We normally do not get giddy about the thought of reviewing another low budget integrated graphics platform. All right, some of us do, as we are eternal optimists that eventually a manufacturer will get it right. Guess what: AMD got it right - not exactly right, but for the first time we actually have an IGP solution that comes very close to satisfying everyone’s requirements in a low cost platform. Why are we suddenly excited about an integrated graphics platform again?

The legacy of integrated graphics platforms has historically been one of minimum functionality. With Intel as the number one graphics provider in the world, this can pose a problem for application developers looking to take advantage of the widest user base possible. Designing for the lowest common denominator can be a frustrating task when the minimum feature set and performance compared to current discreet solutions is so incredibly low.

The latest sales numbers indicate that about nine out of every ten systems sold have integrated graphics. We cannot understate the importance of a reasonable performance IGP solution in order to have a pleasurable all around experience on the PC. IGP performance might not be as important on a business platform relegated to email and office applications. However, it is important for a majority of home users who expect a decent amount of performance in a machine that typically will be a jack-of-all-trades, handling everything from email to office applications, heavy Internet usage, audio/video duties, and casual gaming.

Our opinions about the basic performance level of current IGP solutions have not always been kind. We felt like the introduction of Vista last year would ultimately benefit consumers and developers alike as it forces a certain base feature set and performance requirements for graphics hardware. However, even with full DX9 functionality required, the performance and compatibility of recent games under Vista is dismal at best. This along with borderline multimedia performance has left us with a sour taste in our mouths when using current IGP solutions from AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel for anything but email, Internet, basic multimedia, and Word; a few upgrades are inevitably required.

We are glad to say that this continual pattern of "mediocrity begets mediocrity" is finally ending, and we have AMD to thank for it. Yes, the same AMD that since the ATI merger has seemingly tripped over itself with questionable, failed, or very late product launches - depending upon your perspective. We endured the outrageous power requirements of the HD 2900 XT series and the constant K10 delays that turned into the underwhelming Phenom release; meanwhile, we watched Intel firing on all cylinders and NVIDIA upstaging AMD on the GPU front.

Thankfully, over the past few months we have seen AMD clawing its way back to respectability with the release of the HD 3xxx series of video cards, the under-appreciated 790/770 chipset release, and what remains a very competitive processor lineup in the budget sector. True, they have not been able to keep up with Intel or NVIDIA in the midrange to high-end sectors, but things are changing. While we wish AMD had an answer to Intel and NVIDIA in these more lucrative markets - for the sake of competition and the benefits that brings to the consumer - that is not where the majority of desktop sales occur. 

Most sales occur in the $300~$700 desktop market dominated by IGP based solutions and typically targeted at the consumer as an all-in-one solution for the family. Such solutions up until now have caused a great deal of frustration and grief for those who purchased systems thinking they would be powerful enough to truly satisfy everyone in the household, especially those who partake in games or audio/video manipulation.

With that in mind, we think AMD has a potential hit on its hands with their latest and greatest product. No, the product is still not perfect, but it finally brings a solution to the table that can at least satisfy the majority of needs in a jack-of-all-trades machine. What makes this possible and why are we already sounding like a group of preteens getting ready for a Hannah Montana concert?

Enter Stage Left; it’s not Hannah, but AMD’s latest edition to their ever-growing chipset portfolio, the 780G/780V chipset. The chipset nomenclature might make one think the 780G/780V is just an update to the successful 690G/690V product family. While the 780G product replaces the 690G, it is much more than just an update. In fact, the 780G is an all-new chipset that features a radically improved Northbridge and a slightly improved Southbridge. 

So let’s take a look at the chipset specifications and delve into the multimedia output qualities of the 780G chipset.

A Whole New Ball Game

As we stated earlier, the AMD 780G/780V is an all new chipset that consists of an RS780/RS780C Northbridge and SB700 Southbridge. AMD’s intent with this chipset is to offer a better alternative to the NVIDIA GeForce 8200, but more importantly to provide a total platform solution that competes directly against the current Intel G31/33/35 products.

Meant for the consumer market, the 780G has a heavy emphasis on multimedia and casual gaming capabilities via the HD 3200 graphics core with a 500MHz core clock. AMD is targeting the 780V chipset for the business crowd and it features the HD 3100 graphics core. DX10 functionality is retained but the core clock is reduced 350MHz while UVD 2.0, DisplayPort, Surround View, and Hybrid CrossFire are not supported.

780G Northbridge

AMD has a distinct manufacturing advantage in producing this Northbridge compared to Intel. The primary reason is the fact that the memory controller logic resides on the AMD processor, freeing up a considerable area on the NB die for a complete discrete solution. Compared to the 80nm manufacturing process used on the 690G, AMD has designed the 780G on a 55nm TSMC half-node process used to produce the current HD 3xxx series of cards. In the process of dropping in the RV610 core, HT 3.0, PCI Express 2.0, UVD, and other enhancements the transistor count for the 780G has grown to 205 million compared to the 72 million transistors in the 690G.

The biggest change AMD made in designing the 780G is a new integrated graphics processor featuring a slightly modified RV610 core that powers the Radeon HD 2400 series of cards. While the RV610 is an entry-level core from AMD, this core is less than a year old. Compared to the X700 design in the 690G, AMD has basically skipped two generations of budget GPU designs to incorporate this core into the 780G and has named it the HD 3200. This is the first time a manufacturer has used a current discrete graphics core directly in an IGP solution. Typically, most of the GPU designs for the IGP products have used the “reduced” feature set of a previous generation discreet design.

The Radeon HD 3200 graphics processor features a DX10 compliant unified shader model 4.0 graphics core. This architecture contains 40 stream processors from two shader SIMDs. The core features 128-bit floating point precision for all operations, a command processor for reduced overhead, DXTC and 3Dc+ texture compression, texture support up to 8192x8192, and a fully associative texture and Z/stencil cache.

The single texture and ROP units are capable of handling four texels and pixels per-clock, respectively. This allows up to 16 texture fetches per clock cycle and up to 128 textures per pixel. The one modification AMD made compared to the RV610 core is that the vertex and texture caches are fully associative instead of separate. Other technical goodies include early Z-test, Re-Z, Z range optimization, and Fast Z-clear operation.

There are eight render targets (MRTs) with anti-aliasing support, along with lossless Z and stencil compression. The HD 3200 features multi-sample anti-aliasing (up to 4 samples per pixel), custom filter anti-aliasing, adaptive super-sampling and multi-sampling, along with Super AA when using Hybrid CrossFire. HDR rendering is supported for all anti-aliasing features, although like current generation HD 2400 products, the performance hit for using AA is significant in certain games.

Texture filtering features include 2x/4x/8x/16x adaptive anisotropic filtering modes with up to 128 taps per pixel support. Bicubic, sRGB, and percentage closer filtering are featured along with 128-bit floating point HDR support. Finally, the HD 3200 includes a programmable tessellation unit and an accelerated geometry shader path for geometry amplification.

The core clock speed operates at an impressive 500MHz with most BIOS options offering the ability to overclock the core up to 1100MHz. Success in overclocking the core depends on several factors such as voltage options, thermal design, and processor choices. We have averaged around 750MHz with the X2 processors and 850MHz with the Phenom on a couple of performance-oriented boards. Unlike the 690G, increasing the core clock can actually affect frame rates a noticeable amount, at least on certain games.

AMD uses a highly optimized unified memory architecture (UMA) design, and all graphics memory is shared with system memory with the ability to access up to 512MB of system memory. SidePort memory is an available option depending upon the motherboard supplier and features a separate 32-bit DDR memory interface that the GPU can use either instead of or along with the shared memory. Depending on the processor and HT Link utilized, this option will generally improve performance across the board by about 5% - not just in games, but in video decoding capabilities as well.

The primary advantage of SidePort memory will be in the mobile 780M configuration where it will allow greater power savings and the ability to utilize a single channel DDR2-800 setup and still have performance almost equal to that of a dual controller setup. AMD expects to see significant performance gains in video decoding capabilities with a single channel memory setup in the 8.4 drivers.

Hybrid CrossFire comes of age on the 780G with the release of the 8.3 Catalyst driver set. Hybrid CrossFire supports current HD 2400 and 3400 based cards. In early testing we have seen increases of up to 30% in games like Half-Life 2: EP2 with a $45 HD3450 card. The additional card completely changes the game play dynamics of this chipset and allows several recent games to play at 1024x768 HQ settings or 1280x1024 medium quality and still keep the frame rates in the 40FPS to 60FPS range. However, smooth game play at those settings is not possible in Crysis (as one example), but what reasonable priced video card stands a chance with that game anyway?

AMD integrates their Unified Video Decoder 2.0 (UVD 2.0) capabilities into the 780G. UVD 2.0 offers hardware acceleration for decoding VC-1, H.264 (AVC), WMV, and MPEG-2 sources up to 1080p resolutions. Advanced de-interlacing is available when using a Phenom processor. We generally found CPU utilization rates and output quality to be near or equal to that of the HD 3450.

We were excited to learn that AMD was seeking HDMI 1.3b certification of the RS780, but it turns out that will not happen. xvYCC color space is fully supported and Deep Color (10-bit) was on the list, but the specification calls for 4:4:4 and the RS780 supports 4:2:2. On the audio side, the HDMI interface offers support for 2-channel LPCM, Dolby Digital 5.1, or DTS 5.1. Multi-Channel LPCM is not supported due to an available audio bandwidth of 1.6Mb/s on the chipset.

Rounding out the video capabilities of the 780G is analog output, DVI/HDMI interfaces, internal or external TMDS, and integrated DisplayPort capabilities. The HD 3200 features dual independent displays that allow resolution, refresh rates, and display data to be completely independent on the two display paths. AMD provides HDCP support with on-chip key storage for DisplayPort, DVI, or HDMI interfaces but is regulated to a single interface during playback operations. ATI SurroundView is fully supported when utilizing a Radeon based discrete card that allows the system to drive up to four monitors.

HyperTransport 3.0 capability (5.2GT/s+ interface) is included and is extremely important in extracting every last ounce of performance out of the HD 3200 graphics core. AMD recommends the Phenom processor family (Ed: not just to sell out stocks of B2 processors) in order to fully take advantage of the performance offered by the HD 3200. With a Phenom onboard, the HD 3200 will perform post-processing on high-definition content and it makes a difference in image quality and fluidity during 1080p playback. In fact, the graphics core is so sensitive to the HT interconnect link speed that simply raising the standard 1.8GHz speed to 2.2GHz on our 9600BE resulted in measurable performance differences in a few applications.

The Northbridge contains 26 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 connectivity with 16 lanes reserved for graphics via an x16 link, while six are available for x1 links for expansion slots or onboard peripherals. AMD reserves the remaining four links for use in the A-Link Express II interface to the SB700.

SB700 Southbridge

While technically a completely new part, the SB700 appears to us to be more of a big brother to the SB600. It is obvious that AMD set out to correct the ills of the SB600 but once again fell just short of having an outstanding Southbridge. Of course, AMD tells us to wait for the SB750, but we have heard that story before. Anyway, let’s get into what has changed and what has not.

The SB700 features six SATA 3.0Gb/s ports, up from four on the SB600, with the ability to reserve up to two of those ports for eSATA connectivity. Drives can be set up in RAID 0, 1, or 10, but the absence of RAID 5 still perplexes us (although it should be in the SB750).

Also missing in action is a native interface for networking support. AMD continues to use an external PHY and MAC for network operations. Although performance is similar to the NVIDIA and Intel solutions, this setup does incur a cost penalty for the motherboard suppliers.

The major improvement in the SB700 is the increase in USB 2.0 performance and the number of ports available. The new dual-channel controller features 12 USB 2.0 capable ports and two specific 1.1 ports for compatibility reasons.

A single PATA channel provides native IDE support for up to two drives. This channel supports PIO, multi-word DMA, and Ultra DMA 33/66/100/133. HyperFlash support is provided via Windows Vista ReadyBoost and ReadyDrive protocols with an IDE based HyperFlash module.

The SB700 features four PCI Express lanes for the A-Link Express II interconnect, but unlike the 780G those four lanes are based on PCI Express 1.1 specifications. That means the interconnect bandwidth is capped at 2GB/s, half of what it would be in a PCI Express 2.0 configuration. Also provided in the SB700 are five PCI lanes.

Finally we have the High Definition Audio controller that allows up to 16 channels of audio output per stream. The controller supports up to four codecs with sample rates going up to 192kHz and up to 32-bits per sample.

Overall, the combination of the 780G and SB700 brings AMD to the forefront in features and performance in the IGP market. Power management was a critical factor in the design of both chipsets with the 55nm fabrication process being a major factor in the power savings department. Both chipsets feature an idle TDP of around 1.5W with load ratings being 15W for the 780G and 4.5W for the SB700.

Test Setup

The Gigabyte GA-MA780GM-S2H was selected as our AMD 780G platform representative today. AMD provided this board for the press kits as it is one of the most feature laden 780G boards in the market, and Gigabyte has ensured widespread availability over the next couple of weeks. The board we are using is an actual retail kit purchased to guarantee our testing results are representative of product in the retail channel. To be honest, the retail board performed identically to our review sample during testing, so that should put any thoughts about cherry-picked samples to rest.

Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H Testbed
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850E Dual-core, 2.5GHz, 2 x 512KB L2 Cache, 12.5x Multiplier
CPU Voltage	1.250V
Cooling	AMD Retail
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-430GB
Memory	OCZ PC2-6400 ATI Edition (4x1GB)
Memory Settings	DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 1.90V
Video Cards	On-board HD3200
Video Drivers	AMD 8.3
Hard Drive	Samsung HD501LJ
Optical Drives	Sony BDU-X10S
Case	Silverstone SG03
Operating System	Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
.

ASUS P5E-VM HDMI Testbed
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo E2200 Dual-core, 2.20GHz, 1MB L2 Cache, 800FSB, 11x Multiplier
CPU Voltage	1.250V
Cooling	Intel Retail
Power Supply	Seasonic SS-430GB
Memory	OCZ PC2-6400 ATI Edition (4x1GB)
Memory Settings	DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 1.90V
Video Cards	On-board X3500
Video Drivers	Intel 15.8
Hard Drive	Samsung HD501LJ
Optical Drives	Sony BDU-X10S
Case	Silverstone SG03
Operating System	Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
.

ASUS M3N78-EMH HDMI Testbed
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 X2 4850E Dual-core, 2.5GHz, 2 x 512KB L2 Cache, 12.5x Multiplier
CPU Voltage	1.250V
Cooling	AMD Retail
Power Supply	CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX
Memory	OCZ PC2-6400 ATI Edition (4x1GB)
Memory Settings	DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 2.00V
Video Cards	On-board GeForce 8200
Video Drivers	NVIDIA 173.68
Hard Drive	Samsung HD501LJ
Optical Drives	Sony BDU-X10S
Case	Silverstone SG03
Operating System	Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit
.

Our tests today will concentrate on High Definition image quality output and CPU utilization rates. We are currently working on a five-board roundup that will feature 780G boards from Gigabyte, ASUS, J&W, and ECS. We will go into detail about general performance in the areas of gaming, networking, applications, and overclocking in that article.

Based on the 780G’s penchant for HD playback, we figured the natural competitors in this particular segment would be the Intel G35 and NVIDIA GeForce 8200. Fortunately, our retail GeForce 8200 sample just arrived, but we will be using beta drivers with the GeForce 8200. NVIDIA has not updated the drivers since introducing the chipset in January, so our results could change with final release code. In the meantime, we will pit the 780G against the G35 with publicly available drivers and continue to hope that NVIDIA will answer our requests for a new driver release.

We selected identical components for our three testbeds, with the obvious exception of the motherboard and CPU. Our choice of processors represents the budget-minded user to a certain degree, with AMD’s new 4850e X2 and Intel’s E2200 both retailing for $90. AMD expects to start shipping the 4850e shortly. We ended up having to switch out our Seasonic SS-430GB power supply for a Corsair CMPSU-550VX power supply. The ASUS M3N78-EMH just did not care for our Seasonic power supply during testing as the board would randomly shutdown.

We will provide quad-core results in our follow-up with all three chipsets. One important fact about the 780G and Phenom combination is this combination will perform post-processing on high-definition content. It makes a difference in image quality and fluidity during 1080p playback that we are still trying to capture at this moment.

Silicon Optix HD HQV

The HD HQV benchmark is developed and provided by Silicon Optix. Our review of HD HQV is located here. Like the standard HQV Benchmark, the high-definition counterpart contains video tests and patterns that determine the quality of a product’s HD video signal processing. A set of five tests evaluate quality factors such as HD Noise Reduction, Video and Film resolution loss tests, as well a test for “jaggies”. We disable Aero capability and set the driver options to optimal settings.

Unfortunately, optimizing the drivers and PowerDVD 7.3 can and will make a difference in the tests where de-interlacing is important. In addition, although this test is standardized to some degree, it can be subjective at times. This depends upon how strict you abide by the guideline sheet although even it differs at times with the video example tests.

In our first test, it is obvious that Image quality of the Intel G35 and NVIDIA GeForce 8200 is not up to par with the 780G with the Film Resolution test making the difference in the scores. To be honest, the 780G was on the verge of failing this particular test (subjective opinion) without optimizing the settings in the CCC panel. We also optimized quality settings in both the NVIDIA and Intel control panels to be consistent but did not notice any real changes in this test. All three boards were close to scoring 7 points in the HD noise reduction test but failed the flower section of the test while the sailboat test did show some slight improvements.

AMD is working on further enhancements in the Catalyst 8.4 drivers for the X2 processors to improve this situation and the jaggies test. With a Phenom installed, we see the advantages of the post-processing engine coming into play. Additional tuning is also available in the 8.3 drivers with the ability to turn edge enhancement off and on. We will have the standard HQV results in our roundup. The 8.3 drivers allow the 780G with a Phenom to score 122 out of 130 points and 113 with the 4850e.

Overall, we do not put much faith into this test currently as our eight person panel seemed to have a different opinion on just about every score. In fact, only three of our esteemed colleagues were in agreement with each other on test scores for each board and those were different (higher) than our published results.

Testing Notes

Our image quality tests today consists of still screenshots from several movies in our collection, actually the primary criteria were movies that offered decent bitrates and were screen capture friendly under DRM infested Vista. While we tried to capture the exact moment within a frame to compare the 780G to the G35/GF8200, this was not always possible. However, we did our best to capture the screenshots on the same frame but at times; the capture process grabbed the beginning of the frame or the trailing end.

In the end, we feel like the process is close enough to give you an indication to any differences between the images. Obviously, we cannot show the reference image but will comment as to which screen shot best represented the reference image on our home theater system. We find measuring video output quality in this manner a subjective process to some degree, as at times we liked an image that did not match the reference screenshot better than the one that did. Considering that fact, we decided to bring eight people in to give us their opinions during playback sequences and then still-shot reviews.

We utilized PowerDVD 7.3 (build 3610 utilized, 3730 in testing) for playback with all settings on auto, except we enabled hardware acceleration within the application. We measured CPU utilization and bitrate results with the Vista Task Manager and PowerDVD Info applications respectively. We took readings every five minutes and averaged the results at the end of the movie. Movies were played back in full screen mode at their native resolutions with the desktop set to 1920x1200. We will show discrete card results in our next article. However, the HD 3450 provided results that were just a few percent better than the HD 3200 with the released 8.3 driver set.

Audio settings selected were Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, or two-channel LPCM where applicable. Unlike the 780G, the G35 and GeForce 8200 fully supports multi-channel LPCM output and we will comment on results with either LPCM 5.1 or Dolby TrueHD decoded streams (via PowerDVD) where applicable.

We calibrated both systems on our Gateway XHD3000 monitor to ensure the color palettes were set equally. Fine tuning the control panel settings for each of the test setups can and will improve the picture quality but we will leave that up to the user to decide their preferences. We played back the movie sequences on the Gateway monitor for initial viewing and judging. We proceeded to output the same movie sequences on our calibrated Samsung 61" (HL-T6187S) DLP set utilizing the same control panel and PowerDVD settings to view the images in an HT setting.

We then utilized our test setups to pass through the image and audio via HDMI to our Pioneer Elite VSX-94THX A/V receiver. Using the receiver as a "repeater", we output the native signal (our preferred method to PWDVD) to our HT setup (7.1 audio/Samsung 61” DLP) for our test subjects. We will list their preferences in our comments section. We will also warn you in advance that the original images are generally 2MB to 3MB in size if you decide to download them.

MPEG 2 Video Quality - SWORDFISH

We are utilizing the movie SWORDFISH from Warner Brothers, what else can we say, we still like seeing Halle Berry in the lounge chair. This movie offers bitrate levels that averaged 5.4 Mb/s to 8.1 Mb/s on average. In our particular test scene, John Travolta is drinking a cup of coffee in a close up shot that highlights skin tones along with reflections off the cup and background objects.

780G – Click to Enlarge

G35 – Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 – Click to Enlarge

The differences in the images are minor but the G35 appears to have slightly deeper colors along with a slight edge in sharpness while the GeForce 8200 offers additional contrast and a better background image, but being darker overall. However, the 780G image was faithful to the reference image during playback tests. Our test audience placed 4 votes for the 780G, 2 for the G35, and 2 for the GeForce 8200.

CPU utilization during playback favors the 780G and GeForce 8200 on average by 4%. This was surprising to us as the G35 does not offer full hardware decode capabilities for MPEG-2 playback. However, we never had a problem with playback in this title and others such as Cars and Spiderman 3.

VC1 Video Quality - SWORDFISH

SWORDFISH is not a very demanding movie in 1080P playback but the image screenshots should give a good indication to the improvement when going from MPEG-2 to VC1. This movie offers bitrate levels that averaged 15.7 Mb/s to 25.2 Mb/s on average. Once again, we utilize the coffee shop test scene.

780G – Click to Enlarge

G35 – Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 – Click to Enlarge

The differences in the images are once again minor but this time the 780G appears to have better skin tones while sharpness and overall color palette seems to favor the G35. We thought the GeForce 8200 image was slightly on the flat side when comparing facial details but had the best background details. The 780G image was more faithful to the reference image during playback tests. The 780G garnered 3 votes, 3 to the G35, and 2 for the GeForce 8200.

CPU utilization during playback favors the GeForce 8200 and 780G by a several percent even though the G35 offers hardware accelerated decoding of the VC1 format. There were not any judder or stuttering problems on any of the platforms during playback.

H.264 Video Quality - Cars

One of our favorite movies last year was Cars from Disney / PIXAR. It may be a kid-oriented movie but who can resist fast cars and a love story to boot. This movie offers bitrate levels that average 14.1 Mb/s to 31.9 Mb/s. In our particular test scene, the Hudson Hornet is in the pit lanes acting as crew chief. This image provides an array of colors and contrast opportunities for dissection.

780G – Click to Enlarge

G35 – Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 – Click to Enlarge

The differences in the images are small but the GeForce 8200 appears to have slightly deeper colors along with a very slight edge in sharpness that we will discuss shortly. The reference image was in between the G35 and 780G, but even that decision was a tossup in our opinion. However, our test audience voted differently than the reference image with 4 votes in favor of the GeForce 8200, 3 for the G35, and 1 for the 780G.

This is one title that benefits from NVIDIA's new HD Dynamic Contrast and Color enhancements that will vary contrast ratios on the fly while enforcing a slightly stronger color palette across the image. We find this technology is well suited to animated titles but our opinions differ strongly when it comes to natural images. Almost all of us did not like the contrast enhancement technology but several thought the color enhancement feature offered a better overall picture in most cases.

Even though the G35 platform had an excellent image, there is no comparison in the CPU utilization rates during playback compared to the hardware accelerated decoding offered by NVIDIA and AMD. As expected, the 780G kills the G35 with average utilization rates at 25% compared to 77%. Of course, the G35 does not offer hardware acceleration for decoding H.264 (AVC) content and as such suffers from severe judder at times once the CPU utilizations rates go above 95.

In early Phenom testing with the 8.3 release drivers we noticed CPU utilization rates dropping several percent while image quality improved due to the post-processing capabilities on the HD 3200 when paired with an HT 3.0 capable CPU. We will have those results shortly.

VC1 Video Quality - Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

We are constantly playing our “Live at Radio City” Blu-ray disc featuring Dave Matthews and Time Reynolds from ATO/RCA/BMG record labels in the labs. It is one of our reference discs for audio quality and besides we just enjoy the music. This disc offers bitrate levels that averaged 13.06 Mb/s to 31.3 Mb/s. In our particular test scene, we see Dave and Tim performing from the right side of the stage. This image provides an array of colors, shadows, and various lighting angles for review.

780G – Click to Enlarge

G35 – Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 – Click to Enlarge

The differences in the images are minor but the 780G appears to offer slightly better detail and background image in our estimation. This time, the GeForce 8200 image was faithful to the reference image during playback tests. . Our test audience voted 3 in favor of the GeForce 8200, 3 for the 780G, and 2 for the G35.

This was one test where the opinions differed greatly after watching several minutes of the video. The majority thought the GeForce 8200 offered more “pleasant” tones and brightness control while several thought the 780G provided greater image depth and balanced colors (especially close-ups) that the G35/GeForce 8200 could not.

The 780G and GeForce 8200 offer CPU utilization rates several percent lower in this title than the G35. When using PowerDVD to decode the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio stream, we noticed our average processor utilization rate increased about 5%~9% on average.

H.264 Video Quality- SPIDER-MAN 3

One of last year’s trilogy blockbusters came from Columbia Pictures featuring the MARVEL inspired SPIDER-MAN 3. This movie offers bitrate levels that averaged 14.9 Mb/s to 35.3 Mb/s. In our particular test scenes, we have a close up of Spider-Man and another screenshot of the police on the street from a top down angle. Both screenshots offer an opportunity to compare color, facial details, and black levels.

780G – Click to Enlarge

G35 – Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 – Click to Enlarge

780G – Click to Enlarge

G35 – Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 – Click to Enlarge

We see small differences in the screenshots, but certainly think in the first screenshot that the 780G and/or GeForce 8200 had better color saturation and details than the G35. The second screenshot is a tossup depending on whether you like the softer look of the 780G or slightly more detail and sharpness in the G35 picture. The GeForce 8200 did not offer as warm skin tones in our opinion but otherwise had the same overall image as the 780G. Our test audience voted 4 times for the 780G, 3 for the GeForce 8200, and 1 for the G35 in the Spider-Man image. The 780G garnered four votes in the police screen shot with the GeForce 8200 and G35 each receiving 2. Both 780G images were slightly closer to the reference image than the G35 with the GeForce 8200 placing in-between both platforms.

The 780G and GeForce 8200 put a major hurt on the G35 with average CPU utilization rates around 24% compared to 84%. The GeForce 8200 had slight increases in the processor utilization rates when implementing LPCM 5.1 or Dolby True HD decoding through PowerDVD Ultra 7.3. LPCM 5.1 audio bitrates averaged 4608 Kbps with Dolby True HD ranging from 2640~4608 Kbps depending on the scene.

During heavy action sequences, the G35 processor utilization rates were constantly above 90% and we did experience some judder at times if not outright pausing. If we changed our audio stream to Dolby TrueHD or 5.1 LPCM, the CPU utilization rates stayed at 97%~100% during the action sequences with average rates being around 87%. Actually, judder was no different from the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio stream so we would suggest sticking with the higher audio quality streams but suggest a processor such as an E6750 for a better viewing experience.

Quick Thoughts

The AMD 780G platform offers significantly lower CPU utilization rates than the G35 in our H.264 playback tests while jockeying back and forth with the GeForce 8200. VC1 and MPEG-2 playback was certainly lower on the 780G/GeForce 8200 platforms, though the G35 was at least in the same ballpark. Intel has made some strides with the 15.8 drivers in regards to MPEG-2 playback and overall image quality. Our experiences with the 15.9 driver are even better, but we will have to wait until the G45 for a true competitor to the AMD chipset previewed today when comparing hardware accelerated decode capabilities.

More important than the raw numbers is that throughout testing, neither the 780G nor GeForce 8200 once experienced pausing, judder, or outright blank screen events - something we cannot say about the G35. Certainly, our processor choices have a significant impact on CPU utilization rates, but considering our two choices are priced equally we have to give the nod to AMD for having a better media solution in this price range. As far as power consumption goes during H.264 playback, the AMD platform averaged 106W, NVIDIA platform at 102W, and the Intel platform averaged 104W - too close to really declare a true winner.

The G35 and GeForce 8200 certainly hold an advantage when it comes to providing multi-channel LPCM audio over the HDMI interface, and that one item is enough for us to go back to our original opening comments that AMD got it right... almost right. From an HTPC perspective, it is hard to argue with the video results from the HD 3200, but the audio capabilities of the G35 and GeForce 8200 still sway us at times to the other side.

After testing nearly non-stop over the past two weeks, we think the 780G is the better overall solution and are still amazed that AMD made such a significant jump in IGP performance in such short time. Our comments come from reviewing the results from close to two dozen benchmarks and a general maturity in the platform at this moment, something we could not have said when our first boards arrived a few weeks ago.

The only wild card at this point is the NVIDIA GeForce 8200 as it appears to be very close to the 780G in multimedia performance, but gaming and application capabilities are lagging a little in early testing. Whether this is due to an immature BIOS, chipset limitations, or drivers is up for debate at this point (Ed: calling 1-800-NVIDIA, please pick up). We will have full results for this chipset in our roundup, but considering most boards based on the MCP78 are not due for another month, we have to tip our hats to AMD for better market execution at this point.

The Intel G35 platform will show its strength in areas like office applications and video/audio encoding thanks to the Core 2 processor family. However, it has an Achilles heel that keeps it from being an all around champion. Besides dismal H.264 decoding abilities with low-end processors, casual gaming is an almost complete disaster on this platform. This is an area we will report on thoroughly in our next article. In the meantime, we leave you with these screenshots to ponder which platform is best suited for that casual gamer in the household.

Unreal Tournament 3 - 1024x768 Medium Quality Settings

780G at 24.3 FPS - Click to Enlarge

G35 at 2.6 FPS - Click to Enlarge

GeForce 8200 at 19.2 FPS - Click to Enlarge