GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2H, AMD PHENOM 9500, and AMD ATHLON X2 4850e

Introduction

The long-awaited 700-series core logic from AMD is finally here.  Its first incarnation is in the form of Gigabyte's impressive GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard.  Why is the 700-series so significant?  Well, aside from a smaller process which reduces power consumption, the northbridge integrates a Radeon HD 3200 core, and the southbridge addresses many performance issues and bugs that existed in the older 600-series chip.

The block diagram is shown above, and here is the motherboard with the included retail accessories:

MicroATX formfactor makes it THE IDEAL CHOICE for HTPCs

The rear I/O panel has everything you can ever want, including TOSLINK, HDMI and eSATA.

The 1x PCIe and 16x PCIe slots are intelligently placed, allowing a 2-slot graphics card to cover one of the two PCI-33 slots

More USB and SATA ports over here

Four DDR2 memory slots, AM2+ socket, PATA, FDD, and a strangely placed Printer Port header

Here are the specifications of the GA-MA78GM-S2H:

Specifications CPU Support for Socket AM2+/ AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™FX processor/ AMD Phenom™ processor/ AMD Athlon™ 64 FX processor/AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core processor/AMD Athlon™ 64 processor/AMD Sempron™ processor Hyper Transport Bus 5200/2000 MT/s Chipset North Bridge: AMD 780G South Bridge: AMD SB700 Memory 4 x 1.8V DDR2 DIMM sockets supporting up to 16 GB of system memory (Note 1) Dual channel memory architecture Support for DDR2 1066 (Note 2)/800/667 MHz memory modules Audio Realtek ALC889A codec High Definition Audio 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel Support for DTS (dts NEO:PC) Support for S/PDIF In/Out Support for CD In LAN Realtek 8111C chip (10/100/1000 Mbit) Expansion Slots 1 x PCI Express x16 slot (The PCI Express x16 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0 standard.) 1 x PCI Express x1 slot 2 x PCI slots Storage Interface South Bridge:   1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATAII0, SATAII1, SATAII2, SATAII3, SATAII4) supporting up to 5 SATA 3Gb/s devices 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port on the back panel supporting up to 1 SATA 3Gb/s device Support for SATA RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 10 iTE IT8718 chip:   1 x floppy disk drive connector supporting up to 1 floppy disk drive IEEE 1394 T.I. TSB43AB23 chip   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   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 x 24-pin ATX main power connector 1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector 1 x floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector 5 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors 1 x CPU fan header 1 x system fan header 1 x front panel header 1 x front panel audio header 1 x CD In connector 1 x S/PDIF In/Out header 1 x IEEE 1394a header 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers 1 x parallel port header 1 x Trusted Platform Module (TPM) header 1 x serial port header 1 x chassis intrusion header 1 x power LED header Back Panel Connectors 1 x PS/2 keyboard port 1 x PS/2 mouse port 1 x D-Sub port 1 x DVI-D port (Note 3) 1 x HDMI port 1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector 1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port 1 x IEEE 1394a port 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x RJ-45 port 6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone) I/O Controller ITE IT8718 chip H/W Monitoring System voltage detection   CPU/System temperature detection CPU/System fan speed detection CPU overheating warning CPU/System fan fail warning CPU/System fan speed control (Note 4) BIOS 1 x 8 Mbit flash Use of licensed AWARD BIOS PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b Unique Features Support for @BIOS Support for Download Center Support for Q-Flash Support for EasyTune (Note 5) Support for Xpress Install Support for Xpress Recovery2 Support for Virtual Dual BIOS Bundle Software Norton Internet Security (OEM version) Operating System Support for Microsoft Windows Vista/ XP Form Factor Micro ATX Form Factor; 24.4cm x 24.4cm Remark Due to different Linux support condition provided by chipset vendors, please download Linux driver from chipset vendors' website or 3rd party website. Due to most hardware/software vendors no longer offer support for Win9X/ME. If some vendors still has Win9X/ME drivers available, we will publish on website. Note (Note 1) Due to Windows XP 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB. (Note 2) Whether 1066 MHz memory speed is supported depends on the CPU being used. (Note 3) The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter. (Note 4) Whether the CPU/system fan speed control function is supported will depend on the CPU/ system cooler you install. (Note 5) Available functions in Easytune may differ by motherboard model.

The test setup is comprised of the following:

Silverstone 500W Power Supply

Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800

Qimonda HYS64T256020EU-19F-C2 / Aeneon AXT860YD00-19E-K-4G DDR2-1066

IBM 7200 RPM 30GB PATA HDD

Here are screenshots of the BIOS we used, version F3.  Specific areas of the image are clickable  (such as the <DEL>) so as to open a new window and show screen shots of the next menu:

Lastly, here is the pre-boot POST screen.  Note the 5x USB 1.1 and 2x USB 2.0 controller cores.  This will reduce any USB bottlenecks when multiple high-bandwidth devices are used simultaneously, such as a USB HDD and a USB TV Tuner:

Our test Operating System is Windows XP x64.  All tests performed at full CPU power (Always On), unless testing Idle Power consumption, Low CPU where Power Management is set at Max Battery.