If you prefer boards that doesn’t come with integrated graphics, the BIOSTAR TA890FXE based on the AMD 890FX + SB850 board might suit your needs.

This board powered by AMD 890FX chipset supports Socket AM3 processors AMD Phenom II / Athlon II processor  AMD Mutil Core(x6,x4,x2) up to 140W. It also has 4 DIMM that support DDR3-1800(OC)/1600(OC)/1333/1066. There are 6 SATA 6Gbps ports supported by the South bridge SB 850. With 4 PCIe full length slots, this board supports ATi CrossFireX. There is also on board 1394 and eSATA3. Most importantly, this board has BIO-unlocKING technology enables the ACC function on AMD processors and unlock extra 3rd or 4th core with a super-simple click on your keyboard e.g. Phenom II 550BE to quad core or Phenon II X4 960T to 6 cores.

For system stability, BIOSTAR TA890FXE has a 2-phase independent power design to increase memory voltage stability and durability. It also uses Armour plated Biostar Technology, all the capacitors have been put with 100% Solid Capacitors , providing linger lifecycle, durability and stability for the crucial components. BIOSTAR G.P.U (Green Power Utility) is a new function, it will enhance energy efficiency by disabling extra phases while CPU on light loading. It integrated a friendly GUI to monitor what’s your CPU resourcing, response and optimized the power saving on your system. Such as Heavy 3D Gaming, Internet or MSN charting, G.P.U will always arrange the best power efficiency in your system.

Below are pictures of the mainboard :

ASRock is soon to launch another series of mainboard based on the AMD 880G chipset. The first of this series if the ASRock 880G Extreme3 mainboard based on the AMD 880G+SB850 chipsets.

As it is also a Extreme3 board, it comes equipped with USB3, SATA3 and eSATA3. On top of that, this board also features the UCC unlocking chip. It is able to unlock the hidden cores on your Phenom II 550BE or Phenom II X3 710 processor and turn it into a quad core.

If UCC on the ASRock 890GX Extreme3 can unlock the upcoming quad core processor to a 6 core, I am sure the 880G Extreme3 should have that capability too.

Below are some pictures of the packaging and mainboard. Watch out for our review of this board on OCWorkbench.

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In another week or so, AMD will launch yet another chipset for the AM3 processors. The pair is known as AMD 880G north bridge and can be paired with south bridge SB810 or SB850.

Actually the 880G north bridge is quite similar to the 785G and 890GX. The 880G comes integrated with Radeon HD 4250 Graphics which supports DirectX 10.1, UVD2 and other specifications with a core frequency of 560MHz. It somewhat falls between the higher end 890GX and the to be replaced 785G. Most implementations will pair up the 880G with SB850 as SB850 supports RAID 5 in addition to 0,1,0+1.

Unified Shader architecture still remained 40 stream processors, 8 Texture Address Unit, 4 Texture Filiting Unit, 4 ROP. The motherboard also supports PCI 16X mode PCI-E 2.0 graphics card and support 8X +8 X Crossfire technology

The AMD 880G still supports HDMI 1.3 specification. It has built-in HDCP key support HD-DVD and Blu-Ray high-definition video playback. It also has embedded HD Audio codec, support 7.1-channel HDMI audio output , support ing Dolby Digital Plus and True HD audio technology.

Some manufacturers will also add on USB 3.0 support with NEC USB 3.0 chipset. Just like the AMD 890GX, AMD has disabled the loop hole that enables users with dual or tri core processor to enable the 4th core.

So far, ASRock, ASUS has AMD 890GX chipset based solutions which can unlock the hidden cores. I am sure the 880G would have similar implementations and it is all left to the manufacturers to think of ways to make their product stand out among the various brands and models.