Review: AMD RS780G - integrated graphics redefined!

by Tarinder Sandhu on 4 March 2008, 10:49

Tags: 780G Chipset with ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics, GA-MA78GM-S2H, ASUS P5E-VM HDMI, Gigabyte (TPE:2376), ASUSTeK (TPE:2357), AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qal2u

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Specifications

CPU support
  1. AMD Socket AM2+/ AM2 processors:
    PhenomFX; Phenom; Athlon 64 FX;
    Athlon64 X2 (dual-core); Athlon 64; Sempron
Hyper Transport Bus
  1. 5200/2000 MT/s
Chipset
  1. Northbridge: AMD 780G
  2. Southbridge: AMD SB700
Memory
  1. 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GiB of system memory
  2. Dual-channel memory architecture
  3. Support for DDR2-1066/800/667MHz memory modules
Audio
  1. Realtek ALC889A codec
  2. High Definition Audio
  3. 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
  4. Support for DTS (dts NEO:PC)
  5. Support for S/PDIF in/out
  6. Support for CD-in
LAN
  1. Realtek 8111C chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
Expansion slots
  1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot (gen 2.0)
  2. 1 x PCI Express x1 slot (gen 2.0)
  3. 2 x PCI slots
Storage interface South Bridge:
  1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
  2. 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2, SATAII3, SATAII4) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices
  3. 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device
  4. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10
iTE IT8718 chip:
    1. 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
    2. 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2, SATAII3, SATAII4) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices
    3. 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device
    4. Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10
    1. 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive 1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive
  1. South Bridge:
    iTE IT8718 chip:
IEEE 1394 T.I. TSB43AB23 chip
  1. Up to 2 IEEE 1394a ports (1 on the back panel, 1 via the IEEE 1394a bracket connected to the internal IEEE 1394a header)
USB Integrated in the south bridge
  1. Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 8 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)
Internal I/O connectors
  1. 1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
  2. 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
  3. 1 x floppy disk drive connector
  4. 1 x IDE connector
  5. 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
  6. 1 x CPU fan header
  7. 1 x system fan header
  8. 1 x front panel header
  9. 1 x front panel audio header
  10. 1 x CD In connector
  11. 1 x S/PDIF In/Out header
  12. 1 x IEEE 1394a header
  13. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
  14. 1 x parallel port header
  15. 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header
  16. 1 x serial port header
  17. 1 x chassis intrusion header
  18. 1 x power LED header
Back panel connectors
  1. 1 x PS/2 keyboard port
  2. 1 x PS/2 mouse port
  3. 1 x D-Sub port
  4. 1 x DVI-D port
  5. 1 x HDMI port
  6. 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
  7. 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port
  8. 1 x IEEE 1394a port
  9. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
  10. 1 x RJ-45 port
  11. 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)
I/O controller
  1. ITE IT8718 chip
H/W monitoring System voltage detection
  1. CPU/System temperature detection
  2. CPU/System fan speed detection
  3. CPU overheating warning
  4. CPU/System fan fail warning
  5. CPU/System fan speed control
BIOS
  1. 1 x 8Mbit flash
  2. Use of licensed AWARD BIOS
  3. PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b
Unique features
  1. Support for @BIOS
  2. Support for Download Center
  3. Support for Q-Flash
  4. Support for EasyTune (Note 5)
  5. Support for Xpress Install
  6. Support for Xpress Recovery2
  7. Support for Virtual Dual BIOS
Bundle software
  1. Norton Internet Security (OEM version)
Operating system
  1. Support for Microsoft Windows Vista/XP
Form factor
  1. Micro ATX Form Factor; 24.4cm x 24.4cm

Summary

Gigabyte's GA-MA78M-S2H motherboard is presented in a mATX form-factor. As such, there's a single PCIe x1 and a couple of PCIc expansion slots, on top of the x16 PCIe for discrete graphics.

Of the six SATAII ports, one is reserved for eSATA, which it to be found on the I/O section.

Gigabyte adds in two-port FireWire support from Texas Instruments and Gigabit LAN from a Realtek ASIC. Realtek, too, provides the ALC889A HD codec.

DVI and HDMI provide the digital output connections whilst D-Sub offers an analogue output.