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AM3 Motherboards
In February of 2009 socket AM3 CPU were released and with it popular motherboard manufacturer's like Gigabyte and Asus made newly designed motherboards that would be compatible with the newly released Phenom II series of processors from AMD.

The main difference between the old AM2 and AM2+ motherboards was in the amount of pins that the AM3 socket carried (941) vs. the 938 that the AM2 had carried. AM3 motherboards are compatible with the newer generation of DDR3, SDRam, and Sata 6Gb/s specifications.


For additional information on AM3 motherboards you can read AMD's design specifications here.

AMD's New AM3+ CPU
AMD will be releasing its new bulldozer series of CPU that will be compatible with the new AM3+ motherboards. AM3 socket CPU will be compatible with the AM3+ motherboards, but the new bulldozer CPU will not be backwards compatible with the AM3 socket motherboards. AM3+ has been scheduled to be released sometime in Quarter 2 of 2011 with enhanced bulldozer, the 2nd generation of Bulldozer CPU, coming out some time in 2012. Source: AMD Blog.

Update 3/16 - A correction needs to be made to the above as ASUS has now come out in challenge of that statement saying that motherboards from their ASUS 890FX and 890GX series will indeed be compatible with Bulldozer CPU with a simple Bios Update.(Source: Event.Asus.com)  Also Techupdate.com has stated that Bulldozer CPU should be shipped by the end of June.

Is now a good time to purchase a AM3 motherboard?
Contrary to what you've read or might expect now is a great time to purchase a AM3 motherboard with a AMD Phenom II CPU. We've been waiting for a recent price drop, and in the first week of January 2011 we saw just that. All AMD CPU dropped and many of the AM3 motherboards. We especially like that you can get six core performance out of the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T. Consumers who don't have to have the latest and greatest technology, but still want good performance can combine the 1090T X6 with an inexpensive AM3 motherboards for around $300.


AMD Motherboard Reviews
Behind the ASUS AMD 890FX the most popular AM3 motherboard on the market right now is the Asus M4A785. Because the 890FX is in the $252 range, we recommend that gamers interested in a high-end motherboard at that price consider a 1366 socket motherboard with CPU, or just wait until Bulldozer is released to purchase a AM3+ motherboard. We like the M4A785 mainly because of the durability and quality of Asus' products, the low price ($85.99 right now), and the products specifications. If you are looking to purchase the M4A785, then you may need to order it through Amazon's wholesalers as this product is out of stock at a few of the other sites that we visited.

ASUS M4A785 Product Specifications:

Hybrid CrossFireX Support Boosted Performance with onboard GPU and discrete graphics card
Turbo Key ASUS Turbo Key allows the user to turn the PC power button into a physical overclocking button.

EPU-4 Engine System Level Energy Saving
HDMI/DVI/RGB Support
ASUS EPU Engine -Energy Efficiency & Noise Reduction
Customer Reviews:"I just got this board in. So far so good. The price is unbelievable for what you get in my opinion." Another customer said, "This board is awesome for the price. I like ASUS,and have never had a problem with any of their products. Highly recommended."

Limitations of the ASUS M4A785 - The M4A785 supports DDR2 and USB 2.0 but not their successors.

Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
If you want a motherboard that does not have the limitations of the ASUS M4784, then consider the GA-890GPA-UD3H. At Under $135 it won't break your budget, and it supports DDR3, USB 3.0, and SATA 6Gb/s. Even though it won't support a new Bulldozer processor, it will support all of the newest specifications that you should get for a long time. We also like that it's from one of the big two motherboard manufcaturers (Gigabyte and Asus) that we try to stick with for quality and durability.  It also gives you all the slots you need for gaming or editing.

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