[coreboot] seeking AMD 990FX / SB950 documentation

Mark Nelson mdnelson8 at gmail.com
Wed Jul 18 09:04:39 CEST 2012


> >     Would someone please point out where I can get documentation on the AMD 990FX /
> >     SB950 north and south bridges? The 800 series stuff is at support.amd.com, but
> >     not these.
>
> Hi
>
>
> Yes I have same question, but maybe AMD folks here could sched some light on documentation release plan.
>

I believe the 990FX and the SB950 are essentially the same thing as the 
890FX and the SB850 - the same silicon. AMD just transitioned to the 900 
series numbering to easily allow consumers to tell whether a motherboard 
has an AM3+ or an AM2 socket on there, and so whether it supports their 
Bulldozer family of CPUs or not.

 From the Tech Report:
"Led by the 990FX, this core-logic family is new in name only. The 990FX 
consists of the same north- and south-bridge components as its 890FX 
predecessor, and those chips continue to be manufactured by TSMC using a 
65-nm fabrication process."

 From tom's hardware:
"The 990FX chipset employs the same silicon as 890FX.
...
According to AMD, it’s incrementing the platform name to clarify 
compatibility with Bulldozer-based processors. When you see a board that 
centers on 990FX, the company wants you to know that its upcoming AM3+ 
CPUs are drop-in-compatible (again, 990FX-based boards will also take 
existing AM3 chips)."

 From Hardware Secrets:
"The AMD 990FX chipset is basically an AMD 890FX chipset with a new 
name, but supporting the higher HyperTransport 3.0 speeds that weren’t 
used before and that will be supported by the “Bulldozer” processors.
The AMD 990FX chipset 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 
basically the same, 890FX motherboards won’t support this new generation 
of AMD processors."

Hope that helps!
Mark




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