Shootouts

A Trio of AMD 890GX Boards - More Mainstream AMD Madness

By Vincent Chang - 16 Apr 2010

More AMD 890GX Motherboards

More AMD 890GX Motherboards

In our previous article introducing the new AMD 890GX chipset, we looked at the major changes from the older 790GX. The new Southbridge was the highlight, bringing native SATA 6Gbit/s support while the integrated graphics got a minor boost, mostly in the standards and compatibility aspect. Enthusiasts however, found that AMD has removed from the 890GX the Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) feature that allowed users to unlock AMD processors on the 790GX.

While our initial article featured a microATX board and a normal ATX-sized board from MSI and Gigabyte, we are returning to the 890GX scene with three more ATX boards, from ASUS, ECS and Jetway. Interestingly, the ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 touts a hardware Core Unlocker feature that apparently allows for hassle-free unlocking of the AMD CPU's cores with a flick of a switch. That immediately piqued our interest, but before we explore the ASUS board, here's a comparison of the three boards featured today.

 

Three AMD 890GX Boards Compared
  ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 ECS A890GXM-A Jetway HA09
CPU Support Support for AM3 processors - AMD Phenom II/Athlon II
Chipset AMD 890GX + SB850
Graphics Integrated Radeon HD 4290 graphics processor with 128MB DDR3 SidePort Memory
Memory
  • Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of DDR3-1866 (O.C)/1333/1066 SDRAM
  • Supports up to 16GB memory size
  • Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of DDR3-1600 (O.C)/1333/1066/800 SDRAM
  • Supports up to 16GB memory size
  • Supports 4 unbuffered DIMM of DDR3-1333/1066/800 SDRAM
  • Supports up to 8GB memory size
Storage
  • Southbridge
    • 6 x SATA 6Gbit/s ports
    • Support AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and JBOD configurations
  • JMicron JMB361 controller
    • 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100 for up to 2 PATA devices
    • 1 x eSATA 3.0Gbps port
  • Southbridge
    • 5 x SATA 6Gbit/s ports
    • 1 x eSATA port (rear)
    • Support AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and JBOD configurations
  • Southbridge
    • 6 x SATA 6Gbit/s ports
    • Support AHCI controller with SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and JBOD configurations
  • JMB368 controller
    • 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100 for up to 2 PATA devices
    • 1 x eSATA port (rear)
  • 1 x floppy drive connector
Audio
  • Realtek ALC892 HD CODEC
  • Realtek ALC892 HD CODEC
  • Realtek ALC888 HD CODEC
Networking
  • Realtek 8111E Gigabit Ethernet controller
  • Dual Realtek 8111DL Gigabit Ethernet controller
  • Realtek 8111DL Gigabit Ethernet controller
IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
  • VIA VT6308P chip
  • Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 rear, 1 header)
  • Nil
  • Nil
I/O Interface
  • 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  • 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (blue)
  • 1 x RJ45 LAN port
  • 6 x audio jacks
  • 1 x Optical S/PDIF output
  • 1 x eSATA port
  • 1 x IEEE 1394a port
  • 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
  • 1 x HDMI
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x VGA analog output
  • 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  • 2 x RJ45 LAN port
  • 6 x audio jacks
  • 1 x Optical S/PDIF output
  • 1 x eSATA port
  • 1 x HDMI
  • 1 x DisplayPort
  • 1 x DVI-D
  • 1 x VGA analog output
  • 1 x eSATA port
  • 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  • 1 x RJ45 LAN port
  • 6 x audio jacks
  • 1 x Optical S/PDIF output
  • 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF output
  • 1 x PS/2 keyboard
  • 1 x PS/2 mouse
  • 1 x DVI-I
  • 1 x HDMI
  • 1 x VGA analog output
Expansion Slots
  • 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 if both slots filled)
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x4 slot
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot
  • 2 x PCI slots
  • 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots (x8/x8 if both slots filled)
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x4 slot
  • 2 x PCIe x1 slots
  • 1 x PCI slot
  • 2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (x8/x8 if both slots filled)
  • 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 slot
  • 1 x mini PCIe slot
  • 1 x PCI slot
Special Features
  • ASUS EPU
  • MemOK!
  • TurboV EVO
  • ExpressGate
  • Turbo Key II
  • Core Unlocker
  • CrashFree BIOS 3
  • EZ Flash 2
  •  eJiffy
  • 3D Audio
  • Green Power Indicator
PCB mATX Form Factor (24.4 x 24.4cm)

 

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