14 DAY TRIAL // At the end of September, Biostar unveiled its latest motherboard creation aimed at AMD FX-Series systems, the TA990FXE, and now the Taiwanese company released this board in preparation of the Bulldozer desktop CPU launch which is expected in a little more than a week from now.
Just as its name implies, the motherboard is based on the flagship AMD 990FX chipset for AM3+ processors that includes support for no less than 40 PCI Express lanes.
Biostar routed those to a pair of PCI Express x16 slots, which are color-coded red and are compatible with 2-way CrossFireX setups (SLI support isn't mentioned), while four of the remaining lanes have been routed to a third PCIe x16 slot working at x4 speeds.
In addition to these, the motherboard also features a pair of 32-bit legacy PCI slots, a PCI Express x1 port, and storage is provided by five SATA 6Gbps ports driven by the AMD SB950 south bridge controller.
The sixth SATA port has been routed to the back of the TA990FXE as an eSATA connector, where is joined by a pair of USB 3.0 ports, a Gigabit LAN port, a Firewire port and a slew of USB 2.0 connectors.
Two additional USB 3.0 ports are available through an on-board pin header that is placed near the left edge of the board.
Audio is handled by a Realtek ALC892 8-channel high-definition codec which also includes optical and digital S/PDIF outputs.
Under the USB 3.0 header, Biostar has installed the on-board Power and Reset buttons as well as a BIOS debug display, while additional power for CrossFireX setups can be provided via an additional MOLEX plug.
CPU power is provided by a 4+1 phase VRM with support for 140W CPUs, which is cooled by a pretty large aluminum heatsink connected to the north bridge cooler via a heatpipe.
Sadly, Biostar hasn't revealed and information regarding the price of the TA990FXE.
