While everyone else was busy focusing on AMD’s new processor, The Tech Report focused on the backbone of the Spider system, AMD’s new 790FX chipset.  Supporting HyperTransport 3 and the next iteration of PCI Express, this chipset will likely be seeing a lot of use for quite a while.  Any new launch is not going to happen without a few kinks, in this case the outdated SB600 southbridge offers lackluster performance, and TR also found BIOS problems on both ASUS and Gigabyte’s motherboards.

“Processors and graphics chips are easily the rock stars of this industry, and for good reason. They’re largely responsible for overall system performance, and that’s even more appealing to enthusiasts than eyeliner and tight leather pants are to hair metal groupies. It’s fitting, then, that the bulk of attention and excitement surrounding AMD’s new Spider enthusiast platform will narrow on its new Phenom processor and Radeon HD 3800 series graphics cards.

If Spider were a rock band, Phenom would undoubtedly be the front man, with the Radeon HD 3870 and 3850 filling in at lead and rhythm guitars. On drums, you’d find AMD’s new 790FX chipset, hidden away not behind a massive array of snares and cymbals, but under a heatsink amongst a sea of other chips on a crowded motherboard.”

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