Roundup: Four 790FX Socket AM3 Motherboards

By Thomas Soderstrom
published

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 DeluxeDFI LANParty DK 790FXB-M3H5Gigabyte MA790FXT-UD5PMSI 790FX-GD70
NorthbridgeAMD 790FXAMD 790FXAMD 790FXAMD 790FX
SouthbridgeSB750SB750SB750SB750
Voltage Regulator10 Phases5 Phases10 Phases5 Phases
BIOS0902 (03-26-2009)306 (03-06-2009)F4 (03-13-2009)V1.1 (03-13-2009)
200 MHz Base Clock200.7200.0 (+0.0%)200.9 (+0.45%)200.0 (+0.0%)
Clock GeneratorICS 9LPRS477CKLICS 9LPRS477CKLICS 9LPRS477CKLRTM880N-793
Internal Interfaces
PCIe4 (2x x16 or 4x x8)3 (x16/x16/x4)2 (x16/x16)4 (2x x16 or 4x x8)
PCIe x10031
Legacy PCI2322
USB 2.03 (6 ports)3 (6 ports)2 (4 ports)2 (4 ports)
FireWire1011
Serial Port1111
Parallel Port0010
Floppy1111
Ultra ATA-1331 (2-drives)1 (2-drives)1 (2-drives)1 (2-drives)
SATA56108
4-Pin Fan1121
3-Pin Fan3534
FP-AudioYesYesYesYes
CD AudioYesYesYesYes
S/PDIF I/OOutput OnlyNoneBothOutput Only
Power ButtonYesYesYesYes
Reset ButtonYesYesYesYes
CLR_CMOS ButtonJumper OnlyJumper OnlyYesYes
Diagnostics PanelNone2-CharacterNone2-character
I/O Panel Connectors
PS/22222
USB 2.06687
FireWire1021
Network1122
eSATA1001
CLR_CMOS ButtonNoneBy JumperNoneNone
Digital Audio Out2222
Digital Audio In0000
Analog Audio6666
Mass Storage Controllers
Chipset SATA6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s6x SATA 3.0 Gb/s
Chipset RAID Modes0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD
Add-In SATANoneNoneJMB363 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 ModesNoneNone0, 1, JBOD0, 1, JBOD
FireWireVT6315N PCIe 2x 400 Mb/sNoneTSB43AB23 PCI 3x 400 Mb/sVT6315N PCIe 2x 400 Mb/s
Gigabit Ethernet
Primary LANRTL8112 PCIe88E8056 PCIeRTL8111DL PCIeRTL8111DL PCIe
Secondary LANNoneNoneRTL8111DL PCIeRTL8111DL PCIe
Audio
HD Audio CodecALC1200ALC885ALC889AALC889
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