ASUS Crosshair III Formula AM3 Motherboard Review

Specifications

790FX is not a new chipset to the marketplace as it originally debuted in late 2007 along with the first of the Phenom series. Since then, AMD-based boards have undergone a variety of changes, most notably the addition of the SB750 southbridge controller, which replaced the aging SB700.

The SB750 holds much of the secret behind the Phenom’s overclocking success, with its unique ACC (Advanced Clock Calibration) feature and other improved technologies. This 790FX chipset can be found on both AM2 and AM3 series boards, as AMD includes the memory controller on the CPU itself and as such, does not require a new northbridge to handle the DDR3 support that AM3 chips require.


The 790FX powers the robust dual PCIe 2.0 x16 connections, which allow for Crossfire or CrossfireX in full 16 lane throughput. As with most top end AMD boards, HyperTransport 3.0 is supported, allowing for an maximum HTT frequency of 2.6GHz.

The SB750 takes care of the extras, and on the Crosshair III Formula we find 5 internal SATA 2.0 ports with RAID support along with an additional external eSATA on the I/O panel, a single IDE output, the typical 12 USB 2.0, 2 Firewire and Gigabit LAN.

CPU	AMD Socket AM3 ;Phenom™II/Athlon™II/Sempron™ 100 Series Processors AMD 140W CPU Support AMD Cool 'n' Quiet™ Technology Supports 45nm CPU
Chipset	AMD 790FX/SB750
System Bus	Up to 5200 MT/s ; HyperTransport™ 3.0
Memory	4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel memory architecture *Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for the Memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists) **Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Hence, a total installed memory of less than 3GB is recommended.
Expansion Slots	2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (@ dual x16) 3 x PCIe 2.0 x1 ( the PCIEx1_1 (black) is compatible with audio slot) 1 x PCI 2.2
Multi-GPU Support	Support ATI CrossFire™X Technology graphics cards
Storage	SB750 Chipset 1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 for up to 2 PATA devices 5 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,5,10,JBOD, 1 x External SATA 3Gb/s port on rear (SATA On-the-Go) * Due to the Windows XP/ Vista limitation, the RAID array with the total capacity over 2TB cannot be set as a boot disk. A RAID array over 2TB can only be set as a data disk only.
LAN	Gigabit LAN controller, featuring AI NET 2
Audio	SupremeFX X-Fi Audio Card 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC - EAX® Advanced™ HD 4.0 - X-Fi CMSS®-3D - X-Fi Crystalizer™ - Creative ALchemy - Supports 1 x S/PDIF out header - Supports Coaxial/Optical S/PDIF out ports on rear
IEEE 1394	2 x 1394a ports (1 port at back I/O, 1 port onboard)
USB	12 xUSB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
Overclocking Features	MemOK! CPU Level Up Extreme Tweaker Power Design: - 8+2 phase CPU power design Keyboard-TweakIt iROG Loadline Calibration Intelligent overclocking tools: - ASUS TurboV - O.C Profile Overclocking Protection: - COP EX (Component Overheat Protection - EX) - Voltiminder LED - ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features	ASUS MyLogo 3 ASUS EZ Flash 2 ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 Q-Connector ASUS Q-Fan 2 External LCD Poster ASUS Q-Shield AMD® OverDrive Support* ASUS TurboV
Back Panel I/O Ports	1 x External SATA 1 x IEEE 1394a 1 x LAN(RJ45) port 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 1 x Clr CMOS switch 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port(purple)
Internal I/O Connectors	3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports 1 x IEEE 1394a connector 1 x IDE connector for two devices 3 x thermal sensor connector 5 x SATA connectors (Blue) System Panel connector 8 x Fan connectors: 1 x CPU / 1 x PWR / 3 x Chassis / 3 x Optional 1 x LCD Poster connector 24-pin ATX Power connector 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector
BIOS	16 Mb Flash ROM AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI2.0a Multi-Language BIOS
Manageability	WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE
Accessories	SupremeFX X-Fi audio card 1 x 2 in 1 Q-connector (USB, System panel; Retail version only) 1 x Multi-functional module (1-port IEEE 1394a + 2-port USB2.0) External LCD Poster UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable Serial ATA cables I/O shield Cable Ties User's manual
Support Disc	Drivers ASUS PC Probe II ASUS AI Suite ASUS Update Kaspersky® Anti-Virus AMD OverDrive Utility (AOD) Sound Blaster X-Fi Utility Futuremark® 3DMark® 06 Advanced Edition
Form Factor	ATX Form Factor 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.5 cm )