AsRock AM3 M3A790GXH/128M - Can it be true?

Well I've just found this:

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10928/...28m/index.html

Attachment 91711

This is interesting:

- Support for Socket AM3 / AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD PhenomTM FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor
- AMD 790GX + SB750 Chipsets
- ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
- Supports CPU up to 140W, FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)
- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology
- Supports AMD OverDrive™ with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration)
- Supports Dual Channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 (4 x DIMM slots), Max. capacity up to 16GB
- Integrated AMD Radeon HD 3300 graphics, DX10 class iGPU, Pixel Shader 4.0, Max. shared memory 512MB
- Supports ATITM CrossFireXTM, Hybrid CrossFireXTM and 3-Way CrossFireXTM
- Integrated 128MB side port memory for iGPU
- 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (green @ x16 mode, blue @ x8 mode, orange @ x4 mode)
- Three VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI
- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback
- 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1,RAID 5, RAID 10 and JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
- 1 x eSATAII 3.0 Gb/s connector, PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Supports 2 x IEEE1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)
- Supports ASRock Instant Boot, Smart BIOS, ASRock OC Tuner, Intelligent Energy Saver
- 7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio, DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
- Windows® VistaTM Premium 2008 Logo Ready


Could it be typical misspelling or there is more into it??:shrug:
I'm almost certain Phenoms B2,B3 will work on AM3, but old Athlons or Semprons??

PS. Just noticed another wired misspell: "AMD PhenomTM FX":shrug:

Hard to tell is there a better picture? it looks like that has the extra pin for am3.

EDIT thats definitely got 941 pins. Now if the info is accurate then I guess my source is preety reliable ;)

that is weird, if thats true it means that AM2, AM2+ has had DDR3 IMC the whole time........tho im guessing its an error

Bluetooth has a first look article up on OCW claiming this board supports DDR3 1333. There's also a review there of the DFI LP Jr with a PII and 9550.

http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showth...0&goto=newpost

why does the PCIE switch card say SLI/Xfire? do they just use the same card on diffrent platforms?

Not remotely possible. No AM2 or AM2+ proc supports DDR3 yet (only Deneb will). AM3-procs fit in Socket AM2(+) but it doesn't work the other way round.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FischOderAal

Not remotely possible. No AM2 or AM2+ proc supports DDR3 yet (only Deneb will). AM3-procs fit in Socket AM2(+) but it doesn't work the other way round.

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Well, that's what we've been told for a long time now.
Recently though I'm hearing more and more hints to the opposite :)

I know it doesn't seem likely, but just look at the socket. First we heard that AM3 will be 938 pins which would automatically locked older AM2(+) 940pin CPUs from fitting into it. Now we know that AM3 is 941 pin and there is nothing physically holding older AM2(+) processors from being plug into it....

I hope 9 Jan we will know for sure :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Well, that's what we've been told for a long time now.
Recently though I'm hearing more and more hints to the opposite :)

I know it doesn't seem likely, but just look at the socket. First we heard that AM3 will be 938 pins which would automatically locked older AM2(+) 940pin CPUs from fitting into it. Now we know that AM3 is 941 pin and there is nothing physically holding older AM2(+) processors from being plug into it....

I hope 9 Jan we will know for sure :up:

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AM2+ processors as Deneb only ;).No other AM2+ CPU has DDR3 capable IMC (apart Barcelona/Agena which was never "functional").

edit: Ok i've just read the specs for this board and I'm perplexed?! The board is DDR3 only and the list of CPUs supported extends to AM2/AM2+ K8/K10 based dual cores/QCs,wth?!? So according to Asus,even K8 X2s can work with DDr3 memory since the board doesn't support any other DRAM standard apart from DDR3 one.It's getting interesting by the day... Either AMD had DDR3 support with RevG/F from the start or someone at Asrock made a fubar mistake :p:

:yepp: My feeling was right http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...1&postcount=35

What I didn't expect, was the Athlons and Semprons working at DDR3.

Well done ASRock/AMD.

Maybe AMD can use the same IMC for DDR2 and DDR3, only a bios update being needed? Kinda far fetched, but it could explain this thing...

Would be amazing if they can add DDR3 support to AM2 chips with an microcode update!

Specs say tripple crossfire. The switch card says 1x16 or 2x8 so I assume tripple crossfire will be 8x8x4 then.

I like AOD790GX/128M may stick with asrock on am3 also.

I'm missing mouting holes for an pwm cooler, but never had issus with a fan on that area.

AOD used DDR2 for the sideport mem I assume M3A... will stick with that. So onboard gfx speed is abit slower than for example the gbt790gx with faster ddr3 mem for sideport.

Thanks for sharing Lightman :up:

IDE connector lol such an odd placement.

it' also says shared memory 512mb and side port 128mb ? wth ???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Well I've just found this:


Could it be typical misspelling or there is more into it??:shrug:
I'm almost certain Phenoms B2,B3 will work on AM3, but old Athlons or Semprons??

PS. Just noticed another wired misspell: "AMD PhenomTM FX":shrug:

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Here is a bigger pick, and the TM is for trade mark on the Phenom name. Note the board actaully says DDR3 1333 on the right side of the board.
Also, right below the socket it says AMD_AM3, and "something"_AM3

http://3800z24.info/Phenom/M3A790GXH.jpg

If an AM2+ CPU could do DDR3, what would be the point of the P2 925 and 945?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cybercat

If an AM2+ CPU could do DDR3, what would be the point of the P2 925 and 945?

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how about higher ram speed support.

I wonder what fast DDR3 would do for something like FASN8.

I'm assuming you guys have noticed already, but the "keys" on those memory slots are definetly DDR3. I checked it against the DDR2 slots on the Asus 79-T... ;)

So either Tweaktown or Asrock totally borked the abilities of this board, or aGeoM, myself and a few others were correct about AM2+ chips (even B2) having an IMC capable of both memory types....
Hell, They even listed DDR3 registers/controls in the B2 white papers back in 2007.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Could it be typical misspelling or there is more into it??
I'm almost certain Phenoms B2,B3 will work on AM3, but old Athlons or Semprons??

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I agree 100% about the Athlon/Sempron chips. :shocked:
But, at least to me, it would make sense for AMD to plan ahead and have chips capable when DDR3 prices come down...

I'm no engineer, but I don't think the IMC would require that many more transistors to support both mem types...

hey not burst any bubbles but the name of the mobo is photoshopped onto it


and isn't DDR2 pinned the same as DDR2? maybe its goign to be interchangeable? or maybe the change from DDR2 to DDR3 isn't enough to warrant a new mem controller or there could be new sempy's and A64's coming out for AM3 thats my guess ;) they can't all be phenoms

The board......nothing special at all...

the controller is within the CPU, think about it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cdawall

hey not burst any bubbles but the name of the mobo is photoshopped onto it


and isn't DDR2 pinned the same as DDR2? maybe its goign to be interchangeable? or maybe the change from DDR2 to DDR3 isn't enough to warrant a new mem controller or there could be new sempy's and A64's coming out for AM3 thats my guess ;) they can't all be phenoms

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Well, I can't comment on the photoshop thing.. :p: I'll leave that up to other folks. But, DDR2 and DDR3 are not keyed the same way, so they're not interchangable.

DDR2 has the key closer to the middle of the slot, while DDR3 has it more offset to one side.

Heres a link to a pic of the Asus 79-T. If you compare the pic to the Asrock board you can see the difference in the key position..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowIm...d%20-%20Retail

But yes DDR2 is pinned the same as DDR2... :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daveburt714

Well, I can't comment on the photoshop thing.. :p: I'll leave that up to other folks. But, DDR2 and DDR3 are not keyed the same way, so they're not interchangable.

DDR2 has the key closer to the middle of the slot, while DDR3 has it more offset to one side.

Heres a link to a pic of the Asus 79-T. If you compare the pic to the Asrock board you can see the difference in the key position..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowIm...d%20-%20Retail

But yes DDR2 is pinned the same as DDR2... :D

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i tohught they were keyed the same woops thinking lappy ram :p

and nice catch on my typo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kenofstephen

The board......nothing special at all...

the controller is within the CPU, think about it.

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I understand that man. What I was trying to get too was the fact that the boards specs says it supports AM2/AM2+ and AM3, and yet all Mem slots on the board are keyed for DDR3 memory.

Who knows? I'm not going to insist that I'm right, only time will tell.. :cool:

But it appears that alot of chips have an IMC capable of DDR3 memory support. Athlon 64's and Semprons seem kind of pushing it to me, so it may be a typo or pure BS...

I still belive ALL Phenoms have an IMC capable of DDR3. Just my opinion... ;)

on OCW now

http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showth...threadid=81331

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daveburt714

I understand that man. What I was trying to get too was the fact that the boards specs says it supports AM2/AM2+ and AM3, and yet all Mem slots on the board are keyed for DDR3 memory.

Who knows? I'm not going to insist that I'm right, only time will tell.. :cool:

But it appears that alot of chips have an IMC capable of DDR3 memory support. Athlon 64's and Semprons seem kind of pushing it to me, so it may be a typo or pure BS...

I still belive ALL Phenoms have an IMC capable of DDR3. Just my opinion... ;)

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buying board with a "AM3 socket" is the only way to ensure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by charged3800z24

Here is a bigger pick, and the TM is for trade mark on the Phenom name. Note the board actaully says DDR3 1333 on the right side of the board.
Also, right below the socket it says AMD_AM3, and "something"_AM3

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Thanks for bigger pic Charged! :up:

But in that bold Phenom name I was after FX moniker and not TM :p:. This is another source mentioning return of FX :cool:

WHAT?! I just got my M3A79-T Deluxe 5 minutes ago!
If the 940 supports DDR3 I'm going to be mightily pissed!

Don't get too excited ;) More pictures of the board and there the specs are corrected ;)
http://my.ocworkbench.com/2009/asroc...Preview/g1.htm

Quote:

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Specs

- Support for Socket AM3 processor
- AMD 790GX + SB750 Chipsets
- ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
- Supports CPU up to 140W, FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)
- Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology
- Supports AMD OverDrive™ with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration)
- Supports Dual Channel DDR3 1333/1066/800 (4 x DIMM slots), Max. capacity up to 16GB
- Integrated AMD Radeon HD 3300 graphics, DX10 class iGPU, Pixel Shader 4.0, Max. shared memory 512MB
- Supports ATITM CrossFireXTM, Hybrid CrossFireXTM and 3-Way CrossFireXTM
- Integrated 128MB side port memory for iGPU
- 3 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (green @ x16 mode, blue @ x8 mode, orange @ x4 mode)
- Three VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI
- Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback
- 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1,RAID 5, RAID 10 and JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
- 1 x eSATAII 3.0 Gb/s connector, PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Supports 2 x IEEE1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)
- Supports ASRock Instant Boot, Smart BIOS, ASRock OC Tuner, Intelligent Energy Saver
- 7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio, DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
- Windows® VistaTM Premium 2008 Logo Ready

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I've just noticed the Molex's AM3 socket datasheet:
http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/470998141_sd.pdf
Look the page 2.
It shows that socket AM3 has 941 holes apparently.
extra 1 hole might not be problem, but 2 holes are located differently,
so we will not be able to mount AM2+ CPU on AM3 socket:(

But of course it doesn't mean that AM3 CPU has 941 pins.
I know Phenom II 945 ES (?) has 938pins:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=651
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1376703
So still it looks "AM3 CPU on AM2+ socket" is OK, but not vice versa:(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyosen

I've just noticed the Molex's AM3 socket datasheet:
http://www.molex.com/pdm_docs/sd/470998141_sd.pdf
Look the page 2.
It shows that socket AM3 has 941 holes apparently.
extra 1 hole might not be problem, but 2 holes are located differently,
so we will not be able to mount AM2+ CPU on AM3 socket:(

But of course it doesn't mean that AM3 CPU has 941 pins.
I know Phenom II 945 ES (?) has 938pins:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=651
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1376703
So still it looks "AM3 CPU on AM2+ socket" is OK, but not vice versa:(

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Mystery solved!!
Thanks kyosen-san

i'mj still going with Am2 is the only one that won't work in am3.

Am2+ chips will work in am3.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Mystery solved!!
Thanks kyosen-san

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+1 :D

This AM2/AM2+/AM3 thing was turning me crazy. This is all the info I need. Now the new mistery is the extra hole in the socket AM3 corner. This one was my reference to put the proccessor in the correct way. Now is going to be more difficult, like 5 more seconds to figure it out. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Mystery solved!!
Thanks kyosen-san

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I don't think so.

I googled for zd302112k4d12 to check if it is the real Phenom II 945, and found this benchs, and are all related to the same source.

http://ezit.ccidnet.com/html/yingjia.../23-46124.html

:shrug:

I can't find a better resolution of the cpu-z SS, so I'm still waiting to see.

I still believe that AM2+ cpu's will work in AM3 boards with DDR3. That is what Chew was told when he asked at The AMD event and it sound convincing to me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G0ldBr1ck

I still believe that AM2+ cpu's will work in AM3 boards with DDR3. That is what Chew was told when he asked at The AMD event and it sound convincing to me.

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straight out by AMD.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G0ldBr1ck

I still believe that AM2+ cpu's will work in AM3 boards with DDR3. That is what Chew was told when he asked at The AMD event and it sound convincing to me.

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I remember reading a long time ago that AM2+ Denebs wouldn't work in AM3 boards, but you can run AM3 Denebs in AM2+ boards. Not saying chew is wrong. I would just wait to see more official info instead of word of mouth.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Throwed

I remember reading a long time ago that AM2+ Denebs wouldn't work in AM3 boards, but you can run AM3 Denebs in AM2+ boards. Not saying chew is wrong. I would just wait to see more official info instead of word of mouth.

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We were also told long long ago however that even the first Phenoms had DDR3 IMC. after they launched tho it was never brought up agian.

I believe that AM2+ denebs will work on AM3 motherboards too, but now seeing the info brought to us by kyosen I think that Agena will not work on AM3 motherboards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

Thanks for bigger pic Charged! :up:

But in that bold Phenom name I was after FX moniker and not TM :p:. This is another source mentioning return of FX :cool:

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Newegg has "FX" on about every AMD board they have lol.....But I also wanted to point out the socket... it is the same as AM2+ where the the four area's with blocked holes are. and the DDR3 on the side.. I don't believe is photo shopped.

I attached a captured image from Molex's AM3 datasheet.
I added 2 red lines just for convinience...look carefully...
The approved date of Molex's datasheet is very old (2005/03/23),
but the socket image on the AsRock's board looks same as Molex's datasheet.
So, if final AM3 socket spec is same as Molex's datasheet,
2 pins of AM2 CPU will be blocked on socket AM3, I think:(

***edit well Kyosen's post makes it pretty sure we wont see any AM2/+ proc running in AM3 boards. Nice work m8, thanks for clearing that up
Really guys if you peak into the Bios programmer guide for K10 it mentions DDR3 capabilities and did so from the start. Personally i assumed it wasn't fully functional or stable though tbh. I guess time will tell. I'll be seriously shocked if K8 can work with DDR3 though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyosen

I attached a captured image from Molex's AM3 datasheet.
I added 2 red lines just for convinience...look carefully...
The approved date of Molex's datasheet is very old (2005/03/23),
but the socket image on the AsRock's board looks same as Molex's datasheet.
So, if final AM3 socket spec is same as Molex's datasheet,
2 pins of AM2 CPU will be blocked on socket AM3, I think:(

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that shows that AM3 would not fit in AM2 as well and we know thats not true.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G0ldBr1ck

that shows that AM3 would not fit in AM2 as well and we know thats not true.

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Yeah I already mentioned it in my first post.
Publicly, I/we know only one ES CPU which has different pin layout compared to AM2.
It might be an ES of AM3 CPU, but I/we don't know its pin layout is final or not...
...Time will tell, we must be patient:yepp:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by G0ldBr1ck

that shows that AM3 would not fit in AM2 as well and we know thats not true.

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That's not true. Look at the leaked PII945 pictures and notice that it has 3 missing pins in places where key holes are moved (AM2(+) has 2 missing pins for keying purpose). This makes AM3 backward compatible with AM2. Everything adds up nicely. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lightman

That's not true. Look at the leaked PII945 pictures and notice that it has 3 missing pins in places where key holes are moved (AM2(+) has 2 missing pins for keying purpose). This makes AM3 backward compatible with AM2. Everything adds up nicely. :)

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That is true.. I have that socket compatibility pic if anyone wants to see it "again". lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kyosen

A HAPPY NEW YEAR:)



Yeah I already mentioned it in my first post.
Publicly, I/we know only one ES CPU which has different pin layout compared to AM2.
It might be an ES of AM3 CPU, but I/we don't know its pin layout is final or not...
...Time will tell, we must be patient:yepp:

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Happy New Year for you to.

You are right, is the best thing to do, waiting, patientely...

Thanks.

Edit: After all, you are right, AM2+ CPUs doesn't fit on AM3 boards. http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showpo...6&postcount=18

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrowncoatGR

***edit well Kyosen's post makes it pretty sure we wont see any AM2/+ proc running in AM3 boards. Nice work m8, thanks for clearing that up
Really guys if you peak into the Bios programmer guide for K10 it mentions DDR3 capabilities and did so from the start. Personally i assumed it wasn't fully functional or stable though tbh. I guess time will tell. I'll be seriously shocked if K8 can work with DDR3 though.

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ahhhh i shldave kept that venice :(