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Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H
Sudeep Naik, May 16, 2008 2213 hrs ISTI have no qualms recommending this board to our readers for use on their new or upgraded PC
Feature-rich, Good Performance, Stable operation, Hybrid Graphics, Onboard UVD, Independent DVI-D and D-Sub controllers, Good 8-channel audio, HDMI out, Good assortment of I/O ports.
HyperTransport 3.0 works only with Phenoms, Northbridge tends to heat up.
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HyperTransport 3.0
As said, the 780G chipset supports HyperTransport 3.0 link when coupled with the new AM2+ processors (read, Phenom CPUs, for now). Earlier chipsets would work with HyperTransport 1.0 that used to run at 1 GHz with a Dual Data Rate (DDR). The HT3, on the other hand, runs at 1.8GHz and has a theoretical throughput of 15GB/s.
This huge amount of bandwidth is essential to the working of the 780G's DX10 graphics core as it has to constantly keep interacting with the memory controller inside the CPU to use the RAM. This explains the huge jump in graphics performance as compared to last generation chipsets.
Radeon HD 3200 and Hybrid Graphics
As I said, the HD 3200 powers the 780G's graphics core and is nearly the same as ATI's Radeon HD 3450 with both of them using 40 stream processors and a 55nm fab process. The only difference between them is that the HD 3200 in the 780G runs at 500MHz while the discrete HD 3450 runs at 600MHz.
Nonetheless, expect a similar performance from the on-board graphics sub-system.
Apart from that, the HD3200 has two indelendent display controllers that allow you to use two monitors at the same time without using any discrete graphics cards. Needless to say, on the motherboards, these will be implemented by using a VGA (D-Sub) and a DVI-D interface, like this board has.
We spoke about Hybrid Graphics being introduced on the 780G chipset and here's how you can benefit from it.
The HD 3200 has enough muscle power to let you play almost all DX10 games at respectable frame rates (at low resolution and low-to-medium graphics). Moreover, when you use an HD 3450/3470/2400 in tandem with the on-board GPU (provided you have Vista OS), what you get is almost double the performance since it works in Hybrid Graphics mode and combines the power of the HD 3200 and the HD 3450 to give you better frame rates and graphics quality dirt cheap. This is a great option for the cost conscious-gamer who, somehow, is always short of cash for better hardware. We'll be publishing a separate article that will shed more light on Hydrid Graphics through some thorough testing across various discrete ATI GPUs.
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