire.

Here is the first picture of the M5A99X EVO, an upcoming socket AM3+ motherboard by ASUS based on the AMD 990X + SB950 chipset designed AMD's FX-Series "Zambezi" 8-core, 6-core, and 4-core procesors. The AMD 990X is designed for discrete graphics with up to two graphics cards in CrossFireX. It is likely that the final iteration has NVIDIA SLI support out of the box. The AM3+ Black socket is powered by 8-phase Digi+ VRM, cooled by a large heatsink that sits next to the northbridge heatsink. ASUS came up with a new heatsink design theme. While the P8P67 series uses heatsinks with curvy/wavy fins, the M5A series uses sharp edges.

The AMD 990X northbridge gives out 16 PCI-Express 2.1 lanes split between two x16 slots. When both slots are populated, the graphics cards run on x8 bandwidth. The third black x16 slot is wired to the SB950 southbridge, and is likely x4. Other slots include two PCI-Express x1 and a PCI. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the SB950 southbridge that support RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 modes; a third-party controller drives two additional SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports. We don't know if there's another such controller handling eSATA.