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Will ASRock 770 Extreme3 (AMD 3) Be Able To Run Bulldozer?

Last response: in Motherboards
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Hi everyone,

I've been reading that some (but not all?) AMD 3 motherboards will be able to run AMD's new Bulldozer CPU via bios upgrades. I've also read that the 800 and 900 series chipsets will be able to run bulldozer, but I've heard nothing about the older 700 series chipset.

I currently have an ASRock 770 Extreme 3 (AMD 3) motherboard running an AMD Athlon II X4 640. On ASRock's website, there is no listed support for Bulldozer (http://www.asrock.com/mb/cpu.asp?Model=770%20Extreme3). At the same time, there there are no recent bios updates listed on the website.

Does anyone know if this motherboard will be able to run Bulldozer, and if yes, whether ASRock plans a bios update soon?

On a final note, considering that the Bulldozer's launch is supposed to be October 12 (for real this time), it's surprising that there has been so little news about whether Bulldozer will be compatible with specific AMD 3 motherboards.

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That is going to be depending on Asrock and if they can make a updated BIOS that will support Bulldozer. Originally it was announced that AM3+ boards would take AM3 CPU's but not AM3 boards AM3+ CPU's.

Thanks for the response. I came across a March 2011 press release where a related company, Asustek, announced that they would support Bulldozer in the 800 Series Chipset.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/2011031...

However, I have yet to come across any announcements of any 700 series chipset being supported.

I wonder, too, whether any Mobo manufacturers would have any incentive to support the budget 700 series chipset. Not supporting that chipset would encourage people to upgrade their boards.
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After looking at the benchmarks, I think I'll pass on Bulldozer for the time being. My motherboard supports an Phenom II X6, which seems to benchmark as well or better than the 8-core Bulldozer in most categories. So yeah, maybe I'll wait to pick up a cheap used Phenon II X6 or just buy a Z68 motherboard and an i5-2500k.
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