AM3+ board or ASUS formula 4

[blair]

Hi,

my asus M4A88TD-V went wrong so now i have credit iwth ebuyer and was going to get the ASUS formula 4 for my 1090T but i saw some am3+ board and now in some shops for pre order so i wanted to know it these boards will support am3 cpu's as i only just got the 1090T and cant get a bulldozer just yet unless i sell the 1090T.

So my options are get:

Asus formula 4

get am3+ board use 1090T in it if u can

or sell 1090T and get a AM3+ board and bulldozer cpu as i can save up more between now and when they come out.

When are they meant to come out?

I will be using the pc for gaming and wont be upgrading the main board or cpu for at least 2 years.

 

[S_I_N]

get urself the formula 4 and it'll hold ya for 2 years easy I had that one before I went extreme and kinda miss it a tad. now the other hand iirc the 1090t will work in a am3+ socket so you'd be halfway thru ur upgrade to BD kinda rock and hard place scenario

 

[blair]

so the am3+ socket will take a 1090T so surly it would be better to wait and get a AM3+ board.

 

[dugdiamond]

it is the olde catch22 synapsis again

fine.. the 1090T will work on a AM3+ board, but the bulldozer and 990chipsets are meant to work together in unison....so... this will mean:

1. the 1090T will NOT use all the chipsets features
   
2. once you are ready to go bulldozer, the BD chip will be held back the mobo/ram/etc
   
3. once moving onwards (eventually) to a full BD rig, all old parts will be useless and unwanted
   

get a cheap am3 mobo for now

do a full upgrade to BD later (after all reviews and benches are done)

....

i made the mistake when moving from AM2 to AM3 - and i am stuck with the unwanted hardware

 

[blair]

i only want one for gaming and might not afford bulldozer so shall i get the formula 4 and just use it till its usless and then can move on to bulldozer after pries come down and they are proven to be worth upgrading too. Not worried about it eing useless after as my bro has my old hardware so its not wasted.

 

[dugdiamond]

sounds like a great plan

 

[blair]

going to order it today so that ebuyer will deliver it by the time i get home from hols so i can get my pc back online next item on the list is case then ssd lol

 

[michaelah500]

The Formula IV will be able to run bulldozer though, as well as the AM3+ boards being backwards compatible with AM3 CPUs

 

[blair]

ASUS Formula 4 has been purchased and on its way.

 

[tonkin97]

ASUS Formula 4 has been purchased and on its way.

good buy ive got one my self, and it will have i bios update so i believe to use the new bd cpus.

be interesting to see how it works

 

[dugdiamond]

The Formula IV will be able to run bulldozer though, as well as the AM3+ boards being backwards compatible with AM3 CPUs

the CF4 is NOT black socket - it will not run BD

from asus site: For testing AM3+ CPU Function only, do not update this BIOS while using AM3 or previous type CPUs!

 

[blair]

http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/AM3_PLUS_Ready/

whats that then April fools has passed hasnt it?

 

[dugdiamond]

http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/AM3_PLUS_Ready/

whats that then April fools has passed hasnt it?

i can only see this leading to problems

i could be a ploy for potential BD users buying the the processor earlier than wanted, then realising that the chip will not perform at 100%. this will then lead to them buying a AM3+ mobo (i think Asus may have a AM3+ mobo out early june2011).

...even then, the BD will not performing to 100%. leading users to spent more money.

i think this update is aimed at the fickle people, that what BD now, and do not think of the future unforeseen hurdles. they wil be thinking they may be getting one-upmanship on others, but it will be like buying a lambo limited to 15mph.

 

[blair]

it could turn out to be like am3 cpu's working on am2+ we dont know so we shouled assume as we know what that means make a ass of u and me.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

From everything Dug has said and all things considered, I wouldn't do any AM3 & AM3+ hybridding.

The AM3+ CF4 update will work but as mentioned it'll be like running it on ultra underperformance mode and yes it likely will cause confusion with components down the line.

 

[blair]

i dont care if it likes BD or not i will be able to game for 2 years on a 1090T and formula 4 and a hd5870 only thing might need changing is the GPU but ill just get another and crossfire there 2 years later i can build a nice BD rig and DDR4 might be out by then too.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

i dont care if it likes BD or not i will be able to game for 2 years on a 1090T and formula 4 and a hd5870 only thing might need changing is the GPU but ill just get another and crossfire there 2 years later i can build a nice BD rig and DDR4 might be out by then too.

Wanna get all the 5870s you intend to now while they're dirt cheap and still available

 

[Mugen]

the biggest reason for the white socket AM3 boards not being able to run on BD is due to the extra strain the boards will be under, when using BD. The crosshair and the extreme are both able to take BD as Asus have already mentioned earlier in the year. A few of the other Asus boards are able to handle BD as well, but I forget which ones.

For the OP, double check your crosshair iv when it arrives, as their is a QA issue with the NB/SB heat sinks, and the lifters being the wrong way around. The silver lifters should be on the NB and the brass lifters should be on the SB. It's been a big thing for quite a few CFIV users. Also, try to avoid using the gamers first utlity. It caused havoc for me, with constant BSOD's when I ran my RAM anywhere near it's standard ratings.

Great boards though other than that.

 

[SmoulderingCircuits]

the biggest reason for the white socket AM3 boards not being able to run on BD is due to the extra strain the boards will be under, when using BD. The crosshair and the extreme are both able to take BD as Asus have already mentioned earlier in the year. A few of the other Asus boards are able to handle BD as well, but I forget which ones.

For the OP, double check your crosshair iv when it arrives, as their is a QA issue with the NB/SB heat sinks, and the lifters being the wrong way around. The silver lifters should be on the NB and the brass lifters should be on the SB. It's been a big thing for quite a few CFIV users. Also, try to avoid using the gamers first utlity. It caused havoc for me, with constant BSOD's when I ran my RAM anywhere near it's standard ratings.

Great boards though other than that.

Never had either of those problems with mine and I got this one around the end of last year

 

[Mugen]

I never had problems with the nb/sb heatsinks, just the game first app, dunno why it didn't like my ram, it just didn't. I got my board just after release, so it may have been something in the first revisions.