AMD 890 chipset

[Fudd Rucker]

Has anyone gotten their hands on one of these boards yet? Im thinking since my 1156 board died on me recently I would jump back to the AMD camp to try out the new x6 chips or possibly an x4 T based processor. Does the 890 chipset provide any better features over the aged 790 chipset (ie: higher overclocks at lower voltages?)

Also is it true they gutted ACC from the 890 chipset and its up to board manufacturers to put the unlock feature on the board? If so , I think thats killed any thought of buying an 890 based motherboard because I really wanted to take a stab at unlocking an x4 T phenom processor.

Sky could you shed some light or opinions on this?

[Hunt]

I wouldn't mind seeing some comments either. From what I've read on reviews on the 890 platform(specifically Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H), it seems very good. I'm definitely interested in it if the Thuban cpus are reasonably priced as the rumors have it.

I'd like to jump on the hexacore train early so upgrades would last me a few years. If I upgrade to quad now and hex comes out soon, I know it wouldn't take long for me to feel the upgrade urge again.

[CMetaphor]

890 = 790 is most respects, except that its a die shrink and therefore should produce less heat which may = higher OCing. Most of the changes in the "Leo" platform come from the added SB850, which has USB3 and SATA3 native and both run at full bandwidth (unlike other boards that have added Sata3/USB3).

[Iphikratous]

SB850 doesn't have native USB3 only SATA3. USB3 is still done with another chip.

[Wurmer]

I am running one, from Asus, the M4A89GTD PRO. I can't compare to the 790 but from what I have read, CMetaphore is pretty much right on the money, it's almost identical to the 790. I haven't played with it much yet but so far so good. I am running a BE555 unlocked and it seems to run pretty smooth. The only real problem I had when putting my rig together is that the DvD rom had problems ! I am not sure if this is related to the MB or Windows 7. It would start to install programs and then stop in the middle. Also, it had problems reading the discs.(it's not the DvDrom unit cause I have replaced it) The usb 3 is supplied by a NEC Chip if I am not mistaken. I have chosen this MB because I wanted to try unlocking cores and also I'll be keeping an eye on the up coming six cores. For me, it was not really an upgrade since my previous rig was still plenty powerful (P45MB + E8600) but in short, I wanted a few new toys to play with :o).

[Fudd Rucker]

how did you go about unlocking the chip with that chipset? I thought the acc feature was disabled with the 890 chipset and that it was up to board manufacturers to provide the software needed.

[Wurmer]

There is a core unlocker feature on that MOBO, you can do it via the BIOS and there is also a toggle switch on the MOBO itself. I did it through the BIOS.

[Fudd Rucker]

hmmm now im very intrigued.

[Iphikratous]

Its an Asus feature right now though, not sure if any other company has done it themselves.