Native SATA 6Gbit/s Arrives - AMD 890GX Motherboards Examined

AMD Gets Native SATA 6Gbit/s

If AMD's first Fusion processor debuts as planned next year, it would be more than a year behind Intel's similar effort, the dual-core Clarkdale processors. Currently, AMD's integrated graphics chipsets have the GPU on the motherboard and things appear to be the same for its new refresh of the 790GX chipset. 'Imaginatively' named the 890GX, AMD does get one over its rival with this new chipset. The updated Southbridge used with this chipset, the SB850 comes with native SATA 6Gbit/s, including RAID (0, 1, 5 and 10) support.

Up to six SATA 6Gbit/s ports are onboard; additionally the SB850 continues to support the PATA interface (another feature that's not standard for Intel) and the usual HD audio functionality. Unfortunately, there's no USB 3.0 support yet, though one gets 14 USB 2.0 ports on this Southbridge, an increase of two over the 790GX. For the AMD 890GX motherboards we have received so far, USB 3.0 is implemented with an NEC controller instead, so at the very least, one should be getting USB 3.0 on some of the offerings.

As for the 890GX, it's a minor update over the 790GX. Think in terms of the AMD 780G going to 785G. That means for the integrated GPU, the changes are mostly in the newer Universal Video Decoder (UVD 2.0) and having support for DirectX 10.1. The actual graphics core (RV620) remains similar to that on the 790GX, with an identical number of shaders and the same 700MHz clock speed. Like the 790GX, vendors can give the integrated graphics on the 890GX a slight boost by adding SidePort memory (usually 128MB of onboard memory clocked at 1333MHz).

Not surprisingly, the integrated graphics on the 890GX is named the Radeon HD 4290, which puts it in the same class as the Radeon HD 4200 on the AMD 785G. The difference between the two is that the version on the 890GX is 200MHz faster than the 785G. However, like the 785G, the audio is less than ideal for HTPC enthusiasts, as it only supports 2-channel LPCM over HDMI and not multi-channel. Below is the architectural overview:

However, we did find an option called 'CPU Core Control' in both of our 890GX motherboards, which allows users to turn on/off certain CPU cores manually. We aren't too sure if this will allow enthusiasts to unlock their Phenom II processors like before but we'll get back to this once we have more time with these boards.

As you can tell, the 890GX is not much of an update over its predecessor from an end-user point of view. Unless you're ready to upgrade to SATA 6Gbit/s and USB 3.0 hardware immediately, the integrated graphics is the same on paper. Before we dive into the performance aspect, we have two 890GX boards up for review (from Gigabyte and MSI ) and we'll see if vendors are able to spin an attractive case for this chipset. Here are their specifications:

 

The Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H

Gigabyte's naming convention has been quite standard for a while now; from the UD3H name, we can estimate that it'll fall right in the middle of the price range for AMD 890GX motherboards. The local retail price of S$229 fits somewhat. While Gigabyte has never been shy to splash out on the features, this board shows some restraint, with only one Gigabit Ethernet port and an absence of extras like eSATA. That's not saying it's behind the competition, because these absentees would be extravagant for its price range.

One does find Gigabyte's usual love for storage options, with the six native SATA 6Gbit/s ports supplemented by Gigabyte's own SATA controller, which gives two extra, albeit slower, SATA 3.0Gbps ports. A floppy controller is even present, so one is covered quite comprehensively, with NEC's USB 3.0 controller giving the final touches to the storage options on this board. These storage connectors are all located at the edge of the board and avoids getting in the way of other board components.

Besides the storage overload, there are also quite a few expansion slots, from the standard dual PCIe 2.0 x16 graphics slots to a mixture of PCIe x1 and PCI slots. The layout is nicely done to allow for dual-slot graphics cards and unlike some older Gigabyte designs where the innermost PCIe x1 slot can be blocked by a passive heatsink, this is no longer the case.

Overall, we have no complaints with the board's layout. Granted that it's less packed than some of Gigabyte's higher end boards, but still, we have seen badly designed boards with minimal features. However, it could have benefited from a Clear CMOS switch, rather than a jumper setting hidden in the middle of the board.

Gigabyte's usual litany of features gets longer with each new board, though the features are mostly familiar. One of the newer features that it's touting recently is a set of 'Onboard Acceleration' extras, that includes USB 3.0 and USB ports that deliver three times the amount of power (obviously geared for external storage devices). Ultra Durable 3 is also another linchpin of Gigabyte but we're sure you've heard enough about them by now, so we'll skip that. You can always refer to Gigabyte's website if you require more information.

The MSI 890GXM-G65

The next AMD 890GX board we received is the MSI 890GXM-G65, which comes in a microATX form factor. That basically means that the expansion slots are reduced when compared to the standard ATX-sized Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H. Surprisingly though, two PCIe 2.0 x16 graphics card slots are still present on this microATX board. The shrink also did not affect the feature set, as this MSI board comes with a rear I/O panel that's comparable with Gigabyte. There are some differences, with MSI preferring an eSATA port to FireWire. As usual, the USB ports in blue are the faster 3.0 ones.

Due to the eSATA port, the number of SATA 6Gbit/s ports onboard are down to five. These are arranged at the edge of the board near the front panel connectors, in an almost optimal layout. One port however can be blocked potentially by a second dual-slot graphics card, but at least the odds are in its favor. Unlike the Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H, this MSI mATX board skips the floppy controller; space is a luxury here, though the IDE connector remains. 

The limited PCB is probably why its layout is less than perfect. For instance, the retention clips on the DIMM slots are too close to the PCIe graphics slot. It's almost certain that an installed modern graphics card, even of the mid-range variety, will be in the way if you're planning to change the memory modules. At least, MSI has shown care in ensuring that one of its passive heatsink that's right next to the graphics slot is designed such that there's no interference.

While we have been duly impressed by MSI's OC Genie feature on recent boards, it's a shame that it did not make this board. MSI offers what it calls OC Genie Lite, which apparently means that when this feature is enabled and one is using the integrated graphics core, the GPU is automatically set to 800MHz, which is a 100MHz overclock from the default.

The other overclocking feature on the 890GXM-G65 is the presence of MSI's Easy OC Switch, which allows one to increase the base clock by certain fixed intervals. We have previously commented on the redundancy of such a feature given that one can adjust the base clock in the BIOS and MSI has not changed our minds here.

Finally, as one expects from a top tier vendor, MSI has laid it thick when it comes to the 'quality' components, from the usual solid capacitors to active phase switching for the CPU power delivery that promoted more efficient power usage. For a board that's going for around US$130, all that we've mentioned are what consumers have come to expect and MSI does not disappoint. 

BIOS Settings

While the 890GX motherboards have integrated graphics capabilities, we believe that a majority of consumers will be going the discrete route. Hence, it's not surprising that the BIOS settings on the 890GX boards we saw are full-fledged versions with extensive options for tweaking. From the memory settings to the integrated graphics clock, it's all fair game in these BIOS. However, we found the overclocking limit to be similar on these boards, with both the Gigabyte and MSI managing a decent 290MHz base clock. 

BIOS Settings Summary

Test Setup

For our  AMD 890GX roundup, we updated our test bed, including retesting the AMD 790GX to get a comparable set of results. We tested a set of results using the integrated graphics on the Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H to get the performance of the new Radeon HD 4290. For the motherboard comparisons, we went back to using our usual discrete graphics, a GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB. This new test system, which we'll be using for future AMD motherboard reviews are as follows:

• AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.2GHz)
• 2 x 1GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1333 @7-7-7-20
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA HDD (single NTFS partition of 200GB)
• Integrated GPU Tests: Radeon HD 4290 (UMA + SidePort Memory, 256MB frame buffer, ATI VGA Driver 8.70RC1)
• Discrete GPU Tests: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB (ForceWare 195.62)
• Windows 7 Ultimate

The following benchmarks were used:

• BAPCo SYSmark 2007 Preview (ver 1.05)
• Futuremark PCMark Vantage (ver 1.0.3.1)
• Futuremark 3DMark Vantage (ver 1.0.3.1)
• SPECviewperf 9.0
• Far Cry 2

For the integrated GPU, we tested using the following games and Blu-ray titles:

• Unreal Tournament 3 (ver 1.1)
• Quake 4 (ver 1.3)
• Black Snake Moan Blu-ray (H.264)
• Superman Returns Blu-ray (VC-1)

Integrated Graphics Benchmarks

Before we proceed to our usual motherboard testing on the next page, which uses a discrete graphics card, we take a detour to check out how the new Radeon HD 4290 integrated graphics fares against its predecessor in actual benchmarks. First off is Blu-ray playback testing:-

As expected, the UVD 2.0 on the Radeon HD 4290 may be a newer version, but it has little impact on CPU utilization during our Blu-ray playback test. Admittedly, these are rather low figures already so there's not much more room for improvement. Instead, it's the full hardware acceleration of HD playback (on MPEG 2 CODEC) that's the major change over version 1.0, together with dual-stream video decoding for those picture-in-picture extras without lagging the system.

On the gaming side of things, the integrated graphics on the AMD 890GX performed identically to the 790GX in both games here, which confirms what the specifications are telling us. Nothing has changed for the user.

Results - SYSmark 2007 Preview

With the IGP testing done, we're now back to testing the motherboard implementation in proper and as mentioned in the test setup page, a discrete graphics card is used for the rest of the tests to reduce variations in the subsystems.

Overall, SYSmark 2007 showed barely any difference between the older 790GX and the 890GX boards. 

Results - Futuremark PCMark Vantage

The next system suite, PCMark Vantage even saw the reference 790GX higher overall score than the 890GX boards. The breakdown however showed some decent improvements in the HDD segment. Perhaps AMD has finally fixed its AHCI performance on the SB850. 

Results - SPECviewperf 9.0

Except for a slightly slower performance from the MSI board, the 890GX should be competitive with the 790GX. In short, don't expect any improvements.

Results - Futuremark 3DMark Vantage & Far Cry 2

There were very slight improvement in gaming scores here, though it's unlikely that users would be able to distinguish. 

Temperature

Both motherboards were relatively cool at the Southbridge heatsink, with the MSI having the advantage.

Power Consumption

The AMD 890GX chipset appeared to have lower power draw at idle, measuring around 11W less than the 790GX. Note that these two results were done using the integrated graphics. For the Gigabyte and MSI boards however, we switched to a discrete graphics card, which explained the higher power consumption. Despite its mATX dimensions, the MSI board consumed a similar amount of power at peak but its idle was impressively low.

Conclusion

With the imminent launch of six-core processors from both AMD and Intel, the stage is set for enthusiasts to emulate a server in their own homes. AMD is doing the groundwork for these upcoming processors with the AM3 only 890GX chipset, which also brings AMD's chipsets up to date with native SATA 6Gbit/s. It's good news for those who have already switched to solid state drives, which can easily exceed the bandwidth of SATA 3.0Gbps with a RAID configuration. USB 3.0 apparently still doesn't make the list, though with board vendors now adding the feature with NEC's controller, it shouldn't matter to the consumer.

The 890GX chipset and the refreshed Southbridge SB850 is for the most part, a minor update to the existing 790GX and SB750 combination. The integrated graphics core is similar for both and our benchmarks found no difference in performance. The only change is the presence of the newer UVD 2.0 feature. While this would be handy for HTPC enthusiasts, the chipset is let down by the lack of multi-channel LPCM via HDMI. For that, you'll still have to rely on ATI's discrete Radeon HD 5000 series.

The other significant change is the apparent lack of Advanced Clock Calibration on the 890GX. We are not certain if motherboard vendors will allow for core unlocking through the BIOS but it does appear that there's no more official avenue to do so. We'll update you on the state of things as soon as we garner more information on this aspect.

As for the two boards featured in this article, they reflect the mainstream nature of this chipset, with ATX and mATX form factors readily available. Both are modestly equipped while having all the key features that one expects from a modern, mid-range motherboard. Performance-wise, they do not differ by much. The Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H however stood out for its layout, which is almost perfect. This luxury of space is something that the smaller mATX MSI board does not have and it's evident from the minor issues that we encountered. They should not detract from a very decent board, though we were slightly disappointed by the missing the full fledged OC Genie feature.

For some enthusiasts, the updated AMD 890FX chipset is what they are expecting and hopefully, we too will get a chance to take a look at this chipset soon.

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