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Current Asus Motherboards to Support AMD Bulldozer AM3+ CPUs!

Gashman said:
simple, because not all of the holes are being used...i.e. some of the holes on the socket are 'unoccupied', even though AM3 has what 941 holes the processors only have 938 pins, so three of the holes are unused.
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Hmm I wonder if asus has some engineering BD samples then, they must be certain it will work if they are telling customers that.

Does anyone know if MSI are going to do backwards compatibility? Tempted by the fusion power board but it has the 870 chipset not 890.
 
jak731 said:
Hmm I wonder if asus has some engineering BD samples then, they must be certain it will work if they are telling customers that.

Does anyone know if MSI are going to do backwards compatibility? Tempted by the fusion power board but it has the 870 chipset not 890.
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to be honest ASUS would have had engineering sample for ages now, wouldn't be surprised if they got first samples later part of last year. thing is what do AMD say about this, since ASUS are basically undercutting them and saying it WILL work with current AM3 boards with BIOS update, could this cause a falling out between the two potentially..? :confused:
 
AMD have made it clear they will ONLY support AM3+ for BD. Its the motherboard manufacturers that are stating alternative support (AM3) and that responsibility lays solely with them. No need for the two to fall out over anything!

Obviously AMD make chipsets too so they would prefer we buy new boards to go with the new CPU's but heyho - if it means they can retain customers who have just recently invested in AM3 sockets (instead of them jumping ship to SandyBridge) its a win win situation for them either way ;)
 
AMD support is of no concern to the end user really.
What matters is the MB manafacturers support.

I am surprised MSI and then ASUS 'broke camp' on this.
A new CPU release is XMAS for MB manafacturers.

What is obvious though is the the 'new socket required' bull we have been fed up to now was exactly that.

Gigabyte are sticking firmly to the new MB required routine though.
Wonder if they will remain on this course or join ASUS in enabling support on there top AM3 boards.
 
Ok, I am probably all confused right now but could it be possible that the extra pin slot on the new AM3+ socket is for future backwards compatibility/ added feature on the cpus?
And the 'unused' pin slots will now become active with the new BD cpu's? or the block that now only covers 1 pin instead of 2 could be an extra power plane/ comunication line?

Kind of like a fail safe each time a cpu is out, like AM2 - AM2+ to AM3, each cpu (Phenom 1-2 (different revision) and now to BD) so they can choose to use backwards compatibility or +/- features like Turbo, maybe make it more aggressive on future revisions giving AMD several choices to choose from.

I think we will be able to use BD in current AM3 sockets but they may make OEM's use the new socket AM3+? I have not had my Crosshair IV for long and the only upgrade I want to do is a cpu even though I was considering selling the lot and going console:rolleyes:(<<speculation)
 
I wouldn't get too excited, whilst the bulldozer will work in certain am3 motherboards, there will be features on the cpu that cannot be used in that configuration, hence why they moved to am3+.

So technically the cpu's will run, but not with the full feature set operational, which sort of defeats the point imo.
 
Liquid said:
I wouldn't get too excited, whilst the bulldozer will work in certain am3 motherboards, there will be features on the cpu that cannot be used in that configuration, hence why they moved to am3+.

So technically the cpu's will run, but not with the full feature set operational, which sort of defeats the point imo.
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only if they features seriously impair the functioning and/or the performance of the cpu.


if it's just a lack of turbo function as is the rumor then...woopie do. That can be done in software anyway.
 
Best way is wait and see when it come out then see if it work or not that depend with AM3 motherboard that may support and others may not support so answer is sit and wait until the release is come out in few months - it too early to say all about it - some mobo firms still testing to see if it work or not as I think AMD may have send the BD CPU to some firms like ASUS and others to check to put into the socket and testing with BIOS...
 
olivier renault said:
GA-890GPA-UD3H rev 3.1. :)

Dissapointing from AMD. They screwed up really, if only a small tweak is required to make AM3 bulldozer-compatible. Oh well, we'll see.
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Again though there is no mention of Bulldozer or Zambezi, except to say support for AM3+ processors. Until the AM3+ processor line is established and there may well be AM3+ Phenom/Thuban lines to standardise on one socket ongoing like AM3 is now, we still will not know if Bulldozer will be supported fully here.

We do not know if the rev. 3.1 board is Bulldozer compatible and won't until NDA finishes.

Still speculation, even with a black AM3+ socket.
 
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