So far, MSI has released only two motherboards based on the new AMD 990FX chipset, one for the top mainstream market (990FXA-GD65), and one for the high-end market (990FXA-GD80). Let’s take a look at the MSI 990FXA-GD80.

The AMD 990FX chipset is basically an AMD 890FX chipset with a new name. There are no new features. The AMD 990FX chipset, however, is targeted to the new socket AM3+ platform, while the 890FX chipset is targeted to the socket AM3 platform. This way, AMD is providing an easy way to identify the platform through the chipset name. Socket AM3+ motherboards support the forthcoming AMD CPUs based on the new “Bulldozer” architecture. So, even though the chipset is the same, 890FX motherboards won’t support this new generation of AMD processors.

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Figure 1: MSI 990FXA-GD80 motherboard