AMD Mobos for Dummies

[rivethead]

Can anyone point me to a definitive narrative that discusses the details between AMD 785 mobos and AMD 790 mobos?

Just a causal browsing of NewEgg I see:

785 mobos have Radeon 4200 integrated graphics
785 mobos mostly support DDR2, but some can do DDR3

790 mobos have Radeon 3300 integrated graphics (which is better than the 4200 correct?)
790 mobos support DDR2 memory.

Am I missing something else major? Seems odd that I can't find a 790 mobo that supports DDR3 (didn't the 790 come after the 785)?

 

[JACKDRUID]

-790 supports raid 5 on sata
-4200 supports dx 10.1, otherwise exactly same as radeon 3300 (default clock higher on 3300 just because they want to differentiate, however they both oc to same 850mhz/900mhz)
-790 support ONLY ddr3 memory, 785 supports both
-790 comes wth ddr3 sideport memory, while 4200 usually comes with ddr2 sideport memory, therefore makes 3300 faster unless you can fiind a 4200 w. ddr3 sideport.
-785 is newer and cheaper.

 

[james 1]

I am assuming that when you 790 you’re talking about the GX chipset. Anyway toms hardware did I good comparison between the GX/785g chipset. Here is the link:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-785g-chipset,2381.html

As you can see the GX does perform better than 785g in games, but the overclocked 785g does do better GX.

Also most AM3 motherboards do support DDR3 and I think that if you are going to get a AMD cpu go AM3, but bare in mind that the 785g does not support xfire and the 790gx does.

I put in my order last week for a Asus M4A785TD-V EVO Socket AM3, because the onboard GPU does OC well and it looks cool as well.

 

[theevilsharpie]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_700_chipset_series

 

[rivethead]

Thanks all! Very helpful.

So the 785 came out after the 790.....yeah, that makes sense.

I'm not a gamer, but I'd like the mobo to be as upgradable as possible. Sounds like a 785 board (with DDR3 RAM) would be the right route for me.

 

[JACKDRUID]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-785g-motherboard,2441.html

7 785 boards round-up

I have the biostar, its very good. got it from ewiz for like $59...

 

[heyheybooboo]

The 785G comes with the sb710 --- for the most part the 790GX comes with the sb750 which provides for RAID5.

And surprisingly, I believe the 790GX chips are a tad more energy efficient than the 785Gs ...

which leads me to believe that the Radeon 4200 IGP is volted a bit higher to get that improved video performance.

 

[SonnyDaze]

-790 supports raid 5 on sata
-790 support ONLY ddr3 memory, 785 supports both

Not necessarily. They are some 790 mobos that support DDR2. I have a 790X-UD4P that supports DDR2.