14 DAY TRIAL // There has been quite a bit of hype built around the upcoming six-core central processors from Advanced Micro Devices, mostly because, unlike Intel's Gulftown, they will address multiple market layers and come in a variety of clock speeds, priced accordingly. Still, AMD will, of course, have an enthusiast-level chip among the multitude, which is why motherboard makers, like Gigabyte in this case, have been preparing equally overpowered motherboards to receive the CPU with. Known as the GA-890FXA-UD7, Gigabyte's motherboard is just about ready to show up.
Unlike other AMD 8 Series-powered motherboards, the GA-890FXA-UD7 isn't based on the 890GX chipset, Gigabyte's mainboard uses the 890FX and SB850 chips, which lack integrated graphics, but enable a performance level higher, overall, than their sibling can manage. The GA-890FXA-UD7 has a 2oz copper PCB, naturally colored in Gigabyte's signature blue color, and uses the ultra Durable 3 design that provides added reliability and system stability.
The platform itself will support AM3 central processing units, has eight SATA 6.0Gbps ports, two eSATA ports, two USB 3.0 connectors and six PCI Express x16 slots. The device is also outfitted with a set of four DDR3 1866+ memory slots.
The product also has a rather unusual but capable cooling mechanism, made up of a Silent-Pipe passive heatsink and a removable waterblock for the northbirdge. Other specifications include the dual Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, a debug LED, FireWire, DualBIOS, integrated 7.1 channel audio and power/reset buttons. Clearly, the product has all the top-tier performance specifications it needs to support even the most outrageous system configurations.
Unfortunately, the report was unable to find out any exact information regarding the pricing of the product, although the specifications clearly point towards a rather exorbitant sum. This mystery should not endure for long, though, considering that the product itself should be formally launched in about a month.