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Gigabyte AM3 Motherboard Roundup June 15, 2009 Brandon Sandman Bell |
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Summary: Whether you've got $80 to spend on a new AM3 motherboard, or $180, Gigabyte's got you covered. In today's article we take a look at Gigabyte's high-end and low-end AM3 offerings and find a lot to like. See how the board's compare to one another and perform inside!
 Gigabyte AM3 Motherboard Roundup | Page:: ( 1 / 12 ) |
IPC (instructions per clock) was once the hallmark of AMD CPU architectures -- during the Pentium 4 era AMD execs preached on and on about the value of IPC over clock speed -- yet here we were with a chip that was clocked slower than expected, and performed worse per clock than the competition. To add insult to injury, the chip's performance was also slightly crippled thanks to a patch to fix the now infamous TLB erratum that affected close to noone.
And don’t forget that we were told that the chip’s launch was delayed to the end of 2007 in order to address some of these issues (mainly clock speeds).
Considering all that went wrong with Phenom, it’s amazing that AMD’s refresh part, the Phenom II line, is such a hit.
Armed with up to three times more L3 cache than Phenom, dramatically higher clock speeds, a few IPC tweaks, and a smaller, more energy efficient 45-nm manufacturing process that’s better designed for OC’ing, the new Phenom II processors from AMD deliver a dramatic step up in performance in comparison to their predecessors. AMD’s Phenom II pricing isn’t ridiculous either, with CPUs starting as low as $175 for the quad-core Phenom II X4 810, or just $125 and $102 if you’re willing to step down to triple and dual-core processors respectively.
Our favorite bang-for-the-buck Phenom II CPU at the moment though is the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition. Clocked at 2.8GHz with three processing cores, 6MB of L3 cache, and an unlocked clock multiplier, the chip blends the performance of AMD’s more expensive Phenom II CPUs with excellent pricing, the X3 720 BE sells for just $145 officially, with street prices as low as $139. The chip is an excellent OC’er too, we managed to get our CPU sample up to 3.8GHz.
If you’re in the market for an AMD-based CPU, AMD offers two paths for consumers when it comes to Phenom II-compliant motherboards. If you picked up an AM2+ motherboard in the last year for your Phenom or Athlon X2 processor you can go that route, and use your existing motherboard with AMD’s latest Phenom II CPUs, including the X3 720 (all you’ll need is a BIOS update that supports the new processors), or if you want a little more performance you can opt for AMD’s newer AM3 platform with DDR3 memory.
AMD’s AM3 platform consists of the same chipset options as AM2+ (790FX, 790GX, etc), only chipsets on the AM3 platform have been updated to support DDR3 memory. DDR3 memory runs at lower voltage and offers higher memory speeds than DDR2: officially DDR2 memory on AMD’s AM2+ platform tops out at 1066MHz, while DDR3 speeds of up to 1333MHz are offered standard on AM3, and even higher if you’re willing to splurge on faster memory modules that are certified compatible with AMD’s recently announced Black Edition memory program. (The only caveat being that only 2 DIMMs are supported for these higher speeds.)
The AM3 socket is the future for AMD. Going forward, all processor releases will be AM3-based. With DDR3 memory modules falling rapidly in price, the AM3 platform is primed to take the baton from AMD’s venerable AM2 infrastructure.
With this in mind we’re going to be taking a look at AM3 motherboards in the coming months. Up first is motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte, who offers a wide range of AM3 boards. Today we’re going to be taking a look at their flagship and entry-level AM3 offerings, the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P and the GA-MA770T-UD3P. Priced between $80-$180, these boards are proving to be pretty popular so far on Newegg
| GA-MA790FXT-UD5P | Page:: ( 2 / 12 ) |
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Features
For starters, there’s Ultra Durable 3. Ultra Durable 3 consists of a number of features Gigabyte incorporates on their motherboards that are designed to increase the motherboard’s longevity, improve energy efficiency and signal quality, while also reducing the board’s temperature.
The most talked about Ultra Durable 3 feature is without a doubt Gigabyte’s use of two ounces of copper for both the power and ground layers on the PCB. Traditionally motherboard manufacturers have used one ounce of copper per layer. By doubling the amount of copper in these layers of the PCB, heat from the CPU and other components can be dispersed more effectively across the motherboard. This in turn should theoretically help reduce temps for the underlying system components installed in the PC.
Gigabyte also claims that the additional copper layers help to lower the PCB impedance by 50%, this helps to reduce the amount of energy wasted. Gigabyte also says the additional copper helps to improve signal quality and lower EMI.
The other Ultra Durable 3 features supported by the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P have been present on older Gigabyte motherboards, and frankly aren’t unique to Gigabyte either, but they’re important nonetheless. These features include the use of all-solid Japanese capacitors, lower RDS MOSFETs, and ferrite core chokes. The use of these high quality components ensures clean power for the CPU at the highest clock speeds.
Taken as a whole, the Ultra Durable 3 features should theoretically improve your chances when OC’ing.
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The other feature Gigabyte has begun incorporating on their latest boards is Dynamic Energy Saver (DES). The concept behind DES is pretty simple, your motherboard doesn’t need to be churning at full speed when your CPU is idling. Rather than run all the motherboard’s power phases at all times, even when the CPU isn’t being taxed, with DES the motherboard can dynamically turn on or off its power phases depending on workload.
Gigabyte uses an Intersil PWM controller to automatically adjust the number of active power phases. While gaming or encoding a video for instance, all eight power phases on the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P can be enabled to ensure max power is given to the CPU. Once the PC is idling at the Windows desktop, the controller will then turn off the unneeded power phases, frequently running with just 2-phase power. The PWM controller can even undervolt your processor to further reduce power consumption.
In terms of networking and connectivity, the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P doesn’t disappoint. Gigabyte outfits the board with 10 SATA ports, that’s more SATA ports than any AMD-based motherboard we’ve seen. eSATA isn’t natively provided, as Gigabyte prefers instead to equip their motherboards with a 2-port eSATA expansion bracket that you can mount to your motherboard. Included with the bracket is all the cabling you’ll need and Gigabyte even outfits it with a Molex power connector for powering the drive.
Networking duties are handled by a Realtek 8111 controller. The chip not only supports Gigabit Ethernet, but also Teaming. With teaming you can pair both connections together to act as one for double the bandwidth.
Basically when it comes to features Gigabyte equips the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P with all the latest technologies you’d expect to find on a high-end AMD 790FX motherboard -- the only obvious feature we can see that Gigabyte has omitted is 4-Way CrossFireX support, but with all of ATI’s latest GPUs adopting dual-slot coolers, the most powerful GPU you could run in a 4-Way configuration on this motherboard is the Radeon 4850 anyway, even ATI’s recently announced Radeon 4770 GPU ships with dual-slot cooling.
| GA-MA790FXT-UD5P layout and BIOS | Page:: ( 3 / 12 ) |
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Board layout
Gigabyte’s really done a fine job with the layout of the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. On the board you’ll find a plethora of SATA ports (10 to be exact), and they’re all oriented parallel to the edge of the PCB, so you can house all 10 SATA ports with drives if you wish while also running a long dual-slot GPU like the Radeon 4870 X2 without any of the components interfering with each other. A lot of times motherboard manufacturers stick with the standard SATA ports that can get in the way of long GPUs like the 4870 X2.
The IDE and floppy drive connectors are tucked behind the RAM slots too; again, excellent choices on Gigabyte’s part in our opinion. You’d really be surprised how often manufacturers get the location of these connectors wrong and don’t really care, assuming most users are running SATA drives by now anyway. Not so with Gigabyte’s GA-MA790FXT-UD5P.
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The motherboard cooling Gigabyte has implemented is good too. A heatpipe is used to cool the board’s power circuitry as well as the North and South Bridge of the system chipset. Gigabyte’s cooling here isn’t overly large or ornate, but this is honestly because AMD’s 7-series chipsets are known for being very low on power consumption, and thus also generate very little heat. There’s really no reason to go overboard with multiple heatpipes and/or copper cooling, as it simply isn’t needed to keep the chipset cool. This chipset is known for its ability to get by with simple passive cooling.
While the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P may not have four PCI Express graphics (PEG) slots, Gigabyte wisely places two x1 PCIe expansion slots between the motherboard’s PEG slots, giving you plenty of room to run two dual-slot cards like the Radeon 4890. This is yet another good move on Gigabyte’s part. Obviously some users will be disappointed with having just two PEG slots when most high-end 790FX boards ship with four, but we honestly don’t know anyone running 4-Way CrossFire with Radeon 4850s right now anyway: besides, as hot as ATI’s single-slot reference boards run, we’re not even sure how long you could keep a 4-Way setup running stable at any rate.
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Another nice touch Gigabyte includes on the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P are its buttons. Gigabyte integrates physical buttons for power, reset, and clearing BIOS. The power and reset buttons are backlit with a blue LED, allowing them to also function as a power LED also. Simply press the button to turn the system on or reset it, or if you just unsuccessfully attempted to OC the board and you aren’t getting a video signal, you can press the clear CMOS button to reset the board’s BIOS to its default settings. This button in particular definitely came in handy for us when OC’ing.
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Our only real gripe with the board takes us north, to the area surrounding the AM3 CPU socket. The area immediately surrounding the CPU is fine, with plenty of room for oversized coolers. The problem is the AM3 socket is located too close to the DDR3 RAM slots. Large CPU coolers like our Zalman CNPS9700-Cu bump into equally tall RAM modules like Corsair’s Dominator modules or OCZ’s Reaper HPC when the first memory slot is occupied. You can run the two components together just fine, but that first RAM module must be bent ever so slightly in order to get everything to fit. It’s fine in the short term, but over time this slightly bent module could get damaged. In order for everything to fit properly you’ll have to trade down to a memory module with a more conventional heatspreader like the OCZ Platinum line or Corsair with traditional XMS3 black heatspreader.
We should point out that this problem isn’t unique to Gigabyte’s GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. It’s a problem we’ve encountered on all the AM3 motherboards we’ve seen so far. It looks like AMD loosened the keep out space a hair too much for the AM3 socket spec, as this wasn’t a problem for AM2+ motherboards.
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BIOS
The BIOS of the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P won’t disappoint enthusiasts planning to OC their processor. Gigabyte includes all the major settings you’ll need to get up and running in no time. All the speeds and feeds you’ll need for OC’ing the processor can be found in one handy menu, with little scrolling and flipping from page to page to get to the settings you’ll need. All the clock speeds, multipliers, and voltages can be found on one large page.
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For less experienced users who have no clue how far to experiment when it comes to clock speeds and voltages, Gigabyte color codes everything. This is important, as applying to much voltage in BIOS can damage or even kill components if you’re too aggressive. Safe settings are colored with the stock white lettering, while intermediate settings are colored yellow. Finally, red is used to indicate settings which are dangerous and could potentially lead to damage if you’re not careful. We actually feel Gigabyte’s a bit aggressive with some of their decisions when it comes to voltages and speeds, AMD recommends voltages don’t exceed 1.55V when OC’ing on air, yet the Gigabyte board suggests voltage above 1.65V are safe.
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Another feature we also like about the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P is that the BIOS includes the target frequencies for the CPU, HT link, DRAM, and memory controller. As a result, when you dial up the CPU multiplier, or the HT frequency for example, you can see the target clock speed of these vital components before you actually apply them in BIOS. It’s especially handy for the multipliers in particular, as you don’t have to whip out a calculator to get these values beforehand.
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The following chart summarizes the key settings available in BIOS:
| GA-MA790FXT-UD5P BIOS Features | |
| HyperTransport Speeds | 200-500MHz in 1MHz increments |
| PCI Express Speeds | 100-200MHz in 1MHz increments |
| DDR3 Memory Multipliers | 4.0x, 5.33x, 6.66x, 8.0x (800-1600MHz) |
| HT Link Multipliers | x1-x13 (200-2600MHz) |
| CPU Clock Multipliers | x5.0-x35.0 in 0.5X increments |
| CPU NorthBridge Multiplier | x5-x20 (100-4000MHz) |
| DDR3 Voltages | +0.05V-+0.75V (1.65V-2.35V) in 0.05V increments |
| SB/HT Voltage | +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V |
| NB/PCIe/PLL Voltage Control | +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V |
| CPU PLL Voltage Control | 2.5V-3.1V in 0.04V increments |
| DDR VTT Voltage Control | 0.8V-1.1V in 0.025V increments |
| CPU Voltages | -.60V - +.60V in 0.025V increments |
| NB Voltages | 1.10V-1.60V in 0.02V increments |
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One feature that the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P BIOS lacks is profiles. It would be nice if you could save your own custom BIOS profiles, say for instance you want a BIOS profile that undervolts the CPU for HTPC use, and another gaming profile that OCs the CPU for maximum performance.
Speaking of profiles, the other surprising feature missing from the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P BIOS is support for Black Edition Memory Profiles. This feature was just recently added to the latest version of AMD Overdrive and requires proper motherboard BIOS support in order to function properly. Fortunately this is something Gigabyte can easily add to the board in the future, but for the time being you’ll have to manually dial in the timings, speeds, and voltages if you plan to use high-speed DDR3 memory modules.
Overclocking
We decided to use our Phenom II X4 955 sample for all of today’s testing, as it’s AMD’s highest performing processor and also happens to OC better than other chips we’ve received. Our particular sample was able to run at speeds up to 3.7GHz with complete stability at stock voltage – this is the max speed we achieved with the ASUS M4A79T Deluxe also. When going all-out with unlimited voltage, we hit a max speed of 3.826GHz at 1.53V. That’s comparable to the speed we hit with the M4A79T Deluxe also.
The maximum HT link speed we could hit with complete stability was 232MHz.
| The GA-MA770T-UD3P | Page:: ( 4 / 12 ) |
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.
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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)
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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.
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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!
| GA-MA770T-UD3P layout and BIOS | Page:: ( 5 / 12 ) |
As we mentioned on the previous page, in order to hit such a low price point, Gigabyte did have to make a few compromises with the design of the GA-MA770T-UD3P. The board’s PCB isn’t nearly as wide as the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. This is good in the sense that it allows you to house the board in small cases easier, but it makes things more difficult for Gigabyte’s engineers to cram all the components on the board; they’re physically dealing with less PCB real estate due to the board’s smaller dimensions: the board is just under 8.5” wide (21cm).
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As a result, the IDE connector has to be placed directly across from the SB710 South Bridge. If you recall the IDE connector is located behind the DIMM slots on the 790FX board. With the way the IDE connector is currently placed, it interfered with our GeForce GTX 295 GPU we use for testing. Either you had to swap out the IDE connector, or the GTX 295. The two couldn’t co-exist.
Fortunately this is an issue that’s isolated to the GeForce GTX 295, other dual-slot cards fit fine. This included ATI’s Radeon 4870 X2 reference board, which is also pretty long. We mention this though because next-generation DX11 GPUs are right around the corner, and we don’t know how long these cards will be.
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Our other gripe with the board is the location of the ATX12V power connector. Gigabyte places it underneath the AM3 CPU socket, so you’ll have to run your ATX12V power cable across your CPU cooler. This could potentially lead to your power cable getting caught in your CPU cooler’s fan. The ideal location for the ATX12V connector is above the CPU socket.
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Finally, while we didn’t encounter any issues as a result of this, we do wish Gigabyte would’ve done a better job mounting the North Bridge cooling to the AMD-770 chip. We managed to wiggle the cooler a little more than we’d like. Enthusiasts may want to pull it off and reattach it with something more permanent like a thermal glue rather than conventional thermal paste, just to make sure it has the best bond possible with the North Bridge chip.
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BIOS
The BIOS implementation Gigabyte has implemented for the GA-MA770T-UD3P is very similar to their 790FX motherboard in terms of clock speeds and multipliers; in this regard everything basically carries over unchanged. The BIOS layout/interface is also a carbon copy of the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P.
Where Gigabyte does make one compromises however is in regards to voltages. One voltage setting is missing from the latest MA770T BIOS: CPU PLL voltage. Not everyone bothers to tweak the CPU’s PLL voltage though, some say it helps improve stability at high clock speeds, others don’t. In our experience, we tend to use it more frequently with Core 2 CPUs than anything else.
Fortunately this is something Gigabyte can always add to future BIOS revisions if they choose to do so. We used Gigabyte’s F2C BIOS for our testing.
| GA-MA770T-UD3P BIOS Features | |
| HyperTransport Speeds | 200-500MHz in 1MHz increments |
| PCI Express Speeds | 100-200MHz in 1MHz increments |
| DDR3 Memory Multipliers | 4.0x, 5.33x, 6.66x, 8.0x (800-1600MHz) |
| HT Link Multipliers | x1-x13 (200-2600MHz) |
| CPU Clock Multipliers | x5.0-x35.0 in 0.5X increments |
| CPU NorthBridge Multiplier | x5-x20 (100-4000MHz) |
| DDR3 Voltages | +0.05V-+0.75V (1.65V-2.35V) in 0.05V increments |
| SB/HT Voltage | +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V |
| NB/PCIe/PLL Voltage Control | +0.1V, +0.2V, +0.3V |
| DDR VTT Voltage Control | 0.8V-1.1V in 0.025V increments |
| CPU Voltages | -.60V - +.60V in 0.025V increments |
| NB Voltages | 1.10V-1.60V in 0.02V increments |
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Overclocking
While the AMD-770 chipset officially supports AMD Overdrive, we had problems getting the latest Overdrive build (3.0.2) to run with stability on the GA-MA770T-UD3P. We’ve built two systems with this motherboard in the last 2 weeks, a Phenom II X4 955 PC and an Athlon II X2 250, both had problems OC’ing via Overdrive. For whatever reason the program simply locks up after applying your new settings. The problem is, it locks up the entire OS, prompting a complete reset and reboot. To an uninitiated user, it looks like your OC was unsuccessful and you need to crank back the settings, but even conservative OCs lead to the same problem. Therefore the only way to OC with this motherboard at this time is via BIOS.
We managed to get our Phenom II X4 955 sample stable at speeds up to 3.6GHz (18.0x200) at stock voltage. That’s not quite as high as the 3.7GHz we hit with the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. The AMD-770 board would boot at 3.7GHz, but wouldn’t run with complete stability in all the apps we test with.
We also couldn’t crank the HyperTransport interface as high, topping out at 226MHz.
| System Setup | Page:: ( 6 / 12 ) |
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
4GB (4x2GB) OCZ Reaper HPC PC31600
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295
ForceWare 185.85
150GB Western Digital Raptor
Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit w/Service Pack 1
Benchmarks
Lost Planet
World In Conflict
Crysis
Company of Heroes
| Media Encoding/Rendering Benchmarks | Page:: ( 7 / 12 ) |
Valve Particle Simulation Benchmark
| PCMark synthetic benchmarks | Page:: ( 8 / 12 ) |
| USB/SATA Performance | Page:: ( 9 / 12 ) |
| Gaming Performance | Page:: ( 10 / 12 ) |
| Ballistics Report | Page:: ( 11 / 12 ) |
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
Pros
-Features: Without a doubt, Gigabyte’s GA-MA790FXT-UD5P is loaded with features. The motherboard natively supports up to 10 Serial ATA drives, putting it in a class of its own among AM3 motherboards. In addition, Gigabyte outfits the board with dual GigE Ethernet ports with support for Teaming, powerful chipset cooling, and 8+2 phase power design. Onboard buttons for power, reset, and clearing CMOS are also present, making the board a breeze to work with in or outside of the system case.
But it doesn’t stop there. The GA-MA790FXT-UD5P is the latest in a line of Gigabyte motherboards to support Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable 3 and Energy Saver technologies. We’ve reviewed both of these features in previous motherboard reviews and found them to be beneficial. Gigabyte also continues to outfit all of their motherboards with DualBIOS.
-Layout: With the exception of the tight spacing between the CPU socket and DIMM slots (which appears to be a problem that affects all AM3 motherboards, including the Gigabyte boards we’re reviewing today), the layout of the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P is flawless. Gigabyte has nailed every aspect of this motherboard’s design, from the location of the SATA ports, the extra spacing between the PEG slots, the ATX power connectors, and even the location of the IDE and floppy connectors, which is often overlooked on 95% of most motherboards (or skipped entirely in the case of the floppy connector).
We can’t name a single thing we’d improve on the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P’s board layout.
-BIOS Interface: Gigabyte has integrated a BIOS interface that’s powerful, with tons of settings to play around with, yet at the same time it’s also easy to navigate through. You won’t find yourself hunting around for that one clock multiplier or voltage setting, nor will you have to wade through pages and pages of submenus. Page scrolling is also kept to a minimum.
Enthusiasts should be pretty happy with this board’s BIOS.
Cons
-4-Way CrossFire: With just two PCI Express graphics slots, the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P technically lacks support for 4-Way CrossFireX. Of course at the same time we don’t know anyone running 4-Way CrossFire, as it requires four single-slot GPUs in order for everything to fit, and all of ATI’s best cards are dual-slot nowadays (even most 4850 cards are dual-slot).
-Black Edition Memory Profiles support: At this time the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P lacks support for AMD’s recently announced Black Edition Memory Profiles. It’s not that the motherboard can’t run 1600MHz memory – in fact its quite capable – but without the XML profiles support in BIOS, you’ll have to manually dial in those memory timings and voltages by hand for now. If the board supported BEMP, AMD’s Overdrive 3.0 software would handle everything automatically for you.
Thankfully this is something Gigabyte can easily add in the future if they choose to do so. The hardware isn’t the problem. A quick BIOS update will fix it.
GA-MA770T-UD3P
Pros
-Performance: With the memory controller integrated on the CPU rather than the North Bridge, all AMD chipsets really perform similar to one another regardless of their cost: whether you buy the latest integrated offering or AMD’s flagship 790FX and 790GX chipsets, performance is similar. As a result it’s really hard to spot any differences in motherboard performance when looking at CPU benchmarks, all the AM3 motherboards we tested posted nearly identical performance results.
This allowed the GA-MA770T-UD3P to perform pretty much on par with motherboards twice its cost.
-Value: Priced at $80 on Newegg right now, Gigabyte’s GA-MA770T-UD3P is an inexpensive option for users looking to purchase a new AM3 motherboard.
-BIOS: Since Gigabyte basically borrows the same BIOS used on their 790FX board for the GA-MA770T-UD3P, everything we said about that board’s BIOS also applies here. This is very refreshing to see considering the board’s low price tag.
Cons
-Some layout quirks: Due to its smaller PCB, Gigabyte has to make due with less room on the GA-MA770T-UD3P and it shows. The ATX12V connector is located below the CPU socket and could potentially interfere with your CPU cooling, while we also wished the chipset cooling on the North Bridge were a little sturdier. The IDE connector location is also less than ideal, but shouldn’t be an issue for the motherboard’s target audience, as the only card affected is the GeForce GTX 295.
-Lack of CrossFire support: Technically AMD’s AMD-770 chipset supports 2-Way CrossFire, so Gigabyte could’ve included a second PCI Express graphics slot in order to add CrossFire support. Instead the company opted to include additional x1 PCIe slots. The could be a good or bad thing depending on your needs when it comes to expansion options.
| Final Verdict | Page:: ( 12 / 12 ) |
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
The GA-MA770T-UD3P is Gigabyte’s entry-level offering for the AM3 platform and is priced to move. We loved the board’s performance and BIOS, and were also pleased with its feature set, although it does suffer from a few quirks.
Technically AMD’s 770 chipset is CrossFire ready, however Gigabyte has decided not to include CrossFire support, opting instead to provide four x1 PCIe slots. While the number of x1 PCIe devices available on the market has certainly increased, we also think some users would’ve appreciated having the option of one PCI Express graphics slot and one x1 PCIe slot instead of four.
Due to its smaller PCB, the board also suffers from a few board layout issues. The biggest is probably the location of the 4-pin ATX12V power connector.
Still, the GA-MA770T-UD3P is a solid board at an attractive price. If you’re looking for an inexpensive AM3 motherboard solution to pair with one of AMD’s shiny new Phenom II X2 CPUs, or an Athlon II, it’s a solid choice.
It’s great to see inexpensive sub-$100 motherboards hitting the market that aren’t based on integrated chipsets. Unfortunately there are only a handful of options out there for enthusiasts at the moment, but hopefully if Gigabyte’s GA-MA770T-UD3P takes off, that will change.