14 DAY TRIAL // Although there still is some time left until April when AMD plans to launch the Bulldozer CPU architecture, motherboard makers have already begun showing off their upcoming AM3+ models, MSI presenting the Bing Bang Conqueror mobo during CES 2011.
Just like all its other motherboards, the Conqueror uses the same trademark black and blue color scheme, but goes for a slightly different heatsink design that reminds me of the Crosshair IV mobo.
However, this is a different beast all together since its based on the AMD 990FX northbridge and the SB950 chipset, meaning the board will support the upcoming Bulldozer processors that use the AM3+ socket.
Taking a look at the motherboard reveals four PCI Express x16 slots, four DDR3 memory slots as well as a Military Class II design that uses 10 phases DrMOS PWM.
Other features include six SATA 6Gbps ports, two PCIe x1 slots, on-board power, reset and OC Genie buttons, a BIOS debug LCD display, two rear USB 3.0 ports as well as a 90-degree angled SuperSpeed USB 3.0 front panel connector.
Everything else seems pretty much standard, although I don't happen to see any V-check voltage measurement points as it's the case with other MSI motherboards.
The Bulldozer processors are based on a new AMD CPU architecture that uses a modular chip design.
Each module is comprised of two independent integer cores and one floating point unit with two 128-bit instruction pipelines and one FP scheduler.
These will be paired together in order to build quad-core and six-core Bulldozer processors.
As AMD has made it clear, the new Zambezi CPUs will use the AM3+ socket (or AM3b) that is backwards compatible with AM3 chips, although AM3+ processors won't work in AM3 motherboards.
No details about the market availability of the MSI Bing Bang Conqueror have been made public at this time. (via Tweak Town)
