Mainstream AM3 - AMD 790GX Motherboard Showdown
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The Mainstream AM3 Shootout
The Mainstream AM3 Shootout
With the recent launch of the Phenom II X4 955, AMD has arguably its strongest processor lineup in years. Able to stand toe to toe with Intel's Core 2 Quads and even dent some of the slower Core i7s, this processor is the latest Socket AM3 Phenom II CPU. To complement these new processors that work with either DDR3 or DDR2 memory, motherboard vendors have been rushing out the AM3 versions of the performance mainstream AMD chipset, the 790GX.
When the AMD 790GX was first introduced, the media's attention (including ours), focused on the Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC) feature on its new Southbridge - SB750, which allows for a better chance of attaining higher overclocks over the rather limited Phenom processors. The integrated graphics on the 790GX made it suitable for the mainstream while the option of having dual CrossFireX graphics cards in addition to the overclocking potential managed to snag the interest of enthusiasts too.
The AMD 790GX is a chipset with broad appeal that has lived up to its mainstream billing. But some things have changed slightly since, with AMD's enthusiast oriented 790FX recently getting a makeover of its own and gaining ACC too. Hence, it was about time that motherboard vendors started issuing AM3 updates of the 790GX. The easy part for them is that nothing has changed with the chipset except for the socket switch. It's essentially the same chipset with the integrated Radeon HD 3300 graphics engine and dedicated SidePort memory that we have all seen before.
Just like our previous shootout where we compared some of the latest AMD 790FX motherboards, we'll be going through some of the best 790GX models that you can find on the market now with boards from ASUS, BIOSTAR and MSIthat managed to survive our stringent testing. Here's how they stack up against each other in features:-
ASUS M4A78T-E | BIOSTAR TA790GX A3+ | MSI 790GX-G65 | |
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CPU Support | AMD Socket AM3 Processors | ||
Chipset | AMD 790GX + SB750 | ||
System Bus | HyperTransport 3.0, up to 5200MT/s | ||
Graphics |
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Memory |
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Storage |
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Audio |
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Networking | Atheros L1E Gigabit LAN | Realtek 8111DL Gigabit LAN | Realtek 8111DL Gigabit LAN |
IEEE 1394 |
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Rear I/O |
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Internal Connectors |
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Expansion Slots |
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Special Features |
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Form Factor | ATX (30.5 x 24.4cm) |
Other motherboard vendors didn't have an appropriate model to send in for this shootout, such as Gigabyte for example which doesn't have a Socket AM3 based AMD 790GX board. While some others didn't yet have their kinks sorted out such as the promising ECS A790GXM-AD3 which we'll take a look at it separately in the near future.
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