ECS GF8200A Motherboard - GeForce 8200

Introduction and Specs

With the economy in the mess that it is in, it is hard for people to justify spending huge dollars on upgrades right now. You have some people that still seem to have some "stupid money" and are spending $250+ on a new motherboard every product cycle, but for the most part, people are holding off on some of their extra spending and using what they have. That is probably a smart idea, especially considering that it does not make a lot of sense to spend a lot of money to upgrade to the newest hardware when it is barely any faster than the older technology. I actually recommended a P-35 board to someone a couple weeks ago because of the cost and the great performance of those boards. And it is several "generations" old in tech standards.

Don’t get me wrong, I love new technology. I love the smell of opening up a new electronics device. I love holding a new motherboard or processor just knowing it is going to be the best thing since sliced butter. But the fact is, people are a little leery to spend big bucks right now.

But, you do not have to spend big bucks to get a great board. In fact, there is no reason why you cannot spend $100 or less on a board and get what you need as far as performance in concerned. In fact, with the Phenom II coming out and hitting record speeds (as we saw in our preview a few weeks ago) you should be able to pick up a Phenom II CPU and the ECS 8200A for a great price. Even now, you could pick up the Phenom 8450 Toliman for right at $95and this motherboard for less than $170. That is a nice and fast upgrade for the price! Deals are popping up all over for 4gb DDR2 800MHz kits for well under $30... that is the barebones of a new computer for under $200... quite impressive!

ECS boards have always been a great value for the performance you get. Today we have the opportunity to look at the ECS GF8200A, a board that is in their Black Series of motherboards. How will it stack up against the likes of the 790GX and 790FX boards that we have recently looked at, and that cost a whole lot more!

Let’s take a look at the specs:

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Instant Boot on ASRock N7AD-SLI Motherboards

Instant Boot on ASRock Motherboards

One thing that has always bothered many people is how long it takes to actually get to a computer to a working state after you power up the system. We live in such an instant society that it is hard for us to wait for the minute or so. We forget that not too long ago, it took several minutes to get a system up and running, and sometimes you even had to change out a floppy disk to continue! Man, times have changed! ASRock has decided to help us cope with those changes by introducing a technology called Instant Boot on their nForce 740i SLI motherboard based motherboard - N7AD-SLI. ASRock says that your system can be up and running in as little as four seconds. Though we did not experience that kind of speed, it was a nice feature to work with. We put together a short little video review to show you how it works.


Understanding how Instant Boot works is really not that difficult. It really is nothing more than an enhanced S3/S4 state that is used. ASRock has dedicated some web space to explain the whole process, but these slides explain it pretty good:


The whole reboot process is necessary to make the start-up so quick. Instead of a user having to mess with the OS or BIOS to set S3/S4 up, Instant Boot uses a software interface to accomplish the task. It goes even further than just a typical S3/S4 state though, as the reboot process also sets the machine to be almost instantly useable (in fast mode). The novice computer user should have no issues using Instant Boot at all. It is safe and VERY self explanatory. I was a little surprised that there was not a single mention of Instant Boot in the owner's manual for the board. That was certainly an oversite that needs correcting!

Legit Bottom Line: Instant Boot technology will be a welcome feature for anyone using a computer. It saves you time, and all of us can use a little more of that! Great job ASRock! (Look for a full board review in just a couple weeks!)

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ECS X58B-A Black Edition Motherboard

The ECS X58B-A Motherboard

Intel's Nehalem architecture was a huge step forward in putting high-performance computing into the average consumer's PC. In many cases Nehalem offers performance that was previously reserved for dual-CPU configurations costing several thousand dollars. Now for $700 you can build a killer Core i7 build with 6GB of memory and a board supporting both CrossFire and SLI.




Elitegroup Computer Systems, ECS for short, is primarily an OEM manufacturer so it's not well known to the enthusiast community. This is the second ECS board I've had my hands on and it is obvious that ECS is trying very hard to improve both their quality and their image. The last board, the ECS P45T-A, was an OEM board passed off as an enthusiast board. Just on opening the box though it was obvious ECS meant business.

Intel's X58 chipset, the only current platform supporting Nehalem, supports CrossFire natively. SLI can also be supported but the board must be tested by Nvidia and either sport an nForce 200 PCIe switch or an SLI key within the BIOS. These from my understanding are unnecessary from an electrical standpoint and are simply a vestige of their chipset making days.

Below is a list of all the technologies incorporated into this board. Priced at $245, the ECS isn't your top tier board but thankfully this is reflected in the price. This will be much appreciated by consumers given how most X58 boards are selling for $300 or greater. That being said, this board does have a lot of features that you wouldn't expect on a budget board.

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Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard

The Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Motherboard

When it comes to enthusiast motherboards Gigabyte is a household name. Their recent lines of Ultra Durable boards have been a hit with overclockers everywhere. Therefore, it is no surprise that Gigabyte has introduced their third generation of the Ultra Durable line, or UD3. One of the first boards available is the one we are looking at today, the EP45-UD3P. Based on Intel's P45 chipset, UD3 adds an extra ounce of copper to the layers in the motherboard. According to Gigabyte, the extra copper in the motherboard layers helps both Power and Ground layers. It also helps keep the board running cooler, with claims of up to 50C in some areas! Finally, with the board running cooler and having cleaner power and ground signals, the board should overclock better than one without the additional copper layers. Of course, all of the old Ultra Durable pieces are still in place, like the all solid Japanese capacitors, and Low RDS MOSFETs.

Let's take a look at the specifications of this board:

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ASRock N7AD-SLI Motherboard

Introduction and Specs

A few weeks back, we had the opportunity to take a sneak peek at the ASRock N7AD-SLI motherboard. Specifically, we looked at a feature that was available on the board called Instant Boot. We were pretty impressed with the feature, and at the time had no issues installing Windows and getting the board ready for use. We told you that we would be doing a full review on the board, and that is what we intend to do today.

ASRock has always had the ability to bring boards to the market that were very good performers and were priced lower than many other boards in the same class. They have also given extra attention to older chipsets and not abandoned them as they developed the newer boards based on newer chipsets. Many other companies can almost leave you high and dry once they get started on the new cycle of boards that launch with new chipsets. ASRock has not done this though, and they should be commended for that.

The N7AD-SLI board is a board that is based on the NVIDIA nForce 740 SLI chipset. This is not a flagship board by any means. It is a budget board that will allow you to run SLI, which will give an upgrade path to those that may add a second video card later on.

So, what kind of performance will we get from this board? That is what we intend to find out as we put the ASRock N7AD-SLI motherboard through our testing suite.

First, let’s take a look at the specs...

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ASUS P6T Deluxe OC Palm Motherboard

The ASUS P6T Deluxe Motherboard

In the world of motherboard makers, they just don't get any bigger than ASUS. Over the past year the company has grown by leaps and bounds. They have always offered a value priced motherboard with a good selection of features and stability, and at the same time they build in overclocking must haves. The last couple of years we've seen a number of enthusiast motherboards, but none have offered more than ASUS. They keep building in more and more features to cater to overclockers. It's to this end that we have the ASUS P6T Deluxe OC Palm.

Based on Intel's latest and greatest chipset, the X58, it packs in features for the workstation buyers and overclockers alike. Admittedly, the OC Palm edition is more of an enthusiast's board, whereas the "standard" P6T Deluxe would be more in line for a workstation. Nevertheless, they are essentially exactly the same aside from just one peripheral which we will get into in just a bit. First, though, let's take a look at the incredible features built into this board.

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ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Motherboard

The ASUS M4A79T Deluxe Motherboard

During the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show ASUS launched the brand new M4 Series of motherboards that are the first to fully support AMD's new socket AM3 processors. With the AMD Phenom II AM3 processors officially released AMD fans can finally move over to platforms that support DDR3 memory. Since AMD has started to shift away from DDR2 memory the question that remains to be answered is, are consumers ready to make the move. When it comes to prices, DDR3 memory kits are still relatively high compared to DDR2 memory kits, which might limit the speed at which the new platform is adopted by end users. Today, Legit Reviews will be looking at the first memory architecture change that AMD has made since launching the Socket AM2 platform back in 2006. Will we see the 3-5% performance boost that AMD marketing slides have shown or will it perform slower than DDR2 platforms? That is what we will try to answer by comparing the new ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard to the tried-and-true MSI DKA790GX Platinum motherboard.





We showed you a preview of the ASUS M4A79T Deluxe motherboard last month , so let's get right to the to it as you've likely already know the basics about the board.

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ECS A780GM-A Ultra Black Series Motherboard

Introduction and Specs

ECS is no stranger to Legit Reviews, so we will not spend a whole lot of time talking about them as far as an introduction is concerned. They are a company that has been around for quite some time, and has stayed competitive in the motherboard market by introducing mostly budget conscious boards. Their newer "Black Series" of motherboards sees ECS putting a little more into the design and marketing end. The series is attractive in its appearance, and as you will see, is very competitive in its performance.

The ECS A780GM-A Ultra motherboard that we are looking at today is a full-size ATX mainboard that is part of the "Black Series." It sports the AMD 780G Chipset coupled with the SB750, which has proven to be a very competitive and great performing combination. The SB750 chipset by AMD supports Advanced Clock Calibration (ACC), a new feature which can allow for higher overclocks on Phenom and Phenom II processors due to some internal adjustments that AMD engineers have done that involves connecting unused pins on the Phenom CPU to the SB750 Southbridge in order to change the CPU's internal timings. This will make it easier to reach some of the higher overclocks long desired by Phenom owners. The ECS A780GM-A uses the SB700 chipset, and the ECS A780GM-A Ultra uses the SB750, so if you want ACC be sure to get the ECS A780GM-A Ultra, which is what we are looking at here today.

Let’s look at the specs and see what the ECS board offers...

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ASUS Marine Cool Concept Motherboard

The Uber Sexy ASUS Marine Cool Mainboard

CeBIT has had a number of very interesting products announced this year and the ASUS MARINE COOL Motherboard is certainly one of them. ASUS wanted to show off a revolutionary design with new innovations that would deliver the ultimate in stability and durability for consumers. The motherboard they came up with is called the Marine Cool and it shows what the future might hold for motherboard design.


Looking at the ASUS Marine Cool motherboard will leave you scratching your head for a second, so before we dive into the concept motherboard let's take a look at what ASUS says.

"The ASUS MARINE COOL is a conceptual motherboard that addresses the most demanding of usage scenarios. The front features a metal heat-pipe module to provide exceptional heat transference and dissipation for core components. Set flush on the back of the PCB, the backplate makes full use of micro-porous ceramic technology to provide a larger surface area-facilitating heat away from the PCB for highly effective thermal dissipation. Together, these revolutionary designs improve heat dissipation by up to 2 fold. The ASUS MARINE COOL also features an onboard uninterruptible power supply (UPS)-a built-in polymer battery that aver ts damage from unexpected blackouts. Furthermore, built-in server-standard Failover Memor y guarantees system boot, regardless of incompatible or faulty memory." - ASUS Marketing


The ASUS Marine Cool concept motherboard features SO-DIMM notebook memory slots with Failover Memory and a heat-pipe design that has become standard on todays high-end motherboards.

Flipping the ASUS Marine Cool motherboard over you might be shocked as you don't see the back of the actual PCB. The Marine Cool uses a back plate made from "micro-porous ceramic" technology that is said to dissipate heat quicker and to provide additional structural integrity to the motherboard.


The ASUS Marine Cool also features an onboard uninterruptible power supply (UPS)-a built-in polymer battery that averts damage from unexpected blackouts. We are unsure how this would protect the the ever critical hard drive in case of a power failure, but it is a very interesting idea.
This picture shows the CPU socket and power management are up close and in better detail. An interesting looking chipset and PWM cooling system with heat pipes keeps things nice and cool. You can also see the pair of notebook SO-DIMM slots, which is something we don't understand. With DDR2 and DDR3 desktop memory both being able to reach over 2GHz on production kits that would make the most sense for a concept motherboard. That being said this ATX board was designed for Intel LGA775 processors, which is also odd now that Intel LGA1366 processors are want enthusiasts and gamers are wanting. It is likely that ASUS was working on this concept board for some time and is just now showing it off to the public though.

Looking at the chipset cooler you should notice right away that it isn't designed for great airflow as the cover looks like it won't block the flow and trap the hot rising air inside. It is likely that ASUS is using 'liquid metal' or liquid cooling in a small closed loop system to keep things cool, but we don't know and ASUS wasn't commenting on the specifics. The ASUS Marine Cool concept motherboard shows that innovation can still be had when it comes to motherboard design! We just hope that some of the new features start making it to retail motherboards in the months to come.

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Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H AM2+ Motherboard

The Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-DS4H

AMD has been getting a lot of press these days with its recently released Phenom II processors. We covered the Phenom II X4 940 launch six weeks ago, and we foc used on the CPU for that review. This is the second half of that review; we are reviewing the 790GX chipset, the Dragon platform, and actually overclocking the Phenom II X4 940 above 4GHz. The GA-MA790GP-DS4H was one of three boards available at launch that supported and proved to be a sufficient platform for both stock and overclocked testing of Phenom II.

The GA-MA790GP-DS4H is an unusual board in that it works both as an enthusiast overclocking platform and a meek desktop platform. The board has extensive support for overclocking but includes features like an integrated HD3300 GPU and SidePort connected GPU memory to enable HD video playback. Today, we'll test the integrated GPU along with some beefier discrete GPUs and overclock Phenom II further than we have before.




Below is a the specification chart from Gigabyte illustrating all the features included within the GA-MA790GP-DS4H. The board has plenty of expansion opportunities and is quite feature-rich given its $140 price tag. The bang for buck is remarkable when comparing the GA-MA790GP-DS4H to the X58 motherboards with price tags nearly double what the GA-MA790GP-DS4H costs.

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Zotac GeForce 8200 ITX WiFi Motherboard

Zotac is not a name that we have come across very often. In fact, I would have to say that until this review, I have never had anything on the bench that was made by them.

A trip to their website can tell a lot about a company. When you visit Zotac’s web site, you notice a modern, up to date and quality site. You also have the opportunity to see a variety of nVidia based motherboards and graphic cards Zotac produces. The web site also gives us an idea of who they are as a company. Here is a little history from their website:

"ZOTAC International (MCO) Limited was established in 2006 with a mission to deliver superb quality of NVIDIA graphic solutions to the industry. It has strong backup from parent group, PC Partner Ltd. Headquartered in Hong Kong, factory in Mainland China and regional sales offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. The support ZOTAC provides is currently the largest of its kind around the world."



Today, we have the opportunity to look at one of their mini-ITX boards, the Zotac GeForce 8200-ITX WiFi. This board sports the nvidia MCP78 series chipset, and it a mere 6.69 inches x 6.69 inches in size. This certainly makes it an attractive board for using in an HTPC setup!

One important thing to notice in the specs is that this board only AMD CPUs that are 65-watt TDP are recommended. In fact, let’s take a look at the rest of the specs...

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ASUS Rampage 2 Extreme Motherboard

An ASUS Motherboard For Enthusiasts - RE2

For as many years as I have been building my own PC's, many of my friends have sworn by ASUS for the best stability, top end features, and great overclocking. Today, ASUS is still considered by most as the elite motherboard manufacturer for desktop motherboards. Over the last few years ASUS has stepped beyond the ordinary offerings to bring us something truly radical, even branding a name to their special line of motherboards. Dubbed the "Republic of Gamers" series, or ROG, these motherboards are considered the elite with cutting edge overclocking abilities and performance that few other boards can match.


Today, we are lucky enough to have such an ROG board to test, the Rampage 2 Extreme. The original Rampage Extreme was based on Intel's X48 chipset and was given the Editor's Choice award in our September review. This time around, ASUS has worked their mojo on Intel's X58 chipset while adorning it with some incredible features and eye catching colors. Let's take a look at the incredible list of features before we move on.

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ECS A790GXM-AD3 Motherboard

The Socket AM3 Black Series Gets Better

ECS continues with their Black Series of motherboards with the introduction of the ECS A790GXM-AD3 motherboard. The Black series boards that we have dealt with have seemed to have a quality build with great features and they are offered at a very reasonable price. Today’s market seems to find nearly everyone searching for a bargain, so this new motherboard from ECS may be just the hot deal you have been looking for... or is it? That is what we intend to find out as we look at the AM3, 790GX based motherboard.


The A790GXM-AD3 Black Series motherboard uses the AMD 790GX chipset, so it fully supports all of the Phenom and Phenom II processors on the market today. In addition, the ECS A790GXM-AD3 comes with the feature of dual channel memory architecture that supports DDR3 1333MHz memory up to the capacity of 32GB which is capable to provide faster data throughput for memory-intensive applications. To meet hardcore overclockers’ requirements, the latest exclusive BIOS utility, M.I.B. II, is included to provide various detailed tweaking options. Paired with AMD SB750 south bridge controller supporting the function of ACC (Advanced Clock Calibration), ECS A790GXM-AD3 allows users to push the overall system performance to another higher scale. It also means that you you are trying to 'unlock' a triple core AMD Phenom II processor and make it a quad core this board should be able to give it a shot. The board also features a five phase power design with a massive heat sink to help keep things from overheating. The board of course also features AMD CrossFire technology for true multi-GPU gaming performance and six SATA II 3.0GB/s ports that support advanced RAID configurations like RAID 5 and RAID 10. Let’s take a closer look at all the specs:

CPU

Socket AM3 socket for AMD Phenom II processors

High-performance HyperTransport 3.0 CPU Interface

Support transfer rate up to 5200 mega-transfers per second

Note: This board supports CPU up to 140W TDP only; you can refer to AMD website to check your CPU.

Chipset

North Bridge: AMD 790GX

South Bridge: AMD SB750
Graphics

On Chip (AMD 790GX-based with ATI Radeon HD3300 graphics )

Integrated DirectX 10 graphics processor
Memory

Dual-channel DDR3 memory architecture

4 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM socket support up to 32GB*
(Due to the DRAM maximum size is 2GB at present, the memory maximum size we have tested is 8GB)
Support DDR3 up to 1333/1066 DDR3 SDRAM*
(Due to AMD CPU spec limitation, please refer to Memory QVL for more information)
Expansion Slot

2 x PCI Express Gen 2.0 x16 slots
2 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots
Storage

Support by AMD SB750
2 x Ultra DMA 100/66/33 devices
6 x Serial ATAII 3.0Gb/s devices
RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID 10 configuration
Support by JMB 361
1 x eSATA
Audio

Realtek ALC888 8-channel audio CODEC
Compliant with HD audio specification
Rear Panel I/O

1 x PS/2 keyboard & PS/2 mouse connectors
1 x D-sub(VGA)

1 x HDMI Port

1 x RJ45 LAN connector

1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

1 x Audio port (Line-in,4x Line-out, Mic_in)

1 x Clear_CMOS button

1 x eSATA

6 x USB ports
Internal I/O

1 x 24-pin ATX Power Supply connector

1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power Connector

1 x 4-pin power connector for VGA card

1 x 4-pin CPU_FAN connector

1 x 3-pin SYS_FAN connector

1 x 3-pin PWR_FAN connector

1 x 3-pin NB_FAN connector

1 x Power on button

1 x Reset button

1 x IDE connector

1 x Speaker header

1 x Front panel switch/LED header

1 x Front panel audio header

1 x SPDIF out header

1X Power on LED (Green light)

6 x Serial ATA 3Gb/s connectors

3 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 6 USB ports
Form Factor

ATX Size, 305mm*244mm
Warranty

36 months on parts
24 months for parts and labor

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MSI 790GX-G65 ATX Motherboard

The MSI 790GX-G65 Motherboard

AMD's Phenom II has made it fashionable to sport AMD CPUs in the enthusiast market once again. Phenom II is currently split across two nearly identical sockets, AM2+ and AM3. Today we've got MSI's 790GX-G65 motherboard, one of two AM3 motherboards they currently manufacture. The 790GX-G65 motherboard is a mid-range motherboard that shares some of the overclocking features of the more expensive MSI 790GX GD70 while maintaining a much lower price. Today we'll show how a board with a modest price can still be successful at stock and overclocked speeds.








The 790GX + SB750 chipset that the 790GX-G65 is based upon is a familiar face with dozens of boards utilizing this chipset with AM2+ and AM3 sockets. Unlike motherboards of yore, the 790GX chipset has much less work cut out for it as the memory controller is integrated into the CPU. However, unlike past motherboards, the 790GX northbridge features an integrated HD3300 graphical processor with 128MB of DDR3 for superb onboard video performance and smooth high-definition video playback.

A buyer must be very careful with AMD's current lineup of CPUs. Since the 790GX-G65 uses an AM3 socket, only AM3 Phenom II CPUs will physically fit in the socket and function properly. Currently, only the AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition, Phenom II X3 710, and Phenom II X4 810 will function in this motherboard. Don't worry though, there are many upcoming AM3 CPUs and this board will support them all as it can support up to 140w CPUs. Below is a short chart highlighting the major features of the 790GX-G65. For additional board specifications and support, please visit MSI's 790GX-G65 support page.


CPU

Socket AM3 socket for AMD Phenom II processors

High-performance HyperTransport 3.0 CPU Interface

Support transfer rate up to 5200 mega-transfers per second

Note: This board supports CPU up to 140W TDP only; you can refer to AMD website to check your CPU.

Chipset

North Bridge: AMD 790GX

South Bridge: AMD SB750
Graphics

Integrated HD3300 DirectX 10 graphics processor

128MB of DDR3-1333 for enhanced graphics
Memory

Dual-channel DDR3 memory architecture

4 x 240-pin DDR3 DIMM socket support up to 16GB
Support DDR3 up to DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600
Expansion Slot

2 x PCI Express Gen 2.0 x16 slots(1x16, 1x8)
2 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots
Storage

Support by AMD SB750
5 x Serial ATAII 3.0Gb/s devices
RAID 0/1/5/10/JBOD
2 x IDE Ultra DMA 66/100/133
1 x eSATA
Audio

Realtek ALC889 8-channel audio CODEC
Compliant with Azalia 1.0 Spec
Rear Panel I/O

1 x PS/2 keyboard or PS/2 mouse connector
1 x D-sub(VGA)

1 x DVI

1 x HDMI Port

1 x RJ45 LAN connector

1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector

6 x Audio port (Line-in,4x Line-out, Mic_in)

1 x eSATA

6 x USB ports
1 x FireWire 800
Internal I/O

1 x 24-pin ATX Power Supply connector

1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power Connector

1 x 4-pin CPU_FAN connector

3 x 3-pin SYS_FAN connector

1 x Power on button

1 x Reset button

1 x IDE connector

1 x Speaker header

1 x Front panel switch/LED header

1 x Front panel audio header

1 x SPDIF out header

5 x Serial ATA 3Gb/s connectors

3 x USB 2.0 headers supporting 6 additional ports
1 x IEEE1394 header supports 1 additional port
Form Factor

ATX Size, 305mm*244mm
9 mounting holes
Warranty

36 months on parts
24 months for parts and labor

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ASRock X58 SuperComputer Motherboard

Introduction and Specs

ASRock has never been shy about releasing new motherboards. Over the last couple of years it seems that we have seen a new board about every other week! That may be a slight exaggeration, but the truth is, they have produced a lot of different models, although a new one may only be a slight variation from the last board based on the same chipset. They have produced some good boards. Today, we get to see if that trend continues with the ASRock X58 SuperComputer motherboard. Based on the latest and greatest from Intel, this board is priced at a premium and geared to the enthusiast and high end market. Will it compete with other boards released on the same chipset? That is what we intend to find out!
AsRock X58 SuperComputer motherboard Specifications:

General
CPU - Intel® Socket 1366 Core™ i7 Processor Extreme Edition / Core™ i7 Processor Supports Intel® Dynamic Speed Technology
- System Bus up to 6400 MT/s; Intel® QuickPath Interconnect
- Supports Hyper-Threading Technology
- Supports Untied Overclocking Technology
- Supports EM64T CPU
Chipset - Northbridge: Intel® X58
- Southbridge: Intel® ICH10R
Memory - Triple Channel DDR3 memory technology
- 6 x DDR3 DIMM slots
- Supports DDR3 2000(OC)/1866(OC)/1600(OC)/1333(OC)/1066 non-ECC, un-buffered memory
- Supports DDR3 ECC, un-buffered memory with Intel® Workstation 1S Xeon® processors 3500 series
- Max. capacity of system memory: 24GB*
- Supports Intel® Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)**

*Due to the operating system limitation, the actual memory size may be less than 4GB for the reservation for system usage under Windows® XP and Windows® Vista™. For Windows® XP 64-bit and Windows® Vista™ 64-bit with 64-bit CPU, there is no such limitation.

**Due to Intel® CPU spec definition, XMP DIMMs and DDR3 2000/1866/1600 are supported for one DIMM per channel only.

BIOS - 8Mb AMI BIOS
- AMI Legal BIOS
- Supports "Plug and Play"
- ACPI 1.1 Compliance Wake Up Events
- Supports jumperfree
- SMBIOS 2.3.1 Support
- CPU, DRAM, NB, SB, VTT Voltage Multi-adjustment
- Supports I. O. T. (Intelligent Overclocking Technology)
- Supports Smart BIOS
Audio, Video and Networking
Graphics - n/a
Audio - 7.1 CH Windows® Vista™ Premium Level HD Audio with Content Protection
- DAC with 110dB dynamic range (ALC890 Audio Codec)
- DTS (Digital Theater Systems) support
LAN - PCIE x1 Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
- Realtek RTL8111DL
- Supports Wake-On-LAN
- Supports Dual GLAN with Teaming function
Expansion / Connectivity
Slots - 4 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (blue @ x8 / x16 mode, orange @ x8 / N/A mode) (Double-wide slot spacing between each PCI-E slot)
- 3 x PCI slots
- Supports ATI™ CrossFireX™, Quad CrossFireX™
- Supports NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, 3-Way SLI™ and SLI™
- Supports NVIDIA® Tesla Personal Supercomputer with three Tesla and one Quadro graphics cards
Connector - 6 x SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10, RAID 5 and Intel® Matrix Storage), NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug functions
- 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)
- 1 x Floppy connector
- 1 x IR header
- 1 x COM port header
- 1 x HDMI_SPDIF header
- 1 x IEEE 1394 header
- CPU/Chassis/NB/Power FAN connector
- 24 pin ATX power connector
- 8 pin 12V power connector
- CD in header
- Front panel audio connector
- 3 x USB 2.0 headers (support 5 USB 2.0 ports)

*2 SATAII 3.0 Gb/s connectors can be used as eSATAII connectors.

Rear Panel I/O I/O Panel
- 1 x PS/2 Mouse Port
- 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Port
- 1 x Coaxial SPDIF Out Port
- 1 x Optical SPDIF Out Port
- 6 x Ready-to-Use USB 2.0 Ports
- 1 x Powered eSATAII/USB Connector
- 2 x RJ-45 LAN Ports with LED (ACT/LINK LED and SPEED LED)
- 1 x IEEE 1394 Port
- HD Audio Jack: Side Speaker / Rear Speaker / Central / Bass / Line in / Front Speaker / Microphone
Other Features / Miscellaneous
Unique Feature - ASRock OC Tuner
- Intelligent Energy Saver
- Instant Boot
- Hybrid Booster:
- CPU Frequency Stepless Control
- ASRock U-COP
- Boot Failure Guard (B.F.G.)
Support CD - Drivers, Utilities, AntiVirus Software (Trial Version)
Accessories - 2 x ASRock XFire_Bridge_3S Cards
- 1 x ASRock SLI Bridge
- 1 x ASRock SLI_Bridge_3S Card
- 1 x ASRock 3-Way SLI Bridge Card
- Quick Installation Guide, Support CD, I/O Shield
- Floppy/ATA 133 Cables
- 6 x SATA Data Cables (optional)
- 2 x SATA 1 to 1 Power Cables (optional)
Hardware Monitor - CPU Temperature Sensing
- Chassis Temperature Sensing
- CPU/Chassis/NB/Power Fan Tachometer
- CPU Quiet Fan
- Voltage Monitoring: +12V, +5V, +3.3V, CPU Vcore
Form Factor - ATX Form Factor: 12.0-in x 9.6-in, 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
- All Solid Capacitor design (100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors)
OS - Microsoft® Windows® XP / XP 64-bit / Vista™ / Vista™ 64-bit compliant
Certifications - FCC, CE, WHQL

Let's take a look at the board's layout.

Read more...

Intel DX58SO X58 Express Chipset Motherboard

Introduction To The DX58SO

Intel chipset-based motherboards have always been some of the most reliable boards on the market. Not only that, but Intel chipset-based motherboards that are produced by Intel have always been some of the most feature rich and durable boards on the market. Intel could easily sit back for a bit and rest on their laurels, but they don't; they keep pushing ahead with constant innovation. That innovation has brought them to their newest chipset, the Intel X58 Express chipset, and the Intel DX58SO Motherboard.

The Intel DX58SO chipset, coupled with the ICH10R southbridge, brings the best and greatest that Intel has to offer to a quality designed motherboard that will bring the end user all the performance, speed and capabilities to make their computing experience all that it can be.

Let's take a look at the specs...


Specs

Form factor ATX (12.00 inches by 9.60 inches [304.80 millimeters by 243.84 millimeters])
Processor Click View supported processors for the most current list of compatible processors.
At product launch, this desktop board supports:
Support for a Intel® Core™ i7 processor in an LGA1366 socket

Memory Four 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM Dual Inline Memory Module (DIMM) sockets
Support for DDR3 1600 MHz, DDR3 1333 MHzς, DDR3 1066 MHz
Support for up to 16 GB of system memory

Chipset Intel® X58 Express Chipset

Audio Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem in the following configuration:
10-channel (7.1) Dolby Home Theater* Audio subsystem with five analog audio outputs and two S/PDIF digital audio outputs (coaxial and optical) using the Realtek* ALC889 audio codec

Video Nvidia SLI* and ATI CrossFire* multi-GPU platform support enables two graphics cards to work together for ultimate 3D gaming performance and visual quality
Full support of next-generation ATI CrossFire* and Nvidia SLI*

LAN support Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Peripheral interfaces Twelve USB 2.0 ports (8 external ports, 2 internal headers)
Six Serial ATA 3.0 GB/s ports, including 2 eSATA port with RAID support supplied by a Marvell* controller
Two IEEE-1394a ports (1 external port, 1 internal header)
Consumer IR receiver and emitter (via internal headers)

Expansion capabilities One PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connectors (SMBus routed to PCI Conventional bus add-in card connector)
One primary PCI Express* 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector
One secondary PCI Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector
One PCI Express* 1.0a x16 (electrical x4) bus add-in card connector


Intel also supports this board with a three year limited warranty.

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Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P Motherboard

Introduction and Specs

Gigabyte is a name that most computer enthusiasts will know, as they have had a number of successful motherboards over the years. They consistently produce boards that perform great and are very good overclockers. When you put Gigabyte together with a great overclocking Phenom II X3 CPU, the 790FX northbridge and the SB750 southbridge, you expect to get something good. And we did get something good. That something is called the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard. It has been a while since we looked at a Gigabyte board, so we were anxious to get a chance to see just what this board could do. First off though, lets look at the specs:



Specifications CPU Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom™ II X4 processor / AMD Phenom™ II X3 processor

Front Side Bus 5200 MT/s

Chipset North Bridge: AMD 790FX
South Bridge: AMD SB750

Memory 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory (Note 1)
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 1666(OC)/1333/1066 MHz memory modules

Audio Realtek ALC889A codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF In/Out
Support for CD In

LAN 2 x Realtek 8111DL chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Support for Teaming

Expansion Slots 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (The PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slots support ATI CrossFireX technology, and conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
3 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots

Storage Interface South Bridge:

1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID5, RAID 10 and JBOD
GIGABYTE SATA2 chip:

2 x JM322 chips (Smart Backup):
- 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (GSATA2_0, GSATA2_1, GSATA2_2, GSATA2_3) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices (Note 2)
- Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD
ITE 8720 chip:

1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

IEEE 1394 T.I. TSB43AB23 chip

Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)

USB Integrated in the South Bridge

Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Internal I/O Connectors 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
10 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
2 x system fan header
1 x power fan header
1 x North Bridge fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x CD In connector
1 x S/PDIF In/Out header
1 x IEEE 1394a header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x serial port header
1 x parallel port header
1 x chassis intrusion header
1 x power LED header
1 x power switch
1 x reset switch
1 x clearing CMOS switch

Back Panel Connectors 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
1 x coaxial S/PDIF out connector
2 x IEEE 1394a port
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
2 x RJ-45 port
6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

I/O Controller ITE IT8720 chip

H/W Monitoring System voltage detection

CPU/System temperature detection
CPU/System fan speed detection
CPU overheating warning
CPU/System fan fail warning
CPU/System fan speed control (Note 3)

BIOS 2 x 8 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
Support for DualBIOS™
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b

Unique Features Support for @BIOS
Support for Q-Flash
Support for Virtual Dual BIOS
Support for Download Center
Support for Xpress Install
Support for Xpress Recovery2
Support for EasyTune (Note 4)
Support for Easy Energy Saver
Support for Time Repair
Support for Q-Share

Bundle Software Norton Internet Security (OEM version)

Operating System Support for Microsoft Windows Vista/ XP

Form Factor ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 24.4cm

Note (Note 1) Due to Windows Vista/XP 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB.
(Note 2) A JM322 chip supports two SATA 3Gb/s connectors, so the four SATA 3Gb/s connectors are divided into two pairs: GSATA2_0 and GSATA2_1 as one pair and GSATA2_2, GSATA2_3 as another pair.
(Refer to Chapter 2, “Integrated Peripherals” and Chapter 5, “Configuring SATA Hard Drive(s),“ for how to enable the Smart Backup function.)
(Note 3) Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/ system cooler you install.
(Note 4) Available functions in EasyTune may differ by motherboard model.
Remark Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party website.
Due to most hardware/software vendors no longer offer support for Win9X/ME. If some vendors still has Win9X/ME drivers available, we will publish on website.



* The specification and pictures are subject to change without notice.
* All trademarks and logos are the properties of their respective holders.

* Due to standard PC architecture, a certain amount of memory is reserved for system usage and therefore the actual memory size is less than the stated amount.
Gigabyte motherboards come with a three year limited warranty

Read more...

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P Motherboard AMD 770

Introduction and Specs

Once again we have the opportunity to look at a Gigabyte motherboard. We were pretty impressed with the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard that we recently reviewed, so we got a little excited to see how its little sibling, the GA-MA770T-UD3P, would stack up. Today's economy is all about doing stuff as economically as you can, so most people will like a motherboard that can be gotten on the cheap and still perform very well. So, is that where this board fits in from Gigabyte? That is exactly what we intend to find out as we put it through our testing and see how it stacks up against the likes of a 790FX and a 790GX board.



The GA-MA770T-UD3P uses Gigabyte's famed Ultra Durable 3 technology on this budget friendly AMD socket AM3 platform. This technology brings 2 oz copper PCB and further helps to reduce the system temperature and dramatically enhance the performance. Based on AMD 770 chipset, the GA-MA770T-UD3P supports all the 45nm AMD AM3 Phenom II series processors that feature DDR3 memory controllers and HyperTransport 3.0 technology. To top all that off the board also features Easy Energy Saver technology to help conserve power and be green friendly. Not a bad list of features considering this board retails for just $79.99 shipped at Newegg! Add in one of the $87 AMD Athlon II 250 3.0GHz dual-core processors and you have a motherboard and processor for under $170!


The AMD 770 chipset does have some limitations though and the most obvious is that it lacks support for multi-GPU configurations as it sports just a single x16 PCI Express 2.0 slot for graphics. Looking at the AMD chipset specifications site for reference, we can see exactly what this chipset offers compared to the 790X and 790FX chipsets. According to AMD the 770 chipset lacks ATI CrossFireX Technology, Quad PCIE Blocks, GPU-Plex Technology, and Auto Xpress. Three of these features revolve around the board only having a single PCI Express 2.0 slot, so if you only plan on running one video card these features don't mean much to you. AMD Auto Xpress technology is a feature that automatically activates with AMD/ATI components to deliver better CPU, GPU, and system performance. If you know your way around a BIOS you can manually set things, so again no big deal. What you end up getting here with the GA-MA770T-UD3P motherboard is a solid single GPU platform that is able to run all the latest processors for under $80! Not bad at all! Let's take a quick look at the specs:

CPU Support for AM3 processors


Hyper Transport Bus 5200/2000 MT/s

Chipset North Bridge: AMD 770
South Bridge: AMD SB710

Memory 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory (Note2)
Dual channel memory architecture
Support for DDR3 1666(OC)/1333/1066 MHz memory modules
Support ECC memory (Note 3)

Audio Realtek ALC888 codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF In/Out
Support for CD In

LAN Realtek 8111C/D(L) chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIE_16)
(The PCI Express x16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
4 x PCI Express x1 slots
2 x PCI slots

Storage Interface South Bridge:

1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors supporting up to 6 SATA 3Gb/s devices
Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 0+1
iTE IT8720 chip:

1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive

IEEE 1394 T.I. TSB43AB23 chip

Up to 3 IEEE 1394a ports (2 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a headers)

USB Integrated in the South Bridge

Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Internal I/O Connectors 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
1 x floppy disk drive connector
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
1 x CPU fan header
2 x system fan headers
1 x power fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
1 x CD In connector
1 x S/PDIF In header
1 x S/PDIF Out header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x IEEE 1394a header
1 x parallel port header
1 x serial port header
1 x power LED header
1 x chassis intrusion header

Back Panel Connectors 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
2 x IEEE 1394a ports
1 x RJ-45 port
6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

I/O Controller iTE IT8720 chip

H/W Monitoring System voltage detection

CPU/System temperature detection
CPU/System/Power fan speed detection
CPU overheating warning
CPU/System/Power fan fail warning
CPU fan speed control (Note 4)

BIOS 2 x 8 Mbit flash
Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
Support DualBIOS™
PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b

Unique Features Support for @BIOS
Support for Download Center
Support for Q-Flash
Support for EasyTune (Note 5)
Support for Xpress Install
Support for Xpress Recovery2
Support for Virtual Dual BIOS
Support for Easy Energy Saver

Bundle Software Norton Internet Security (OEM version)

Operating System Support for Microsoft® Windows Vista/XP

Form Factor ATX Form Factor; 30.5cm x 21.0cm

Note (Note 1) We recommend that you enhance heat dissipation for the CPU VRM area if an AMD Black Edition CPU is installed and the Advanced Clock Calibration is enabled.
(Note 2) Due to Windows® XP 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB.
(Note 3) Use of a CPU that supports ECC is required if you wish to install ECC memory.
(Note 4) Whether the CPU/ system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/ system cooler you installed.
(Note 5) Available functions in EasyTune may differ by motherboard model.

Read more...

ASRock M3A780GXH/128M Motherboard

The ASRock M3A780GXH/128M Mainboard

AMD's 7 series chipsets and Phenom II processors have worked to bring the company 180 degrees around with a spec of light at the end of the tunnel. ASRock, known for their niche filling boards, has released a series of boards based on AMD's AM2+ socket, but the M3A780GXH/128M we have here today is one of their first AM3 motherboards. Coupling AMD's 780G chipset with integrated ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics and the SB710 southbridge, this $89.99 motherboard strives to cover lots of ground with its IGP configuration and three PCIe slots supporting CrossFireX.

As mentioned above, ASRock has a number of AM2+ motherboards and after looking over the M3A780GXH/128M specifications and layout it appears ASRock has culled all the positive attributes from their previous motherboards and combined them into a single platform. For a budget board expansion opportunities abound, and while it is obvious a few things were cut in sake of price point, the board is still a solid offering. Below is a screen grab of their website showcasing the integrated features of the board; for more information feel free to visit their product page.
Support for Socket AM3 processors: AMD Phenom II X4 / X3 (except 920 / 940) and Athlon II X4 / X3 / X2 processors

ASRock DuraCap (2.5 x longer life time), 100% Japan-made high-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
Supports CPU up to 140W

AMD 780G + SB710 Chipsets

Supports AMD OverDrive with ACC feature (Advanced Clock Calibration)

FSB 2600 MHz (5.2 GT/s)

Supports Hyper-Transport 3.0 (HT 3.0) Technology

Supports Dual Channel DDR3 1600(OC)/1333/1066/800 (4 x DIMM slots) non-ECC, un-buffered memory, Max. capacity up to 16GB
Integrated AMD Radeon HD 3200 graphics, DX10 class iGPU, Pixel Shader 4.0, Max. shared memory 512MB
Built-in 128MB DDR3 1333(OC)/1200MHz SidePort Memory
Supports ATI CrossFire, Hybrid CrossFireX and 3-Way CrossFireX
3 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (green @ x16 mode, blue @ x8 mode, orange @ x4 mode)
6 x SATAII 3.0 GB/s connectors, support RAID (RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 10 and JBOD), NCQ, AHCI and "Hot Plug" functions
1 x eSATAII 3.0 GB/s connector
Supports 2 x IEEE1394 ports (one port on back panel, one header on board)
PCIE Gigabit LAN 10/100/1000 Mb/s
Three VGA Output options: D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI
Supports HDCP function
Supports Full HD 1080p Blu-ray (BD) / HD-DVD playback
Supports ASRock Instant Boot
Supports Smart BIOS, ASRock OC Tuner, Intelligent Energy Saver
7.1 CH Windows Vista Premium Level HD Audio (ALC888Audio Codec)
Windows Vista Premium 2008 Logo Ready
I/O Panel: 1 x VGA/D-Sub Port, 1 x VGA/DVI-D Port, 1 x HDMI Port, 1 x IEEE 1394 Port, 1 x eSATAII Port,1 x RJ-45 LAN Port with LED, 6 x USB 2.0 Ports

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EVGA E761 X58 SLI Classified Motherboard

EVGA E761 X58 Classified

EVGA in the past has been an Nvidia only company, utilizing Nvidia reference designs for their boards. Their first notable departure was the EVGA 790i FTW and subsequent 790i FTW Digital. With Intel locking down chipset options for Core i7 to just their X58 northbridge and ICH10R southbridge, EVGA has designed their own custom board. This custom board has the highest price for any Intel X58 Express powered motherboard at $399 shipped, but has features designed for extreme performance and overclocking.

Most motherboards feature 4 to 6 phase CPU power regulation and maybe 2 phase memory power regulation if you are lucky. The EVGA X58 Classified comes equipped with 10 phase power regulation for the CPU and 3 phase for the memory, providing the most stable power during overclocking. In addition to this there are other features that facilitate overclocking such as PCIe slot disabling switches, remote CPU vCore adjustments, and a BIOS centered around overclocking.

The last EVGA board I touched was the 790i Digital FTW. The Classified packaging has stepped up the level of packaging. The box looks.. slick!

The accessories all come smoothly bagged up. You've got your PCI bracket mounted USB/Firewire ports, solid SLI bridges, an installation guide, a manual, and hard drive cables.

The ECP is an external control board that lets the end-user control some rudimentary aspects of the board. You can power on and reset the board, reset the CMOS, manipulate the PCIe slot connectivity, monitor the POSt process via the 80 port LED, and use the three switches to increase CPU vCORE by +0.1v per jumper.

I have to give it up to EVGA; the E761 Classified looks like it is worth $399 shipped. The black and red color scheme with the black PCB just exudes a menacing aura; hopefully the board holds up to its price tag and sleek color scheme.

The DIMM slots are powered by a 3-phase PWM. To the right of the DIMM slots are 9 copper pads that let the end-user measure various voltages directly such as vcore and vtt. To the left of the 24-pin power connector are a series of jumpers. These jumpers let the end-user completely disable various PCIe slots, which is very useful when benching and you want to disable a graphic card.

The southbridge of the board is plastered with a rather large heatsink, some USB headers, a PORT 80 LED readout, and an extensive pinout to be used with the ECP.

The PCIe layout is designed around enabling triple-sli with double-width cards while having 1 free slot for a single PCIe x16 and PCIe x1 slot. With all 4 slots populated, bandwidth is split to 8x per slot.




The 10-phase digital PWM has been specially designed for extreme overclocking. Two +12v EPS connectors are wired into the CPU pwm to provide up to 600w of power. To improve signal and power stability EVGA has increased the gold content within the socket to facilitate making the best connection to the CPU.

The IO panel has a large number of input and output options. For output there is an optical and a coaxial SPDIF connector and 6 audio jacks. For input there are 8 USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, an eSATA port, and two gigabit ports. The little red button by the optical port is a CMOS clear switch.

In addition to all actual hardware designed for overclocking, EVGA has their eLEET utility which supports software manipulation of every voltage on the board along with QPI base clock and PCIe manipulation. In addition to this, the eLEET utility lets you monitor these voltages, monitor memory and CPU frequencies, and the ability to store 10 frequency and voltage profiles. This can be quite useful when overclocking at the limits of your processor; I have a profile for 3DMark2003 and 2005 benchmarking and another profile for 3Dmark2006 and Vantage benchmarking.

Below is a short bullet list showing the board features. If you'd like more information check out EVGA's product page for the X58 E761 Classified.

Key Features

USB 2.0 Support

PCI Express 2.0/1.1 Support

Serial ATA - II (SATA2)

Solid Capacitors

Passive Heatsink

On-Boad Clear CMOS Button

On-Board Power Button with Integrated Power Light

On-Board Reset Button with Integrated HDD Activity Light

On-Board Diagnostics LED Readout

2-Way SLI Support

3-Way SLI Support

Windows XP Support

Windows Vista Support

DDR3 Memory Support

Triple-Channel DDR3 Memory Support

Intel X58/ICH10R Chipset

Intel Core i7 Processor Support

10 Phase Digital PWM

300% more gold content in the CPU socket

Super-low ESR and ESL film capacitors

Delivers up to 600w of CPU Power

Read more...

MSI 790FX-GD70 Socket AM3 Motherboard

Introduction and Specs

We have the opportunity to look at another AMD Socket AM3 motherboard in our review today. This one is the 790FX-GD70 from MSI and it is poised to be the flagship motherboard of the AM3 lineup for MSI. MSI has been around for quite some time, and so it is no stranger to competing in the motherboard business. This board sports the 790FX/SB750 combination of chipsets, so it is the best that you can get now in the AM3 scene. It also has a total of four X16 PCIE slots, so it is ready for a multi-GPU setup to take gaming to its graphical extremes. That is a just a couple of the great features of the board; let's take a closer look at what all it has...

SPECIFICATIONS

CPU • Supports 64-bit AMD® Phenom II X4 / Phenom X3 processor (Socket AM3)
• Supports AMD CPU with 140W power requirement
• For latest information on CPU support list, please check http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=cpuform2 for more detail
Chipset • AMD 790FX (AMD RD790) Chipset

-
HyperTransport connection to AMD Phenom/Athlon processor

-
HyperTransport supporting speed up to 2.6GHz (5200mt/s)

-
Supports 4 PCI-E x 16, & 1 PCI-E X 1




• ATI SB750 Chipset

-
Supports SATAII controllers for six drives

-
Supports single channel Ultra DMA 100/133 master mode EIDE controller

-
Supports Hi-Speed (USB2.0) controller 480 mb/s transfer rate up to 11 ports

Main Memory •
Supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 800/1066/1333/1600*/1800*/2133* (OC) SDRAM, 16GB Max

Due to the High Performance Memory design, motherboards or system configurations may or may not operate smoothly at the JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standard settings (BIOS Default on the motherboard) such as DDR3 voltage, memory speeds and memory timing. Please confirm and adjust your memory setting in the BIOS accordingly for better system stability.
Slots •
Four PCI Express X16 slots , support ATI CrossFire Technology (PCI Express Bus Specification v2.0 compliant)
{Slot configurations: Dual CrossFire (16X+16X), Quad CrossFire (8X+8X+8X+8X)}

•
One PCI Express X1 slot

•
Two 32-bit PCI slots (3.3v/5v PCI Bus Master slots)

On-Board IDE / SATA •
An IDE controller on the ATI SB750 chipset provides IDE HDD/CD-ROM with PIO, Bus Master and Ultra DMA133/100 operation modes.

-
Can connect up to 2 IDE devices

•
SB750 supports 6 SATA II ports (SATA1-6). Transfer rate is up to 300MB/s.

-
Supports up to 6 SATA

-
RAID 0 or 1, 0+1, 5 is supported

-
RAID function work w/ SATA/SATAII HDDs

•
JMicron JMB322 controller supports 2 SATAII (SATA7/8) & eSATA port

-
RAID 0, 1, is supported

-
RAID function work with SATA/SATAII HDDs

BIOS •
The mainboard BIOS provides "Plug & Play" BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically.

•
The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface (DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications.

•
Supports boot from LAN, USB Device 1.1 & 2.0 and SATA HDD

Audio •
8 Channel software audio codec Realtek ALC889
• True Blu-ray Audio Support
•
Compliance with Azalia v1.0 spec.

•
Flexible 8-channel audio with jack sensing

LAN •
Dual Realtek® 8111DL Gb LAN chip

-
Supports 10Mb/s, 100Mb/s and 1000Mb/s

-
Compliance with PCI-Express v1.0a

IEEE1394 •
VIA VT6315N controller

•
Support up to 2 IEEE 1394 ports (rear x 1 / front x 1)

•
Transfer rate up to 400 mbps.

On-Board Peripherals -
1 floppy port supports 1 FDD with 360K, 720K, 1.2M, 1.44M and 2.88Mbytes

-
1 serial port (supported by pin-out)

-
1 audio jack (6-in-1), coaxial/fibre SPDIF out

-
11 USB 2.0 ports (Rear x 7 / Front x 4)

-
2 RJ45 LAN jack

-
1 eSATA/USB share port

-
2 IEEE 1394 a connectors (Rear x 1/ Front x 1)

-
1 CD-in pinheader

Dimension 12 in (L) x 9.75 in (W) ATX Form Factor

Read more...

ASUS P7P55D EVO Core i5 Motherboard

The P7P55D EVO Loses SATA6GB/s

Recently, a ton of websites around the web have been showing off pictures of the upcoming ASUS P7P55D EVO motherboard that will be released in conjunction with Intel Core i5 processors down the road. The sad thing is that many news and review sites are showing old prototype P7P55D EVO motherboard images. Since we do old school journalism here at Legit Reviews, where we actually talk to the companies to make sure our information is correct and accurate before posting it on the web, we have some new information for our readers that you might not have seen yet. We were able to get in touch with ASUS Taiwan this morning and were able to land a pair of photos that show the ASUS P7P55D EVO motherboard including the new southbridge heatsink and have received news that the Marvell SATA 6G controller has been removed.

ASUS P7P55D Motherboard Specifications

CPU LGA1156 Socket for Intel Lynnfield Processors
Supports Intel Turbo Boost Technology
Chipset Intel P55 Express Chipset
Memory 4xDIMM, max. 16GB, DDR3 1600(OC)/133/1066MHz, non-ECC, unbuffered memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
Expansion Slots
2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode)
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16slots (at x4 mode, 2.5GT/s)
2 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 (2.5GT/s)
2 x PCI
Storage Intel P55 Express Chipset
- 6 x SATA 3.0 GB/s ports
- Intel Matrix Storage technology supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10
- 1x eSATA port

LAN Dual Gigabit LAN controllers
Realtek 8112L/8110SC Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Audio VIA VT1828 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- DTS Surround sensation UltraPC
IEEE 1394 VIA 6308P controller supports 1 x IEEE 1394a ports (one on the mainboard, one at the backplate)
USB 14 x USB 2.0 ports (6ports on board, 8 ports on the back panel)
Asus Features MemOK!
Asus EPU
Express Gate
Asus Q-LED (CPU,DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED)
Asus Q-Slot
Asus Q-DIMM

Here is a quick background on the Intel P55 Express and the P7P55D EVO for those that are seeing it for the first time.

The P7P55D 'EVO' motherboard is based on Intel's LGA1156 socket designed for Intel Lynnfield Processors or Core i5, so this is a whole new socket for a new generation of processors that will be coming out soon. To our knowledge the P55 Express chipset will no longer feature a QPI bus (Quick Path Interconnect) and therefore has no Northbridge, which will likely have an impact on performance when compared to the Intel X58 Express chipset. Also missing is triple channel DDR3, which was replaced by dual channel DDR3. This is good news as it will lower system costs, and it is good for those upgrading from previous generation DDR3 platforms like the X38/X48 as they might be able to continue using the same memory kit if they like. The biggest negative that we can see with the P55 chipset is that Intel has restricted the bandwidth of the x16 PCI express to 8 lanes. This is significant if you plan on running a multi-GPU setup like NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossFire. For the average consumer that runs just one video card this shouldn't be a big deal as the full benefits of PCIe 2.0 with 16 lanes is available when one card is being used. When two video cards are being used the full 16 lanes is split between two PCIe slots (x8 + x8). It's not official and/or public that NVIDIA SLI will be supported on the P55 chipset, but we think it's highly likely that it will be. ATI CrossFire is, of course, supported again, so no worries there.


The P7P55D 'EVO' motherboard pictured above is based off the most recent revision and was sent to Legit Reviews just hours ago. The color scheme has been updated and I/O ports have been updated as well to include External SATA (eSATA). It should also be noted that SATA6G is not present anymore due to Marvell limitations (yield and other issues of the Marvell controller are to blame according to our sources in Taiwan). As a result, the SATA color scheme has been adjusted. Due to the Marvell yield issue SATA6G was removed from the EVO and also all of ASUS' P55 mass production boards. The only board that will ship with SATA6G support now is the ASUS P55 Premium motherboard. Once Marvell gets all issues resolved in terms of yield and a few other areas ASUS will reintroduce this feature into their P55 boards. As a side note, Marvell, as well as ASUS, wanted to make it clear that SATA 6G is not SATA III as it confuses end users who may think it is SATA II/2 which has 300MB throughput. The last change on the most recent version of the board is that many of the older pictures didn't show the Q-DIMM memory connector and the new pictures are updated to show the new design. From our quick look at these pictures that is all that we can see that has been changed.


The I/O backplate area on the P7P55D 'EVO' motherboard looks like it has all the bells and whistles that all the current high-end X58 motherboards offer. ASUS included the legacy PS/2 ports for both keyboard and mouse, but also placed 8 USB ports, Firewire, dual LAN ports, 10 Channel audio courtesy of six 3.5mm audio jacks or the S/PDiff output, and the new eSATA port on the I/O backplate.

It should also be noted that this near production mainboard no longer has SATA 6GB/s and 2oz Copper PCB silk screened onto the motherboard... Interesting, but at least we know why the Marvell controller was removed.


UPDATE (1:30PM CST on 7/14/2009)
ASUS just sent us an e-mail after reading this story and sent over some additional comments addressing some things that Legit Reviews mentioned in our preview of the P7P55D EVO motherboard.

"The reason why 2oz copper was removed from the silkscreen is because the EVO samples that were sent out were of course engineering samples so changes will happen as evidenced by the photos sent. ASUS has the stance of not wanting to focusing on material usage but focus on complete design of our motherboards. Additionally the 2oz silkscreen is there to show this is part of the features of our StackCool 3 / 3+ concept which is under the umbrella of our new Xtreme Design concept for all p55 motherboards. The final design of the board will not use this (2oz silkscreen). It will use a silkscreen most likely being StackCool3 or StackCool 3+ ( the + indicates a total of 8 layer PCB 6 and then 2 additionally ). We see this as an overall evolution of innovation and design throughout our motherboard history. We were the first motherboard manufacturer to use 2oz design with our p5e64 WS EVO ( called he95 ) but did not want to tout it as it was just part of our overall component quality choice. We are now further integrating it into StackCool implementation and the overall Xtreme Design initiative. With that said we want to maintain the focus on our complete Xtreme Design not just material usage.

On a second note about SATA 6G, I just got some updated news on this front. Currently it looks like the premium may not have this either. As of now I would just go with the it is a work in progress and if ASUS and Marvell’s Q & A and R & D teams feel satisfied with performance and functionality it will be implemented. ASUS is working closely to ensure the performance and quality of this controller implementation. This is because we do not want to have it start on the wrong footing especially it being a key future technology. The issue at hand seems to be more than an issue in relation to yield and is currently just stated as a technical issue in relation to the controller not working exactly as it should. The only reason why the premium was going to possibly have it outside of the other boards was assuming it was yield based problem we would still been able to implement it just on a smaller scale..."

I'm not sure about you guys, but the Intel P55 Express launch just got more interesting! Expect a full review on this great looking motherboard as soon as Intel launches Core i5 processors!

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790GX-M3H5 Motherboard

790GX-M3H5 Motherboard Specs

The DFI LanParty Jr 790GX-M3H5 motherboard is a Socket AM3 mATX motherboard that features the AMD790GX northbridge paired with the AMD SB750 southbridge. The board is part of the LanParty series, and is geared to the enthusiast crowd. DFI made a splash when they first introduced their LanParty series of boards. They have been known to be great performers as well as great overclockers and have usually come with a pretty good bundle. We are all ready to dig in and find out just what this board has to offer, so let's do it! First off, the specs!



LANPARTY JR 790GX-M3H5 Specifications:

CPU

AMD Phenom II processor

HyperTransport 3.0 (5200MT/s) HyperTransport 1.0 (2000/1600MT/s)

AMD OverDrive provides tuning options using the new “Advanced Clock Calibration” overclocking feature.

Socket 938 AM3 45nm
Chipset AMD chipset
Northbridge: AMD 790GX
Southbridge: AMD SB750
System Memory
Four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets
Supports DDR3 1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 MHz
Delivers up to 21Gb/s bandwidth at 1333MHz
Supports dual channel (128-bit wide) memory interface
Supports non-ECC unbuffered DIMMs
Supports up to 16GB system memory
Expansion Slots
2 PCI Express (Gen 2) x16 slots
Hybrid CrossFireX
combination of the integrated graphics and a discrete graphics card in a PCIE slot (8-lane port).
Two graphics cards support CrossFireX; each operating at x8 (8-lane ports) bandwidth
BIOS
Award BIOS
CMOS Reloaded
CPU/DRAM overclocking
CPU/DRAM/Chipset overvoltage
8Mbit SPI flash memory
Graphics
Integrated ATI Radeon HD 3300 graphics core
Onboard graphics interface
HDMI port for both digital audio and video HD display
DVI-I port for digital LCD display
Microsoft DirectX 10
Hybrid CrossFireX technology combines the onboard GPU and a discrete PCIE graphics card
Onboard Performance cache for added performance
Audio
Realtek ALC885 8-channel HD Audio Codec
High-performance DACs with 106dB dynamic range (A-Weight), ADCs with 101dB dynamic range (A-Weight)
LAN
Marvell 88E8056 PCIE Gigabit LAN controllers
Fully compliant to IEEE 802.3 (10BASE-T), 802.3u (100BASE-TX) and 802.3ab (1000BASE-T) standards
Serial ATA with RAID
Supports up to 6 SATA devices
SATA speed up to 3Gb/s
RAID 0/1/0+1(10)/5/JBOD/AHCI
IDE
One IDE connector allows connecting up to two UltraDMA 133Mbps hard drives
Rear Panel I/O
1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 mouse port
1 mini-DIN-6 PS/2 keyboard port
1 HDMI-out port
1 coaxial RCA S/PDIF-out port
1 optical S/PDIF-out port
1 DVI-I port
4 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
1 RJ45 LAN port
Center/subwoofer, rear R/L and side R/L jacks
Line-in, line-out (front R/L) and mic-in jacks
Internal I/O
4 connectors for 8 additional external USB 2.0 ports
1 connector for an external COM port
1 front audio connector
1 CD-in connector
1 IrDA connector
1 CIR connector
6 Serial ATA connectors
1 40-pin IDE connector
1 floppy connector
1 24-pin ATX power connector
1 8-pin 12V power connector
1 4-pin 5V/12V power connector (FDD type)
1 front panel connector
6 fan connectors
EZ touch switches (power switch and reset switch)
Power Management
ACPI and OS Directed Power Management
ACPI STR (Suspend to RAM) function
Wake-On-PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse
Wake-On-USB Keyboard/Mouse
Wake-On-Ring
Wake-On-LAN
RTC timer to power-on the system
AC power failure recovery
Hardware Monitor
Monitors CPU/system/chipset temperature
Monitors 12V/5V/3.3V/Vcore/Vbat/5Vsb/Vdimm/Vchip voltages
Monitors the speed of the cooling fans
CPU Overheat Protection function monitors CPU temperature during system boot-up
PCB
microATX form factor
24.5cm (9.64”) x 24.5cm (9.64”)

Let's move on and take a look at the layout of the board!

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Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard

Today, we have a sneak peak at the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 revision 0.2 motherboard for the upcoming Intel Core i5 processor series. This LGA1156 motherboard is part of the UD5 motherboard family, which means it features Gigabyte's Ultra Durable 3 technology and the '5' denotes that it should pack a hefty feature set.

Right off the bat you should notice that this board is based off of the LGA 1156 socket for Intel Lynfield CPUs, which has been rumored to be for both Core i5 and Core i7 processors, depending on the CPU features a particular model has. The upcoming Lynnfield processor supports dual channel memory only, so that is why you don't see triple-channel memory support on P55 motherboards like the GA-P55-UD5 shown above.

The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard features three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots. Only the top two are powered by CPU the directly, offering either a single x16 link or two slots with eight lanes each. That means that the bottom slot will feature just four lanes that are channeled to the Intel P55 Express chipset and not directly to the CPU. For those that are worried about multi-GPU support it has been confirmed by Gigabyte that both ATI CrossFire and NVIDIA SLI are supported on the two main physical x16 slots from the CPU. In addition to the PCI-E slots, the GA-P55-UD5 features two PCI slots and two PCI-E x1 slots, although it appears that using a dual-slot graphics card will block the PCI-E x1 slot directly below primary x16 slot. You can also make out the board revision number in the image above, which is 0.2.


The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard has four dual-channel memory slots that can support up to 16GB of memory at 2000+ MHz/1333 MHz/1066 MHz/800MHz depending on if you are overclocking and what divider is being used. The board's 24-pin ATX power supply header and IDE header can also be seen in the image above.


The rear I/O includes a PS2 keyboard or mouse port, ten USB 2.0 ports, both coaxial and optical S/PDIF out, two powered eSATA ports, two RJ45 sockets for Gigabit Ethernet, 6-pin and 4-pin Firewire sockets and six 3.5mm audio jacks providing the 7.1 channel surround sound as well as microphone and line-inputs.


The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard has support for four SATA 6Gbps in RAID 0, 1 and six SATA 3Gbps in RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 on the board itself. If that is not enough storage space there are also two more SATA 3Gbps eSATA connectors on the board's I/O backplane and one PATA header on the board itself. That means you can connect 12 SATA devices and 2 IDE devices on the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard at the same time!

The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD5 Motherboard 12+2 power phases using a standard pair of Power-PAK MOSFETs underneath the two heatsinks along the CPU socket.


Flipping the board over you can see some more of the components that make up the power phases and you can count them a little easier.

A Closer Look At The Layout

The GA-P55-UD5 mainboard features power, reset and clear CMOS buttons along the bottom right corner of the board. The power button is rather large and easy to identify since it is labeled, but the reset and clear CMOS buttons need some better labeling. It seems the days of having to move a jumper over to clear the CMOS is long gone. The front panel connectors are color coordinated as you can see above, which makes assembling a PC much faster.


Here is a closer look at the 8-pin +12V ATX power connector that resides on the top left corner of the board. Once Gigabyte installs the U-shaped heat pipe to connect all the heatsinks it looks like this will be a tight fit, but still with enough room to be easily functional. You can also see the fan header for System Fan 3. It should be noted that other than the 4-pin CPU cooling fan header the board has five additional fan headers. Out of the six fan headers on the board two are 4-pin headers (CPU Fan and SYS Fan 2).


The P55 chipset heatsink reminds me of a gun metal gray, but I like the look and finish. A PCH fan header is located just out of frame, so adding air cooling is easily possible if you can figure out a way to attach a fan to the interestingly designed heatsink.


The new LGA 1156 socket has a new 'slide' type lever mechanism for opening and removing the CPU, which is new to us. We have not installed and removed the processor enough yet to notice any negatives to the new design.

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ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard

The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard

Even though the formal release of the AMD 785G chipset is not set to occur until sometime in August, the first 785G motherboards have been shipping to retailers for weeks and one managed to find its way to our front door here at Legit Reviews. Today, we have the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard to take a peek at. This socket AM3 motherboard uses the AMD 785G and SB710 chipsets and is packed full of features that one wouldn't expect on an entry level AMD motherboard that will range from $70-$90 if the price leaks are correct.

For starters, the AMD 785G platform will be the first to feature highly anticipated ATI Radeon HD 4200 Graphics, which means that DirectX 10.1 gaming performance will be coming to IGP mainboards. That means that the AMD 785G platform will have better video performance than the AMD 780G chipset, which uses ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics. The title of being the world's fastest motherboard GPU still belongs to the ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics on the AMD 790GX motherboards, as the second number in AMD's IGP nomenclature dictat es the performance level. That is why the Radeon HD 3300 is faster than the Radeon HD 4200.

Inside the retail box one will find the bundle that comes with the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard. ASUS includes four Serial ATA cables, one Ultra DMA 133/100/66 cable, the I/O shield, Q-Connectors, user manual, motherboard support DVD and a case badge. The ASUS Q-Connectors allow you to hook up the front panel connectors to the supplied removable plug and then connect this plug onto the motherboard. This is a life saver when assembling a system down in a case where space and light is at a minimum. The I/O panel is just the standard stamped metal one, which is a bummer as we really like the ASUS Q-Shield version that is designed to decrease any electromagnetic interference from escaping out of or into the chassis through this area. It seems ASUS is planning on leaving that as a feature on their higher-end products.


As you can see from the image above the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO is a full size ATX motherboard that features the AM3 processor socket by AMD. The M4A785TD-V EVO uses Stack Cool 3+ and is part of the Xtreme Design initiative that ASUS is currently promoting. The board has a very clean layout and features an 8+2 phase power design. AMD and ASUS asked us not to go into any more detail than what can be seen from pictures of the board, so we can only give you a brief overview of the M4A785TD-V EVO. This motherboard features SidePort Memory, which is an individual on-board DDR3 chip that acts as a memory buffer for the integrated Radeon 4200 graphics. Since the board has the Radeon 4200 graphics on-board it also sports ATI Hybrid CrossFireX technology.

Expansion capabilities come in the form of three PCI slots, one PCI3 x1 slot and two x16 PCI-E 2.0 slots for those looking to run video cards in an ATI CrossFire configuration. It should be noted that the blue PCIe 2.0 slot x16 operates at x16 mode and the gray PCIe 2.0 slot operates at x4 mode.

The back I/O panel offers plenty of connectivity. The board features a single purple PS/2 combo port and a total of six USB 2.0 ports available on the I/O panel with more available on the board itself. Additional connectivity includes an optical S/PDIF port, a single eSATA port, a single IEEE 1394a Firewire port, a single RJ-45 Gigabit LAN port and the eight channel surround sound ports. When it comes to video connections you have the 15-pin VGA port, DVI-D port and the HDMI port. This motherboard is fully HDCP compliant, so it should be ideal for Blu-Ray playback or for any other protected content.

The heat sink on the AMD 785G chipset is impressive looking with a twin color design that looks like something from the orient. The days of boring old cookie cutter heat sinks have been long gone, but it is still amazing that designers keep coming up with new and innovative cooling solutions.

Stay tuned for a performance review of this great looking AMD 785G motherboard once it becomes public!

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ASUS AT3N7A-I Motherboard New Fan

The Loud 40mm Fan Gets Replaced

While building our NVIDIA Ion powered mini-itx computer system we found that the fan used to cool the Intel Atom 330 processor and Nvidia Ion chipset was a bit louder than what we expected from our prototype ASUS AT3N7A-I motherboard. ASUS said they agreed with the feedback that they were getting from review sites and changed the fan that will be found on the retail models. They also sent us the new fan to give it a test drive, which is exactly what we did.

The 40mm fan on the ASUS AT3N7A-I motherboard is made by EverFlow, runs at ~6400RPM and can be annoyingly loud if you don't like fan noise. ASUS promised us the new fan would be quieter since it would spin slower, but it would have a negative impac t on cooling since it didn't have the same airflow ratings.

The original 40mm fan that came with the new ASUS AT3N7A-I motherboard is shown on the left and the new replacement fan that should be shipping on all of the retail boxed versions is sitting on the right. Both fans are EverFlow model R124010SL 40mm fans, which is interesting as the only thing they have in common is the fact they both have nine blades. The plastic housing, fan length/pitch, motor and gauge of wiring is different between the two fans. The new fan runs at ~4100 RPM instead of 6400 RPM, so let's see what that decrease in speed does to cooling and the noise level of the system.

To see how hot the Intel Atom 330 CPU would get we downloaded ASUS PC Probe II V1.04.76 and fired up the utility to monitor fan speeds and the CPU temperature. The original fan on our ASUS AT3N7A-I Motherboard was spinning at over 6428 RPM, so its no wonder the system was so loud. The CPU temperature at idle was a very nice 30C due to this though. The little NVIDIA Ion powered system hit just 46C under full load when running the blended Prime95 torture test.

The new fan spins more than 2,000 RPM slower and is quieter, but this does come at a cost to as cooling performance is slightly decreased. We observed the system being 2-3C hotter than the previous 6400 RPM fan.

With the original 40mm fan spinning at ~6400 RPM our sound level meter showed the system humming along at 64 dBA.

With the new 40mm cooling fan installed in the system the noise level dropped to 58-59 dBA, which is a decrease of 5-6 dBA. The fan was still a little loud for our tastes though. You just can't do that much with a 40mm fan. It would have been nice to see a new heat sink design that supported a 60mm fan though.

Trying to get the largest sound reduction possible we unplugged the 60mm case fan that comes with the Travla chassis and sure enough the noise level dropped another 5 dBA. This is a decrease of 11 dBA, which is a significant decrease in noise from where we first started. With the case cover installed and sitting several feet away the system is much quieter than before! Most people use a mini-ITX motherboard for a HTPC of for an office solution, so having lower noise levels is always a good thing for a motherboard like this. Still the new fan is an improvement and should be okay for 99% of consumers looking for a mini-ITX motherboard like the ASUS AT3N7A-I.

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