AMD claims 3D performance superiority for the integrated Radeon HD 4290 graphics controller of its new 890GX northbridge, but we think it looks amazingly like the 790GX, save for the DirectX 10.1 update. With much of its focus on media centers, we wanted to find out whether it could also support modern games at the common 720p resolution.


Performance between the new Radeon HD 4290 integrated GPU looks remarkably similar to that of its predecessor’s Radeon HD 3300 core. If you can live with film-speed frame rates, you’ll at least find two of these games playable at their lowest settings.
Our original assessment was that AMD’s SB850 southbridge was the biggest news of today’s release, with the only integrated SATA 6Gb/s controller on the market. Let’s see how today’s motherboards compare to the previous generation’s SATA 3Gb/s part.


Though none of the integrated solutions could exceed the former standard’s 300 MB/s limit, all of them outpace the former chipset’s controller. We expect the lower SB850 scores to go up after a few BIOS improvements.
- Clear Leadership, Or More Of The Same?
- Motherboard Features
- Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3
- Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H
- MSI 890GXM-G65
- Test Settings
- Benchmark Results: Integrated Graphics And SATA 6Gb/s
- Benchmark Results: Modern Warfare 2 And Crysis
- Benchmark Results: DiRT 2 And Call of Pripyat
- Benchmark Results: Audio And Video Encoding
- Benchmark Results: Productivity
- Benchmark Results: Synthetic Benchmarks
- Conclusion
It is a shame you could not have added native USB 3 in there along with the SATA 3.0.
A bit more lackluster on the northbridge though.
Other than the DX10.1 update, I really see nothing new...
It is a shame you could not have added native USB 3 in there along with the SATA 3.0.
A bit more lackluster on the northbridge though.
Other than the DX10.1 update, I really see nothing new...
Though honestly, I'm just awaiting a Quantum Force (Foxconn) X68 board to replace my Bloodrage. Good to see atleast someone is getting SATA 6Gb/s.
Come on AMD, give us some more juice. I don't know if my second system will be a desktop or laptop yet, and a good integrated GPU will help me decide (720p gaming on what will hopefully be a 50" plasma).
How about triple channel memory too? I'd think it'd help the GPU somewhat also.
I'm not against paying bucket loads for a motherboard (but I expect to get what I pay for).
One last thing...
DisplayPort. Give it. The faster nvidia/integrated adopt it, the faster Samsung/Dell etc. will put them on their monitors.
The industry adopted HDMI like it was nothing. DP has less licensing fees, but DP monitors are in the $500 range (granted, IPS panels etc.). We want $150 1080p DP panels please.
Come on AMD, you can do it better.
Cheers!
There are a couple things I like about the SB850. Obviously the native SATA 6.0, and also the integrated Gigabyte ethernet. No more crappy Realtek Ethernet.
The more time goes on, the more I realize a Server Mobo would be more ideal for my workstation.
Wait the 890X mobos's!
Bursts? Oh please. Hyperbole much? Especially when it refers to a bunch of soporific graphs with blanket-finish results!
Rofl with a lead that couldn't be noticed without testing software.