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

[N19h7m4r3]

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

[FischOderAal]

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

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

[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

[Lightman]

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

Mystery solved!!
Thanks kyosen-san

[demonkevy666]

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

Am2+ chips will work in am3.

[Voodoo²]

Mystery solved!!
Thanks kyosen-san

+1

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.

[aGeoM]

Mystery solved!!
Thanks kyosen-san

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



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

[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.

[demonkevy666]

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.

straight out by AMD.

[Throwed]

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.

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.

[G0ldBr1ck]

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.

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.

[Voodoo²]

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.

[charged3800z24]

Thanks for bigger pic Charged!

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

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.

[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

[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.

[G0ldBr1ck]

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

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

[kyosen]

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

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

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

[Lightman]

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

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.

[charged3800z24]

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.

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

[aGeoM]

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

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

[saveus222]

***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.

ahhhh i shldave kept that venice