Socket AM3 Motherboard Features Comparison
One of the great things about high-end AMD motherboards is that enthusiasts can get top features at mid-market prices. Today’s 790FX Socket AM3 models are all available for under $200, whereas similarly-featured LGA 1366 parts typically cost over $300.
| 790FX Socket AM3 Motherboard Features | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asus | DFI LANParty DK | Gigabyte | MSI |
| Northbridge | AMD 790FX | AMD 790FX | AMD 790FX | AMD 790FX |
| Southbridge | SB750 | SB750 | SB750 | SB750 |
| Voltage Regulator | 10 Phases | 5 Phases | 10 Phases | 5 Phases |
| BIOS | 0902 (03-26-2009) | 306 (03-06-2009) | F4 (03-13-2009) | V1.1 (03-13-2009) |
| 200 MHz Base Clock | 200.7 | 200.0 (+0.0%) | 200.9 (+0.45%) | 200.0 (+0.0%) |
| Clock Generator | ICS 9LPRS477CKL | ICS 9LPRS477CKL | ICS 9LPRS477CKL | RTM880N-793 |
Internal Interfaces | ||||
| PCIe | 4 (2x x16 or 4x x8) | 3 (x16/x16/x4) | 2 (x16/x16) | 4 (2x x16 or 4x x8) |
| PCIe x1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Legacy PCI | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| USB 2.0 | 3 (6 ports) | 3 (6 ports) | 2 (4 ports) | 2 (4 ports) |
| FireWire | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Serial Port | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Parallel Port | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Floppy | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ultra ATA-133 | 1 (2-drives) | 1 (2-drives) | 1 (2-drives) | 1 (2-drives) |
| SATA | 5 | 6 | 10 | 8 |
| 4-Pin Fan | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 3-Pin Fan | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| FP-Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CD Audio | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| S/PDIF I/O | Output Only | None | Both | Output Only |
| Power Button | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reset Button | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CLR_CMOS Button | Jumper Only | Jumper Only | Yes | Yes |
| Diagnostics Panel | None | 2-Character | None | 2-character |
I/O Panel Connectors | ||||
| PS/2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| USB 2.0 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| FireWire | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Network | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| eSATA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| CLR_CMOS Button | None | By Jumper | None | None |
| Digital Audio Out | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Digital Audio In | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Analog Audio | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Mass Storage Controllers | ||||
| Chipset SATA | 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s | 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s | 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s | 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s |
| Chipset RAID Modes | 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD | 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD | 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD | 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD |
| Add-In SATA | None | None | JMB363 PCIe to | JMB362/JMB322 |
| Add-In RAID Modes | None | None | 0, 1, JBOD | 0, 1, JBOD |
| FireWire | VT6315N PCIe | None | TSB43AB23 PCI | VT6315N PCIe |
Gigabit Ethernet | ||||
| Primary LAN | RTL8112 PCIe | 88E8056 PCIe | RTL8111DL PCIe | RTL8111DL PCIe |
| Secondary LAN | None | None | RTL8111DL PCIe | RTL8111DL PCIe |
Audio | ||||
| HD Audio Codec | ALC1200 | ALC885 | ALC889A | ALC889 |
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It would be interesting to see how much AM3 processors improve over AM2+ especially come the next gen of graphics cards. Is the jump to AM3 boards worth the extra upgrade from AM2+? Im currently using a X2 6000+ but im doubtful that jumping to AM3 processors is worth it atm especially for gaming. My next upgrade will probally be the processor to prevent bottlenecking since my 4870 manages 22" easily but Id preferably like to get a mobo with 2X 16XPCIe lanes.
It would be interesting to see how much AM3 processors improve over AM2+ especially come the next gen of graphics cards. Is the jump to AM3 boards worth the extra upgrade from AM2+? Im currently using a X2 6000+ but im doubtful that jumping to AM3 processors is worth it atm especially for gaming. My next upgrade will probally be the processor to prevent bottlenecking since my 4870 manages 22" easily but Id preferably like to get a mobo with 2X 16XPCIe lanes.
I am going to switch back to AMD even if they perform less than intel. Why? I am not going to buy a motherboard for every processor. Who knows how many pins the next processor of Intel has. Upgrading is a major reason to choose a platform. Besides I do not need the power of i7 to game on a 20"
LOL, I doubt even Intel knows. It used to be 1160, but then they removed 4 pins in October and now they're talking about LGA1156. Anyway, point taken, the i5 CPUs won't work in either LGA775 or LGA1366 boards.
That Gigabyte board sounds perfect for somebody who might want 9 hard drives and a burner, because it has 10 SATA ports. I was looking for such a thing. This paragraph:
We have no layout complaints, but builders should be aware that all four of the MA790FX-UD5P's add-in SATA ports (white) share a single PCIe pathway through the JMicron JMB363 controller, for a maximum combined throughput of 250 MB/s. That’s far short of the 1,200 MB/s combined bandwidth that four 3.0 Gb/s ports are theoretically capable of supporting.
is a bit scary, but in fact it's not a problem IMO. Even if you happen to copy a huge file from HDD 7 to HDD 8 (both on the JMicron controller), you still get over 100 MB/s bandwidth for each, and that's pretty much the average read/write rate of the WD Caviar Black 1TB. That is, there's no bottleneck after all.