The GA-MA770T-UD3P

While we in the media like to write about high-end multi-GPU solutions like SLI and CrossFire, the bulk of consumers out there still rely on one single GPU inside their PC. Sure, talking about SLI and CrossFire is fun and informative, but when push comes to shove, most people opt not to fork over the money for that second graphics card (that may change once GPU-based physics becomes more popular though – Ed).

At the same time though, many gamers and hardware enthusiasts don’t want to downgrade to an integrated chipset offering. We all know what integrated frequently brings – cut down motherboards that are stripped of high-end features and typically rely on the micro-ATX form factor. Yuck.

With this in mind, AMD provides their 770 chipset for users who want a high performance discrete GPU platform to build on. With fewer PCIe lanes, the 770 chipset is lower cost than AMD’s 790X and 790FX discrete chipsets – 770-based motherboards typically sell for well under $100 – yet it still doesn’t come with the compromises you’ll usually find on a comparably priced retail 780G or 780V motherboard. It’s the perfect chipset for the AMD enthusiast who wants a low cost motherboard that needs discrete graphics, yet doesn’t want to pay the premium for a CrossFire-ready 790X or 790FX motherboard. (The chipset’s North Bridge actually supports CrossFire, but one graphics slot is limited to x4 operation)


Paired alongside the AMD-770 North Bridge is ATI’s SB710 South Bridge. Functionally SB710 offers most of the features found in SB750, including support for six 3.0 Gbit/s SATA drives, 12 USB 2.0 ports, eSATA support, and AMD’s ACC technology for Phenom triple and quad-core CPUs. The key difference between SB710 and SB750 is the 710’s lack of support for RAID Level 5.

Because you don’t have to give up much on the North Bridge or South Bridge, AMD-770 really is the perfect choice for someone who wants to save a little money. Now enter the Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P. It offers the same Ultra Durable 3 features found in Gigabyte’s flagship 790FX motherboard, as well as an 8+2 phase power solution. It’s designed to support the latest 140W AMD CPUs just like the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. The motherboard even offers DDR3-1600+ memory support and one addiitional x1 PCIe expansion slot.

Now obviously with its $80 price tag, Gigabyte did have to make some compromises to the board’s design in order to hit such a low price point. You won’t find heatpipe cooling on the North Bridge of the chipset of the GA-MA770T-UD3P. Nor will you find any cooling for the board’s MOSFETs. The South Bridge gets by with a simple aluminum heatsink for cooling. Other high-end features found on the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P like the onboard LED-backlit buttons for power/reset/clear CMOS are also omitted as are the additional SATA ports and GigE Ethernet port. Gigabyte also uses Realtek’s older ALC888 CODEC for audio duties.

The ALC888 CODEC doesn’t support the high 106dB signal-to-noise ratio found on Gigabyte’s 790FX board nor does it support Dolby Home Theater.


So besides the limitations of the chipset, you will have to give up some of the frills with the GA-MA770T-UD3P. But as you’ll see in our benchmarks a little later, you don’t have to give up much when it comes to performance. What about the BIOS and layout of the board though? Let’s take a look!