With all this talk of X38 now that it's on the horizon for an imminent launch, we mustn't completely forget about what AMD's counter-attack method will be, this in the form of the RD790 chipset which is slated for release late September.

Some of the highlights of this chipset are PCIe 2.0, up to four PCIe x16 slots (two of which are limited to x8 bandwidth), and of course support for the upcoming K10 AM2+ processors, Agena (quad-core) and Kuma (dual-core).

Digitimes report that the first AMD RD790 motherboards to be released will be from ASUS and GIGABYTE.

AMD will release its RD790 chipset by the end of September, with Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology likely to be the first to launch motherboards supporting the new chipset, according to industry sources. The high-end RD790 has motherboard makers eagerly awaiting its launch, and they have listed the new chipset as one of their major product focuses for the fourth quarter, the sources added.