HD-Video Benchmarks: Only 21.90% CPU Load On A 3800+
Switching to an Athlon X2 BE-2350 or better greatly lowers CPU load, since these processors sport two cores and Cyberlink's PowerDVD 7.3 supports multiple CPU cores. Any current dual-core CPU - including the upcoming dual-core Semprons expected for Socket AM2 - should be able to provide smooth playback for HD-DVDs or Blu-ray discs.
Intel's G33 graphics-capable chipset does not offer decoding support for the HDCP copy protection algorithm used by Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies. Even the newer G35 chipset lacks support for decoding HD video. Currently, Asus is the only company selling motherboards based on the G35 chipset.
An early sample of the Gigabyte board, with a part tag.
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
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.
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.