14 DAY TRIAL // After the first AM3+ motherboards got listed in Japan, it's now time for Europe to get these boards as well, as two such models have become available in Germany from various online retailers with prices starting just below the 76€ mark.
Right now, just two models are available, one built by Gigabyte and one built by ASRock, but availability is expected to pick up in the coming months.
Of the two, the Gigabyte GA-870A-USB3 is the cheapest option as the board is listed at a rather low €75,41.
Just as its name implies, Gigabyte's solution is based on the AMD 870 northbridge paired together with an SB850 southbridge chip and is actually a revised version of the GA-870A-USB3 motherboard that was released quite some time ago by the Taiwanese company.
This means that it features pretty much the same layout as its predecessors, as well as a similar expansion slot setup, and it includes two PCI Express x16 connectors (the second one is limited at x4 electronically).
On the other side of the fence is the ASRock 890FX Deluxe5 that has a price tag of 144€ and packs a much more impressive feature list.
This one includes three x16 PCI Express expansion slots (the third one is run at x4), two PCIe x1 slots, on-board power and reset buttons, a BIOS debug LCD, eSATA and FireWire connectivity, eight SATA 6Gbps ports, a USB 3.0 panel as well as a rear mounted Clear COMS button.
Power is provided via an 8+2 phase system and the board also features THX TruStudio PRO certification.
During this year's CeBIT fair, MSI has showcased a few motherboard models that were based on AMD's 800-series chipsets and features an AM3+ socket, so at least one other manufacturer besides ASRock and Gigabyte, is expected to release such a solution soon. (via Computer Base)