TechPowerUp reports ASUS scores an exclusive by showing off the very first AMD motherboard that features PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots. The new Sabertooth 990FX/GEN3.0 R2.0 motherboard uses a PLX 48-lane PCI Express Gen 3.0 bridge chip to achieve this feat.
While the board features four PCI-Express x16 slots, only two similarly-colored slots can be used at a time, of which two are PCI-Express 2.0 x16, wired to the 990FX northbridge, and two slots being x16/NC or x8/x8-capable, being wired to a PLX 48-lane PCI-Express Gen 3.0 switch, which in turn takes two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links from the northbridge.
Apart from this unique feature the socket AM3+ Sabertooth 990FX/GEN3.0 R2.0 features AMD SB950 southbridge, eight SATA 6 Gb/s ports, two eSATA 6 Gb/s, 8-channel HD audio, six USB 3.0 ports, and a zesty ASUS-exclusive feature-set. The new board could be released to the market very soon.
