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 ESTMSI 990FXA-GD80 In The Box
For a 990FX board, MSI has put thought and effort into what we get in the box here. For $195, it is good to see this much in the box! As the USB 3.0 port is at a right angle, the USB 3.0 bracket supplied has the option of going to the back of the case or in the front by removing the bracket. In terms of what we get:
IO Shield
Driver CD
User Guides
Three flexible SLI connectors
Six SATA cables (locking, right angled)
Two Molex to SATA power cables
USB 3.0 bracket
Image courtesy of Newegg
Board Features
| MSI 990FXA-GD80 | |
| Price | Link to Newegg |
| Size | ATX |
| CPU Interface | AM3+ |
| CPU Support | AMD FX/Phenom II/Athlon II/Sempron |
| Chipset | AMD 990FX |
| Base Clock Frequency | 200.02 MHz |
| Core Voltage | Auto, Range Dependant on CPU |
| CPU Clock Multiplier | Auto, 4x to 32.5x |
| DRAM Voltage | Auto, 1.199 V to 2.460 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, 800-2133 MHz, |
| Expansion Slots |
3 x PCIe Gen2 x16 (x16/x16 or x16/x8/x8) 2 x PCIe Gen2 x4 2 x PCIe Gen2 x1 1 x PCI |
| Onboard SATA/RAID | 6 x SATA 6 Gbps, Support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 |
| Onboard |
6 x SATA 6 Gbps (SB950) 5 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 Clear CMOS Header Power/Reset Buttons 1 x OC Genie Button 1 x TPM Module Header |
| 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 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 2 x eSATA / USB 2.0 Combo Ports 1 x Clear CMOS Button Audio Outputs |
| BIOS Version | B80 |
| Warranty Period | 3 Years |
Amazingly the MSI board is the only one which hits the 200 MHz base frequency spot on. The other boards hover at 200.7 MHz (or 201.3 MHz) due to the way the frequency is determined. As a result, you would expect the performance to be a little worse on the MSI, unfortunately. For features, there is not anything out of the ordinary here compared to the other 990FX products apart from the odd fan header arrangement. We also have another Realtek NIC/Audio combination, as well as a three year warranty.
Software
Rather than attempt an all-in-one solution for their software, MSI are using the ‘bombard’ approach, as the majority of their software features come under different installations and names. The major one is Control Center:
Control Center is the face of overclocking, voltages and the limited fan controls. With this software you can apply OC Genie, unlock cores in your processor, or turn the LEDs on the motherboard off if they bother you.
Another important element in the MSI arsenal is Live Update 5, a piece of software I rather like. Live Update 5 will analyze your system in terms of BIOS, drivers and utilities and double check with the MSI servers if you have the latest versions. If you do not, then the system will ask if you want to download the necessary files. While it sounds like a good system, there is one major drawback – it does not tell you how big the files are! It also likes to download whole packages, and waiting for a 130 MB audio driver update does not sound like fun. However, it is useful for BIOS updates.
Also available from MSI is Network Genie, an application designed to prioritize certain types of network traffic over others, and Teaming Genie, which combines network ports into single transmissions (however users will need to add network cards to use this functionality).
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geforce912 - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
Just so you know, the supremefx x-fi 2 on the crosshair v is still a realtek chip but with higher grade capacitors and a creative software overlay. Definitely not a creative chip. Please correct it.TerdFerguson - Thursday, April 5, 2012 - link
Instead of repeatedly calling $130 cheap for a motherboard, why don't you step up and breakdown the costs associated with construction?This reviewer is backwards, as usual - the other boards are horribly overpriced, following the modern trend.
I'd like to see a cost breakdown for any of the very overpriced boards. Please show us how they justify their high costs. It looks to me like Biostar simply didn't get the price-fixing memo.
It's insane how many folks are continuing to support AMD because of its former stance as a budget option and how many of those purported fans seem to turn up their nose at any components that aren't marketed (and priced) as being premium-tier.
MadAd - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
sata 3, coolusb 3, cool
good overclocking, cool
dual channel ram, itll do
four graphics slots.....groan
am fed up paying out the wazooo for these so called enthusiast boards when I only intend to run 1 graphics card ... yes im a gamer, i want the best in all other areas (esp best sata 3 perfomance) but jeez can we have some 'normal' boards reviewed along with these high end monsters pls?
gilmoreisu - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
I'm a little disappointed in not seeing the ASRock Fatal1ty board. Any reason why this was left off? Otherwise, great round-up. Thank you!waldojim42 - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
One of the things I see skimmed over far too often these days are the actual audio capabilities. In the day of digital audio connections and receivers, why do we still have enthusiast level boards with stereo digital audio!? This is something That needs pointed out in the motherboard reviews. MSI makes such ridiculous claims, like "Lossless 24bit/192kHz HD Audio" and "THX TruStudio PRO", yet in the end mean NOTHING when you are playing a game, as you are still limited to 3(or 4) analog 3.5mm to RCA cables for your audio.So which boards support DTS/Dolby Digital encoding mid game?
funguseater - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
Thank you for taking the time to review these motherboards. It is a relief to know that my old Gigabyte MA790X-UD4P still overclocks to the same levels with a thuban (1090t). It will be interesting to see if the next 1090 chipset will support the old Thubans.I only have DDR2 on my board but it doesn't seem to affect performance as much as I thought it would so I can wait for the next gen boards.
Anyway thanks for including the 1100t in the review!
ranger429 - Saturday, April 7, 2012 - link
It would have been nice to see how a FX-4170 or 4100 would do in this testbrahma - Saturday, April 7, 2012 - link
excelent job, congratulations! ,... but what a shame! do you forget the asrock 990fx fatality, the unique with a fase power 12+2 !!salutations.
Sunny129 - Saturday, April 7, 2012 - link
Ian,First of all, thank you for the informative review and comparison of 990FX boards. Is there any particular reason you reviewed Gigabyte's GA-990FX-UD5, and not their big dog, the UD7? would it be worth while to review the UD7, since you seem to have reviewed the top 990FX boards from ASUS and MSI? specifically, i'd like to see if the UD7 suffers from the same downsides that the UD5 does, for instance the VRM heat issues while under load, lack of decent fan control, etc.
thanks,
Eric
kukreknecmi - Saturday, April 7, 2012 - link
What does this mean? Doesnt video encode is Floating Point intensive task??