990FX Motherboard Roundup with Thuban and Bulldozer – A Second Wind for ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and Biostar
by Ian Cutress on April 5, 2012 11:00 AM ESTASUS Sabertooth 990FX In The Box
In comparison to the Crosshair V Formula, the Sabertooth does not come with as many goodies in the box. This may be indicative of the price difference (~$45 cheaper for the Sabertooth), and that part of the price of the Sabertooth is due to that five year warranty. In the box, we receive what I would deem the bare minimum for a product of this price:
IO Shield
Driver CD
User Guide
Four SATA Cables (Locking, right angled at one end)
Flexible SLI bridge
ASUS Q-Connector
Image Courtesy of Newegg
Board Features
| ASUS Sabertooth 990FX | |
| Price | Link to Newegg |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | AM3+ |
| CPU Support | AMD FX/Phenom II/Athlon II/Sempron 100 |
| Chipset | AMD 990FX |
| Base Clock Frequency | 200.66 MHz |
| Core Voltage | Auto, 0.675 V to 2.075 V |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Auto, 4x to 35x |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 1.2 V to 2.5 V |
| DRAM Command Rate | Auto, 1T or 2T |
| Memory Slots |
Four DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 32 GB Up to Dual Channel Support for DDR3, 1066-1866 MHz, ECC or Non-ECC |
| Expansion Slots |
3 x PCIe Gen2 x16 (x16/x16 or x16/x8/x8) 1 x PCIe Gen2 x4 1 x PCIe Gen2 x1 1 x PCI |
| Onboard SATA/RAID |
6 x SATA 6 Gbps, Support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 2 x SATA 3 Gbps (JMicron JMB362) 1 x Power eSATA 3 Gbps 1 x eSATA 3 Gbps |
| Onboard |
6 x SATA 6 Gbps (Chipset) 2 x SATA 3 Gbps (JMicron JMB362) 6 x Fan Headers 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 1 x USB 3.0 Headers 1 x S/PDIF Output Header 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x COM Port Header 1 x Clear CMOS Header 1 x IEEE1394 Header 1 x MemOK! Button |
| Onboard LAN | Realtek 8111E |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC892 |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX connector 1 x 8-pin 12V connector |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU Fan Header (4-pin) 4 x CHA Fan Headers (one 4-pin, three 3-pin) 1 x OPT Fan Headers (4-pin) |
| IO Panel |
1 x Keyboard/Mouse PS2 Port 1 x Power eSATA 3 Gbps 1 x eSATA 3 Gbps 1 x IEEE1394 Port 1 x Gigabit Ethernet 2 x USB 3.0 10 x USB 2.0 1 x Optical SPDIF Output Audio Outputs |
| BIOS Version | 0901 |
| Warranty Period | 5 Years |
Instead of bleating continuously about that five year warranty, on the board we have a set of six fan connectors, and the SATA ports are bolstered by a SATA 6 Gbps controller in the form of the rarely seen JMicron JMB362. Lacking on the Sabertooth products are the Power/Reset buttons and two-digit debug LED which is unfortunate, plus there is extra space on the back panel for perhaps an extra network controller. The board uses also a Realtek NIC/Audio combination.
Software
ASUS Software revolves around its AI Suite package. This attempts to bring together all the features of the product into one interface, which for the most part is simple enough to use. One downside of the AI Suite software is on the DPC Latency, our audio test. This test performs a deferred procedure call and times how long it takes the system to process it – these calls are queued based on priority. The DP calls done by AI Suite as part of its sensor software have higher priority than audio, thus causing the DPC Latency to increase from ~200 microseconds (sub-500 is a good result), to over 2000 microseconds. Ideally this means that if you are expecting to record audio with an ASUS system, AI Suite should be switched off. I should note that other manufacturers are victims of this also – any vendor that includes sensor software as part of its package and by default causes it to boot with the operating system is liable to these spikes in performance for the DPC Latency test.
With that being said, AI Suite is good at what it does. As this is a Sabertooth product, we get Sabertooth specific features. Instead of the AI Tuner we normally get on an ASUS product, this is replaced by the Thermal Radar:
This integrated fan technology allows the user to associate fans connected on the board to certain temperature sensors. So a chassis fan at the back of the case directed air in or out can be connected to the CPU and VRM sensors (at a ratio determined by the user), and have its speed adjust appropriately using a customized multi-ramp speed profile. If you wanted customizability with your fans, ASUS has got it with their Sabertooth product.
Elsewhere on the AI Suite software is the TurboV Evo option, allowing the user to apply temporary overclocks until the system is restarted, and Digi+ VRM, giving the user control over the limitations of the power delivery on board (applicable to overclocked systems). AI Charger as part of the AI Suite gives extra current to a particular header on the motherboard, allowing it to charge your Apple device (iPod, iPhone or iPad) at a faster rate. Users can also update the BIOS through the AI Suite software.
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Mathieu Bourgie - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
Here's hoping*john21108 - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
I read the review and didn't see the FX-6200 getting walked over. The benches were all pretty close; the FX, X4, and the X6 all trading blows. At worse, the FX-6200 performed similar to the X4 980; at best, it would barely beat the X6 1100T.The FX looked good to me considering the X6 1100T is going for $240+ on eBay. If building new, is same performance worth an extra $70? Is it an upgrade to an X4 BE or X6, no.
estarkey7 - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
I am disappointed in this article for a number of reasons, most of all that the preface of this article had very little to do with the content at all. You start off by stating:"...despite the fact that Windows 7 (and Windows 8, natively) is now receiving updates so the operating system can understand the processor architecture a little better, and hopefully boost performance. This gives a second wind to those owning (or thinking of owning) a Bulldozer based processor, and in turn, a 900-series motherboard."
With that being a defining point of this article, where are before and afters? I and everybody else on here already know what Anand did (hell, we read this site multiple times a day!). Why should I give this platform a second look?. Your preface led me to believe that I would see benches of these motherboards before and after firmware revisions or more importantly firmware revisions and Win 7 vs. Win 8 preview.
It doesn't even make sense to run a full set of benches against motherboards with the same processor at stock speeds, as the differences will surely show in their overclocking potential and feature sets.
Do you even realize that after reading this article that every single reader of Anandtech.com learned absolutely, positively nothing about Bulldozer vs. Thurban vs. Intelxxx that they didn't already know before they wasted 15 minutes of their time?
Why not just delete it, and we'll forget you ever wrote it...
IanCutress - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
The purpose of the review was to look at the motherboards and the differences between them, not the absolute performance of the processors. Hence why this review is listed under the motherboard section rather than the CPU section, and the paragraph you quoted ended with the phrase, with appropriate pauses to create emphasis on, 'a 900-series motherboard'. The initial paragraph created purpose and the fact that there is reason to perhaps own one of these motherboards, generating the context and situation to which they are currently in.Anyway, as a regular reader of Anandtech, surely you recognise me as the motherboard reviewer for the past year or more? :)
Ian
estarkey7 - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
Ian,I let my recent bulldozer system build get the best of me!
I retract my statement. I believe my attack on you was not reasonable and served no purpose. Although I do disagree with some of the phrasing in the intro paragraph, my post was not warranted and I sincerely apologize.
Keep up the good work.
Ed
Dekkatek - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but there is a galler pic of the ASUS Crosshair board with a 4 video card setup and the 4th card is not physically connected to the motherboard!http://www.anandtech.com/Gallery/Album/1843#13
IanCutress - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
Haha nice catch :) Most of those images are from ASUS' media kit for the board - I think I must have looked at it and thought they were using the ROG Xpander for four-way. Looking at the Xpander page now, it was only ever compatible on the R3E and R3F.Ian
Makaveli - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
When did you need a $1000 extreme edition cpu to be an enthusiast.I'm not really sure what point you are trying to make.
A i7 920 a 2500k or 2600k are all enthusiast cpu that cost less than $400. And all outperform AMD current line up.
It like you are trying to be like AMD before they launched BD comparing it the 990x and saying look out processor is better and doesn't cost $1000 don't make me laugh.
If you are gonna troll you better start doing a better job.
cocoviper - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
$1000? Try any CPU over $240.http://www.anandtech.com/show/4955/the-bulldozer-r...
http://leapvine.com/p/1237/Intel%20Core%20i7-2600%...
CPU price ranges tend to range between $50 and $1000 in the retail market. AMD's fastest solution captures the lowest 25% of this market, leaving 3/4 of the price range, and the range with the best margins, to Intel. We all want AMD to be competitive again like they were in the late 90s/early 2000s but they simply aren't.
AMD has also officially stated they have no intention to compete in the performance / enthusiast segment. Per Anand:
"As AMD's client strategy is predominantly built around APUs, the only high-end desktop parts we'll see from AMD are low-end server CPUs. Socket-AM3+ has a future for one more generation and we'll likely see other single-socket, high-end platforms for the desktop. The days of AMD chasing Intel for the high-end desktop market are done though. That war is officially over."
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5503/understanding-a...
BaronMatrix - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
Why doesn't anyone use the recommended GPU? If I buy an 8150, it will at least get a 6970 but probably a 7970.No wonder I left this "review site" stuff alone. I can't learn anything except that people think there are 50 CPU makers and AMD is the worst.
Good luck with that.