With the release of the 890FX chipset, ASUS steps up to the plate with their latest top of the line AMD motherboard, the Crosshair IV Formula. Most of the new features for the 8-Series chipset can be found in the SB850 southbridge, the most notable being native support for SATA 6Gb/s. Like the 790FX chipset, the 890FX has 44 PCIe 2.0 lanes, allowing for CrossfireX dual x16 graphics card support (or even three cards running x16/x8/x8). A new and unique feature of the 890FX chip is an IOMMU implementation. Much like Intel’s VT-d, AMD’s IOMMU should increase performance and security for virtualized environments.

We all know that budget is not a term associated with the Republic of Gamers brand and unsurprisingly the Crosshair IV is no exception. As always one would expect a level of innovation in a board that’s set up to be one of the best or at least set of features that helps it stand out from the rest.

ASUS takes all the features of the 890FX/SB850 chipset and adds in a few more goodies. First, there are a pair of USB 3.0 ports for next generation high-speed USB devices. Second, an additional SATA controller provides an eSATA port on the back, along with a 7th internal SATA header. This is very creative on ASUS’ part as it allows for the six native SATA ports to be utilized in a RAID configuration, with the 7th extra port there for an optical drive. Third, ASUS added SupremeFX X-Fi audio, which provides the familiar Creative audio interface and some X-Fi features. Finally, with the ASUS TurboV EVO chip(s), there is a plethora of overclocking features and control over the CPU and memory components.

The Asus Crosshair IV Extreme is set to sell for $300, easily making it the most expensive AM3 product around and costing considerably more than the already opulent Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD7. With most high-end AM3 motherboards priced below $200, you have to wonder what is so special about Asus’ offering.

Without beating around the bush, what separates the Crosshair IV Extreme apart from the pack is Asus’ CrossLinx 3 technology. This allows users to mix and match multiple graphics cards from both AMD and Nvidia, including models of different GPU generations. CrossLinx 3 uses the Lucid HydraLogix engine, which bridges various graphics cards to enable their simultaneous usage.

Both of the $200+ AMD boards are built by Asus and the company recently sent us its top-end AMD offering. The motherboard’s retail price point of $299 dwarfs anything else anyone offers in an AMD flavor these days, but Asus has packed the Crosshair IV Extreme with every goody you can think of.