Live from Taiwan: ATI RD580 Motherboards

With today's launch of the new ATI Dual x16 PCIe chipset you will be able to buy motherboards on launch day from at least one manufacturer. The Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe is expected to be widely available for sale on March 1, and it represents an upgrade of the current A8R-MVP with improved performance and Deluxe features. Asus also continues their use of passive cooling on the A8R32-MVP, with no active cooling fans.

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Resellers will likely ask a Premium price at the A8R32-MVP launch, but Asus tells us prices should settle down to the $150 to $200 street price range. Asus answered our questions about the A8R32-MVP Deluxe street price on February 28th: "Since the A8R32-MVP supports dual PCex16 it will be positioned for the high-end. The price will be lower than A8N32-SLI Deluxe but higher than A8N-SLI Premium." The bargain-priced A8R-MVP, which is based on the RD480 chipset, is currently selling for $95 to $100. The A8R-MVP features dual x8 Crossfire compared to upgraded dual x16 on the new Asus A8R32-MVP.

With most nVidia dual x16 motherboards selling for premium prices, the Asus A8R32-MVP will be a good value, but it is now expected to sell for a higher price than originally reported here. The value is even greater when you consider the ATI X1900XTX and Crossfire X1900XT are the fastest video solutions currently on the market and they are fully supported by the A8R32-MVP.

With around 3 months until the scheduled launch of Socket AM2, it is not surprising that many Taiwan motherboard makers are skipping the RD580 Socket 939 launch and planning their first RD580 boards for AM2. However Asus, DFI, Abit, and Sapphire are all expected to deliver Socket 939 RD580 motherboards.