Crosshair V Formula 990FX

The long-awaited 990FX Chipset is finally here. The manufacturing partners have put together their offerings, each putting their personal touches to the design. Benchmark reviews is here with a look at the ASUS Crosshair V Formula 990FX motherboard and the all new 990FX Chipset. It's been a long time coming, and a full six months after the Intel P67-Express chipset means that AMD is behind the curve. A lot is expected of the new chipset and ASUS has a name to keep up with the Republic of Gamers series name.

The 990FX Chipset doesn't bring a whole lot of new stuff to the table. A higher RAM speed compatibility, a new socket, and SLI compatibility are about it. Even the SB950 southbridge is pretty much identical to the older generation SB850. The thing about that is, however, the 990FX and SB950 still offer a lot more in some ways than the P67-Express Chipset.

The 990FX Chipset offers a full 42 PCIe 2.0 lanes compared to 16 on the P67-Express. The SB950 gives you six SATA 6Gb/s ports, compared with only two from the Intel alternative. Neither chipset offers native USB 3.0 support, but ASUS has never been one to let that bother them. They fix this in the ASUS Crosshair V Formula motherboard with not just one, or even two, but three Asmedia USB 3.0 controllers for a total of 6 USB 3.0 ports. Additional features found on the Crosshair V Formula we will talk about in this article include:

• uEFI - User Extensible Firmware Interface (BIOS replacement) with Graphical User Interface
• Extreme Engine DIGI+ - Precision digital Voltage Regulator Module replaces analog management
• AI Suite II - Combines DIGI+ VRM, EPU, TurboV EVO, BT GO!, FAN Xpert, and Probe II software into one program
• ASUS DIP2 - Dual Intelligent Processors integrated onto the motherboard:
  - ASUS TPU (iROG Chip) (TurboV Processing Unit) Relieves parts of process-intensive tasks from CPU
  - ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) Reduces power drain by up to 80%
• Go! Button - Automatically enables an overclocking profile you set in the uEFI

All motherboard manufacturers realize that the key to making their product stand out from the crowd of nearly identical motherboards is to add their own features. While some are common-place, like USB 3.0 ports that AMD oddly left of the 990FX chipset, others are rare. Some are seemingly cosmetic or serve a little used function. Whatever the case may be, all motherboards, even those from the same manufacturer, vary somewhat in their feature sets. Below is a table that outlines some of the ASUS motherboards so you can compare their features with those of the ASUS Crosshair V Formula motherboard.

Incredible J

The N Series — a creative masterpiece co-designed by ASUS and Jay Chou

ASUS, together with superstar and design inspiration Jay Chou, co-created the special edition N Series notebook. It is masterpiece of creativity, borne out of exquisite design and state-of-the-art technology. It seamlessly brings together Jay's love of music, martial arts and typography. The N Series features boot-up music that was composed by the man himself, and feature a unique Baroque "J" key. Jay has also hand-picked several songs that are pre-loaded in this special edition N Series for that complete Jay Chou music experience.

Exceptional sound and visual

Our pioneering SonicMaster technology ensures the best audio quality through the notebook's superior speakers, large acoustic chambers and powerful amplifier — perfect for listening to Jay's selection of pre-loaded songs.

The N Series also features ASUS Video Magic technology which can boost DVD-quality video up to Full HD 1080p to further add to the audio-visual feast.

Excellent multi-tasking capabilities

The ASUS N Series notebook is equipped with 2nd generation Intel Core processor to give it powerful computing and multi-tasking capabilities together with efficient power management. Along with the latest NVIDIA discrete graphics, the N Series delivers a dynamic multimedia experience.

A8-3850 APU

This processor integrates the CPU, GPU and Northbridge functions into a single chip designed to be faster and more efficient than having them as separate components. The A8-3850 is clocked at 2.9 GHz and manufactured using a 32nm process. The A8-3850 features a new Socket FM1 for the new design and supports DDR3 memory up to 1866MHz, has a 512KB L1 cache and a 1MB per core L2 cache for a total 4MB L2 cache. This processor is designed for mainstream systems looking for the best processing power for the money. The graphics core integrated into the APU is the Radeon HD 6550D series which has 400 Radeon cores, 20 Texture units, 5 SMIDs, and is clocked at a fast 600MHz. The peak GPU compute power for the IGP is 480GFLOPS and offers full DirectX 11 support. All that in a little chip? Amazing isn't it? Well if you are as excited as I am, how about we dive in and start off with a look at the APU.

The AMD A8-3850 processor, at first glance, looks like the AM3 CPU line but don't let it fool you. If you flip over the processor, you can really get a look at the differences by checking out the pin setup. The Socket FM1 has a set of missing pins in the middle of the processor unlike the AM2+ and AM3 line which is fully covered from edge to edge with pins. Socket FM1 has 905 pins compared to the 941 pins of a Socket AM3 processor. The A8-3850 is clocked at a generous 2.9GHz and has a per core L2 cache of 1MB. There is no L3 cache on these APU chips so I am curious as to how much of a difference that will make. The A8 APU is manufactured using a 32nm process and has a die size of 228mm. What is all this talk about APUs? If you have been living in a hole for the last six months, this is what the new processor is called. APU stands for Advanced Processing Unit and has a CPU and a GPU (graphics processing unit) all on the same die. This combination gives you a better all-in-one solution for your system build. The A8 series APU integrates the Radeon HD 6550D graphics for smooth video playback and better graphics. With full DirectX 11 support, 400 Radeon cores, and a 600MHz GPU clock speed, you will be ready to do some damage. This particular model has a max TDP of 100 watts and supports DDR3 memory up to 1866MHz overclocked.

Wireless-N Home ADSL2 Modem Router

The Wireless-N Home ADSL2+ Modem Router has a built-in high-speed ADSL2+ Modem for a fast, "Always On" connection to the Internet. Wireless connections use Wireless-N technology for fast data transfers, and the four built-in 10/100 Ethernet ports supply high-speed connections to your wired devices.

Tech Specs

• Model: WAG120N
• Standards:
  WLAN: 802.11n draft 2.0, 802.11g, 802.11b
  Ethernet: 802.3, 802.3u
  ADSL: T1.413i2, G.992.1 (G.DMT), G.992.2 (G.Lite), G.992.3
  (ADSL2), G.992.5 (ADSL2+) for Annex A, B, M, L, U-R2 for Annex B
• Ports: DSL, Ethernet (1-4), Power
• Buttons: On/Of, Reset, Wi-Fi Protected Setup™
• LEDs: Power, Ethernet (1-4), Security, Wireless, DSL, Internet
• Cabling Type: CAT5, RJ-11 (for Annex A), RJ-45 (for Annex B)
• Antennas: 2 Internal
• Modulations:
  802.11b: CCK/QPSK, BPSK
  802.11g: OFDM/BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM
  802.11n: OFDM/BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM
• Transmit Power:
  802.11b: 17,0 ± 1,0 dBm
  802.11g: 15,0 ± 1,0 dBm
  802.11n: 13,0 ± 1,5 dBm
• Receive Sensitivity:
  -80 dBm (typical) @ 11 Mbps
  -70 dBm (typical) @ 54 Mbps
  -61 dBm (typical) @ 130 Mbps
  -61 dBm (typical) @ 270 Mbps
• Antenna Gain: 1,8 dBi
• Security Features:
  WPA2™/WPA™ Personal and Enterprise; 128, 64 bits WEP;
  MAC Address Filtering; SPI Firewall

Key Features

• ADSL modem router with Multi-Mode support:
  • ADSL - T1.413 Issue 2, G. 992.1 (g.dmt), G.992.2 (G.Lite)
  •ADSL 2 - G.992.3, G.992.3 Annex L , G.992.3 Annex M
  •ADSL 2+ - G.992.5, G.992.5 Annex M
  •DTAG U-R2 for Annex B ADSL over ISDN
• Wall mountable
• Industrial-strength wireless encryption WPA2™ to ensure security
• Double the speed of G when used with Wi-Fi Certiied Draft 802.11n devices. Also works great with older G products
• Complies with IEEE 802.11g and 802.11b standards, and compatible with some IEEE 802.11n draft 2.0 features
• DHCP Server capability to assign IP addresses automatically
• Denial of Service (DoS) prevention helps prevent Ping of Death, SYN Flood, Land Attack, and IP Spooing
• Enhanced security management functions: Port Filtering, MAC and IP Address Filtering, DMZ Hosting, and NAT Technology

AMD Radeon HD 6990 Graphics

• Harnessing the incredible power of dual second-generation DirectX 11-capable GPUs, the AMD Radeon HD 6990 is quite simply the fastest graphics card in the world.

• Featuring 4GB of high-speed GDDR5 memory, the AMD Radeon HD 6990 is the definitive solution for ultra-high resolution gaming across up to six simultaneous displays.

• Break barriers. Crush records. Flip the Unlocking Switch and take your AMD Radeon HD 6990 beyond the bleeding edge.

• Higher clocks. Faster gaming. Devastatingly intelligent power management. That’s AMD PowerTune technology on the AMD Radeon HD 6990.
  
  
• PCI Express based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard
  
• 750W Watt or greater power supply with two 150W 8-pin PCI Express power connectors recommended (1000W and four 8-pin connectors recommended for AMD CrossFireX technology in dual mode. 1200W recommended for optimal performance).
  
  
• Overclocked (BIOS2)
  • Up to 880MHz Engine Clock
  • 5.40 TFLOPs Single Precision compute power
    o 1.37 TFLOPs Double Precision Compute Power
    
    
• AMD CrossFireX multi-GPU technology
  • Dual card performance scaling