Asus shows off X79 motherboards "LGA 2011"

 Asus images and some specs of motherboards that support Intel's new Sandy Bridge E chips. Asus has three of its upcoming X79 products, P9X79 DELUXE, P9X79 Pro and Rampage IV Extreme

 ASUS P9X79 DELUXE

Picture source: http://www.expertreviews.co.uk

ASUS P9X79 Pro 

The biggest difference between P9X79 Pro and Deluxe is the 16+2+2+2 VRM setup on the Deluxe over the 8+2+2+2 setup on the Pro. The higher amount of power phases means that overclocking ability should be a little better on the Deluxe version. The DELUXE board has Triple card SLI / CrossFireX making it that little bit more enthusiast orientated. It has another Gigabit networking port with two extra USB 3.0 ports and a new BT V3.0 GO similar to P8P67 DELUXE - BT GO V2.1.
Another interesting feature is USB 3.0 Boost. Asus claims a performance increase of up to "170%".More about USB 3.0 boost you can find here: (vr-zone.com) - Asus-launches USB 3.0 speed booster UASP support for ASMedia

ASUS RAMPAGE IV EXTREME

Picture source: http://www.tweaktown.com


The ASUS Rampage IV Extreme looks to be one of the best ROG boards to date from the company.

The Rampage IV Extreme is a overclocking motherboard and it's going to be "expensive". This is going to be one of the most hardcore options on the market and any true ROG fan is going to absolutely love what ASUS has brought to the table.

All of Asus boards will support UEFI BIOS and one-touch USB BIOS "flash" updates. It allows you to flash the BIOS of a motherboard with literally nothing in the system. It gets handy if you get a motherboard and a brand new CPU that wasn't supported on the shipping BIOS. With a USB flash drive you can get to the latest BIOS without the need of getting an older compatible CPU.


Intel's X79 brings support for four memory channels resulting in a possible eight DDR3 DIMMs, plus USB3, AMD Crossfire and Nvidia SLI support.

Intel is expected to release its Core i7 39XX range of chips in the coming weeks, which are set to replace the LGA1366 Core i7 Nehalem chips that launched the Core-series chips back in 2008. Socket LGA2011 mainboards will also support the so-called Sandy Bridge E chips, which are Core i7 processors marketed for workstations.

While pictures are out, Intel's NDA still hasn't expired so there's no official word on pricing, but expect both Asus and Gigabyte to price their X79 boards from £200, with the RoG and Assassin boards coming in at £300 or above.

 More news, pictures on: 

(expertreviews.co.uk) Asus-motherboards show off
(tweaktown.com) Asus P9X79 Pro and Deluxe motherboard preview
(tweaktown.com) Asus_RAMPAGE IV EXTREME_motherboard_preview

Time to get excited! Gigabyte X79 motherboards "LGA 2011"

New Gigabyte images and some specs of motherboards that support Intel's new Sandy Bridge E chips. Gigabyte has four of its upcoming X79 products, G1.Assassin 2, X79-UD7, X79-UD5 and X79-UD3.

These LGA 2011 boards make use of 3-way digital power technology, and have four or eight (only UD5) DDR3 memory, slots, up to ten SATA ports (both 6.0 Gbps and 3.0 Gbps), three (G1.Assassin 2, X79-UD5) or four (X79-UD7, X79-UD3) PCI-Express x16 slots, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio, USB 3.0 connectivity, and various other, model-specific goodies. The G1.Assassin 2 for example includes a Killer 2100 NIC and a Creative X-Fi audio processor, while the X79-UD7 boasts with two SATA port connectors and overclocking buttons.

Expect an official announcement from Gigabyte in the coming weeks.

G1.Assassin 2 

GA-X79-UD7

GA-X79-UD5

 

GA-X79-UD3

Picture source: http://sinhardware.com

Some quick info about Gigabytes BIOS/UEFI on screenshots from (anandtech.com):First looka at Gigabytes UEFI setup on X79

I'm not an ASUS fanboy either. But if you compare these boards to ASUS! You can see an instant change. ASUS includes 8 DIMMS on every motherboard, and their SLI support increases as the boards become higher-spec. ASUS's layouts make much more sense than Gigabytes.

Facebook page:
GIGABYTE USA page:
http://www.facebook.com-Gigabyte X79

Intel's X79 brings support for four memory channels resulting in a possible eight DDR3 DIMMs, plus USB3, AMD Crossfire and Nvidia SLI support.

Intel is expected to release its Core i7 39XX range of chips in the coming weeks, which are set to replace the LGA1366 Core i7 Nehalem chips that launched the Core-series chips back in 2008. Socket LGA2011 mainboards will also support the so-called Sandy Bridge E chips, which are Core i7 processors marketed for workstations.

While pictures are out, Intel's NDA still hasn't expired so there's no official word on pricing, but expect both Asus and Gigabyte to price their X79 boards from £200, with the RoG and Assassin boards coming in at £300 or above.

AMD Radeon HD 7000 GPUs listed in leaked driver (drivers download)

AMD Catalyst driver 8.91, presumably preview for 11.11, has leaked on the internet, containing references to AMD's next-gen Radeon HD 7000 family. In addition to previously leaked codenames, the 8.91 driver also lists final branding, ranging from Radeon HD 7300 to Radeon HD 7600 series

 

The relevant names are listed as follows:

AMD6778.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7000 series"
AMD68FA.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7300 Series"
AMD6850.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7400 Series"
AMD6858.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7400 Series"

AMD6859.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7400 Series"

AMD677B.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7400 Series"

AMD6772.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7400A Series"

AMD675D.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7500 Series"

AMD6742.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7500/7600 Series"

AMD6841.7 = "AMD Radeon HD 7500M/7600M Series"

AMD675B.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7600 Series"

AMD6751.1 = "AMD Radeon HD 7600A Series"

AMD6840.7 = "AMD Radeon HD 7600M Series"

AMD683B.1 = "CAPE VERDE PRO"

AMD683F.1 = "CAPE VERDE PRO"

AMD6839.1 = "CAPE VERDE XT"

AMD683D.1 = "CAPE VERDE XT"

AMD6838.1 = "CAPE VERDE XTX"

AMD682F.1 = "CHELSEA PRO"

AMD6824.1 = "CHELSEA XT"

AMD682D.1 = "CHELSEA XT"

AMD6831.1 = "GREAT WALL"

AMD6821.1 = "HEATHROW PRO"

AMD6827.1 = "HEATHROW PRO"

AMD6820.1 = "HEATHROW XT"

AMD6825.1 = "HEATHROW XT"

AMD6819.1 = "PITCAIRN PRO"

AMD6818.1 = "PITCAIRN XT"

AMD6799.1 = "SI NEW ZEALAND"

AMD679A.1 = "SI TAHITI PRO"

AMD6798.1 = "SI TAHITI XT"

AMD6830.1 = "SUMMER PALACE XT"

AMD9901.1 = "TRINITY DEVASTATOR DESKTOP"

AMD9904.1 = "TRINITY DEVASTATOR LITE DESKTOP"

AMD9903.2 = "TRINITY DEVASTATOR LITE MOBILE"

AMD9900.2 = "TRINITY DEVASTATOR MOBILE"

AMD9991.1 = "TRINITY SCRAPPER DESKTOP"

AMD9990.2 = "TRINITY SCRAPPER MOBILE"

AMD6800.1 = "WIMBLEDON XT"

 

There are a string of Radeon HD 7000, containing Radeon HD 7300, 7400, 7500, and 7600 Series. For notebooks, HD 7500M and HD 7600M are listed.  Also mentioned are HD 7400A and HD 7600A Series for All-in-one PCs. 

 

In addition, several codenames have been revealed. Most codenames, such as Heathrow, Chelsea, Thames, New Zealand, and Wimbledon (mobile GPUs) and Tahiti, New Zealand and Cape Verde (desktop GPUs) have been revealed before. We have two new codenames leaked with this driver - Summer Palace and Great Wall. Unlike the mobile GPU codenames which are locales in London and desktop GPUs which refer islands; these two codenames refer to monuments in China. New Zealand and Tahiti now contain the prefix "SI" or Southern Islands. 

 

Finally, a host of integrated graphics codenames for Trinity APUs are also confirmed. We know that Trinity will be available in two forms - quad and dual core, over three segments, presumably A8, A6 and A4. Likewise, the GPU in quad-core parts are codenames Devastator, in both mobile and desktop variants. Devastator will be part of A8 while Devastator Lite will be integrated in A6 APUs, with some units disabled, like the Llano A6 APUs. The dual-core Trinity will most likely feature a scaled down GPU, codenamed Scrapper. Devastator and Scrapper fit in well with the Piledriver CPU cores in Trinity, at least linguistically. 

 

Judging by the concrete brandings, which only go up to HD 7600, it appears AMD is following a similar strategy to NVIDIA - releasing mainstream parts before performance/enthusiast GPUs. Moreover, AMD's demonstrations have all been mainstream notebook GPUs. The die AMD recently showed off is also believed to be a mid-sized mainstream GPU. This strategy makes sense for both AMD and NVIDIA as it allows to learn the unfamiliar 28nm process before delving into complicated large die performance GPUs. 

 

The first AMD Radeon HD 7000 GPUs are expected to release in December, while NVIDIA is aiming for Q1 2012. 

 

Source:(VR-Zone) AMD Radeon HD 7000 GPUs listed in leaked driver

 

 

The 8.91 drivers are available from official site: http://support.amd.com or from direct link: 

Win7 -Vista AMD Catalyst 11.10 preview3 - Win7 - Vista

Win XP: AMD Catalyst 11.10 preview3 - Win XP 

 

 

From tweeter acount (@CatalystCreator):

 
CatalystCreator: Cat 11.10 V3 - will be released officially tomorrow (we wanted to do some Rage testing) - but I see that it's already out in the wild...
CatalystCreator: BattleField 3 - there will a CAP update later this week to resolve CrossFire issues - use in combination with the either V2 or V3 driver
CatalystCreator: Cat 11.10 V3 preview only includes additional Rage fixes from V2
CatalystCreator: Cat 11.10 official release will happen Oct 31 - but Catalyst 11.10 V3 is pretty much the identical driver, so use with BF3 (plus new CAP)

 

Release Notes from AMD site:

AMD Catalyst™ 11.10 Version 3 Preview Driver Features:

• Reduces random crashing and stability encountered when playing Rage on Windows® 7 32-bit edition
• Reduces object / animation flickering and texture corruption encountered when playing Rage
• Reduces stuttering seen on Dual CPU and Tri CPU core systems
• Improves performance in Battlefield 3 Open Beta release for both non-Anti-Aliasing and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on single GPU configurations using the AMD Radeon™ HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 series of products.
• Improves performance in Battlefield 3 Open Beta release for both non-Anti-Aliasing and application enabled Anti-Aliasing cases on AMD CrossFire™ configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 series of products.
• Improves performance in Rage on single GPU configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000, AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series and AMD Radeon HD 4000 series of products.
• Reduces intermittent crashing seen loading levels in Rage
• Reduces flickering of NPCs in Rage
• Enables automatic Vsync for Rage
• Enables support for AMD Eyefinity 5x1 display (portrait and landscape) configurations using the AMD Radeon HD 6000 and AMD Radeon HD 5000 series of products.
• AMD Vision Engine Control Center: User Interface enhancements have been implemented for the AMD CrossfireX™, GPU AMD Overdrive™ and Information Center pages.

AMD Bulldozer "Zambezi" FX-8150 is here!

AMD launches FX Series Bulldozer CPUs!  

 

Today was the offical launch day for four parts, two octa-core FX-8150 and FX-8120, one hexa core, FX-6100 and one quad core, FX-4100.

AMD finally lifted the NDA veil off its FX Series desktop CPUs based on the Bulldozer architecture and 32nm manufacturing process. The entire FX Series lineup includes seven parts. The much anticipated AMD FX family of CPUs are finally here!

Suggested retail price (U.S.):

• FX-8150: Eight cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.9 GHz Turbo Core, 4.2 GHz Max Turbo), $245 ($345 w/ water cooler)
• FX-8120: Eight cores, 3.1 GHz CPU base (3.4 GHz Turbo Core, 4.0 GHz Max Turbo), $205
• FX-6100: Six cores, 3.3 GHz CPU base (3.6 GHz Turbo Core, 3.9 GHz Max Turbo), $165
• FX-4100: Four cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.7 GHz Turbo Core, 3.8 GHz Max Turbo), $115

 Suggested retail price (EU):

• FX-8150: Eight cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.9 GHz Turbo Core, 4.2 GHz Max Turbo), €229
• FX-8120: Eight cores, 3.1 GHz CPU base (3.4 GHz Turbo Core, 4.0 GHz Max Turbo), €189
• FX-6100: Six cores, 3.3 GHz CPU base (3.6 GHz Turbo Core, 3.9 GHz Max Turbo), €162
• FX-4100: Four cores, 3.6 GHz CPU base (3.7 GHz Turbo Core, 3.8 GHz Max Turbo), €115

The first four CPU models will be available the next few days. AMD advises you to combine them with AMD 9-series chipset motherboard and AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics cards to create the AMD “Scorpius” platform for “an astounding gaming and HD entertainment experience.

CyberPower rolls out AMD Bulldozer-powered gaming systems: www.tcmagazine.com or on official site: www.cyberpowerpc.com - AMD PCs

 

Reviews, overclocks:

(Fudzilla) AMD FX-8150 overclocked to 8030.15 MHz
(HotHardware) AMD FX-8150 8-Core CPU Review: Bulldozer Is Here
(Guru3D) AMD FX 8150 processor review
(HardwareHeaven) AMD FX-8150 Black Edition 8-Core Processor vs Core i7-2600K Review
(Hardware Canucks) AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 Processor Review
(KitGuru) AMD FX 8150 Black Edition 8-Core Review (with Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7
(TweakTown) AMD FX-8150 (AM3+) 3.6GHz Bulldozer CPU Review
(Legit Reviews) AMD FX-8150 Processor Review - Bulldozer Arrives
(Hexus) AMD Bulldozer FX-8150
(VR-Zone) AMD FX-8150 overclocking-review
(VR-Zone) AMD FX-8150 Memory Scaling Investigation - Feeding the Bulldozer
(Bit-tech) AMD FX-8150 Review
(Anandtech)The Bulldozer Review: AMD FX-8150 Tested
(Bjorn3d) AMD FX-8150 CPU: Bulldozer
(Bbitlabs) Bulldozer Has Arrived: AMD FX-8150 Processor Review
(Tomshardware) AMD FX-8150 Review: From Bulldozer To Zambezi To FX
(Hardocp) AMD Bulldozer / FX-8150 Desktop Performance Review
(Hardocp) AMD Bulldozer / FX-8150 Gameplay Performance Review

Some interesting comparisons when it comes to performance! AMDs high-end FX-8150 as a Core-i5 2500K beater, whereas it plays pretty evenly with Intel's Core i7-2600K with some benchmark wins and some benchmark losses. Of course this will depend quite a lot on the benchmarks. AMD FX-8150 doesn't really stand out in most of the tests! It's quite badly beaten in some tests. But in many cases, AMD's FX-8150 is able to close the gap between the Phenom II X6 and Intel's Core i5 2500K. Given the right workload, Bulldozer is actually able to hang with Intel's fastest Sandy Bridge parts.

Judging by reviews it doesn't look like the FX-series will be enough for AMD to oust Intel from the performance position in most benchmarks. Real world performance is much more important and if AMD can show that it has what it takes. Then we could see its new FX CPUs gaining some popularity. Either which way we look at it, we're getting a lot of CPU for our money.

AMD still has to work on its Bulldozer architecture to reach a full potential....

The Good
- Modern design, elegant modular architecture
- Attractive pricing
- AM3+ socket is backwards compatible

The Bad
- Not as fast as Thuban (1100T) in light-load apps
- Under-load power-draw not ideal
- Arguably still behind Intel's SB as an all-round chip

By: Air T.