Best New AMD AM3 Motherboards 2012

AM3 Plus motherboards are not only compatible with past AMD CPU types (Phenom II / Athlon II / Sempron 100 Series), it's also compatible with AMD's Bulldozer series, released in 2011, and Enhanced Bulldozer or Piledriver set to release in 2012.

I'm not completely a Gigabyte and Asus fanboy as I do see the massive strides that companies like ASRock are making to ensure the quality of their motherboards; however, I still feel that these two brands are more reliable, in general, than others out there. While there are certainly motherboards out there that are cheaper, the GA-990FXA-UD3 is still a great deal for such a versatile motherboard.

With USB3.0 controllers AMD's 900 series of motherboards can deliver super fast speeds via Gigabyte's 333 onboard acceleration of up to 5Gb/s. That's potentially ten times faster than USB 2.0. Being a 900 series this motherboard has a unique design that helps to limit voltage drops and ultimately ensures more stability.

Additional features from the GA-990FXA-UD3:

Technical details for the GA-990FXA-UD3 include; 2600MHz Hyper Transport (5200 MT/s) FSB, Up to 32GB DDR3 Dual Channel (O.C.)/1866/1600/1333/1066, PCI Express 2.0 x16 - 4 (x16, x16, x4, x4), 6 x SATA 6Gb/s, Realtek ALC889 audio chipset - 8 channels, 1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, 8 x USB 2.0, 2 x USB 3.0, 1 x IEEE 1394a, 2 x eSATA 6Gb/s, 1 x Optical, 6 audio ports, Multi-display support with 2 way SLI and 2 way CrossFireX, AMD overdrive supported, DualBIOS 3TB+ HDD Support, Ultra Durable 3 , and it comes with a standard 3 year parts and labor warranty.


GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX S AMD Motherboard

Amazon Price: Too Low To Display

In 2011 Asus was first to break the news that some of the "8" series AMD AM3 motherboards would indeed be compatible with Bulldozer (contrary to what AMD had previously reported).  If you're wondering whether the motherboard you are looking at is AM3+ compatible, then here are a few resources that will help you.

AM3+ Ready Asus Motherboards

AM3+ Ready Gigabyte Motherboards

Also be sure to take a look at my picks for the best am3+ gaming motherboards.
Similar models from other manufacturers should be AM3+ ready but be sure to check the manufacturer's website for additional information.