ASUS cooks up first AMD motherboard with PCI Express 3.0

Posted on Wednesday, January 09 2013 @ 19:37 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

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.

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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