Sapphire Pure CrossFireX 790GX AM3 Motherboard Spotted

[btarunr]

Apart from being a major add-in board (AIB) partner for AMD's ATI Radeon and FirePro lines of graphics products, Sapphire is also a notable motherboard manufacturer that has been using chipsets by ATI for several generations of platforms now. Its latest offering is the DDR3-supportive Pure CrossFireX 790GX AM3 motherboard. It has been spotted at a Japanese store, where it was priced at 18,980 JPY (around 192.5 USD).

Based on the AMD 790GX + SB750 chipset, the motherboard features an AM3 CPU socket. Four DDR3 DIMMs provide support for up to 16 GB of DDR3 memory. A 5+1 phase CPU power circuit is present. Heatpipe based cooling spreads heat between the northbridge and VRM heatsinks. The southbridge gets its own small heatsink. Two PCI-Express x16 slots are provided, which arrange as electrically x8, x8 when both are populated. The motherboard lacks onboard lane switching logic, and relies on a switch card that has to be installed on the second PCI-E x16, for the first one to provide all its 16 lanes to the installed graphics card. The motherboard features a Radeon HD 3300 class IGP with dedicated 128 MB of DDR3 sideport memory. Audio-routed HDMI, DVI and D-Sub connectors are provided onboard.



Source: Akiba PC Hotline

[Mussels]

i just dont get why they'd put a sideport onboard video, on a full ATX board, especially a crossfire one?

If it was mATX, sure... but not ATX.

editt: it feels like a timwarp back to the DFI nforce 4 days - using a video card in either slot blocks smaller ones (why isnt the PCI-E 1x above the top PCI-E slot?) and extra molex power needed to the board (see above top video slot)


This board just seems weird, its like the latest tech with an outdated board design.

[TheMailMan78]

I would like to know what "pure" crossfire-x is? Anyway it looks a lot like my board so I don't know how "outdated" it is.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

I would like to know what "pure" crossfire-x is? Anyway it looks a lot like my board so I don't know how "outdated" it is.

bloody hell, they really HAVE reused the design.

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Mussels

bloody hell, they really HAVE reused the design.

It seems to be a pretty standard layout. Even the Asus do it. Honestly I thought it was a stupid design but it seems to be the industry standard for this chipset.

[random]

Looks exactly like the black version



Such a beautiful name for a mobo yet so basic .

I don't get why they put the PCI Express right under each other? They never consider that people have dual slot cards? It would definitely block up a new wireless pcie card or soundcard.

[KieranD]

well i orderd it on the am2+ version so i will see if its any good

it was either that or pay £40 extra for a decent dfi mobo

EDIT: what is the point in sideport memory?

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by KieranD

well i orderd it on the am2+ version so i will see if its any good

it was either that or pay £40 extra for a decent dfi mobo

EDIT: what is the point in sideport memory?

dedicated ram for the onboard video. its literally the same as an entire video card being on the motherboard.

[Marineborn]

its kinda nice and sad at the same time, wheres the 6 pic-e ports! WHERE!!!!...and yes i require them all

[btarunr]

Originally Posted by Marineborn

wheres the 6 pic-e ports! WHERE!!!!...and yes i require them all

6 pic-e ports? You mean six PCI-E slots?

[Marineborn]

Originally Posted by btarunr

6 pic-e ports? You mean six PCI-E slots?

*clears throat* YEZ!! of course that is what i meant! that was a test and luckily you passed

[OnBoard]

I like the cooler on it, good color and the heatpipe showing.

[H82LUZ73]

DFI makes these boards For Sapphire.

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Mussels

dedicated ram for the onboard video. its literally the same as an entire video card being on the motherboard.

I like this feature to be honest. What if you only have one video card and you happen to OC to where it goes to GPU heaven. This board allows a nice backup until your new victim arrives from the egg.

Sure in more cases its not necessary but I like safety nets. Plus Iv been really happy with my board. I don't know why its not more popular.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

I like this feature to be honest. What if you only have one video card and you happen to OC to where it goes to GPU heaven. This board allows a nice backup until your new victim arrives from the egg.

Sure in more cases its not necessary but I like safety nets. Plus Iv been really happy with my board. I don't know why its not more popular.

When that onboard takes up what could have been a PCI-E 1x or 4x slot
and probably adds $50 to the boards cost... i hardly see it as a great move.

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Mussels

When that onboard takes up what could have been a PCI-E 1x or 4x slot
and probably adds $50 to the boards cost... i hardly see it as a great move.

I never use more than two PCI-E slots and one PCI slot anyway. Pretty much only gaming is what my PC is used for. However there has been a few times Iv needed the onboard after a bios flash and such.

[KieranD]

Originally Posted by Mussels

When that onboard takes up what could have been a PCI-E 1x or 4x slot
and probably adds $50 to the boards cost... i hardly see it as a great move.

if it cant aid me at all when i have a dedicated card whats the point in it?

id prefere another slot to that, especialy when most motherboards with the 790gx chipset all have sideport memory and all those features

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by KieranD

if it cant aid me at all when i have a dedicated card whats the point in it?

id prefere another slot to that, especialy when most motherboards with the 790gx chipset all have sideport memory and all those features

I just stated why.

[Mussels]

another example would be if they used a 4x slot for the IGP, they could reuse that bandwidth to make the two main slots 10x/10x instead of 8x/8x, for example. Future proofing!

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Mussels

another example would be if they used a 4x slot for the IGP, they could reuse that bandwidth to make the two main slots 10x/10x instead of 8x/8x, for example. Future proofing!

Remember the sideport memory can be used in junction with a dedicated video card. Granted its a low tier card but still. Not everyone can afford a $400 GPU.

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

Remember the sideport memory can be used in junction with a dedicated video card. Granted its a low tier card but still. Not everyone can afford a $400 GPU.

Yay. i just crossfired my $40 radeon 3450 512MB with my onboard radeon 3200 with 128MB of sideport.

I now have radeon 3200 crossfire with 128MB of ram!

I've tried crossfire on my 780G with a supported card, it actually got slower.

[KieranD]

Originally Posted by TheMailMan78

I just stated why.

yeah for a back up but most people like us have a cheap or real old backup card and anyway you can use the onboard graphics chip as a backup perfectly fine without sideport memory it just uses system memory instead

needless to say without a dedicated graphics card the sideport memory is usefull and probly goot on matx or pico but not full sized atx wich has crossfire as a feature meaning the intend you to have 2 dedicated cards

i thought the gpu could use the memory in game or i could see it being usefull if you only wanted the onboard to run and the graphics card could shut down to save power and noise/heat

[ShadowFold]

It's actually a rebadged Jetway board like the other sapphire 790gx

[KieranD]

so it is you explained that already to me in a thread

[TheMailMan78]

Originally Posted by Mussels

Yay. i just crossfired my $40 radeon 3450 512MB with my onboard radeon 3200 with 128MB of sideport.

I now have radeon 3200 crossfire with 128MB of ram!

I've tried crossfire on my 780G with a supported card, it actually got slower.

Ill take your word for it. I honestly never heard of a crossfire step-up running slower than a standard one. Every review Iv seen has stated otherwise.

Edit: I'm not doubting you. I just find it odd.