Test Setup
| Processor | AMD Phenom X4 9850 BE @ 2.5 GHz |
| Motherboards | Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H (790GX) |
| Gigabyte MA78GPM-D2SH (780G) | |
| ASUS M3N78 PRO (GeForce 8300) | |
| Memory | 4GB Corsair Dominator CM2X2048-8500C5D |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital WD500YS 500 GB |
| Graphics | Integrated for 790GX, 780G, and GeForce 8300 |
| ASUS GeForce 8500GT TOP 256MB (GeForce Boost) | |
| Sapphire Radeon HD 3470 256 MB (Hybrid CrossFireX on 790GX and 780G) | |
| System Software | |
| Graphics Drivers | |
| AMD 790GX | 8.521.1 Beta |
| AMD 780G | Catalyst 8.7 |
| Nvidia GeForce 8300 | GeForce Release 175 |
| Operating System | Windows Vista x32 |
| Synthetic | |
| PC Mark Vantage | Build 1.0.0 |
| 3DMark Vantage | Build 1.0.1 |
| SiSoft Sandra XII | XII.2008.SP2c (14.24) |
| HDTach | Version 3.0.4.0 |
| Real-World | |
| Apple iTunes | Audio CD Terminator II SE, HQ (160kbps), Convert to AAC |
| Mainconcept H.264 | MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), 24 sec HDTV 1920x1080 |
| PowerDVD 8 Ultra | 60s 007:Casino Royale playback |
| Half Life 2: Episode 2 | 1024x768, low settings, timedemo playback |
| World in Conflict | 1024x768, low quality settings, built-in benchmark mode |
| Flight Simulator X | 1024x768, default graphics settings, FRAPS recording |
| Cinebench | R10 Version: 10.008 |
Notes
It’s worth noting that Hybrid CrossFireX and GeForce Boost are Windows Vista-only features, so you can’t add a card to the AMD or Nvidia platforms and expect to see better gaming performance in XP—a real quandary for the legions of gamers who still prefer XP to Vista.
The MA78GPM-D2SH employs AMD’s 780G chipset with 128 MB of side-port memory massaging performance up a bit. And the MA79GP-DS4H is of course the 790GX board, also with 128 MB of side-port. This should give us a good indication of how much benefit is attributable to the onboard RAM. We also planned to include Gigabyte’s MA78GM and Intel’s new DG45ID in the lineup. However, a spate of issues with the boards we had in the lab forced us to narrow the competition a bit.
Another point that we wanted to mention: when 780G launched, AMD was adamant that the best way to configure a Hybrid CrossFireX platform was with the display attached to the motherboard. During periods of idle, the discrete card would power down completely, yielding the power consumption of a purely integrated system. In testing the 790GX, however, we weren’t able to get Hybrid CrossFireX functioning properly unless the display was attached to the add-in Radeon HD 3470 board.
Finally, bear in mind that the integrated graphics core is heavily dependent on memory bandwidth performance. You’ll want to use DDR2-1066 whenever possible, tuned to the most aggressive timings to maximize gaming.
- amd ,
- integrated ,
- 790gx
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well done, yet another screwed up article
Toms has become a pathetic shambles
i agree, this site is rubbish since the takeover.
all the news is linked from other sources, double posts of articles on the front page, and articles not fully hosted.
Seriously, whoever runs this site needs to sort themselves out.
I would be fired if i allowed our website to get in this sort of mess.
I know, and I pay so much for this site as well...
I've been saying this for months now, and had most of my comments removed.
Why is this article posted twice on the front page, at two different times?
Why does the "northbridge table" on page 2 have no headder row? Which chipset is which?
Tom's Hardware used to be utterly superb, the only place I wanted to read my hardware news. Now I'm lucky if its written in coherent English, let alone factually correct and well presented!
In short, THG fails... hard.
LOL this article sucks more than paris hilton.......
Umm, where is the rest of the article?
THG has fallen more than I ever thought possible! Guess I'll bugger off back to Hexus....
yeah it's quite disappointing to see Toms go downhill like this
I thought this was an interesting article. I have complained about some of the others in recent past.... for example the nonsense one about Paint Shop's little brother.
But, it was easy to figure out which column related to which chipset, but when you make a stupid mistake like that it would be nice to go back and fix it.
I do not think the site is better nor worse since the take-over. It was never perfect. I think it is fine. It remains in my bookmarks. If you don't like it now, hang out at Anand's, hardocp, arstechnica, or overclockers.com or one of the many other decent places.
I agree.
lol i agree with most of you
, anyways , can someone tell me why vga charts aint been updated for 10 years lol? (a bit of exagerations if you didnt notice ) but where are the Geforce 9 series , guru3d has em why not toms?