Asus AM3 motherboards get beta BIOS, Bulldozer support

Asus has been quick to announce they are the first manufacturer to offer beta BIOS updates for current AM3 motherboards, receiving instant support for AMD's upcoming Bulldozer processors.

Although AMD's processor refresh is still a few months away, we have come to learn many interesting details about the 32nm CPUs in recent weeks. It's been unofficially confirmed that the company will abandon its Sempron, Athlon and Phenom branding in favor of the FX and A-Series nomenclature, spanning offerings in all price ranges, packing Radeon graphics and sporting up to eight cores on the higher-end models.

Asus AM3 motherboards that get Bulldozer support after a BIOS update are as follows: Crosshair IV Extreme, Crosshair IV Formula, M4A89TD PRO/USB3, M4A89TD PRO, M4A89GTD PRO/USB3, M4A89GTD PRO.


Note that all products above are based on the AMD 890FX + SB850 chipset combination, hinting that similarly equipped motherboards from other manufacturers might follow suit ahead of Bulldozer's release. Interestingly though, this contradicts what AMD claimed last August when they stated that Bulldozer would require the new AM3+ socket.

Going with AMD's desktop platform in 2010 was a risky bet, although as demonstrated in our analysis, on the lower price brackets they did possess a compelling set of products. Today your bet could be paying off as Intel owners wanting to upgrade to Sandy Bridge are forced to switch motherboards once again, while AMD (either willingly or forcefully) is about to give a breath of fresh air to its existing AM3 platform.