The GIGABYTE Z170X-UD5 TH Motherboard Review: An Entry to Thunderbolt 3

At the initial phase of Intel’s Skylake processor launch, a myriad of Z170 equipped motherboards were released to enable the platform. One of the prominent features of Z170 was the ability to support Thunderbolt 3 when the motherboard also used …

GIGABYTE Unveils New 990FX and 970-Gaming Motherboards for AMD FX

In the past week, GIGABYTE has introduced two new high-end motherboards for AMD FX microprocessors. The new platforms belong to GIGABYTE’s premium Gaming G1 product lineup and include the latest storage/IO technologies like USB 3.1 and M.2, but also upgraded components and advanced overclocking capabilities. Despite formal positioning, the new mainboards are pretty affordable.

AMD introduced the 32nm AMD FX processors, code-named Vishera and based on the Piledriver microarchitecture, back in late 2012. In 2013, the company released its FX 9000-series CPUs with increased clock-rates and TDP of up to 220 W designed for overclockers. To support the launch of ultra-high-end processors from AMD, makers of motherboards released their new platforms featuring enthusiast-class feature-set as well as robust voltage regulating modules (VRMs). Since then, AMD’s AM3+ platform has been ticking along while AMD has focused on the APU market. Because AMD’s current-gen chipsets for the FX processors were developed in 2009 – 2011, they do not natively support some of the latest standards such as PCIe 3.0, but aim to feature USB 3.1 and M.2 via PCIe lane based controllers. As a result, it can be a minefield when choosing motherboards for AMD FX processors that have up-to-date functionality. Even though there are new processors incoming from AMD over the next year, the company is not giving up its current FX platform just now and a number of its motherboard partners are releasing new models with current-generation features.

GIGABYTE decided to release not one, but two premium mainboards for AMD’s AM3+ processors: the GA-990FX-Gaming and the GA-970-Gaming based on the AMD 990FX+SB950 and the AMD 970+SB950 chipsets respectively. The GIGABYTE GA-990FX-Gaming will be the company’s flagship AM3+ product that will support all AMD FX CPUs (including the FX-9590 and the FX-9370 with 220W TDP) thanks to 10-phase VRM featuring solid-state chokes and 10K capacitors. The GIGABYTE GA-970-Gaming is designed for more mainstream CPUs up to 125W. Its five-phase power delivery will not support AMD FX-9000 chips, but will satisfy demands of all the rest AM3+ and AM3 processors, including the FX, the Phenom II, the Athlon II and the Sempron 100-series chips. Both motherboards are equipped with four memory slots and support up to 32 GB of DDR3-2133 memory.

The 990FX-Gaming features two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots and supports 2-way AMD CrossFireX as well as NVIDIA SLI multi-GPU technologies. The motherboard also has one PCIe 2.0 x16 slot running in x4 mode for an additional PCIe devices as well as three PCIe x1 slots. The 970-Gaming has one PCIe 2.0 x16 slot for PCIe adapters as well as two PCIe x1 slots and two PCI slots for add-in cards. In addition, the motherboard is equipped with one PCIe 2.0 x16 slot running in x4 mode and sharing bandwidth with the M.2 connector. If both slots are populated, they will run in PCIe 2.0 x2 mode.

Each motherboard features one M.2 slot (2242/2260/2280 form-factors are supported) operating in PCIe 2.0 x2 (the GA-970-Gaming) or PCIe 2.0 x4 modes (the GA-990FX-Gaming), providing 10 Gb/s or 20 Gb/s of bandwidth to PCIe M.2 SSDs. The motherboards fully support NVMe protocol and are compatible with both AHCI as well as NVMe SSDs. Just like other contemporary mainboards, the GA-990FX-Gaming and the GA-970-Gaming come with six SATA 6 Gbps ports for HDDs and SSDs (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10, and JBOD are fully supported).

The mainboards are also equipped with the ASMedia ASM1142 controller that enables one USB 3.1 type-C and one USB 3.1 type-A connectors on the rear panel as well as the VIA VL805 chip that brings support for four USB 3.0 ports. AMD’s SB950 I/O controller supports up to 14 USB 2.0 ports, so, in addition to six high-speed USB implementations, there will be a plenty of ports to connect a mouse, a keyboard and other devices. Two of the ports even feature improved power circuitry to give cleaner power delivery to audio DACs if needed. In addition, the motherboards feature Rivet Networks’ Killer E2201 gigabit LAN controller that can prioritize gaming traffic over other traffic in certain cases due to proprietary software. 

Finally, GIGABYTE installed its AMP-UP advanced audio sub-system with EM shielding and PCB separation of analog/digital signal on its new mainboards for AMD processors. The AMP-UP is based on the Realtek ALC 1150 codec as well as a TI Burr Brown NE5532 operational amplifier.

Generally speaking, the GA-990FX-Gaming and the GA-970-Gaming motherboards from GIGABYTE attempt to bring the feature-set of AMD’s FX platforms as close to that of Intel’s Skylake platforms as it can be. Due to lack of PCI Express 3.0 support and limitations of AMD’s chipsets, it is impossible to offer M.2 slots with 32 Gb/s bandwidth (required for high-end SSDs), Thunderbolt 3 and some other technologies. Nonetheless, it makes a great sense for both GIGABYTE and AMD to roll-out motherboards with up-to-date functionality now. AMD’s FX-8000 chips with four Piledriver modules have appropriate performance for their price point, but they can be competitive with feature unlocked multipliers, thus enabling easy overclocking. The AMD FX CPUs can offer rather decent levels of performance when they run at high clock-rates as well. 

GIGABYTE’s GA-970-Gaming is now available from Newegg for $99.99, whereas the GA-990FX-Gaming can be purchased for $139.99.

Gallery: GIGABYTE Unveils High-End Motherboards for AMD FX Microprocessors

Related Reading

AMD FX-8320E Review
AMD FX-8370E Review
AMD FX-9590 (220W) and ASRock 990FX Extreme9 Review
The Vishera Review: AMD FX-8350, FX-8320, FX-6300 and FX-4300 Tested

ASUS Launches 970 Pro Gaming/Aura Motherboard: USB 3.1 and M.2 to AMD FX Platform

ASUS has introduced its latest motherboard for AMD FX microprocessors that brings up-to-date features to the platform. The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura belongs to a new class of AMD FX (socket AM3+) mainboards that support USB 3.1 peripherals as well as M.2 solid-state drives. In addition, the platform is also equipped with various gaming-oriented features available on the latest platforms from the company.

The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura is based on the AMD 970 + SB950 chipset, which is not AMD’s top-of-the-range core-logic for the FX processors, but which is pretty affordable for mainstream motherboards. The AMD 970 did not officially support any multi-GPU technology when it was released five years ago. AMD has removed this limitation since then and modern AMD 970-based mainboards, such as the 970 Pro Gaming/Aura, can run more than one video card. The motherboard has two PCI Express slots for graphics cards operating in PCIe 2.0 x8 mode and officially supporting both AMD CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI. In addition, the new mainboard features two PCIe 2.0 x1 and two PCI slots for add-in cards.

The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura supports all AMD FX processors in AM3+ form-factor with up to 125W TDP as well as their predecessors, such as the Phenom II, the Athlon II and the Sempron 100-series chips (but advised against using the 220W FX-9000 series). The new motherboard has upgraded 8-phase power delivery and similar to other ASUS designs the 970 Pro Gaming/Aura uses the company’s Digi+ custom power controller. The motherboard features four memory slots and supports up to 32 GB of DDR3-2133 memory.

The 970 Pro Gaming/Aura comes with six SATA 6 Gb/s ports with RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 support as well as an M.2 slot for SSDs (2242/2260/2280 form-factors are supported) that operates in PCIe 2.0 x4 mode and supports data-rates of up to 20 GT/s, making it suitable for drives such as the Samsung XP941. The UEFI/BIOS of the motherboard fully supports NVMe protocol and therefore the platform can take advantage of modern SSDs, such as Samsung 950 Pro. However it is unclear whether the M.2 slot uses PCIe lanes from the AMD970 or the SB950 controller. The platform also comes bundled with RAMcache software to speed up launches of frequently used applications.

Meanwhile for USB functionality the motherboard is equipped with ASMedia’s ASM1142 USB 3.1 controller that enables two USB 3.1 type-A connectors on the rear panel. In addition, the mainboard supports two USB 3.0 ports (also using an ASMedia controller) and 14 USB 2.0 ports.

For other functionality we get Intel’s I211-AT Gigabit Ethernet controller with the GameFirst software for network traffic prioritization as well as LANGuard ESD and power surge protection. Audio comes through ASUS’ SupremeFX, their upgraded Realtek ALC1150 codec solution, with EM shielding, PCB separation of analog/digital signal and support for up to 300 ohms headphones.

The motherboard is designed for low-cost gaming systems, though that hasn’t stopped ASUS from adding a set of overclocking features into its BIOS and the components necessary to drive it. The aim is to get a full system price that is competitive. For example, the AMD FX-8320 featuring four Piledriver modules and unlocked multiplier can be purchased for $145, which is comparable to the price of Intel’s dual-core Core i3 processors. Once overclocked, the FX-8320 chip can offer rather decent performance for its price (see our results of the FX-8370E overclocked to 4.8 GHz here). The mainboard also supports AMD CrossFireX, NVIDIA SLI, as well as USB 3.1 and M.2/NVMe, which should attract attention of people seeking for the latest technologies and an easy upgrade path (at least, for graphics).

As an added flair for users that are interested, the ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura also features Aura RGB LED on the south bridge, which can produce various lighting effects, such as pulsating, strobing, fading and so on. The motherboard is clearly not the first affordable platform to offer LED lighting, but ASUS just had to include the technology into the package simply because a number of competing offerings come with LEDs. They can also be switched off if needed.

The ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura has not yet reached retailers, however Newegg already has a listing up for $119.99.