AMD 890GX Unveiled: Three Motherboards Compared

[dark_lord69]

This just goes to show that the real world differences from one chipset to another are minimal.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]p4l1ndr0m3[/nom]What are you smoking? All of the boards offer DX10.1, USB3.0, and SATA 6Gb/s... read more![/citation]

All the boards use a USB 3.0 add-in controller, he was looking for integrated USB 3.0 support. SATA 6Gb/s drives already exist, one was used to test the SB850 southbridge capabilities.

 

[mowston]

Don't know if anyone else cares, but what about power usage? And heat?Be nice to know for HTPC.

 

[Guest]

AMD did not update their extremely popular and great IGP the 780G / HD3200 for years. Since it was released in 2007.

The 790G was just clocked higher. Well you can clock the 780G easily to 950MHz (wich is higher then 790G) without extra cooling accesoires.

This 890GX is, as tomshardware stated, an upgrade of the southbridge. The only reason the IGP is not exactly the same as the 780G/790G is because they use the new procede for their chips.

There was a big difference between the 690G and 780G (since you can play games with 780G nicely, if you have the Sideport memory and use 512MB shared and clock it to 950MHz). And play HD movies flawlessly without the use of your CPU.

But this new iGP offers nothing new. So if you already have a 780G board for the igp, keep it.

Only if you need integrated usb3/sata6 it is usefull.

I dont think a new IGP will come since newer AMD CPU's will have integrated GPU.

 

[Sharft6]

so is the raid controller the same?

 

[tmc]

First it was intel's side to overcharge for motherboards.. and now it's AMD's turn to ramp up mass production of $300+ motherboards... don't think just because it's AMD stamped on these sockets that they won't gouge you at the e-tailer level for these early adopter price slots!
These so-called goodies thrown in such as Sata6 and usb 3.0 won't be fully utilizable until 2 years out from now when devices drop off from their early adopter premiums.

Or another way to look at it... turn back the clock to 1998 price/performance ratios, just with new tech!

 

[kyosho]

Well, nothing was BROKE so why fix it. Most people don't need more than what is currently offered anyways.

 

[TheDuke]

I'm waiting to see 890FX board but if i'm broke at the moment i buy i might settle for a 890gx

 

[Guest]

As if Intel mobos leap-frog eachother generation after generation... Why would AMD try to rip the world a new one with this when Fusion will be floating around in the next few months? You can't cram more stream-processors onto the northbridge without adding a fan. Fusion will have 480 stream processors, connected directly to the cores, you shall then have your capable integrated graphics.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]kyosho[/nom]Well, nothing was BROKE so why fix it. Most people don't need more than what is currently offered anyways.[/citation]

Because there were rumors of a 50% increase in graphics processing power that turned out to be completely untrue? Home builders on tight budgets were hoping for an integrated solution that could play the majority of recent games at low settings.

 

[blackpanther26]

how about overclocking? Sence it can support the new X6 how well dose the new SB overclock?

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]mowston[/nom]Don't know if anyone else cares, but what about power usage? And heat?Be nice to know for HTPC.[/citation]

If you click on one of the expandable photos it will bring up the photo album, which has additional charts including power and heat that weren't used in the article. Enjoy!

 

[Marco925]

[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]Why still bothering with Ultra ATA? I like how MSI decided to trim the unnecessary in this mobo. I hope in the future a mobo manufacturer does this to the extreme. No IEEE-1394, no Ultra ATA, no floppy, no CD In, no MIDI, no PS/2 ports. You get the picture.There are a couple things I like about the SB850. Obviously the native SATA 6.0, and also the integrated Gigabyte ethernet. No more crappy Realtek Ethernet.The more time goes on, the more I realize a Server Mobo would be more ideal for my workstation.[/citation]

But that's what workstation boards are for! Workstations! these are integrated boards, especially the MicroATX boards are not for Massive gaming and stuff like that. And some of us use the PS/2 Ports, the serial ports, the ATA(Which is much better than wasting 1 SATA socket for a DVD Drive) and the floppy connector. I use all of them, and hope they don't take it away. they don't cost that much and it's of more value to keep.

[citation][nom]outlw6669[/nom]Nice southbridge update AMD!It is a shame you could not have added native USB 3 in there along with the SATA 3.0.A bit more lackluster on the northbridge though.Other than the DX10.1 update, I really see nothing new...[/citation]

I think there would probably be something in the FX Series for USB 3.

 

[HalfHuman]

guess the new chipset is a good enough refresh. i guess sata3 will become relevant faster than usb3. it is nice that we have integrated nic, sata3. i see that most of the mobo manufacturers include usb3 as well. i think the gpu is strong enough for office pcs, htpcs, casual gaming and that is nice. do not forget that this will bring the prices down on 780/785 chipset mobos. the link between the nb and sb is wide enough so it can acomodate usb3, gigabit nic and the sata 3. you don't have that in intel mobos.
i don;t know if i read that here but it seems the new chipset was not a big investement as amd is preparing for lano which will have oncpu graphics and that will change things a bit.
i would have liked some power usage tests.

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]HalfHuman[/nom]i would have liked some power usage tests.[/citation]

If you click on one of the expandable photos it will bring up the photo album, which has additional charts including power and heat that weren't used in the article. Enjoy!

 

[wild9]

I too, anticipated more Northbridge performance, however on the whole I'm not that disappointed. AMD can't afford to keep all it's eggs in one basket - let's take into account the accompanying CPU release, as well as a plethora of current CPU's as well as GPU's. The 890GX will also push down the price of this older (but still reliable), solutions such as the 785G.

Also, look how close the benchmarks are in relation to each other; a testament to AMD's reliability, performance and integration. You buy these boards and straight out the box, able able to perform a variety of roles..can you honestly say the same for Intel, especially this price point? Seems only nVidia can begin to get close.

This technology is a stop-gap solution, with more development being pumped into GPGPU technology. Alas, if you need this hardware in order to run a six-core CPU (which has yet to be confirmed), then that's the price of progress as far as I am concerned..it's not like AMD does it all the time.

I can't really fault what's on offer. It's based on tried and trusted technology that won't break the bank and won't compromise on performance, just like it's accompanying CPU and GPU hardware. It should also clock very well. No, it's not the super-IGP I thought it would be, but is that really a great loss? It can still run with the pack and run very well

 

[wild9]

[citation][nom]pei-chen[/nom]I wish AMD's product actually caught up with marketing. The on board graphic is far too weak to have "integrated gaming" that was promised to us when 690G was launched. They should put a 5450 in there or something.[/citation]

It can do games, depending on what they are. I haven't had any complaints about the 780g/785g. The hardware also does solid, stable HD video playback and the 785 is being adapted to run ATI Stream technology. The 690g was designed to go up against nVidia's 6100/6150, which it did very well. I'll admit that I wasn't overly impressed with it but again, it did what it was designed for in my book. The 780 is a stark contrast to the 690, however - and it clocks like crazy.

I don't think the 700 series or this is too weak at all..and only now has Intel even begun to play catch-up. The AMD IGP's can run slightly older games and also perform a whole host of multi-media related features, just on passive cooling. That's pretty cool in my book mate.

And if you want more bang there is no substitute for a discrete rather than integrated, GPU AMD has some kick-ass solutions on that front, too. What would you rather have, though..average boards and good GPU's..or good boards and GPU's? I think AMD delivers the latter, to the point where it's so good it's practically unchallenged

 

[ptroen]

Wow no usb 3.0 booooo

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Hmmmm.....How long before the new 6 core cpu's are available? Are there any applications or games that can take advantage of 6 cores?

 

[Oldirty]

Serious gamers buy graphics cards, chip sets don't mean much... If the new series of mother boards want to shock and aw, having a μPD720200 controller chip for USB 3.0 would be a start, ( It's back compatible with 2.0 ) USB 3.0 can deliver 900mA through it's ports as well... Think about the possibilities, external hard drives talk faster, and no need for it to take up a spot on your surge protecter because it doesn't need an outside power supply... For me, the most exciting step forward is that USB 3.0's speed will make it possible to put an entire system - OS, programs and data - on a thumb drive that's fast enough to work seamlessly. So to me a new mobo, should pack 3.o .. IMO
Cheers

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Oldirty[/nom]If the new series of mother boards want to shock and aw, having a μPD720200 controller chip for USB 3.0 would be a start, ( It's back compatible with 2.0 ) [/citation]
It can't be, because there is no compatibility between USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 signals. That's why they use separate signal pins on the USB 3.0 connector. It could be CROSS compatible, but that would mean its a DUAL FORMAT controller, ie two controllers on a single package.

Now why the heck would you need to ADD USB 2.0 when the chipset already supports fourteen ports?

 

[Oldirty]

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9162399/USB_3.0_The_new_speed_limit?taxonomyId=12&pageNumber=1 says on there, back compatable

 

[Crashman]

[citation][nom]Oldirty[/nom]http://www.computerworld.com/s/art [...] geNumber=1 says on there, back compatable[/citation]

The CONNECTOR is because it hosts both interfaces. Why don't you read about HOW it hosts both interfaces, since these signals are not compatible?

 

[fallout_europe]

Integrated graphics chip can play Blu-Ray material without glitches when using low power CPU. Combined with HW-level audio decoding this is perfect HTPC chipset.

 

[bobsh]

Nobody has mentioned the 700 MHz clock on the HD7290. That's a 40% increase over the 785G, equal to the 790GX. If I don't have to buy a graphics card, that's a $50++ savings.