AMD 890FX Roundup - A Quartet of AMD's Finest
Along with the launch of its first 6-core desktop processor last month, AMD also refreshed its high-end enthusiast class 890FX chipset. We got four vendors, ASUS, Biostar, Gigabyte and MSI to send us their representatives for this 890FX roundup of the top boards in the market.
A Quartet of AMD's Finest
Lost amidst the headlines surrounding the launch of AMD's 6-core Phenom II X6 desktop processors was the simultaneous introduction of AMD's updated enthusiast chipset, the AMD 890FX. While review sites naturally dedicated some time to it (we gave it here), there wasn't time to examine the various 890FX boards in-depth. The fact that the AMD 890FX is mostly similar to its predecessor, with the exception of a new Southbridge, meant that there was even less of a story for the press. After all, the new SB850 may bring SATA 6Gbps support, but for most users still using older SATA 3Gbps hard drives, the newer interface is unlikely to bring immediate benefits.
In any case, we have already tested the AMD Phenom II X6 and its Turbo Core technology to our hearts' content. This brings us finally to the high-end enthusiast AMD 890FX motherboards that vendors hope you purchase along with a brand-new 6-core processor. And maybe a couple or even a quartet of AMD Radeon HD 5800 graphics cards for quad CrossFireX if you are at it.
Don't be surprised if we tell you that some of these motherboards cost as much or almost as much as a Phenom II X6, for among them are premium models from top brands like ASUS, Biostar, Gigabyte and MSI. Although we've gathered the top boards from each maker in this round-up, the Biostar board is the most affordable 890FX motherboard in our mix and should make for an interesting comparison.
An interesting trend that we noticed for these four boards is that while AMD has removed the Advanced Clock Calibration feature that was used by enthusiasts to unlock the 'disabled or hidden' cores on certain AMD processors, the motherboard vendors have stepped up and introduced their own unlocking features. All four boards have their form of 'core unlocking' and one can even go to the extent of turning certain cores on/off if you choose to.
The 'unlock' is as simple as enabling a setting in the BIOS, which is certainly an improvement over the past, where one has to scour forums online to find the right model and the correct BIOS version to unlock an AMD processor, as we documented . Before we examine the merits of these boards in the next few pages, the specifications are listed below. As we have previewed three of these boards, , and , we will be using some of the content and images from those previews.
ASUS Crosshair IVFormula | Biostar TA890FXE | Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 | MSI890FXA-GD70 | |
CPU Support | AMDSocket AM3 Processors (Phenom II / Athlon II / Sempron) | |||
Chipset | AMD890FXand SB850 | |||
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PCB | ATXform factor, 30.5 x 24.5cm | XL-ATXform factor, 32.5 x 24.4cm | ATX form factor, 30.5 x 24.5cm |
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
First up, from its Republic of Gamers series, we have the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula, which packs the high-end 890FX chipset with ASUS' own in-house features, some of which are pretty extreme. While we have seen ASUS' proprietary features in the past, there's one significant addition that's meant to complement AMD's Turbo Core technology. As you may know, what Turbo Core does is to basically increase the clock frequencies of active cores by a fixed amount when there are idle cores (three or more on a 6-core Phenom II X6). This feature is expected to make its way to future quad-core 'Thuban' based AMD processors, but ASUS has something special for its users.
Known as Turbo Unlocker, this feature works on Phenom II X6 processors and all other 'Black Edition' AMD processors and according to ASUS, will improve the performance beyond that from AMD's Turbo Core. In our tests, we found that to be true, though the amount of improvement could be quite minor. Turbo Unlocker will increase the CPU multiplier even further - on a Phenom II X4 955, we saw the default 16x go up to 16.5x when this feature is enabled (you'll need to install a small desktop application before using it). On a Phenom II X6 1090T, the increase was slightly more, going up to 3.8GHz for singly threaded apps (compared to 3.6GHz without) and 3.3GHz for multi-threaded workloads, (compared to 3.2GHz without).
No doubt, it's a small gain of at best, 3% in our benchmarks, but since you have already paid for it and there's little penalty at such small increments, we say keep it enabled. This small multiplier increase also explains why it needs an unlocked 'Black Edition' to work, since this feature directly tweaks the multiplier.
ASUS has gone with a striking red and black motif that fits with its other ROG designs. Expect nothing less than the whole suite of ASUS' ROG technologies.
Besides the useful and necessary Clear CMOS button (which could have been smaller so as to avoid accidents), this board has ASUS' ROG Connect feature, which allows you to hook up the board to another system for monitoring and tweaking purposes (using the reserved USB port). As you can tell, it's for pretty hardcore users. The rest of the ports are rather normal, with the blue USB ports being version 3.0 while the Gigabit LAN connection has ASUS' GamerFirst feature, which claims to optimize your internet connection such that your gaming experience will not be adversely affected by other concurrent internet usage like downloading of files.
Six SATA 6Gbps ports aligned just the way we prefer. The black SATA port there is from the JMicron controller is only 3Gbps capable.
The standard configuration of four DIMM slots supporting up to 16GB memory, up to DDR3 2000 (O.C). Note too ASUS' unique single-sided lock mechanism for the DIMMs.
ProbeIT is another of ASUS' ROG features, which is basically a set of five voltage detection points for enthusiasts who prefer to use a multimeter to take readings.
Pressing this Go button before booting up will enable MemOK!, ASUS' memory compatibility check utility. If you press it when the OS is running, it instead loads the preset profile for temporary overclocking.
Besides the obvious Power and Reset buttons, ASUS has two of its proprietary features here with Core Unlocker, which unlocks your AMD processor if it has cores disabled, like the Phenom II X2. The Turbo Key II is an auto-overclocking utility which kicks in when the button is enabled prior to booting the system. The amount of overclock can be controlled within the BIOS settings.
ASUS relies on this custom iROG chip to handle the ROG related technologies.
While it used to be a separate audio module, the SupremeFX X-Fi (VIA VT2020 inside) appears to be onboard now. It supports X-Fi and other Creative technologies, though like the previous version, these effects will be handled through software. This onboard integration is surely a cost saving move, but we think it's fine given that folks who're really concerned with their audio quality would further invest in a dedicated sound card, while the onboard audio is to take care of basic audio needs.
The Crosshair IV Formula comes with three PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (dual x16 or x16/x8/x8) for 3-way CrossFireX. The last slot is a PCIe 2.0 x4 and there are two PCI slots, all of which becomes unusable if you opt for three dual-slot graphics cards in tandem.
The NEC controller for USB 3.0 support.
ASUS certainly has quite a fancy and visually arresting heatsink design which is also reasonably low-profile.
There's no doubt that the Crosshair IV Formula is targeted at the niche enthusiasts users, with many of its features too extreme for the average user. Of course, if you're considering an AMD 890FX, then you possibly fall within this group. The board itself oozes style with its red and black theme, a plus point for some users, while ASUS has naturally gone with the expensive components. Finally, layout was excellent and we could really find no fault here. The only sticking point is that 3-way CrossFireX is about as good as you can get here, and not the quad version that some may be expecting from such a high-end board.
Biostar TA890FXE
After the extravagance of the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula, the Biostar TA890FXE is a return to reality. For the typical user who has no urge or need to tweak voltages, overclock or in general fiddle with their motherboards in their free time, this Biostar board looks like the vanilla board that they require. Even then, given the enthusiast nature of the 890FX chipset, Biostar has included some touches that hint at its hidden potential.
These are the overclocking utilities in the BIOS and the software version available on the manufacturer's disc. While they will not make this Biostar a favorite among enthusiasts, they, along with BIOS functions that unlock cores on AMD processors and allow the flashing of the BIOS directly, will contribute to raising Biostar's profile among enthusiasts. Already, the ability of Biostar boards using the previous generation of chipsets to unlock AMD processor cores has been quite well-documented and known among enthusiasts, especially as an affordable alternative.
Features-wise, the TA890FXE follows the reference chipset, with five SATA ports and one eSATA. There are no perks beyond a VIA controller that provides FireWire and IDE support. It's pretty boring if you're used to exotic features that you're unlikely to use regularly but then that's not the market BIOSTAR is targeting. Unfortunately, this board is restricted to dual CrossFireX configuration, due to the lack of PCI Express lanes on the remaining two PCIe 2.0 slots. Besides, with the layout of the expansion slots as it is, it would not be practical to have more than two graphics cards, especially the dual-slot variety.
Don't expect too many frills from this BIOSTAR 890FX board, which is the most affordable of the lot.
A decent selection of rear I/O ports, including six USB ports, eSATA, FireWire and both optical and coaxial S/PDIF outputs. The only thing missing from this board compared to the other three boards is USB 3.0 ports.
There are only five SATA ports onboard, with one eSATA, so those who have many devices will find this a bit of a limitation. An LED for debugging is also found, with POST codes available in the manual.
The DIMM slots are rather standard and normal. Color-coded for easy installation, with ample allowance on both ends of the slot for the latch mechanism.
A nice looking set of power and reset buttons. The placement of the IDE connector here looks a bit awkward but it doesn't actually interfere with your add-on cards, unless you have a really long card installed in the PCI slots.
Despite the four PCIe slots, only two (in white) have the maximum 16 lanes of bandwidth. The spacing at least allows for dual-slot graphics cards.
Both the HD audio and Gigabit Ethernet uses Realtek controllers. We wished there was a USB 3.0 controller to bring it on par with the other boards.
A rather typical implementation for the Northbridge heatsink and the passive heatsink array for the power delivery components.
Overall, we found the Biostar TA890FXE to have a pleasant and simple layout, with no jarring mistakes. It does have fewer features than the other competitors here, which helps for the layout but it appears to be a rather competent board. Perhaps due to the cost factor, the chokes on this board are not as expensive as those chosen by the other three vendors, but at least there are solid capacitors throughout.
Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7
It used to be that UD6 was Gigabyte's top model, but with the introduction of SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 technologies, Gigabyte has gone back to its older boards and added a new UD7 that has all these features. Not surprisingly, the top dog of Gigabyte's AMD 890FX boards, the 890FXA-UD7, also follows this convention. Take note that this new board is actually larger than the usual ATX form factor. It's in extended ATX form factor and has a slightly longer length (by 2cm) over the standard ATX board. The difference is not immediately obvious, until you compare it side-by-side with another. Or perhaps when you try installing it into your chassis - Gigabyte has certified a list of supported chassis on its website. While we're sure that there are many more chassis that should fit this slightly over-sized board, there's no harm doing a little fact checking for your chassis first.
As the top dog in Gigabyte's lineup, the UD7 is outfitted with some enthusiast oriented features, particularly the water cooler block and Gigabyte's Hybrid Silent-Pipe 2, a separate heatsink.
Here's what we meant by the separate heatsink (a giant radiator in fact), the Hybrid Silent-Pipe 2.
The familiar Gigabyte water block feature that's found on its high-end boards.
The rear I/O of this board includes FireWire ports, eSATA/USB combo ports, USB 3.0 ports (in blue) and even dual Gigabit LAN ports. Both coaxial and optical S/PDIF outputs are available.
Gigabyte has never been shy about SATA ports and besides the six SATA 6Gbps ports from the SB850, it has included two SATA 3Gbps ports from its own, branded controller. A Clear CMOS button is also found here, with a plastic cover to prevent accidents.
A passive heatsink lies over the SB850 Southbridge. Nearby is Gigabyte's own SATA2 controller, mentioned earlier (it's actually a re-branded JMicron controller to be accurate).
It looks rather cramped here, as the ATX power, floppy and IDE connectors all converge. It also happens to where the power and reset buttons are found. Not exactly ideal.
Gigabyte has provided many expansion slots, though a closer examination revealed that only two are PCIe 2.0 x16 - they are the ones nearest to the chipset and PCI slot if you're wondering. The rest are x4 and x8 versions, even if all the slots appear to be the same length as the x16 versions. However, one can still do quad CrossFireX if that's your thing. There's also a single PCI slot. Note that the Gigabyte SATA2 chip shares bandwidth with the PCIe 2.0 x4 slots so if they are used completely, the SATA ports from the SATA2 chip will be disabled.
Gigabyte is still as thorough even when it comes to providing options, even legacy ones like COM and LPT ports.
Going with Realtek - the dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers are from Realtek, along with the HD audio CODEC.
The usual MOSFETs and capacitors surround the CPU socket. Gigabyte doesn't appear to go too extreme when it comes to the board's power delivery design, at least not to the extent that we have seen previously in the UD7 tier.
Our impression of the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 was that it has inherited Gigabyte's DNA completely, due to its focus on storage options, especially with its support for older interfaces. Gigabyte's water block cooler design, with the inclusion of the Hybrid Silent-Pipe 2 for those not into water cooling, is also typical of its highest end offering. The list of features onboard is suitably impressive, including Gigabyte's own patented technologies. There are however no surprises to be found for those hoping for a refresh of those core Gigabyte features.
The layout is also typical of Gigabyte. Despite the additional PCB space, the number of features mean that Gigabyte's choice of location for the power and reset buttons look like it was forced by the design, and not a deliberate choice. It's hardly ideal but it's admittedly a minor complaint that did not impact on our usage.
MSI 890FXA-GD70
The MSI 890FXA-GD70 is the company's only model for the 890FX chipset currently and it looks to live up to its enthusiast billing. The design is a mostly incremental update to MSI's 790FX-GD70 board, with some of the newer proprietary features thrown in. Notably, the quad CrossFireX capability of this board should score highly with its intended enthusiast audience. After all, the only other 890FX board with this feature in our roundup is the Gigabyte UD7.
It's the very familiar black and blue design, with MSI's DrMOS feature prominently advertised on the heatsink.
MSI has a rather well balanced mix of rear I/O ports. Besides the legacy PS/2 ports, there's a clear CMOS button, optical and coaxial S/PDIF outputs and the USB ports. While this board has FireWire capabilities, they are implemented as onboard headers and not found here. An eSATA/USB combo port is also present along with dual Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. Finally, the blue USB ports represent USB 3.0, as is the convention now.
Six SATA 6Gbps ports aligned the way we like it, out of the way of add-on cards. There's also an IDE port as a nod to the old-timers. The blue SATA port just about avoids being affected if you have a couple of long dual-slot graphics cards installed.
Notice anything different about these DIMM slots? Yes, it appears that MSI is following ASUS in having single latching mechanisms for the DIMM slots. This is because these slots are directly in line with the first PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, so it's a necessity rather than a luxury.
MSI has gone with such 'touch' buttons for power, reset and its own OC Dial and Green Power features for a while now. The OC Dial allows on-the-fly tweaking of the base clock frequency.
An LED indicator for debugging purposes.
Most users should know this NEC controller by heart now, It enables USB 3.0 functionality on the motherboard.
A FireWire controller from VIA (with two onboard headers) and Realtek's ALC892 HD audio CODEC.
As one expects from high-end boards, there's two Gigabit Ethernet controllers. It's one too many in our opinion, but that's the state of the market.
If CrossFireX is your obsession, then this MSI board with its four PCIe 2.0 x16 slots will be perfect for you (one of these blue slots is only a PCIe x4). When quad CrossFireX is enabled, all the slots run at a very competent x8 configuration each and best of all, you can fit dual-slot graphics cards for all. Of course, this means giving up operating the PCI and PCIe x1 slots.
A relatively clean socket area, with the heatsink restricted to the area near the rear. MSI claims that its flat 6mm heat pipe design allows for better heat transfer.
Another touted feature is the use of hi-c capacitors on board for the power delivery system that promotes greater reliability and stability when compared to the already decent typical solid capacitors. They do cost more however.
This board looks very competitive with its rivals. Quad CrossFireX could be decisive for some enthusiasts, while the rest of the features are very appropriate for its high-end status. MSI's OC Dial and auto-overclocking utility (OC Genie) are some of MSI's more well-known proprietary tweaking technologies found on this board and the use of quality components, while increasing the cost, should be appreciated by enthusiasts.
The layout too appears to be well-thought out and we didn't find any instances where components could get in the way of each other. The way MSI manages to squeeze that single SATA port in between the PCIe slots without interfering is a case in point. Meanwhile, the low profile of the heatsinks should allow users to fit more extravagant and hopefully better performing CPU heatsinks.
BIOS Settings
It used to be that the better and more comprehensive BIOS options are only available from the top tier motherboard vendors. It's still pretty much the case, with the top three, ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI having very polished (and mostly familiar to us) BIOS. However, BIOSTAR's BIOS has much going for it, with a rather gentle learning curve for those unfamiliar with it. The company also has made allowances for additional features like an automated overclocking tool (like those found on ASUS and MSI) and voltage adjustments. Of course, it's not exactly recommended to depend on the automated overclocking tools, with the BIOSTAR and MSI versions managing between 240 and 250MHz base clock. That's a decent start, but well within the capabilities of most users. The BIOSTAR even has a built-in BIOS flashing tool, which puts it on the same level as the competition.
As for the overclocking capability, most AMD 890FX boards are able to easily go past the default 200MHz base clock frequency without needing to increase the voltage. One hits the roadblocks around the 300MHz mark, with all except for the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula faltering at this point. Does this overclocking performance go some way to justify its premium, overclocking niche and price? You betcha!
O/C Settings | ASUS Crosshair IVFormula | BIOSTAR TA890FXE | Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 | MSI890FXA-GD70 |
Base Clock (MHz) | 100 - 600 | 200 - 600 | 200 - 500 | 190 - 600 |
CPU Ratio | x4 - x39.5 (0.5x steps) | x8 - x31.5 (0.5x steps) | x5 - x35 (0.5x steps) | x4 - x32.5 (0.5x steps) |
Memory Ratio/Multiplier | Auto, 800, 1066, 1333, 1600MHz | Auto, 800, 1066, 1333, 1600MHz | Auto, x4, x5.33, x6.66, x8 | Auto, 1:2, 1:2.66, 1:3.33, 1:4 |
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Tested Overclock Settings | Base Clock: 340MHz max | Base Clock: 290MHz max | Base Clock: 300MHz max | Base Clock: 290MHz max |
Test Setup
While the AMD 890FX may have been launched together with AMD's Thuban 6-core processors, there's no stopping anyone from popping in any Phenom II AM3 processor, which is why we have gone with our usual Phenom II X4 955 (3.2GHz) processor. All four AMD 890FX motherboard share a similar system configuration listed below; we have also included a reference board using the older AMD 790FX chipset for those who are unsure if there's any point in upgrading.
- AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.2GHz)
- 2 x 1GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1333 @7-7-7-20
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA HDD (single NTFS partition of 200GB)
- NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB (ForceWare 195.62)
- Windows 7 Ultimate
The following benchmarks were used:
- BAPCo SYSmark 2007 Preview (ver 1.05)
- Futuremark PCMark Vantage (ver 1.0.3.1)
- Futuremark 3DMark Vantage (ver 1.0.3.1)
- SPECviewperf 9.0
- Far Cry 2
Results - SYSmark 2007 Preview
While the SYSmark 2007 scores were mostly similar among the boards, the ASUS managed to have the slightest of leads over the rest, with a stronger showing in the Video Creation segment. It's also important to note that the AMD 790FX essentially performed at the same level as the newer chipset.
Results - Futuremark PCMark Vantage
Again, in PCMark Vantage, there wasn't too much to differentiate between the various 890FX boards, or the 790FX for that matter. Except for an Overall score from BIOSTAR that appeared a bit of an outlier, most of the boards performed within an acceptable variable range of scores.
Results - SPECviewperf 9.0
In these two workloads, there was a small amount of variance in scores, though on both occasions, the ASUS board was among the frontrunners. The MSI 890FX-GD70 also fared well in the PRO/ENGINEER workload, which from its workload we can relate that the board has better handling of the memory subsystem. Not surprisingly, the AMD 790FX chipset remains very relevant if performance is all that matters.
Results - Futuremark 3DMark Vantage & Far Cry 2
Our gaming benchmarks, both the synthetic and an actual game, saw the boards having almost identical scores. This is not surprising however, as short of a serious issue with the board, it's unlikely we'll find much variance in these benchmarks.
Temperature
Heat is pretty much a non-issue here, with all the boards comfortably under 50 degrees Celsius for both the North and Southbridge heatsinks. Given that the reference 790FX had such cool temperatures, it doesn't appear that the 890FX has made any improvements in this aspect.
Power Consumption
The maximum power draw under load was in the same ballpark for most of the boards. The ASUS board was a bit lower than the rest, but it did have the higher idle power draw. The BIOSTAR and MSI were both very similar in terms of power consumption while the Gigabyte managed to keep the idle power draw decently low despite its host of features.
Conclusion
As you can tell from the benchmarks, the AMD 890FX brings nothing significant to the performance stakes. Support for the newer SATA 6Gbps interface is good but essentially you're still on the same motherboard/chipset architecture. There's nothing wrong with that, especially if that allows you to upgrade your processor or motherboard seamlessly from one generation to another. It's definitely a plus for those who are already on the AMD platform in terms of cost savings.
While AMD has taken away Advanced Clock Calibration for the 890FX, the motherboard vendors have been quite creative in compensating for this, with every board equipped with some form of core unlocking functionality through the BIOS. Since this chipset is meant for enthusiasts who would likely make use of its capability for 3-way and even quad CrossFireX configurations, there's also no shortage of features focused on tweaking and overclocking. This emphasis on features is necessary because the performance between these boards is mostly identical, which means product differentiation is dependent on this and the asking price.
At US$239 from online retailers, ASUS' Crosshair IV Formula was surprisingly not the most expensive of the bunch, though locally, its S$465 price tag is heads and shoulders among the rest. ASUS does have an even n available soon, so expect the price for that to be astronomical. As it is, the Formula is rather souped up in terms of features that will appeal to the hardcore crowd and our own overclocking experience puts it at the top. Most are familiar names, but the new Turbo Unlocker is unique among the boards here. The improvement is however rather modest, so we won't recommend getting this board solely for this. However, the solid quality of the board along with an excellent layout, overclocking features and the thirst to squeeze the last morsel of performance makes it a great choice, despite its higher price.
Next, the Biostar TA890FXE is the most affordable of the four motherboards today at US$150 (local SRP is at S$249). It however is also the most 'basic' of the four in terms of features and is a standard implementation of AMD's reference chipset design. Coupled with its restricted CrossFireX support (dual cards maximum), it is not the board if you're one to splurge, but as a value proposition for those looking to get onboard the AMD train with as much platform supported features, then it's a suitable choice. Biostar has added much polish to the board design and we didn't find anything to criticize about its layout. The BIOS too has perks like an automated overclocking tool and BIOS flashing utility that puts it level with the competition.
Meanwhile, the Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7 is the largest physically among the four boards, with an XL-ATX form factor that may require a more roomy chassis. It's also huge on features, with Gigabyte as usual piling on the support for more SATA ports, IDE, floppy and expansion slots. A water block with a separate heatsink and the usual list of Gigabyte proprietary technologies are the main 'enthusiast' oriented touches. While Gigabyte's entry is as polished and well-built as ever, it doesn't stray far from the vendor's tried and tested formula. At US$249, it's the most costly of the bunch if you're purchasing online, but locally, it's going for S$435, making it a tad more affordable than the ASUS board.
Finally, MSI's offering for the 890FX space is the 890FXA-GD70. Like ASUS and Gigabyte, the MSI board builds on the previous generation, with many similar technologies and features, like DrMOS, Green Power and OC Genie. As we have seen often from MSI, its design philosophy straddles the gap between ASUS and Gigabyte, and offers a blend of the two. This MSI board has more overclocking and tweaking utilities onboard compared to the Gigabyte but it's not as extreme as the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula. It's able to do quad CrossFireX and offers slightly more storage options. And the single latch DIMM slots more than reminds us of the ASUS board. Best of all, its local SRP of $309 is perhaps the most affordable for the top AMD 890FX model from a major motherboard vendor, and it's not that far off from its online US$200 price.
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