Monday, December 29th 2008

ASRock M3A790GXH AM3 Motherboard Pictured

Following ECS, ASRock will be one of the first ones to be out with an AM3 socket motherboard supporting the upcoming 45nm processors by AMD, as well as support for the newer DDR3 memory technology. The M3A790GXH-128M motherboard has been pictured by the guys at OCWorkbench. It is based on the AMD 790GX + SB750 chipset and features 128 MB of DDR3 Sideport graphics memory for the onboard Radeon HD 3300 IGP.

The most significant feature of this motherboard is support for up to 16 GB of DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz memory. What's even more interesting according to the specifications OCW listed, is that the motherboard supports a range of AM3, AM2+ as well as AM2 processors that include Sempron and Athlon64, while featuring only DDR3 memory slots. There are three PCI-Express x16 slots ,which depending on the devices installed, arrange in lane configurations of (x16, NC, x4) or (x8, x8, x4). The IGP provides output from DVI, D-Sub and audio-routed HDMI ports. The SB750 southbridge provides six SATA II channels. The board also integrates a high-grade 7.1 HD audio CODEC, the Realtek ALC 889, which comes with a rated SNR of 110 dB. Overall, the motherboard features a simplistic construction. The cooling isn't extravagant, with heatsinks for the chipset. The CPU is powered by a 4+1 phase power circuit whose MOSFETs have no heatsinks. Pricing and availability isn't known at this point in time.
Source: OCWorkbench
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40 Comments on ASRock M3A790GXH AM3 Motherboard Pictured

#1
TheMailMan78
Big Member
This is good AMD is going DDR3 1333 but will it make much of a difference since they wont be tri?
Posted on Reply
#2
a111087
TheMailMan78This is good AMD is going DDR3 1333 but will it make much of a difference since they wont be tri?
as far as i recall, tri didn't make any difference with nehalem
Posted on Reply
#3
trabanom
How can a AM/AM2 CPU control DDR3 memory?
Posted on Reply
#5
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
That is what I Want to know. This is gonna be for the budget consumer as I dont see why DDR3 is even at 800mhz yet alone 1066 (I dont care what JEDEC specs its ridiculous). The mem slot colors are just atrocious as well. The layout of the SATA ports are done right though with little chance of the two on the ends of being blocked. Also, I thought with the SB 750 (as well with the SB 600) that the Crossfire Lanes would be better distributed.
Posted on Reply
#6
TheMailMan78
Big Member
[I.R.A]_FBicant
Well it doesn't read tri anyway so maybe it will read the DDR3 as 800mhz duel. Excuse me if I'm wrong. Just a guess :toast:
WarEagleAUThat is what I Want to know. This is gonna be for the budget consumer as I dont see why DDR3 is even at 800mhz yet alone 1066 (I dont care what JEDEC specs its ridiculous). The mem slot colors are just atrocious as well. The layout of the SATA ports are done right though with little chance of the two on the ends of being blocked. Also, I thought with the SB 750 (as well with the SB 600) that the Crossfire Lanes would be better distributed.
This is ASRock not Asus or MSI. I'm surprised it has 3 pci-e slots to begin with.
Posted on Reply
#7
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
TheMailMan78Well it doesn't read tri anyway so maybe it will read the DDR3 as 800mhz duel. Excuse me if I'm wrong. Just a guess :toast:
Open up a tri-channel kit, install its modules. The system will work in the dual-channel mode.
Posted on Reply
#8
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
Regardless of who it is, they should still have distributed them better. Tri Crossfire at x8 is the standard even on budgets.
Posted on Reply
#9
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
WarEagleAURegardless of who it is, they should still have distributed them better. Tri Crossfire at x8 is the standard even on budgets.
The 790GX cannot give out more lanes than 16 toward graphics and 4 toward the A-Link. The third PCI-E x16 (x4) slot on this board is routed to the SB750 just like how some worked out Crossfire boards based on AMD 770.
Posted on Reply
#10
mdm-adph
btarunrThe 790GX cannot give out more lanes than 16 toward graphics and 4 toward the A-Link. The third PCI-E x16 (x4) slot on this board is routed to the SB750 just like how some worked out Crossfire boards based on AMD 770.
So that's why it's so bloody rare to see AMD boards with the full four PCI-E slots.
Posted on Reply
#11
ShadowFold
Only AM3 CPU's will work on AM3 boards but AM3 CPU's work on AM2/AM2+. Confusing, but compatible..
Posted on Reply
#12
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
i know AsRock is a Low Model, Inset 3rd party chipset cooling, modified bios and check the specs of the VRMs, should be a Champ.
Posted on Reply
#13
TheMailMan78
Big Member
btarunrOpen up a tri-channel kit, install its modules. The system will work in the dual-channel mode.
Ah cool so I was right then! Thanks! :toast: However if its only duel channel will it go up to 1333? If so I wonder how much better it will be than standard 1066.
mdm-adphSo that's why it's so bloody rare to see AMD boards with the full four PCI-E slots.
MSI has one and its dirt cheap. However its only a SB650. I heard its a damn good board.
ShadowFoldOnly AM3 CPU's will work on AM3 boards but AM3 CPU's work on AM2/AM2+. Confusing, but compatible..
Thats correct! I haven't seen much benefit from DDR3.......yet so I'm going with a 140 watt AM2+ for now. AM3 chips will fit nicely on it. However if an AM2 board can support an AM3 chip I don't know why it wouldn't work vise versa. I know that it doesn't but I don't know why. Can someone enlighten me?
Posted on Reply
#16
suraswami
ShadowFoldI emailed Newegg because that board is NOT AM3. It will NOT work with a AM3 CPU because its DDR2.
Jetway's website says its AM3 CPU ready. So I guess AM3 cpu will work with DDR2 1066.
Posted on Reply
#17
TheMailMan78
Big Member
ShadowFoldI emailed Newegg because that board is NOT AM3. It will NOT work with a AM3 CPU because its DDR2.
AM3 CPU will work on an AM2+ board as long as it supports 140 watts. AM2+ board will not however support DDR3.
Posted on Reply
#18
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
WarEagleAURegardless of who it is, they should still have distributed them better. Tri Crossfire at x8 is the standard even on budgets.
no its not budget mobo's as in who? 750sli is 8x/8x, P35 is 16x/4x , P45 is 8x/8x

hell my 780a is only 8x/8x/8x and my 790FX was 8x/8x/8x/8x there are no budget boards with tri 8x pci-e
Posted on Reply
#19
TheMailMan78
Big Member
cdawallno its not budget mobo's as in who? 750sli is 8x/8x, P35 is 16x/4x , P45 is 8x/8x

hell my 780a is only 8x/8x/8x and my 790FX was 8x/8x/8x/8x there are no budget boards with tri 8x pci-e
Dude this MSI has quad GPU capabilities and its only 160 bucks. Link
Posted on Reply
#20
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
TheMailMan78Dude this MSI has quad GPU capabilities and its only 160 bucks. Link
i listed that mobo

and just FYI $160 ain't budget mobo
Posted on Reply
#21
TheMailMan78
Big Member
cdawalli listed that mobo

and just FYI $160 ain't budget mobo
I guess your right but I damn sure wouldn't want to go much cheaper :laugh: I really cant see a good quality board for 50 bucks.
Posted on Reply
#22
kysg
wait stop WTF...

AM3 will work in an Am2+ board that would make sense.
because they would have a combo memory controller.

AM2+ proc working in Am3 board??? makes no sense at all

first off the physical package wouldn't work I swore AMD stated that socket AM3 will be 938 pins rather than 940pins on AM2+

also Am2+ and Am2 procs lacking a DDR3 controller.
Posted on Reply
#23
mdm-adph
TheMailMan78MSI has one and its dirt cheap. However its only a SB650. I heard its a damn good board.
Aye, it's the more expensive Platinum version of the one I've got, but it's only SB600, unfortunately.
Posted on Reply
#24
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
TheMailMan78I guess your right but I damn sure wouldn't want to go much cheaper :laugh: I really cant see a good quality board for 50 bucks.
biostar 780G M2+ HP whatch it to go onsale
mdm-adphAye, it's the more expensive Platinum version of the one I've got, but it's only SB600, unfortunately.
its still a good mobo V2 however is nowhere near as nice as V1
Posted on Reply
#25
LittleLizard
how can semprons and athlons 64 work with ddr3.

thats imposible unless they hacked the 790gx to have a built in memory controller
Posted on Reply
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