My AM2+/AM3 compatible board won't run upcoming six-core processors?

I'd been looking to build a cheap Athlon II X4 630 box with my old DDR2 RAM with the thought of upgrading to a new AM3 processor in 2010, and just when I was about to start buying a Foxconn A7GM-S 2.0 AM2+/AM3 motherboard, I was told that the upcoming six-core processors will not use DDR2 RAM, thus making it pointless for me to even bother buying the board.

Will my "AM3 Ready" board not be "AM3 Ready" for the six-core processor?

If a six-core processor comes with memory controllers that are not compatible with DDR2 memory, then your motherboard would not support the processor regardless of the socket support. Current AM3-Ready boards support processors that are backwards compatible with DDR2 memory; that does not mean it'd be a trend for EVERY processor out there...

This.

AMD's memory controllers are on the CPU. AM3 is pin compatible with AM2, all the AM3 chips out right now have a "legacy" DDR2 compatible memory controller. This lets you use an AM3 cpu in an AM2 board that has the right bios. That ddr2 controller is going to be dropped at some point, and that will "break" compatibility with ddr2 AM2 boards that support am3 cpus.

i dont see why the 6 core processors wont have ddr2 support.. theres no reason for AMD to remove it..

btw look into the 785g chipset boards instead of the 780g.. while it says the board may support am3.. most 780g only support up to 95w.. on avg the 785g is about 20-25 dollars more then the 780g boards and well worth the extra cost..

Wonderful. I really don't have the budget to get an AM3 board and 3GB of DDR3 RAM. Looks like I'll have to get another board that can't be upgraded next year. I expected this kind of thing from Intel, but not AMD. Removing DDR2 support is only going to cause mass confusion and frustration.

Originally Posted by Celestial Avenger

Wonderful. I really don't have the budget to get an AM3 board and 3GB of DDR3 RAM. Looks like I'll have to get another board that can't be upgraded next year. I expected this kind of thing from Intel, but not AMD. Removing DDR2 support is only going to cause mass confusion and frustration.

I think your over reacting a bit. I think the jury is still out about the Thuban core being DDR2 compatible. It's the 2011 AM3+ CPU's that won't be DDR2 compatible from what has been released so far. That said even now the current AM3 cpu's show no real world benefit for running DDR3 unless your counting synthetic benchmarks.

Originally Posted by Ghettobox

I think your over reacting a bit. I think the jury is still out about the Thuban core being DDR2 compatible. It's the 2011 AM3+ CPU's that won't be DDR2 compatible from what has been released so far. That said even now the current AM3 cpu's show no real world benefit for running DDR3 unless your counting synthetic benchmarks.

I would also take in consideration that DDR3 is dropping in price (even if relative to DDR2 which is up in price from a year or two ago). In a few months I suspect that the price difference between DDR2 and 3 will be negligible soon anyway. I plan on selling my DDR2 soon in favor of DDR3 before the ram is just a novelty item.

Originally Posted by Celestial Avenger

Wonderful. I really don't have the budget to get an AM3 board and 3GB of DDR3 RAM. Looks like I'll have to get another board that can't be upgraded next year. I expected this kind of thing from Intel, but not AMD. Removing DDR2 support is only going to cause mass confusion and frustration.

You should be happy about waiting till next year. That's when RD890/SB850 mobos will be released which not only will be guaranteed compatible with Thuban, but also with Bulldozer. Thus guaranteeing a long upgrade path for your purchase.

Thuban will in all likelihood maintain DDR2 compatibility so that is not the limiting factor. The power requirements will be the deciding factor for your mobo. I suspect many mobos that support up to 125W CPUs will not support Thuban even if it does come with a 125W TDP as the potential power draw under overclocking would easily melt these boards.

Having a CPU upgrade path with a single motherboard is never a guarantee. I learned that lesson from Asus and Intel the hard way.

At this rate I'm just going to get a cheap Dell, replace the Sempron with a Phenom X4 965 from Newegg, and forget about upgrading for three or four years. It's just our backup PC anyway.

Originally Posted by Celestial Avenger

Having a CPU upgrade path with a single motherboard is never a guarantee. I learned that lesson from Asus and Intel the hard way.

At this rate I'm just going to get a cheap Dell, replace the Sempron with a Phenom X4 965 from Newegg, and forget about upgrading for three or four years. It's just our backup PC anyway.

If it is a backup, why does it need an X4 965?? Just wondering. You could get an Athlon X4 620 for half the price or a Phenom X2 550 for not much more...

The PC is for the wife. She edits videos, but not as often as I do. I considered getting the 620 and upgrading her again next year to six core with the same motherboard, but I'll just get an upgrade now that should last her for two-three years. She's recently started editing HD 1080p videos, and the Athlon X2 4600+ she has now just can't handle it worth a lick.

You really gonna drop a 965 into a PC that came with a Sempron? Not only will you need to get a new power supply for it, but chances are those system come with some sort of a proprietary cooling system that might make it impossible for you to use the stock copper HSF and thus create A. danger of fault due to thermal damage and B. voiding of your warranty ()

lol sorry to tell you this.. but a phenom II 965 will not work on any dell motherboard.. especially one that comes with a sempron..

There's also the issue of the board power regulation being able to handle the 965's power draw even if you were to get a new power supply. So in essence, don't attempt to get a cheap dell and do a switcharoo...

There's definitely reason to boot the DDR2 controller off the chip. It's wasted space, and anybody using 6 cores is gonna want the extra memory bandwidth. Not saying that it would be a ridiculous bottleneck or anything, but 6 cores pegged out with memory intensive applications would be restricted. Die space may also be an issue, AMDs 6-core CPUs only contain one memory controller. none of them have dual controllers like our current phenom IIs do, at least I'm semi-sure about that... plus if ur gonna buy an enthusiast chip, get with the times and buy enthusiast RAM!

id have to agree with lain, there is no reason to put ddr2 memory controller on 6 core cpu's, its just a waste of space on the cpu..also the prices of ddr3 should be pretty low soon..they already aren't to bad

Originally Posted by Celestial Avenger

Wonderful. I really don't have the budget to get an AM3 board and 3GB of DDR3 RAM. Looks like I'll have to get another board that can't be upgraded next year. I expected this kind of thing from Intel, but not AMD. Removing DDR2 support is only going to cause mass confusion and frustration.

I really don't understand the comparison. How many LGA1366 motherboards were available half a year before Intel released the i7's? What about LGA1156 motherboards and i5? Intel has two brand new sockets and AMD has been doing gradual upgrades of the same basic design for years now. With the pace that technology moves I wouldn't consider ANY motherboard a 100% guarantee for Thuban. We, the consumers, are lucky enough that there is a chance we can upgrade to Thuban next year. You wouldn't walk into a car dealership and demand they shoehorn the engine from a 2010 model into your 2009 model car would you?

Even if it would support the new cpu's, I strongly advise going with a better board than foxconn for a system you plan on using for awhile.

Go with asus, gigabyte, msi, ect. Asrock, foxconn, and biostar are much cheaper for a reason, they use inferior components and will very likely not last that long.

And FYI boards that run ddr2 are AM2+, ddr3 ones are AM3. AM3 CPUs are backwards compatible with AM2+, but a ddr2 board is am2+, its not the same thing.

DDR2 is on its way out, already ddr2 is surpassing ddr3 prices as its not being actively produced any more. The fact AMD is dropping ddr2 in its next generation of cpu's is to be expected.

Originally Posted by Malakai

Go with asus, gigabyte, msi, ect. Asrock, foxconn, and biostar are much cheaper for a reason, they use inferior components and will very likely not last that long.

That's a rather uninformed blanket statement endorsing brand image. Failure rates among most large motherboard manufacturers are comparable and as many people have had Asus, Gigabyte, MSI boards die of them as the people with Asrock, Foxconn, or Biostar boards. A search through the motherboard forum will show that.

There are, however, significant differences in motherboard support and customer support among these manufacturers should something go wrong. That's where the branding may come more into play but I think we all get in the habit of assuming that just because something is cheaper it MUST be of worse quality which just isn't true.

Regarding that Foxconn board, it doesn't have some of the features and overclocking potential the other boards do so if you wanted something more robust, I advise looking elsewhere.