 | |
| Part Number | 790GX-G65 |
| Manufacturer | MSI |
| Chipset | AMD 790GX |
| North Bridge | 790GX |
| Socket | Socket AM2+, Socket AM3 |
| Memory speed | 1066/800/667/533 |
| Processor Types | Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core/Athlon 64/ Sempron/Phenom/Phenom II |
| Number of CPUs | 1 |
| HT Speed | Up to 5200MT/second |
| Memory Type | DDR3 |
| Memory Channels | Double |
| Maximum Memory | 16GB |
| External Graphics | PCI Express x16 x2 |
| IGP | ATI 790GX |
| South Bridge | SB750 |
| Audio | 8-channel |
| IDE | 133/100/66 |
| SCSI | None |
| SATA | 3.0 GB/s |
| RAID | 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 |
| LAN | 10/100/1000 4 LAN Ports |
| Firewire | IEEE 1394a |
| USB | USB 2.0 |
| BIOS | AMI |
| Form Factor | ATX |
 | |
The MSI board is based upon AMD's 790GX chipset. There are three things that this chipset has support for AM3 CPUs, DDR3 memory and integrated graphics. The Socket AM3 is a 938-pin package designed to support the latest AM3 CPUs. The memory controller is on the processor, meaning that the AM3 CPUs support DDR3 memory and this board supports it as well. Integrated HD 3300 graphics are the top of the heap in terms of performance for integrated graphics solutions.
AMD has launched several AM3 CPUs including the 810 we are using in this review, the 720 X3 and 710 X3 CPUs and more to come later this month. Due to the nature of the interface, AM3 CPUs will work on AM2+ boards, but AM2+ CPUs will not work on AM3 boards due to the missing pins and the use of DDR3 memory for system memory that is not supported by the AM2+ CPU.
APS stands for Active Phase Switching. APS uses the lower power modes of the CPU, memory and Chipset PWM when the system is not under load. Power savings of up to 27.6% are observed with APS enabled compared to a motherboard without APS. Auto Max FSB allows the overclocker to overclock quickly and automatically.
M-Flash allows the user to update the BIOS simply by using a USB drive. You can also sboot from a USB drive by using M-Flash if the BIOS crashes. MSI uses all Solid capacitors as is the custom with most motherboard manufacturers. Solid capacitors have a longer lifespan than regular capacitors and are much less likely to leak than the older capacitors. Chokes are inductors responsible for storing power and regulating current. Shielded chokes reduce core power loss and offer lower EMI emissions.
The integrated graphics core on the board is the HD 3300 from ATI. The HD 3300 has a core clock speed of 700MHz compared to the 500MHz core clock speed found on the HD 3200 on the earlier 780GX motherboard chipsets. The HD 3300 supports all features of DirectX 10.0 and in fact is a HD 2400XT modified for the motherboard with 40 SPs. MSI outfits their 790GX-G65 with 1 Gigabit for SidePort memory. SidePort memory works with your system memory to provide integrated graphics and can improve performance 15% over using the system memory alone.
