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 ESTBiostar TA990FXE In The Box
In The Box
For a cheap board, we would expect a bare box with limited additions, reminiscent of what certain other manufactures may put in there. But I was quite surprised:
IO Shield
Driver CD
User Manual
Six SATA cables (locking)
Two Crossfire bridges
The addition of Crossfire bridges is odd, as typically SLI bridges are given in boards (although the initial BIOSes of this board did not support SLI). Also worthy of note is that the CPU back bracket on the board did not function with AMD all-in-one cooler.
Image courtesy of Newegg
Board Features
| Biostar TA990FXE | |
| Price | Link to Newegg |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | AM3+ |
| CPU Support | AMD FX/Phenom II/Athlon II/Sempron |
| Chipset | AMD 990FX |
| Base Clock Frequency | Auto, 200 MHz to 600 MHz |
| Core Voltage | Auto, 0.70 V to 1.55 V, Offset +0.50 V to +1.450 V |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Auto, x8 to x31.5 |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, -0.25 V to +0.49 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, 800-2000 MHz, |
| Expansion Slots |
2 x PCIe Gen2 x16 (x16/x16) 1 x PCIe Gen2 x4 2 x PCI |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 5 x SATA 6 Gbps, Support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Onboard |
5 x SATA 6 Gbps (SB950) 3 x Fan Headers 1 x Front Panel Header 1 x S/PDIF Output Header 2 x USB 2.0 Headers 1 x USB 3.0 Headers 1 x IEEE1394 Header 1 x Serial Port Header 1 x CIR Header |
| Onboard LAN | Atheros AR8151 |
| Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC892 |
| Power Connectors |
1 x 24-pin ATX connector 1 x 8-pin 12V connector 1 x 4-pin Molex connector |
| Fan Headers |
1 x CPU Fan Header 2 x SYS Fan Headers |
| IO Panel |
2 x Keyboard/Mouse PS2 Port 1 x Optical SPDIF Output 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Output 1 x Gigabit Ethernet 2 x USB 3.0 4 x USB 2.0 1 x eSATA 3 Gbps Port 1 x IEEE1394 Port Audio Outputs |
| BIOS Version | 29/02/2012 |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years from Manufacture date |
As I mentioned in the TA990FXE overview, there are a few oddities. The placement of the PCIe slots is questionable as it doesn't allow a gap between multi-GPU systems, and the inclusion of the Atheros network controller rather than a Realtek (for the combo discount) is odd. The lack of fan headers is a concern.
Software
As we have never covered Biostar software before, it was worth my time to dig deep into what makes Biostar tick in this regard. The myriad of software comes down a few key utilities - eHotLine, BIOS Update, TOverclocker and G.P.U.
eHotLine: This software seems to be part of Biostar's bug reporting. Have an issue with your board, and this software pulls almost all the necessary info for you to send to them to help diagnose it.
BIOS Update: Does exactly what it says on the tin - even better if you are connected to the internet, as then it will search for the latest BIOS it can find from the Biostar servers, then download it and install.
TOverclocker: The main hub of software action takes place in TOverclocker. On loading, it will apply any overclock previously set (even if it crashes your system), but offers information on the CPU, Motherboard and memory. The OC Tweaker allows the user to change the base frequency and select the overclocking mode - the voltage options did not work on the Bulldozer processor. H/W Monitor shows the voltages and temperatures, and even offers a CPU fan calibration tool.
G.P.U: The confusing part of the software is this - the Green Power Utility. Why it was called GPU I have no idea, but this software takes a while to load and attempts to adapt the system to use less voltage.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
57 Comments
View All Comments
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.