Roundup: Four 790FX Socket AM3 Motherboards

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Socket AM3 Motherboard Features Comparison

One of the great things about high-end AMD motherboards is that enthusiasts can get top features at mid-market prices. Today’s 790FX Socket AM3 models are all available for under $200, whereas similarly-featured LGA 1366 parts typically cost over $300.

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790FX Socket AM3 Motherboard Features
  Asus M4A79T Deluxe DFI LANParty DK 790FXB-M3H5 Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5P MSI 790FX-GD70
Northbridge AMD 790FX AMD 790FX AMD 790FX AMD 790FX
Southbridge SB750 SB750 SB750 SB750
Voltage Regulator 10 Phases 5 Phases 10 Phases 5 Phases
BIOS 0902 (03-26-2009) 306 (03-06-2009) F4 (03-13-2009) V1.1 (03-13-2009)
200 MHz Base Clock 200.7 200.0 (+0.0%) 200.9 (+0.45%) 200.0 (+0.0%)
Clock Generator ICS 9LPRS477CKL ICS 9LPRS477CKL ICS 9LPRS477CKL RTM880N-793
Internal Interfaces
PCIe 4 (2x x16 or 4x x8) 3 (x16/x16/x4) 2 (x16/x16) 4 (2x x16 or 4x x8)
PCIe x1 0 0 3 1
Legacy PCI 2 3 2 2
USB 2.0 3 (6 ports) 3 (6 ports) 2 (4 ports) 2 (4 ports)
FireWire 1 0 1 1
Serial Port 1 1 1 1
Parallel Port 0 0 1 0
Floppy 1 1 1 1
Ultra ATA-133 1 (2-drives) 1 (2-drives) 1 (2-drives) 1 (2-drives)
SATA 5 6 10 8
4-Pin Fan 1 1 2 1
3-Pin Fan 3 5 3 4
FP-Audio Yes Yes Yes Yes
CD Audio Yes Yes Yes Yes
S/PDIF I/O Output Only None Both Output Only
Power Button Yes Yes Yes Yes
Reset Button Yes Yes Yes Yes
CLR_CMOS Button Jumper Only Jumper Only Yes Yes
Diagnostics Panel None 2-Character None 2-character
I/O Panel Connectors
PS/2 2 2 2 2
USB 2.0 6 6 8 7
FireWire 1 0 2 1
Network 1 1 2 2
eSATA 1 0 0 1
CLR_CMOS Button None By Jumper None None
Digital Audio Out 2 2 2 2
Digital Audio In 0 0 0 0
Analog Audio 6 6 6 6
Mass Storage Controllers
Chipset SATA 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s 6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s
Chipset RAID Modes 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD
Add-In SATA None None JMB363 PCIe to 2x JMB322 Hub, 4x SATA 3.0 Gb/s* JMB362/JMB322 1x eSATA 3.0 Gb/s 2x SATA 3.0 Gb/s*
Add-In RAID Modes None None 0, 1, JBOD 0, 1, JBOD
FireWire VT6315N PCIe 2x 400 Mb/s None TSB43AB23 PCI 3x 400 Mb/s VT6315N PCIe 2x 400 Mb/s
Gigabit Ethernet
Primary LAN RTL8112 PCIe 88E8056 PCIe RTL8111DL PCIe RTL8111DL PCIe
Secondary LAN None None RTL8111DL PCIe RTL8111DL PCIe
Audio
HD Audio Codec ALC1200 ALC885 ALC889A ALC889
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
38 Comments Comment from the forums
  • i like that dial on the MSI... mmm.
    Reply
  • NitroSuperSonic
    AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
    (2.80 GHz, 86.0 MB Cache)

    I never knew any AMD processors had that much cache!
    Reply
  • judeh101
    NitroSuperSonicAMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition(2.80 GHz, 86.0 MB Cache)I never knew any AMD processors had that much cache!
    Super CPU!
    Reply
  • ifko_pifko
    "Asus has clear performance leadership,..." :-)))
    1.66% better than the worst performer in the tests. :-)
    Reply
  • tacoslave
    who said Phenom II has low cache size i think with those 86mb you can do amazing things!!
    Reply
  • tacoslave
    sorry about the double post but i would have liked to have seen these benchmarked with two 4870x2's... since they keep talking about them so much.
    Reply
  • cangelini
    Super CPU fixed ;)

    Not much point in throwing that much GPU horsepower at a motherboard review; the card Thomas used is our current reference--and it's more than ample for showcasing the differences between these boards.

    If you want to see quad-CrossFire for any specific reason, feel free to let us know and we can put together a story idea!
    Reply
  • EQPlayer
    I think people would like to see a dual-295/dual-4870x2 series of benches if only for the "OMG BEASTLY!" factor. I dunno. XD
    Reply
  • Crashman
    ifko_pifko"Asus has clear performance leadership,..." :-)))1.66% better than the worst performer in the tests. :-)
    Consistent would have been better if not for the fear of people pointing out ever tiny inconsistency. Just remember, if you're 5'11" tall it's clear to just about everyone that you're not 6'!!!
    Reply
  • Proximon
    cangelini...the card Thomas used is our current reference--and it's more than ample for showcasing the differences between these boards.
    Could you clarify that a bit Chris? Are you saying you would not expect any difference in crossfire between the MBs? If so, that's OK. However, if there's going to be a difference, that is the main reason to buy a 790FX. If you aren't going to crossfire might as well get a GX.

    I suspect the chipset isn't the whole story and the various manufacturers could still screw up the PCI-E voltages or something :p
    Reply