Lab Update - Gigabyte GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H
by Gary Key on July 11, 2009 12:09 AM EST- Posted in
- Gary's First Looks
Gigabyte dropped off their GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H motherboard today that is based on the AMD 785G/SB710 chipsets. This is a chipset that we have had our sights set on for long time now as it addresses the lack of multi-channel LPCM audio out lacking in the 690G/780G/790GX chipsets along with other video playback enhancements. The additional bonus with this chipset is improved integrated graphics performance and full support for the AM3 processors. In fact, we just found the perfect home for our new AMD Phenom II X3 705e processor.
In early testing, this board has performed superbly, so much so, that we will be running it around the clock to get a performance preview up for you this weekend. Sorry about the short post and lack of pictures tonight, but we need to complete testing before showing the board off properly. In the meantime, we have a couple of early photo shots for your viewing pleasure. We will be back shortly with our initial thoughts on the chipset and why Gigabyte's particular board design has already impressed us.
7/12 Update - We need to discuss a couple of items with AMD on Monday morning concerning the beta driver set we received before publishing preliminary results. Gigabyte has done a masterful job with the 785G/SB710 chipsets on this board. However, the early video drivers are generating a few strange results in HD playback and PCMark Vantage. We also believe our Sims3 game scores are a bit low based on the new hardware although they are better than the 780G.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
25 Comments
View All Comments
jajig - Sunday, July 12, 2009 - link
That's the wrong motherboard. The one in your link is the AM2+ DDR2, the board being previewed is AM3 DDR3. The Gigabyte GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H does not support older CPUs.cghebert - Sunday, July 12, 2009 - link
Thanks for the clarification. Gary doesn't say anywhere in the preview that it is AM3, but in one of the pictures you can make out DDR3 near the memory slots. Hopefully the only difference will be AM3 and DDR3 vs. AM2,AM2+ and DDR2. If so, I'll be going with the older socket and memory style.The0ne - Saturday, July 11, 2009 - link
1. Big fans might not fit due to the location of the DIMM sockets2. Big video cards might not fit due to the DIMMS and "Gigabyte" blue heatsink.
dolcolax - Saturday, July 11, 2009 - link
1) can it undervolt?2) can it unlock cores?
one thing i hate about amd gigabyte boards is the placement of the heatsink retention and the ram slots. A big heatsink will probably hit 2 ram slots in this board.
Ryun - Saturday, July 11, 2009 - link
Of the AMD based chipset Gigabyte boards I've seen I haven't been too impressed with the BIOS options. You can't seem to lower the voltage on anything (for instance, with the RAM you can only increase the voltage in positive increments so <=1.8v DDR2 runs at 1.9) and it just seems really messy.Spoelie - Saturday, July 11, 2009 - link
Seems like the board I'm looking for*AM3, support all recent cpus
*decent integrated graphics suitable for htpc
*µATX sized
*Hits all the I/O ports for a modern computer
*Not a budget design!!
Strangely the first board I see that hits all these points.
Will probably use this to upgrade a lot of my families' (non-enthousiasts') computers, if the review doesn't come with big caveats anyway :)
BansheeX - Sunday, July 12, 2009 - link
Don't forget:2 fugly and outmoded IDE ports
A heatsink that completely blocks the PCI-e x1 port.
squeezee - Monday, July 13, 2009 - link
I wonder if the 1X port is actually blocked or if this is simply a matter of perspective. The heatsink is obviously designed so that the 1x slot would clear it, could be misaligned by 1-2mm or so.Swalchy - Monday, July 13, 2009 - link
No, it's definitely blocked. They've done the same thing with the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P - http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Prod...">http://www.giga-byte.com/Products/Mothe.../Product...rhog - Monday, July 13, 2009 - link
NO it is NOT Blocked the heatsink is Cut Low on the side where the 1X PCI_epress port is located. I own a number of board that use this heatsink and I have not had a problem placing a 1X card in the Slot.