AM3 to AM3+ Compatibility Q&A

Will AMD Officially Support Bulldozer On The AM3 Platform?

No. The recent announcements from Asus & MSI make it clear that some AM3 boards will function with a Bulldozer-class processor installed. With that said, AMD originally justified moving from AM3 to AM3+ because not doing so would prevent positive Bulldozer features from functioning. AMD has not specified which features are affected yet; it is our belief, based on conversations with people in the know, that Bulldozer's advanced power management & clock gating capabilities require an AM3+ socket.

Gigabyte's new Black Socket for AM3-ready boards

What is The Difference Between Unofficial & Official Support?

 For thing, "unsupported" is always code for "voids your warranty." Official support doesn't automatically translate in to practical compatibility. AMD has officially supported separate product introductions in recent history. First, all AM2 boards that supported Phenom officially supported Phenom II. Second, all AM2+ boards officially supported AM3 processors. In both cases, actual compatibility implementation was left in the hands of the motherboard manufacturers.

There are occasionally cases where neither official support nor proper BIOS implementation is. AMD's 780G chipset, which launched to considerable acclaim, could support AMD's whole range of processors. It soon became apparent, however, that plenty of mATX 780G boards were incapable of handling AMD's 125W Phenom processors. Well-built boards using high-quality parts had no issues. The rest were quickly restricted to 95W TDPs or less.

The Asus Crosshair IV will support Bulldozer processors.

What Have Asus / AMD Said?

AMD has officially said that it will support Bulldozer with the Socket AM3+ infrastructure. Questions regarding Bulldozer & AM3 support ought to therefore be directed to the motherboard manufacturers in question*. They tried to speak to Asus, but were told that the company will no longer be speaking publicly about AM3/Bulldozer support, at the request of AMD. Thus, Asus was unable to speak to us about the specifics of its own product based on an announcement it had already made.

What is The Bottom Line?

Some AM3 boards will support Bulldozer processors. The characteristics of that support & the degree to which performance, power consumption, & thermals will be affected is unknown. They usually expect that more expensive, enthusiast-class boards will offer a greater degree of support than bargain-basement models. Similarly, companies are more likely to update newer, better, boards than older ones.

The rumor mill indicates that multiple AMD chipsets will be able to supporting Bulldozer. There is scant knowledge on how much various companies will implement support on older boards. Expect actual compatibility to vary considerably. The nature of this situation makes it likely that some boards that ought to support Bulldozer, won't. Others may not be able to deliver power adequately given the CPU's different requirements.

The best thing to do is wait & see. We'll must wait for launch to see what disparities exist between AM3 & AM3+ features & performance. They expect other motherboard manufacturers will make their own announcements about AM3 compatibility in the weeks ahead, but in lieu of the unofficial nature of support, they recommend waiting as against purchasing a board now with a plan to drop an AM3+ processor in it.