14 DAY TRIAL // End-users versed in the wiles of the media, especially if they haven't been mesmerized by the charm of the upcoming Sandy Bridge central processors from Intel, should know that AMD will expand its 800 Series of chipsets next week. Of course, this means that all the motherboard makers partnered with Advanced Micro Devices, or at least some of them, will follow up with a suitable number of new motherboards based on the new technology. In fact, preparations are already underway and Elitegroup Computer Systems seems to be among the first to do so, now that its upcoming A880GM-A2 has been exposed.
Consumers likely know that AMD's collection of six-core CPUs will include models aimed at multiple levels of the market. This means that even mainstream users will be able to get a feel of what hexacore chips can do. However, the whole purpose of affordable CPUs would be defeated if they were only supported by high-end motherboards. To alleviate this problem, ECS' A880GM-A2 will forego certain components in order to reach a decent price point.
The platform is constructed with the AMD 880G/SB850 combo core-logic and uses the full ATX form factor. It will support the full spectrum of AM3 CPUs, including dual-core, triple-core, quad-core and, obviously, six-core parts. Also, it comes with four DDR3-1600 memory slots, a pair of PCI Express x16 slots for CrossFireX, five SATA 6.0Gbps ports, Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA connectivity and D-Sub and DVI outputs. Furthermore, quite important for those with budget restrictions, there is an integrated ATI Radeon HD 4250 graphics chipset (DirectX 10.1), backed by a SidePort memory chip.
There are three things that the platform lacks. One is the IDE interface, which was getting too old either way, so it can't be seen as much of a loss. The other is the popular USB 3.0 standard, which is still not natively supported by any chipsets and will only be available as an add-in card. Finally, there will be no core unlocking technology, as ECS has not finished its development yet.