ASUS Crosshair V Formula AM3+ Motherboard Review - PAGE 1

AMD is getting ready to introduce its newest desktop Bulldozer processors, codenamed Zambezi. Socket AM3+ motherboards were allowed to hit the market earlier since they are backwards compatible with current AM3 processors. Most major manufacturers now have Socket AM3+ products available; on one major e-tailer, one can choose between thirteen 990FX and four 990X motherboards. It's true that many other boards based on older chipsets also support the processors according to the specifications, but the implementation is not encouraged by AMD and there are some features lacking on the power management side of things. The difference lies in the motherboard implementation and not in the chipset, though, as it is exactly the same as the previous one. That's why no diagram is going to be shown.

One manufacturer that has already taken a go at it is ASUS. Furthermore, one of its offerings was already seen in action helping beat the world record for x86 clock speeds during the AMD Bulldozer Overclocking Event. It's none other than the Crosshair V Formula, which brought Bulldozer up to an amazing 8429MHz. At that point, the voltage regulation has to be more than excellent, especially when the core voltage is at its peak scaling; too much and the processor will not go as high.

Now it's Neoseeker's turn to test this $230 bad boy. It's going to be interesting to see how much more can be squeezed from the trusty old Phenom II architecture.

Specifications are courtesy of ASUS @ http://ca.asus.com/en/Motherboards/AMD_AM3Plus/Crosshair_V_Formula/#specifications