AMD Preps am3 motherboard lineup.

[possessed]

Well I guess I'm weird, I want 1 IDE channel I have a good solid dual format dual layer IDE DVD burner and no reason to replace it

If they were to ditch IDE though, then give at least 6 SATA. 4 won't cut it with no IDE!

I want at least 1 PCI slot that won't get blocked by double height graphics cards for my Audigy 2 ZS. Again, it works great (with Daniel_K's drivers) so no desire to find a replacement.

6 USB ports on the rear IO panel is nice, but 4 will do.

Must have gigabit ethernet!

Black boards are

Yes, 1 IDE channel is a must have, I have a Plextor 716A DVD burner and another Plextor Premium Cd Burner. Those are the best you can have not going to change because they don't put 1 ide.

Also I prefer to use ps2 keyboard and mouse connectivity, feels more stable to me. And I then I can have plenty of spare usb ports so I can connect my 5 usb pens all at one time .

has for the floppy that one could go, but I'm certain some people would need it also (I have an usb floppy drive to use in case I need it)

[justapost]

Planet3dNow have an short article online today about an new AM3 board from ECS. Not much info just an rough estimated release date mentioned (01/09)
Link: Original Auto Translatet

[chew*]

I can agree that maybe one ps2 for keyboard can come in handy especially if you want to wake from keyboard, usb still has issues with this. I personally don't think its needed for a mouse and with high DPI mice it actually impedes them.

Floppies are useless, USB sticks and 5 in 1 card readers can do whatever floppy was intended for and better/faster/more reliably.

I think that If a teir 1 manufacturer did read this they may want to offer 2 variants. 1 capable of X fire and a Single PCI X variant would be plausable with onboard video to cover a wider range of consumers.

[kazgirl]

I think keeping one PS/2 is a must at the moment, I primarily use a Logitech USB keyboard, however frequently when trying to enter the BIOS the keyboard is not detected early enough to press the Del key to enter BIOS.... needing to restart a number of tiems before it finally works.... occassionally when making a lot of BIOS adjustments I just plug in a PS/2 keyboard solely for BIOS adjustments...!!!

[chew*]

Agreed i have experienced the same especially when setting up a new pc.

[chew*]

I see an increased use of "bling" is the trend. If a board runs rock solid, has good bios support and runs at acceptable temps passively cooled and clocks like a champ I think you will find that "how much bling" the board has will not matter.

[LowRun]

I think keeping one PS/2 is a must at the moment, I primarily use a Logitech USB keyboard, however frequently when trying to enter the BIOS the keyboard is not detected early enough to press the Del key to enter BIOS.... needing to restart a number of tiems before it finally works.... occassionally when making a lot of BIOS adjustments I just plug in a PS/2 keyboard solely for BIOS adjustments...!!!

Yup, PS/2 for me too please.

[Frodin]

I think PCI should be ditched altogether, except for perhaps one slot. I love the slot layout of that Asus X58 workstation mobo, all slots are PCI-E 16x (maybe they aren't all 16x electrically though). I've had two PCI cards ever, and they both were sound cards.

[Chris_redfield]

I think that DFI has go their design for the M2RS series spot on with regards to the PCI-E x16 slots. Three is enough for GPU's as a fourth in crossfire makes a negligible difference and I'm not a big fan of having two GPU's on one graphics cards.

Yeah you need the PS/2 port for the keyboard.

My dream AM3 board would probably be a Destroyer 2 tbh. That or an AMD skulltrail equivalent that somehow utilised standard Deneb AMD CPU's as opposed to their more expensive Shanghai brethren.

[demonkevy666]

I think that DFI has go their design for the M2RS series spot on with regards to the PCI-E x16 slots. Three is enough for GPU's as a fourth in crossfire makes a negligible difference and I'm not a big fan of having two GPU's on one graphics cards.

Yeah you need the PS/2 port for the keyboard.

My dream AM3 board would probably be a Destroyer 2 tbh. That or an AMD skulltrail equivalent that somehow utilised standard Deneb AMD CPU's as opposed to their more expensive Shanghai brethren.

we should propose a suggestion for some motherboard makers here on the AMD forum then

[chew*]

we should propose a suggestion for some motherboard makers here on the AMD forum then

Believe it or not we are right now in this thread, there are those that are watching or so i've been told.

Instead of whining as whining gets no where you start a constructive thread on what youd like to see, with good logical reasons behind it.

It's been done before, whether or not they take all of the advice is up to them.

Just keep in mind the orginal AM3 design as it will still have to adhere to that.

that said whats people's take on esata, is 2 necessary via the I/O?

[Final8ty]

The DFI layout is spot on. as i need 2 free PCI lots for Soundcard & TV card when i have 2 double slot PCIE gfx cards in place 1 IDE int for my 2 Plextor DVDRW drives...the rest is in the sig.

Also more Phases on the PWM as i keep hearing to much of Mosfets blowing on AMD boards but hear little of that from Intel users.

[LowRun]

that said whats people's take on esata, is 2 necessary via the I/O?

One is mandatory for sure, two would be nice

[chew*]

The DFI layout is spot on. as i need 2 free PCI lots for Soundcard & TV card when i have 2 double slot PCIE gfx cards in place 1 IDE int for my 2 Plextor DVDRW drives...the rest is in the sig.

Also more Phases on the PWM as i keep hearing to much of Mosfets blowing on AMD boards but hear little of that from Intel users.

A Manta/grouper quality PWM will be more than sufficient thats why I referenced it.

I had one blow up on grouper, this was of course after my wife shut the pc off and left the phase unit on which froze the entire board unbeknown to me, when i turned it on It went pop. Plenty strong enough, only thing that can kill it is user error/abuse as in my situation.

[chew*]

This is close not quite perfect but close.....sapphire has always held very close to AMD/ATI reference design
Reference

Sapphire , Looks like it may house a beefier PWM than manta had. Edit maybe not 580 was 6phase. clip from board specs. 6 Phase Vcore + 1 phase NB digital PWM design

Review http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/mother...90FX/index.asp

[Kayin]

The Sapphire board is the DFI board. Just some swapped colors.

How would we get our hands on the top board? Me likes a lot...

[chew*]

Chances are that board is long history, It's the same as my manta reference. It's made for testing etc. It was probably floating around a good 6 months before 790 boards came out.

Would probably have a better chance on getting a DDR3 variant at this point in time. I'd bet money they are floating around right now or very close to done.

[Lightman]

I can't complain at my Gigabyte DQ6 PWM section. It was first among AMD boards to use 8+2 PWM and I've put through it more than 200W for a considerably length of time with no problem at all and no voltage fluctuation.
2 eSATA is desired
Better BIOS support is a must, especially undervolting is a feature I miss most in my 790FX board.

Cheers!

[Mathos]

I don't know, I think the MSI K9a2 Plat still has the best slot layout, especially when it comes to the fact that it has for x16 slots. Even if you're not using all 4 for graphics you can still install a slower x1-x8 card into the ones your not using. That and it's been one of the best for Tinkering in the bios depending on which bios you use.

As far as getting rid of PS/2 ports I don't know about that, there are still a great many new boards that won't boot up the first time unless you have a ps/2 keyboard or mouse to get into the bios and set it up properly. That, and when you're trying to troubleshoot stability issues, those are the best ports to use. I'm kinda sad they got rid of serial ports for the most part. Nothing can beat one of the old serial port USR sportster modems when you're stuck with dial up, since most PCI or USB modems are far too sensitve to line quality, and distance when it comes to getting a consistantly max speed connection. I resisted switching to a board with no ISA slots for a long time for the same reason, add to that the fact that at the time most of the best soundcards were ISA cards, Soundblaster AWE64 gold for example. Now as far as regular PCI slots go, I could live without them, or as long as I have one for my soundcard till I can get a newer PCIe version. PCI has far outlived it's usefulness, did that after AGP came out.

IDE ports are still useful to have around, many people still use older IDE drives, especially when it comes to DVD/CD burners, and backup HDD's. Floppy ports I'm kinda 50/50 on. Bout the only time I use floppy is for good old fashioned bios flashing. USB flashing still isn't stable enough, and it's easier to boot from a floppy than it is a flashing drive or card reader.

[Final8ty]

I don't know, I think the MSI K9a2 Plat still has the best slot layout, especially when it comes to the fact that it has for x16 slots. Even if you're not using all 4 for graphics you can still install a slower x1-x8 card into the ones your not using. That and it's been one of the best for Tinkering in the bios depending on which bios you use.

I disagree on both counts.
If i used 2 double slot gfx cards i will be down the 1 PCI slot.
The BIOS on the DFI & ASUS walk all over the MSI K9a2 Plat.

[Glow9]

I will be happy to see ps2 go honestly, but why is it so difficult for some mobos to see usb? It's odd for instance my Abit IP35 pro the only gripe I have with it is I can use my usb keyboard all day long in the bios but if I'm screwin around and I restart my comp and it does that 30 seconds or press key to start windows normally it doesn't recognize the keyboard. So odd, so I guess I'm curious when mobos are going to get up to snuff without error

[mattkosem]

I will be happy to see ps2 go honestly

Me too. My last three boards have worked flawlessly with USB keybaords and mice. The same goes for IDE too IMHO. We don't need that 22 year old legacy interface anymore. For the folks that insist on keeping and using devices on that antiquated bus, please just get an IDE to SATA adapter or an IDE card. New PCs don't need IDE controllers.

--Matt

[chew*]

I would agree that you might have problems getting into bios with a USB keyboard, As far as I can remember and its been a long road ive never needed the mouse in bios or was able to use it

As far as flash drives not being stable, I have xp installed on one and have had alot more floppy disks corrupt mid flash.

With the prices @ $100 on sale for a BD/DL DVD burner/lightscribe and every other format known to man components using IDE are soon to follow the path of the parralel printer port. I do agree 1 Ide is not unreasonable.

4 x16 sized slots will only cost us more, performance with 4x 4870 versus 2 4870x2 is negligible and the 4870x2 wins most of the time. Secondly the AM3 design only supports 2 x16 slots anyway. I could see where 3 might have potential for a wider variety but then again you could always run and 4870x2 and single 4870 which would make more sense than having 2 cards x16 and one x8.

[demonkevy666]

IDE if your going to use a raid card because they don't support CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives.....

4 pci-express slots at 2.0 are going to need a lot of power to support them for 16x, I wonder if x58 boards have all 6 slots at 8x.

on side note adding suff like this

32mb-256mb sound card cache

64mb-2gb Raid cache DVD supported

512mb-2gb video gddr3 to gddr5

fully integrated 7.1 sound DVI HDMI display port,coaxial and optical support.

4 pci express x16 slots all fully 2.0 1-3 pci express slots 1-3PCI slots. up to 10 slots. belike adding it to the bottom of the board like and expansion for the motherboard and . with a dust cover when not in use

TV tuner integrated with High end video card and cooling soultion. low end card for 2Dand vista areo clock low power mode.

all would = $1,000 for the board.

[Final8ty]

I would agree that you might have problems getting into bios with a USB keyboard, As far as I can remember and its been a long road ive never needed the mouse in bios or was able to use it

As far as flash drives not being stable, I have xp installed on one and have had alot more floppy disks corrupt mid flash.

With the prices @ $100 on sale for a BD/DL DVD burner/lightscribe and every other format known to man components using IDE are soon to follow the path of the parralel printer port. I do agree 1 Ide is not unreasonable.

4 x16 sized slots will only cost us more, performance with 4x 4870 versus 2 4870x2 is negligible and the 4870x2 wins most of the time. Secondly the AM3 design only supports 2 x16 slots anyway. I could see where 3 might have potential for a wider variety but then again you could always run and 4870x2 and single 4870 which would make more sense than having 2 cards x16 and one x8.

I agree 2 x16 slots are enough, but as things stand At the moment only the DFI allows 2 double slot cards with 2 free PCI slots & the only reason im use 4 single slot cards is because my DFI failed & was the only way to get Quad GPU & get 2 PCI lots on other mobos.
DFI should get rid of the 3 PCIe slot on the end.