Test Setup
| Processor | AMD Phenom X4 9850 BE @ 2.5 GHz |
| Motherboards | Gigabyte MA790GP-DS4H (790GX) |
| Gigabyte MA78GPM-D2SH (780G) | |
| ASUS M3N78 PRO (GeForce 8300) | |
| Memory | 4GB Corsair Dominator CM2X2048-8500C5D |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital WD500YS 500 GB |
| Graphics | Integrated for 790GX, 780G, and GeForce 8300 |
| ASUS GeForce 8500GT TOP 256MB (GeForce Boost) | |
| Sapphire Radeon HD 3470 256 MB (Hybrid CrossFireX on 790GX and 780G) |
| Graphics Drivers | |
| AMD 790GX | 8.521.1 Beta |
| AMD 780G | Catalyst 8.7 |
| Nvidia GeForce 8300 | GeForce Release 175 |
| Operating System | Windows Vista x32 |
| Synthetic | |
| PC Mark Vantage | Build 1.0.0 |
| 3DMark Vantage | Build 1.0.1 |
| SiSoft Sandra XII | XII.2008.SP2c (14.24) |
| HDTach | Version 3.0.4.0 |
| Real-World | |
| Apple iTunes | Audio CD Terminator II SE, HQ (160kbps), Convert to AAC |
| Mainconcept H.264 | MPEG2 to MPEG2 (H.264), 24 sec HDTV 1920x1080 |
| PowerDVD 8 Ultra | 60s 007 :Casino Royale playback |
| Half Life 2 : Episode 2 | 1024x768, low settings, timedemo playback |
| World in Conflict | 1024x768, low quality settings, built-in benchmark mode |
| Flight Simulator X | 1024x768, default graphics settings, FRAPS recording |
| Cinebench | R10 Version : 10.008 |
Notes
It’s worth noting that Hybrid CrossFireX and GeForce Boost are Windows Vista-only features, so you can’t add a card to the AMD or Nvidia platforms and expect to see better gaming performance in XP — a real quandary for the legions of gamers who still prefer XP to Vista.
The MA78GPM-D2SH employs AMD’s 780G chipset with 128 MB of side-port memory massaging performance up a bit. And the MA79GP-DS4H is of course the 790GX board, also with 128 MB of side-port. This should give us a good indication of how much benefit is attributable to the onboard RAM. We also planned to include Gigabyte’s MA78GM and Intel’s new DG45ID in the lineup. However, a spate of issues with the boards we had in the lab forced us to narrow the competition a bit.
Another point that we wanted to mention : when 780G launched, AMD was adamant that the best way to configure a Hybrid CrossFireX platform was with the display attached to the motherboard. During periods of idle, the discrete card would power down completely, yielding the power consumption of a purely integrated system. In testing the 790GX, however, we weren’t able to get Hybrid CrossFireX functioning properly unless the display was attached to the add-in Radeon HD 3470 board.
Finally, bear in mind that the integrated graphics core is heavily dependent on memory bandwidth performance. You’ll want to use DDR2-1066 whenever possible, tuned to the most aggressive timings to maximize gaming.
