News - AMD looks to standardise sockets after AM3+ and FM2

[HEXUS]

In the meantime, AM3+ is here to stay, likely including Steamroller.

Read more.

[DDY]

Good, unlike that other chip maker who has gone though three, soon to be four, totally incompatible sockets in 4 years.

[shaithis]

Wow...awesome news. Thought the FX-6100s I just popped into my esx hosts would be their last upgrades....now it's all the way to steamroller

[Brewster0101]

Good news on one hand, but will the AM3+ be holding back progress.

[scaryjim]

Don't think so - there's a bit of discussion on that front over in the Piledriver chat thread: http://forums.hexus.net/cpus/241925-...-chitchat.html

Given this should only be another couple of years I reckon the old HT bus will hold up until they integrate the northbridge completely, then probably we'll be looking at DDR4 as part of the HSA ... and the world will be a very different place

[howdee]

I'm still dreaming of FPGA and modular CPU sockets using some sort of height and colour-coded adapters for power and I/O connectivity needs of any future processors using more or less the same instructions sets. It might not make sense, however my dreams are annoyingly persistent. Can it be done in the same manner as selecting different code paths in computer programming, or would it end up being too elaborate and costly to implement?

[Jedibeeftrix]

does that mean we can have a new chipset with native USB 3.0 and PCIe 3.0 support?

[scaryjim]

I thought USB 3 was native on SB950, but a quick check suggests not - slightly odd!

I'd be surprised if a steamroller variant didn't get a new chipset, but then it looks like Vishera isn't getting one, so who can say. Also, given the disparity between PCIe 3.0 x16 bandwidth and the peak bandwidth available on a 16bit HT link, I don't know if we'll see that, either - and if we do it won't be able to communicate with the CPU at full speed...

[c.ruel]

This is fantastic news for me as I have an 990fxa-UD5 motherboard which is AM3+. I wasn't sure how long Am3+ was going to last so went for the UD5 instead of the UD7 which I regret a bit now I know this.

[Jedibeeftrix]

I'd be surprised if a steamroller variant didn't get a new chipset, but then it looks like Vishera isn't getting one, so who can say. Also, given the disparity between PCIe 3.0 x16 bandwidth and the peak bandwidth available on a 16bit HT link, I don't know if we'll see that, either - and if we do it won't be able to communicate with the CPU at full speed...

that would rather suggest that AMD is making 'policy' on the hoof which does not bode well.

if they cannot be bothered to take their enthusiast class platform seriously by ensuring it is able to keep up with modern feature sets, then i'm not sure i'm interested.

i say this as a very happy owner of an overclocked 1090T system using a gigabyte 890FX UD5 motherboard.

the 990FX chipset is identical to the 890FX, and the 890FX is on really a 790FX with a PCIe 2.0 link to the southbridge instead of PCIe 1.0.

i really quite fancy a piledriver, but i won't touch it with a bargepole unless amd gets its act together on the platform as a whole.

[heXuser]

Good move but AMD really needs to start giving chip-sets more attention than in the past. its been over 3 years since AMD did anything major to the chip-set.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

that would rather suggest that AMD is making 'policy' on the hoof which does not bode well.

if they cannot be bothered to take their enthusiast class platform seriously by ensuring it is able to keep up with modern feature sets, then i'm not sure i'm interested.

i say this as a very happy owner of an overclocked 1090T system using a gigabyte 890FX UD5 motherboard.

the 990FX chipset is identical to the 890FX, and the 890FX is on really a 790FX with a PCIe 2.0 link to the southbridge instead of PCIe 1.0.

i really quite fancy a piledriver, but i won't touch it with a bargepole unless amd gets its act together on the platform as a whole.

The 890FX also introduced native SATA3.0 ports.

[freedomzero]

I wish AMD could win the the budget market so that it pushes down Intel i3 prices.

[Jedibeeftrix]

The 890FX also introduced native SATA3.0 ports.

ah yes, i remember that is why i waited for its arrival before i upgraded.

that 128GB SATA3 C300 cost me £305 when i bought it, so i wanted to squeeze every ounce of performance i could from it.