After a longer than anticipated delay the new Phenom processors saw the public light last November, but unfortunately for AMD not even then things got back to plan. Put in simple terms, instead of getting a full pack of competitive products, we only got two moderately clocked Phenom processors (9500 and 9600) that are characterized for offering quad-core processing on a budget rather than outpacing competing Intel Core 2s.

As part of the Phenom launch, AMD also unveiled a new platform (used by the ASUS M3A32-MVP we are testing today) built around the AMD 790FX chipset and the semi-new socket AM2+. This new platform still uses DDR2 memory but adds HyperTransport 3.0 support and split power lanes (which benefits power savings). The socket AM2+ is backwards compatible with Athlon X2s and Semprons, so it can serve as a middle platform if you can't upgrade CPU and motherboard all at once.

http://www.techspot.com/review/81-as...32-mvp-deluxe/

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Very nice review.Detailed & well explained.WiFi-AP is a nice addition.Thanks for the review Julio.

There remain way too many reports of problems with the Phenom processors for me to become willing to make that investment. New horror stories are popping up all the time.
Unless you have a spirit for adventure, and a deep pocketbook, sticking with the AM2 processor for now seems like the wise choice. We have just received the M3A32-MVP, and find it impressive, as is the Gigabyte... but AMD is several months behind having the right CPU product available... sorry to say.
We hope AMD gets their shop together soon, as Intel is leaping ahead, albeit at an incredibly higher cost.

I think better grab an AM3 board rather than an AM2+ board.Intel is certainly ahead as of now.AMD doesn't have any answer to the Q6600 or the QX9650.The AMD 9xxx series were supposed to be comparable with the Q6600 but actually Q6600 is much better as what i've seen in reviews.AMD need to do something immediately.Even the graphics market is not going well for AMD with the presence of 8800GT/GTS.

CPU wise AMD is not in very good shape but they've been getting better on the VGA front since the release of the 3870 & 3850 Radeon cards. Although they don't beat the 8800GT in performance they're less power hungry, have a slightly better HD decoding engine & are cheaper.

Yeah the 38xx series are doing good for AMD currently.I don't know if anybody is considering about getting the Spider or not though.AMD also supposed to release their first CrossFireX Drivers in this month which will enable gaming on 4 AMD 38xx series cards though I donno if anybody is gonna buy 4 graphic cards to play games.

why compare a system with ddr2 800 to a system with ddr3 1333 when the only two things that should be differant are the cpu. it seems that it is great that a phenom with ddr 800 can pretty much keep up with a core2 qaud with ram 500mhz faster

I also wonder why not too meany of the reviews of the phenom review the "spider" setup with the phenom +790 +3800 series

You might want to do a bit more reading on how it all works. I suggest the series of articles on www.tomshardware.com and www.anandtech.com. The Phenom doesn't "keep up" with the Core2Quad, and the relationship of memory to CPU perhaps isn't what you think it to be.

well regardless i read the anatech post and it seems like they are using a older motherboard. I will test the spider set up with the new ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe,phenom 9500,8gb ddr2 800 and one 3870 powered by the coolmax 1200watt psu I got all that for 200$ so i guess i got a good deal (well the girl gave me 1000$ becouse my old psu died hiper typeR 580watt, she said "is time for a upgrade any ways" my system is two yrs old dfi venus operton 146) I get my stuff tomorrow so i hope i have time to post some results. Also I would like to know why they compare a overclocked core2 quad to a stock speed phenom I think after a week or two of burning in and what not i might get up to 3.0ghz in the phenom then i will come back and compare my benchs to their 3.0ghz core2 quad i know the phenoms arnt exspected to overclock very well but I think given enough time they will be eqaul to the core2 quad and right now are 100$ less