AMD 790GX Chipset With Side Port Memory
AMD’s latest chipset with integrated graphics is also the high-end product for enthusiasts. The 790GX is meant to fulfill both needs. 790GX motherboards work with the latest southbridge model, called the SB750. The SB750 offers six AHCI Serial ATA/300 ports with command queuing and RAID 5 support, and 12 USB 2.0 ports. It also has one ATA/100 channel, which Intel threw overboard for the current chipset generation. A high definition audio controller and 32-bit PCI connectivity are considered mandatory today and are also present.
The 790GX northbridge is a 55 nm Flip-Chip Ball Grid Array (FCBGA) device with 528 contacts. It offers HyperTransport 3.0 support for all modern Phenom and Athlon processors (Ed.—in addition to next-generation Phenom IIs), 16 PCI Express 2.0 lanes for graphics, and six single PCI Express 2.0 lanes for peripheral devices, such as the network controller, which is not part of the chipset, and other add-on cards. The 16 lanes for graphics can be evenly split between two physical x16 slots running in x8 link mode for CrossFireX support, and several options that are related to it.
Graphics Options
All 790GX motherboards come with integrated Radeon HD 3300 graphics—whether you want them or not. This graphics core is based on the RV610 and now runs its 40 unified shaders at a 700 MHz clock speed (that can be overclocked, though). Should your motherboard manufacturer implement the side-port memory option, then the board will come with additional DDR2 or DDR3 memory. In addition to that, the core can access up to 512 MB of your DDR2 main memory to store graphics data.
The graphics core is DirectX 10-capable, and supports smooth 1080i Full HD playback of all common codecs. This works even with a rather slow Sempron processor. AMD supports DVI and HDMI with HDCP, Display Port and VGA display interfaces, providing maximum flexibility to its motherboard manufacturer partners. Paired with additional AMD graphics cards, you get the following options:
- Running one additional Radeon HD graphics card (up to a Radeon HD 3470) allows the enabling of Hybrid SLI, which combines the rendering power of the 790GX with its Radeon HD 3300 and the extra graphics card to accelerate 3D performance.
- Running an additional Radeon HD 3650 or faster will shut off the integrated Radeon HD 3300 core and run only the additional card.
- Running two additional Radeon HD cards—preferably high end models—shuts off the integrated Radeon HD 3300 core and allows you to take advantage of ATI CrossFireX graphics to maximize 3D performance.
- Running two Radeon HD4870 X2 will disable the integrated graphics unit and run the two dual-GPU cards in CrossFireX mode.
AMD Overdrive
AMD’s Overdrive feature was designed to assist in overclocking by allowing the user to modify processor parameters such as clock and system frequencies and voltages in real time, to optimize results. It also allows the Windows-based configuration of memory parameters and comes with comprehensive monitoring options. AMD put all the features into its Overdrive application, which lets you manage your overclocking attempts through a nice interface. Auto and beginner modes assist those who are less experienced with voltages and timings, and on the whole the tool is extremely flexible and powerful: check out the AMD website for more details.
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Running one additional Radeon HD graphics card (up to a Radeon HD 3470) allows the enabling of Hybrid SLI
shouldn't it read "allows the enabling of Hybrid Crossfire"
Lol @ above comment xD
Be interested to see the overclocking results, and I really can't fault this hardware (aside from limiting the DDR3 memory to a 64-bit bus rather than 128). Older games should be fine, and you get HD capability (one that actually works), as well as plenty of upgrade options even if you install a cheap card. Well done, AMD.
yeah this is a very smart move ,i,am looking to upgrade from my skt 939 and doing it this way allows me to spread the cost by not having to buy a graphics card straight off
Hopefully AMD will release a HD4370-based onboard solution with HybridCF compatibility with HD4550 cards. Low-profile mATX systems are really suffering at the moment. Plus that above setup could actually be decent if the 4370 was OCd and had 256MB GDDR3 sideport with a 128bit interface. A HD4000-based GPU on one of their ITX boards would make things interesting too - we've seen elsewhere how scalable AMD CPUs and GPUs are with regards input voltage (hint: undervolting can give surprising TDP results...)
And when the hell will HD4000 chips start appearing on mobos and laptops anyhow? They'd be a pretty compelling reason to go AMD on the smaller platforms; its been shown already that AMD can undervolt 65nm X4 quads to run with a lower TDP than Nanos (
Hopefully AMD will release a HD4370-based onboard solution with HybridCF compatibility with HD4550 cards. Low-profile mATX systems are really suffering at the moment. Plus that above setup could actually be decent if the 4370 was OCd and had 256MB GDDR3 sideport with a 128bit interface. A HD4000-based GPU on one of their ITX boards would make things interesting too - we've seen elsewhere how scalable AMD CPUs and GPUs are with regards input voltage (hint: undervolting can give surprising TDP results...)
And when the hell will HD4000 chips start appearing on mobos and laptops anyhow? They'd be a pretty compelling reason to go AMD on the smaller platforms; its been shown already that AMD can undervolt 65nm X4 quads to run with a lower TDP than Nanos (
Cool, even the comment box fails now
Absolute tosh, who in there right mind would even consider this for gaming. If you don't game then you don't need it! If you do game you need better. There is no market for this. Buy the 8800GT/9800GT or the 4830 and get a board without crossfire and sideport. It ends up the same price and much quicker.
"Absolute tosh, who in there right mind would even consider this for gaming. If you don't game then you don't need it! If you do game you need better. There is no market for this. Buy the 8800GT/9800GT or the 4830 and get a board without crossfire and sideport. It ends up the same price and much quicker"
... Yo frodo ( to anonymous ) wake up ... Most of the boards that have the 790 have multiple pcie slots ... so you can actually use the crossfire option if you have two ( o lets say ) HD3850 or other , it will shut down the igp yes .. but it would only slow down performance anyways ... on the other hand the chip is good , overclocks very well , it has AM3+ support and stuff .. so it can be used to make a mean gaming machine . And what`s more you can build it in stages , lets say you are short on money right now first get just the board and CPU and ram and a 3450 , in a couple of months when the bank account has filed up you can sell the HD3450 on e-bay and by one HD4650 .. then in time another or change to a AM3+ CPU ... The boards with the 790 gives you the freedom to adapt your machine over time .
Hi Guys,
I read through the article and it says that the new HD3300 chipset handles 1080i nicely. How does it perform at 1080p with all the Sideport + addition shared memory etc?