Praz wrote:
I would think before completely new motherboards, especially the size of the Gene, become viable AMD would need to address several items. Power requirement, IPC and a chipset that provides improved SATA performance to name a few.

In that case is a 990FX upgrade to the M5A78L-M likely or is it the 990 chipset that is causing the problems?

Boorach wrote:
In that case is a 990FX upgrade to the M5A78L-M likely or is it the 990 chipset that is causing the problems?

I think from a motherboard manufacturer perspective AMD needs to do more than a lateral move when releasing a new product line. For the majority of users currently on a 890 chipset platform with something like a 1090 CPU there is very little performance to be gained in any area by moving to the 990 chipset and say a 8350 CPU. Add to this that AMD trails Intel in most every area of performance while at the same time requiring more power to do so.

Compounding this are the issues of the uATX form factor of the Gene as it applies to AMD. Users will naturally want to instal a 8350 and overclock. There is limited space for the VRM circuit and the design is also limited as to proper cooling of the circuit. This is a platform that can draw upwards of 300W when pushed. This would be both a design and support nightmare. ASUS would have to release this board knowing that overall few would be sold and RMAs would be high. This would not make sense unless the financial bottom line was in need of a write-off. In today's economy and the overall slow sales of PC components I don't believe any manufacturer is in a position to need this type of loss leader in their product line.

The price point is not the burning issue for me, the form factor however is essential. I am converting a 1939 valve radio cabinet into a bespoke PC case and a standard ATX board simply will not fit. I should have done more research before buying my FX-8350 processor (was on special offer!) but, stupidly, I assumed a uATX socket AM3+ board would be easy enough to get. Have purchased a M5A78L-M/USB3 but it lacks some features I desire such as SATA 3.0 and mid board USB3 headers. Would of course prefer a newer chipset version also.