AM2, AM2+, and AM3

bomberboysk

bomberboysk

Active Member
There seems to be quite alot of people recently asking questions about the differences between am2, am2+, and am3, what works with what, etc.
CPU Sockets:

Socket AM2:
Hypertransport 2.0 (1Ghz)
Socket is 940 pins and will fit in AM2, and AM2+ Sockets
Supports Dual Channel DDR2 Memory

Socket AM2+:
Hypertransport 3.0 (2.6Ghz Max)
Socket is 940 pins, Will work with both AM2+ and AM2 Sockets.
Socket AM2+ cpu's will work in AM2 motherboards depending upon bios revision and chipset.
Supports Dual Channel DDR2 Memory

Socket AM3:
Hypertransport 3.0 (2.6Ghz Max)
Future AM3 Motherboards will support up to 3.2Ghz with Hypertransport 3.1
Socket is 941 pins, Will only fit AM3 Cpu's in an AM3 motherboard.
AM3 Cpu's are backward compatible with AM2 and AM2+ motherboards, depending on chipset and bios revisions.
Supports Dual Channel DDR2 when run on AM2/AM2+ Motherboards.
Supports Dual Channel DDR3 when run on AM3 Motherboards.
______________________________________________________________________

AMD CHIPSETS:

AMD 890 Chipset Variants:
All 8 Series Chipsets incorporating 8 series Southbridges feature SATA 6.0Gb/s and USB 3.0 natively through the southbridge.

890FX:
x16,x16 Crossfire | x16, x16, x8 Triple Crossfire | x8,x8,x8,x8 Quadfire | 42 Total PCIE Lanes
65nm Process

890GX:
x8,x8 Crossfire | 26 Total PCIE Lanes
55nm Process
HD4290 Integrated Graphics w/ Sideport Memory Available

880G:
x8,x8 Crossfire | 26 Total PCIE Lanes
55nm Process
Onboard Graphics Chipset "Varies" Between the following(not an all-inclusive list):
-HD4225, No Sideport Memory
-HD4225, 64Mb Sideport Memory
-HD4250, 128Mb Sideport Memory
-HD4270, 128Mb Sideport Memory

870:
No Official Crossfire Compatibility | x16, x4 or x8 , x8 Crossfire on Select Motherboards| 26 Total PCIE Lanes
65nm Process


AMD 790 Chipset Variants:
790FX:
x16,x16 Crossfire | x16, x16, x8 Triple Crossfire | x8, x8, x8, x8 Quadfire
65nm Process

790X:
x8,x8 Crossfire
65nm Process

790GX:
x8,x8 Crossfire| Hybrid Crossfire X(ATI Hybrid Graphics, ATI Powerplay)
55nm Process
HD3300 Onboard Graphics

AMD 780 Chipset Variants:

AMD 785G
x16, x4 Crossfire |or x8, x8 Crossfire Depending on motherboard| Hybrid Crossfire X(ATI Hybrid Graphics, ATI Powerplay)
55nm Process
HD4200 Onboard Graphics

780G:
x16,x8 crossfire on select motherboards | Hybrid Crossfire X(ATI Hybrid Graphics, ATI Powerplay)
55nm Process
HD3200 Onboard Graphics (128mb Sideport Memory select motherboards)

780V:
No Crossfire
55nm Process
Radeon 3100 Onboard Graphics

780E:
2-way Crossfire @ x8/x8
55nm Process
HD3200 Integrated Graphics w/ 128mb GDDR3 Sideport memory


AMD 770:
No Official Crossfire Compatibility | x16, x4 or x8,x8 Crossfire on Select Motherboards|
65nm Process

AMD 760G:
Hybrid Crossfire X(ATI Hybrid Graphics, ATI Powerplay)
55nm Process
Radeon HD 3000 Onboard Graphics

AMD 740G:
No Crossfire
55nm Process
Radeon 2100 Onboard Graphics
______________________________________________________________________
Nvidia Chipsets:

Nvidia nForce 980a
Rebadged 780a with AM3/DDR3 Motherboard support
x16,x16 SLI| x8,x8,x8 Triple SLI| Hybrid SLI(GeForce Boost,Hybrid Power)
Current Motherboards DDR2|Chipset Supports DDR3/AM3
65nm Process
Geforce 8200 Onboard Graphics

Nvidia nForce 780a:
x16, x16 SLI| x16, x8, x8 Triple SLI| Hybrid SLI(GeForce Boost,Hybrid Power)
65nm Process
Geforce 8200 Onboard Graphics

Nvidia nForce 750a:
x8, x8 SLI | Hybrid SLI(GeForce Boost,Hybrid Power)
65nm Process
GeForce 8200 Onboard Graphics

Nvidia Nforce 730a:
Hybrid SLI(GeForce Boost,Hybrid Power)
65nm Process
GeForce 8300 Onboard Graphics

Nvidia nForce 720a:
Hybrid SLI(GeForce Boost,Hybrid Power)
65nm Process
GeForce 8200 Onboard Graphics
______________________________________________________________________
CPU's by Socket:

AM2+:
All Original(65nm) Phenoms(Agena, Kuma, Toliman)
Phenom II X4 920
Phenom II X4 940

AM3:
Sempron 140 2.7Ghz
Athlon II X2 215 2.7Ghz
Athlon II X2 240 2.8Ghz
Athlon II X2 245 2.9Ghz
Athlon II X2 250 3.0Ghz
Athlon II X2 255 3.1Ghz
Athlon II X2 260 3.2Ghz
Athlon II X3 425 2.7Ghz
Athlon II X3 435 2.9Ghz
Athlon II X3 440 3.0Ghz
Athlon II X4 620 2.6GHz
Athlon II X4 630 2.8GHz
Athlon II X4 635 2.9GHz
Phenom II X2 545 3.0Ghz
Phenom II X2 550 3.1GHz
Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1Ghz
Phenom II X2 555 3.2Ghz
Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition 3.2Ghz
Phenom II X3 705e 2.5Ghz
Phenom II X3 710 2.6Ghz
Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz
Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition 2.8Ghz
Phenom II X4 810 2.6Ghz
Phenom II X4 905e 2.5Ghz
Phenom II X4 925 2.8GHz
Phenom II X4 945 3.0Ghz
Phenom II X4 955 3.2Ghz
Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz
Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4Ghz
Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8Ghz
Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2Ghz
______________________________________________________________________
Notes:

- AMD Chipsets tend to have higher backward compatibility with newer processors

- Nvidia Chipsets Support SLI, While AMD Chipsets Support Crossfire

- Generally speaking, Socket AM3 will provide longer future compatibility over socket AM2+

- "Unlocking" Requires Either select nForce Boards with "NCC"(Nvidia Clock Control), or AMD boards with SB710 or SB750 southbridges. Some boards may support unlocking with an SB8XX series southbridge, however it will be an advertised feature either as an unlocking setting in the bios, a switch on the board, or in some cases an actual separate chip on the board itself that will allow unlocking(such as on some Asrock products).
 
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StrangleHold

StrangleHold

Moderator
Staff member
Intel and AMD are killing Nvidia in Chipsets. Both now making there own Processor and chipset, before long they are going to choke out Nvidia in the chipset dept. I would say in time Nvidia will let SLI run on a AMD chipset, especially since Intel is coming out with there own stand alone GPU or Nvidia will risk there GPU sales start to decline. Nvidia was more worried about AMD taking over ATI then they ever admitted. Now with a stand alone Intel GPU (if it truns out any good) has a double threat.
 
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bomberboysk

bomberboysk

Active Member
Stildawn said:
Whats this??? Are Intel going to enter the GPU market?
Click to expand...
Yup, its called larrabee and is based off of the original pentium processors. Its going to be an x86 gpu, which is supposed to help for gpgpu tasks because developers can program in the same environment as desktop cpu's.

Also, list updated with all currently available AMD 700 series chipsets.
 
ScottALot

ScottALot

Active Member
LAWLS it's gonna fail. AMD has a better chance as they know what they high-performance gamer wants.

Intel could succeed in the GPGPU, however, but what I'm saying is AMD seems to be more in touch with their customers.
 
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Bodaggit23

Bodaggit23

Active Member
bomberboysk said:
Nvidia Chipsets:

Nvidia nForce 980a[/B]
Rebadged 780a with AM3/DDR3 Motherboard support
x16,x16 SLI| x8,x8,x8 Triple SLI| Hybrid SLI(GeForce Boost,Hybrid Power)
Current Motherboards DDR2|Chipset Supports DDR3/AM3
65nm Process
Geforce 8200 Onboard Graphics
Click to expand...

What's that doing in there? :D
 
bomberboysk

bomberboysk

Active Member
Bodaggit23 said:
What's that doing in there? :D
Click to expand...
Exiting, is it not? The only 980a motherboard on the market is am2+, but the 980a chipset will support socket am3(as in the actualy AM3 socket, and not just run am3 cpu's on an am2+ socket) and support ddr3, if motherboard manufacturers include it(while 780a does not, but it is physically the same chip). Im hoping XFX, EVGA, Zotac or someone else goes ahead with the 980a reference board, it really is a great looking board:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_nforce_980a_sli_us.html.

5 Phase Digital PWM:D
 
pfig88

pfig88

New Member
well, Intel does have the GMAs in Macs. well, older macs that is. Their GMAs are also in many other Windows laptops, and even bottom-line desktops
 
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