Gaming
Adding a low-cost discrete HD 3450 sees a good performance boost, with Hybrid CrossFire utilising both the integrated and discrete graphics-cores. For a comparison of Hybrid CrossFire to lone IGP and HD 3450 rendering you can check out our initial look at the Gigabyte board here. We are featuring the results here just to compare the Sapphire and Gigabyte boards.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars sees Intel further embarrassed. At 1,024x768 even the RS780G's integrated HD 3200 core struggles, with the game not at all smooth or playable, but compared to the Intel it's in a completely different league.
Company Of Heroes: Opposing Fronts paints a similar picture, with the AMD offering twice the performance of the Intel.
Playing any relatively recent games at 1,024x768 on an IGP, even with low-detail settings, isn't wholly feasible. However, the HD 3200 integrated in the RS780G chipset comes closer than any previous iteration we've tested.
Whilst not threatening even low-end discrete cards, the Radeon HD 3200 is ideal for a user looking to experience Vista's Aero Glass interface in all its transparency and menu-flipping glory on an 'office' PC, whilst also being able to have a sneaky game of an old classic, should the mood take you.
The upcoming 790GX chipset will further substantiate the IGP dominance currently being enjoyed by AMD.