AMD's New 780G Chipset Has Powerful GPU

By Bert Toepelt
published

Smooth HD Playback With A Sempron 3200+

Thanks to the integrated HD3000-class graphics unit, the 780G and 780V chipsets enjoy complete HD video decoding support, in the form of ATI's Universal Video Decoder (UVD). As a result, CPU load is greatly reduced when playing back HD-video content such as HD-DVDs, Blu-ray discs, HDTV or recorded HD content.

Can play back Full-HD - AMD Sempron 3500+

Since the on-board graphics unit comes with hardware decoding support for MPEG-2, H.264 and VC-1, a separate add-in card is no longer required to enjoy hardware video acceleration for these codecs. All that's left for the CPU to do is to decode the HDCP copy protection and the audio stream. On the previous 690G chipset, even a brawny Athlon 64 X2 6400 CPU was unable to provide smooth HD-video playback. The new 780G chipset, on the other hand, has no trouble with this task, even when paired with a comparatively anemic AMD Sempron 63 3200+.

Hardware acceleration in Cyberlink's PowerDVD playback software

With its 128 kB L2 cache and 1.80 GHz clock speed, the Sempron 64 3200+ is too slow for Windows Vista. A full three minutes pass before the system has completed the start-up process and the CPU load falls below 10%. Still, 1080p Full-HD playback at a resolution of 1920x1080 doesn't pose any problem whatsoever for the CPU when running PowerDVD 7.3. We played back the James Bond movie Casino Royale from a Blu-Ray disc on an LG GCC-H20L drive. We measured the average CPU load of the Sempron 64 3200+ to be 63.13% during playback, with short peaks reaching up to 90%.

CPU load during Blu-ray playback

CPU load after Vista launches

Smooth and stutter-free playback is no longer possible with an even slower processor, such as an AMD Sempron 64 3000+ running at 1.60 GHz. Some of the scenes created a CPU load of 100%, causing the system to drop frames - due to the low performance of the Sempron 3000+, the 200 MHz clock-speed difference has a huge impact. Our conclusion is that the Sempron 3200+ marks the lower limit for smooth Blu-ray playback.

TS files on a Blu-ray disc

However, if you only want to play back HD content you have previously recorded from sources such as satellite or cable, AMD's Sempron 64 3000+ is sufficient, since the CPU doesn't have to deal with encryption.

Bert Toepelt
20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rockwell73
    I would like to know can i run a video card with this mother board,with all the high demand for great video quality in these new video games such as Crysis, BioShock, Jericho and many others that require a high end video card how am i suppose to play these games without one
    Reply
  • You just put in any PCI-E video card in the X-16 slot. With the appropriate processor and beefy enough video card, games are not a problem. The real beauty is that the onboard video is plenty for casual, older games at acceptable rates and also makes for a great low power HD media center computer.
    Reply
  • dotroy
    I do not get it, how come 2600XT is more faster than 3450 ? I thought 3450 is newer than 2600XT. Please explain
    Reply
  • gerro1977rm
    What about the northbridge overheating issue everyone is talking about? I've bought this board only to find out it has idle temps of 80C at the northbridge. I'm planning on buying an after market cooler to stabilize it.
    Reply
  • gerro1977,

    What revision is your board? I just received this board and it's the new revision 1.1 which has a bigger heatsink (you can see the pictures from the gigabyte site for both revisions 1.0 and 1.1). I am getting my CPU soon and want to also check the northbridge temperatures. What can I use to measure the temps?

    Thanks
    Reply
  • I'm cooling my G780 on GA-MA78GM-S2H rev1.0 with additional pentium 3 box coller heatsink (fits perfectly) and radeon 3450 with p3 box fan :) - it works fine
    Reply
  • Does anyone know if the radeon HD4850 works on this board with hybrid graphics and crossfire.
    Reply
  • gerro1977rm
    Deleted Profile 06/23/2008 7;12 AM,

    Unfortunately, I'm using the rev 1.0 board. I fitted it with an HR05 heatsink from thermalright and its now just warm to the touch not hot. I'm using everest to monitor my temps. Aux now registers at 37 C, though I'm not really sure if its the NB temp. You can also use riva tuner among others.
    Reply
  • V3ctor
    I have a ASUS M3A78 EHM HDMI and I have a temperature of only 33ºc with my X2 BE-2350... I'm going tu put a HD3450, but i have a doubt... If i'm only in 2D graphics (like the desktop) the board switches to the HD3200? And when I need power does it "switch" to HD3450?
    Reply
  • kingsize566
    I have a GA780...DS3H rev1.0 (ATX) and the northbridge heatsink is large but made of some cheap light zinc alloy - waste of time IMHO, 70+ degrees and memory errors - but only when using a PCIex16 graphics card. The problem eased when I added a 40mm fan on top of the rubbish heatsink. I wrote to gigabyte about the issue, who said - tampering with the heatsink invalidates your warranty. Sounds like they're burying their head in the sand over the issue. According to some posts on SPCR, and here, the thermaltake HR05 replacement fits.

    I would question the QA process of a mobo manufacturer who offers not only a poor heatsink design, but a 4 phase mosfet unable to cope with the TDP of some of the higher power phenoms (see Tomshardware and Anandtech). The 780 board by XFX has a heatpipe solution on the mosfets and northbridge which looks like a better design, and similar price (cheaper if you count having to replace the deficient heatsink by Gigabyte). The Asus M3A78 possibly has a better heatsink on the northbridge.
    Reply