With the introduction of its Socket AM3-compatible Athlon II and Phenom II desktop processors, AMD has finally begun offering support for DDR3 memory technology. Like the move from standard DDR to DDR2 memory for AMD a few years back, the coupling of DDR3 to the company’s current line of processors doesn’t result in massive performance increases, but it does lay the foundation for official support of higher-speed, lower-power DDR3. And because AMD’s processors feature integrated memory controllers, many of AMD’s motherboard partners introduced revamped Socket AM3 offerings based on the tried-and-true AMD 7-Series of chipsets, but with the necessary DDR3 memory slots.
A week prior to launching the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition CPU, though, AMD launched a new addition to the 7-Series, dubbed the 785G. As you might expect, based on its name, the 785G features an integrated graphics processor, namely the ATI Radeon HD 4200. What makes the 785G stand out from AMD’s other integrated graphics offerings is that the GPU supports DirectX 10.1 and HDMI 1.3. It’s also outfitted with AMD’s second-gen UVD 2 (unified video decoder engine), which lets the GPU assist the CPU in decoding video during playback.
Now that AMD's desktop platform is replete with a new socket and processors to match, we thought it was a good time to revisit the platform to see what the latest batch of motherboards has to offer. We’ve rounded up a sampling of brand-new Socket AM3 motherboards based on the AMD 785G chipset, in addition to a few enthusiast offerings built around the 790FX and 770 chipsets. Read on for the full scoop.
How We Tested
To gauge the performance of the socket AM3-based motherboards featured in this roundup, we equipped our Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition-powered testbed with a host of complimentary high-end components. We started with 4GB of Corsair TW3X4G1333C9DHX DDR3 RAM, a GeForce GTX 280 graphics card (where applicable), and a 10,000rpm Western Digital Raptor 150GB HDD. We installed Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 on the hard drive, along with the latest drivers available for each motherboard and graphics card or IGP.
Prior to testing, we manually set each board’s HyperTransport base clock frequency and dialed in the memory timings via each board’s system BIOS. Some motherboard manufacturers have been known to aggressively clock their boards even when configured at default settings, so manually setting these options in the BIOS levels the playing field somewhat and ensures each motherboard operates with similar settings.
Prices listed were taken from Newegg.com at the time of this writing.
 ECS Black Series A785GM-M
 Black Series A785GM-M
$87.99
ECS
www.ecsusa.com
CPU: 3
As its model name suggests, the ECS Black Series A785GM-M is a microATX motherboard based on the AMD 785G chipset. Despite its relatively affordable price and smaller form factor, the A785GM-M has a considerable number of features, especially in light of competing offerings.
The ECS Black Series A785GM-M is built on a dark-colored PCB, with orange, yellow, and black accents. The layout of the board is generally very good, with all of its various expansion headers and connectors neatly situated around the edges of the PCB. And even though it sports a microATX form factor, the A785GM-M doesn’t seem cramped at all.
Standout features on the A785GM-M include onboard power, reset, and clear CMOS switches, an LED POST code error reporter and support for 140W processors, such as the Phenom II X4 965, which draws more power than AMD’s previous flagship Phenom. The A785GM-M is also outfitted with a trio of heavy-duty aluminum heatsinks on its VRM, northbridge, and southbridge, which did a fine job throughout testing.
The A785GM-M’s BIOS is well-appointed, considering the affordable nature of the product, but it does lack some features in comparison to higher-end products such as Asus’ Crosshair III Formula or MSI’s 790FX-GD70. I/O in the backplane consists of VGA, DVI, and HDMI outputs; six USB ports; two eSATA ports; a FireWire port; a Gigabit Ethernet port; and six various audio inputs and outputs, including S/PDIF.
ECS isn’t known for products that cater to high-end power users, but this relatively affordable microATX offering has a number of features that make it interesting to prospective AMD-based system builders on budget.
ASRock M3A785GMH/128M  M3A785GMH/128M
$84.99
ASRock
www.asrock.com
CPU: 2.5
The ASRock M3A785GMH/128M details all of its main features in one fell swoop, provided you can decipher its name. It is, of course, based on AMD’s Socket AM3, built around the 785G chipset, and outfitted with 128MB of side-port memory, which is dedicated RAM linked to the IGP to enhance overall performance.
The ASRock M3A785GMH/128M is a decidedly no-frills product. Other than the features inherent to the AMD 785G/SB710 chipset combination, the board doesn’t have much else to offer. The layout is decent but far from perfect: There is a trio of USB headers crammed next to the DIMM slots, and the supplemental 4-pin ATX 12V connector is placed a couple of inches in from the top edge of the board, between the CPU socket and I/O backplane—not an ideal location.
The ASRock M3A785GMH/128M comes with a basic bundle of accessories, and the aforementioned I/O backplane is roughly similar to ECS’ board, with VGA, DVI, and HDMI outputs; eSATA and GigE ports; and a handful of USB ports. The M3A785GMH/128M’s BIOS is relatively bland, but it does give users the ability to easily overclock the CPU and IGP.
Although it’s priced similarly to the ECS- and Asus-branded microATX motherboards represented in this article, the ASRock M3A785GMH/128M doesn’t offer nearly as many features as its competition. The board performs well and was perfectly stable, but there’s no compelling reason to opt for the M3A785GMH/128M when the Asus M4A785TD-M EVO and ECS Black Series A785GM-M are available for roughly the same price and have more features.
Asus M4A785TD-M EVO  M4A785TD-M EVO
$89.99
Asus
usa.asus.com
CPU: 3.5
At first glance, the Asus M4A785TD-M EVO looks quite sleek, with its black PCB and light blue accents. The dark blue northbridge heatsink design is interesting to see, as well, with its swooping, curved fins and angular design. The southbridge gets treated to a small blue heatsink, too, but it’s just a plain-looking square with an array of low-profile fins.
Overall, Asus did a good job with the M4A785TD-M EVO’s layout. The CPU socket is free of obstructions, and there is plenty of room for an oversized CPU cooler. The memory slots are placed somewhat close to the CPU socket, but this won’t likely be an issue unless you install DIMMs with taller-than-average heatsinks in all four memory slots. If you only need to use the board’s two light blue DIMM slots for a dual-channel setup, you shouldn’t have to worry about colliding heatsinks.
The M4A785TD-M EVO uses a 4-pin 12V power connector that’s situated at the top corner of the board near the rear I/O, right above the VRM area. Its location is very good and shouldn’t present any cable routing issues. The board’s expansion slots are free from obstruction, as well, as Asus mounted all of the various connectors and ports out of the way of the top three slots. Even with a dual-slot full-length video card in the PCI-E x16 slot, all of the board’s connectors are still accessible. Five internal SATA connectors are located in a tight cluster at the bottom corner of the PCB and oriented conventionally so the cables connect perpendicular to the PCB. In addition, all of the board’s USB and FireWire headers are located along the bottom edge of the board, which should work well in most cases.
The only minor issue to point out in regard to the board’s layout is the positioning of the front-panel audio connector. It is located at the bottom-left corner of the board—basically the furthest position it could be relative to the location of the front audio panel on most cases.
The BIOS on the M4A785TD-M EVO is quite complete and should offer tweakers enough options to keep them satiated while overclocking, but the bundle leaves a little something to be desired. Save for a users manual, drivers, I/O shield, and a couple of SATA and IDE cables, nothing else comes with the board.
Ultimately, the M4A785TD-M EVO is a solid option, though, and worthy of consideration if a microATX, socket AM3 board is in your future.
Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P  MA770T-UD3P
$79.99
Gigabyte
www.gigabyte.us
CPU: 4
The Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P is based on the mainstream AMD 770 series chipset. It sports an SB710 southbridge and official support for DDR3 memory speeds in excess of 1,666MHz. The “UD3” in the product name denotes that this board is part of Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable 3 family of products. As such, it’s equipped with solid Japanese capacitors, 2-ounce copper layers in the PCB to aid with power efficiency and cooling, and ferrite core chokes. Ferrite core chokes are more energy-efficient and are better at reducing EM interference than more common, less expensive iron core chokes.
The MA770T-UD3P also supports Gigabyte's dynamic Easy Energy Saver technology, which throttles the number of active power phases on the motherboard based on the workload, and includes Gigabyte’s DualBIOS feature. The board is compatible with AMD’s 140W TDP processors, such as the recently released Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition. The board’s slot configuration consists of a single PCI-E x16 slot, four PCI-E x1 slots, and dual PCI slots. There are small aluminum coolers on the northbridge and southbridge, and all of the various connectors and headers are color-coded and labeled for easy installation.
Overall, the layout of the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P is good, save for the placement of a few connectors. The IDE and connectors are placed at the bottom edge of the board, which can make it difficult to run cables in some mid- and full-tower cases. On the other hand, you probably won’t use this connector in a new build, so we won’t ding Gigabyte much for their placement. The supplemental 12V ATX power connector, however, which everyone must use, is situated between the 770 chip and I/O backplane—not ideal.
The MA770T-UD3P’s BIOS isn’t as extensive as the higher-end offerings in this roundup, but there are plenty of tools available to tweakers and overclockers. Just don’t expect to break any frequency records.
The MA770T-UD3P has PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports on its I/O backplane, along with eight USB 2.0 ports, analog and digital audio I/O, dual FireWire ports, and a single Gigabit LAN jack. The MA770T-UD3P ships with a basic bundle including an IDE cable, two SATA cables, a users manual, driver CD, and custom I/O shield. Current street prices on this board hover in the $80 range, which make it an absolute bargain.
Gigabyte MA785G-UD3H  MA785G-UD3H
$89.99
Gigabyte
CPU: 4
The MA785G-UD3H is yet another budget-friendly Socket AM3 board from Gigabyte. And although this one is based on the AMD 785G chipset, it can be considered somewhat of a cross between an entry-level HTPC-friendly board and an enthusiast-class product.
Like all of the other 785G-based motherboards in this roundup, the MA785G-UD3H has a full complement of display outputs (HDMI, DVI, and VGA) on its I/O cluster, but its slot configuration can also accommodate a pair of graphics cards. That means that this board can be used in a low-power, Hybrid CrossFire configuration or in a high-powered CrossFireX setup.
In general, the layout of the board is good. It is built around Gigabyte’s signature blue PCB, with brightly colored connectors and accents. Most of its connectors and headers are positioned well around the edges of the board. Three of its USB expansion headers, however, are located just above the lower PEG slot, which isn’t ideal and will cause some cable management issues for anyone who uses the ports. And if you install a dual-slot graphics card in the lower PEG slot, you’ll need to use right-angle SATA cables on a couple of SATA ports.
The MA785G-UD3H’s chipset is cooled by a pair of simple aluminum heatsinks, but the components in the VRM are left bare. This shouldn’t be an issue, though, as the board runs relatively cool. Its BIOS has a fairly broad selection of options and should please all but the most ardent overclocking enthusiasts. Stability was excellent throughout testing.
There is no single, stand-out feature on the MA785G-UD3H, but it covers all of the basics at an aggressive price. This is definitely a great motherboard for the money.
MSI 790FX-GD70  790FX-GD70
$164.99
MSI
www.msicomputer.com
CPU: 4.5
Right from the get-go, it’s clear MSI designed the 790FX-GD70 with hardcore enthusiasts in mind. As its name makes evident, the motherboard is built around the high-end AMD 790FX chipset. Said 790FX is paired to the SB750 southbrige, which makes for a potent overclocking combination in addition to a board that’s loaded with features.
The MSI 790FX-GD70 has an impeccable layout and a number of unique features. The board exploits all of the features inherent to the chipset and even adds a few more, courtesy of MSI’s engineers. There are four PEG slots on the 790FX-GD70, which, of course, support CrossFireX. The chipset and VRM are cooled by an enormous heatsink/heatpipe assembly that do a great job of keeping temperatures in check, and the board’s BIOS is geared specifically to discerning overclockers.
Speaking of overclockers, the 790FX-GD70 also features a unique OC Drive dial that gives users the ability to literally turn a knob to dial in an overclock—no special software necessary. Right next to the OC Dial are a number of other buttons that control basic functions such as power, reset, and clear CMOS. There is also a button that toggles the board’s Green Power adaptive phase system (another technology that adjusts active power phases based on load) and an LED POST code error reporter.
The 790FX-GD70’s bundle is also loaded with a number of cables, power adapters, software, CrossFire bridge connectors, and manuals that explain the board’s many features. The board’s performance and stability were also top notch.
Although it may not be the most feature-laden 790FX board available, MSI has done a tremendous job with the 790FX-GD70. Enthusiasts itching to build a high-end AM3-based system should seriously consider this motherboard.
Asus Crosshair III Formula  Crosshair III Formula
$199.99
Asus
CPU: 4
The Asus Crosshair line of boards has been a favorite among enthusiasts, due to its lengthy list of features and overclocking ability. The latest in the line, the Crosshair III Formula, is definitely a worthy successor to the original and Crosshair II, but it falls short of the bar set by the MSI 790FX-GD70.
Like the 790FX-GD70, the Asus Crosshair III Formula has an extremely comprehensive BIOS; overclockers will want for nothing. It also has integrated power and reset switches, and one-ups the 790FX-GD70 with an external POST code error reporter and a superior X-Fi audio expansion card. MSI’s offering, however, has a more flexible slot configuration and more connectors/ports in its I/O backplane. It’s more affordable, too.
That said, the Crosshair III Formula is an excellent product. The layout is very good; it’s quite the looker with its lighted “Republic of Gamers” badge and elaborate cooling apparatus, which covers the chipset and VRM. The board is also rock-solid stable, performs well, and is highly overclockable. We would’ve liked to have seen a more flexible expansion slot configuration that included at least one more PCI-E x16 slot, but that’s a relatively minor quibble.
The Crosshair III Formula is a killer motherboard that would serve AMD fans well. At about 200 bucks, though, it’s relatively pricey, especially in light of MSI’s offering. 
by Marco Chiappetta
View the specs chart.
(NOTE: These pages are PDF (Portable Document Format) files. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view these pages. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader)
AM3 Mobo Madness
As you’ll see in the results table, throughout virtually all of our testing, each of the motherboards featured here put up similar scores in the mostly processor-bound tests, such as the LAME MT and Cinebench 10 benchmarks, for example. Overall, the AMD 790FX chipset-based motherboards when paired with a discrete graphics card put up the best scores. However, it’s worth noting that the AMD 785G-based motherboards were relatively strong performers, considering the low-end nature of their integrated Radeon HD 4200 graphics processors. It was only in a few of the PCMark Vantage tests and in Crysis that the 785G’s IGP held the test system back.
Ultimately, we recommend power users looking to assemble a high-end, quad-core Phenom II-based system stick with either the 790FX or 770 series chipsets. Both of them perform well and are very overclockable, and boards built around them aren’t short on features. If you don’t plan to run a multi-GPU setup, the 770 is a great price/performance option.
Users in the market for a low-cost motherboard based on the 785G have a lot of options to consider. It’s worth noting that the addition of side-port memory on the 785G does offer somewhat higher performance for a minimal increase in price, so we’d recommended seeking motherboards with this feature.
View the performance chart.
(NOTE: These pages are PDF (Portable Document Format) files. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view these pages. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader) |
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