Skud, 890FX based mobos are not AM3+ socket, they are AM3 mobo and they support Bulldozer or AM3+ processors by BIOS upgrade and this thing I am mentioning from the begining that buying a high end 890FX based mobo makes more sense rather than jumping to pricy 990FX based mobos.
sumonpathak, we asked the same question of Bulldozer support in AM3 mobo in the Asus Power User Meet Up to the Asus Engineer and as per him there will be some cosmetic features that cannot be accessed in AM3 based mobos like the live temp/Performance monitoring, native support of 1866 MHz ram etc, but no serius perfomance penalty.
there will be performance issues
Google Translate
"The existing G34 and C32 server infrastructure will support the new bulldozer-based server products. In order for AMD's desktop offering to fully leverage the capabilities of bulldozers to enhanced AM3 + socket Will Be Introduced that supports bulldozers and is backward-compatible with our existing AM3 CPU offerings. "
"When we initially set out on the path to bulldozers we were hoping for AM3 compatibility, but further along the process we realized that we had to make a choice based on some of the features that we wanted to bring with bulldozers. We could either Provide AM3 support and lose some of the capabilities of the new architecture or bulldozers, we could choose the AM3 socket + Which would allow the bulldozer base Zambezi to have greater performance and capability.
The Majority of the computer-buying public will not upgrade their processors, but enthusiasts Thurs When we did the analysis on it was clear that the customers who were most likely to upgrade to a AM3 motherboard bulldozers would want the features and capability that would only be delivered in the new AM3 + sockets. A classic Catch-22.
Why not do both you ask? Just make a second model that only works in AM3? First, because that would greatly increase the cost and infrastructure of bringing the product to market, Which would drive up the cost of the product (for both AMD and its partners). Secondly adding on additional product would double the time involved in many of the development steps.
So in the end, delivering to market AM3 capability would bring you a less featured product that was more expensive and later to. Instead we chose the path of the socket AM3 +, Which is a path that we hope will bring you a better priced product, with greater performance and more features - on time.
When we looked at at the market for AM3 upgrades, it was clear that the folks most interested in AM3-based product were the enthusiasts. This is one set of customers that we know are not willing to settle for second best when it comes to performance, so we definitely needed to Ensure that our new architecture would meet their demanding needs, for both high performance and overclock ability. We believe they will see that in AM3 +. "
Black socket motherboards are specially redesigned motherboards by Gigabyte based on 7XX and 8XX series chipset to support Bulldozer. They comes with 940 pin socket or AM3+ socet, having out of the box Bulldozer support. They will also support the cosmetic features of Bulldozer that are missing in the BIOS upgraded 8XX or 7XX chipset based mobos, supporting Bulldozer.
But this is a special name given by special manufacturer, not generic. AM3+ certified AM3 chipset based mobos from Asus and MSI don't have this kinda upgrade but still supporting Bulldozer.
Read it here.
wrong...the cosmetic features you are talking about has serious performance impacts...
Listen Suman, I am not here to provide you links from the sites you like, search is by yourself. Guru3d is a very reputated site they don't normally provide proper information. The news was taken from official Gigabyte News site and here is the link fpr it: - GIGABYTE First to Market with AM3+ “Black Socket” Motherboards . Hope this will satisfy your Non-Guru3D link criteria.
i so hope you rephrase it....
have you actually gone through the Asrock link? They have explained even with images and all. @@
i did....but had to research facts to verify it....don't mean to offend you bro...
in simple words if you opt for an bios upgrade only on am3 you will lose some performance aspects also....not just "cosmetic" things....
and with black socket/am3b socket you wont be missing out any performance
moral of the story : you want full potential of bulldozer get a mobo with am3b socket at-least.....its time to ditch the old am3 if you want to upgrade...
some links for your reading....
hope it helps...
Desktop Bulldozer Processors Will Require New Platforms - AMD - X-bit labs
AM3+ is backward compatible with the AM3, but Bulldozer is for AM3+ only - Page 2
Difference between AM3 and AM3+ - AnandTech Forums
6 Facts About AMD's black AM3b socket: The AM3 vs AM3+ match