SLI on an AMD platform? ASUS takes an interesting gamble with some ... interesting results.
It can be nice to see hardware manufacturers taking risks on products. We’re the first to admit when a gamble pays off, and though there’s the potential to lose vast amounts of respect, not to mention revenue, boundaries have to be pushed by someone. It’s just a shame that ASUS chose this one: SLI on an AMD platform.
The goal is innocent enough, and for long-time users of AMD processors who favour the NVIDIA flavour it may be a godsend. However the logic must be questioned when the motherboard’s price is more than twice that of the lower-end ASUS M4A89TD-PRO, while boasting similar specifications. They both share the same 890FX Northbridge chipset and SB850 Southbridge, both have USB 3.0 added with the usual NEC chip, and both offer six SATA3 ports.
Comparisons continue when looking at the AM3 processor socket: the cheaper board uses a 6+2 power phase, while the Extreme uses an 8+2. Will the average punter be able to notice a difference? Probably not. There are always exceptions, of course, and if an LN2-crazed overclocking nut were to have a few hours with the boards they may see an improvement. But again, it’s not too likely.
Clearance of aftermarket heatsinks appears to be identical, though the Extreme’s power regulation heatsinks cover one entire side of the socket, potentially making installation harder. The socket is also slightly close to the DDR3 slots, and either standard-height sticks or a conservative heatsink must be used when all slots are filled. The Extreme does offer some nice enthusiast features above standard designs, offering voltage measurement points, hard power and reset buttons, and dedicated PCIe lane on/off switches. The latter are perhaps most useful for those overclocking multiple graphics cards – on LN2 – and are used for troubleshooting dead cards. It’s potentially helpful for non-crazy users, but of limited appeal to most.
Buttons we love... usually. Right next to the power button is a ‘Core Unlocker’ that, coupled with a 6-core CPU, adds buttloads of instability and in our case, even de-activates a perfectly good core if you click it at the wrong time!
Where the Extreme makes the biggest change from a standard board is the expansion slots, which are boosted to take advantage of the full amount of lanes from the 890FX chipset. This means there are five full-length PCIe slots on offer, capable of native Crossfire up to three cards at 16x, or four cards at dual 16x and 8x.
The Hydra, infamously crippling the MSI Big Bang Fuzion and inflating its price to almost $600, makes a flamboyant return here. Though the price isn’t quite as astronomical, there are still design challenges faced by the addition of a middle-man that sits between chipset and slot, and the added heat load results in a tiny 30mm fan that is nestled near the Northbridge in the cooling array – a really loud one.
Hydra technically brings SLI support to the board, but its cost can never justify the freedom granted; the board would be great on its own, but with the chip, it’s far too backwards. We tested using two ASUS DirectCU GTX460 cards, which ran together without the use of an SLI bridge (a setup that always just feels wrong). 3DMark Vantage returned a score of P27863, a respectable result – and one that shows a 53 per cent improvement over a single card, at P18214. We also managed to get Hydra result of 33.39fps in Crysis, though this was disappointingly similar with a single card scoring 33.43fps.
The board does overclock well, Hydra aside, and we topped out at a stable speed of 268MHz. For those enthusiasts wanting SLI support, though, this is not the way to do it: go grab an X58 chipset and save yourself the hassle.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012