Found this link on the Rage3D forums, which seems to indicate that the MSI 890FXA-GD65 motherboard is AM3+ ready for Bulldozer CPU's, subject to a bios update: http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=145606.0 Cheap upgrade option could be on the cards.
AMD has already stated AM3 boards will be compatible with AM3+ CPUs via a BIOS update, just like AM2 boards could handle AM2+ CPUs. It's down to the manuf. whether they want to drop that BIOS though, and if it's like AM2 to AM2+ you won't get all the benefits of the 'new socket' Probably faster DDR3 support and maybe extra power regulation, but I'm not sure yet.
Ah, so even though a motherboard might say 'AM3+' support, it may not offer the same benefits as a motherboard with a 990FX chipset (or whatever it will be called) - Probably just guarantees a bios update at some point?
Yup...thats right. The 990 chipset should increase performance by a bit as compared to the 890 chipset. But whether it will be like the smallish jump between 790fx and 890fx is still to be seen. I could get better ram timings and speed by moving up to 890fx, but otherwise clock speeds remained the same.
Yes. mav2000 - the chipset has nothing to do with ram timings - it's CPU and BIOS quality. The 890FX was essentially a 790FX rebranded tbh. The only advantage is that it was paired with the newer SB850 for SATA 6G. Technically you can put a 790FX w/ the SB850 too - the interlink connection is the same.
Even though I have P67 board and won't have the money for Bulldozer, I will be quite happy if they overthrow Intel..
