Foxconn launches 790GX chipset motherboard

During the Computex convention some motherboards were shown featuring AMD's new 790GX-chipset. Foxconn claims to be the first manufacturer to have these boards with its A7DA and A7DA-S. The new chipset consists of the 790GX-northbridge and the SB750-southbridge. 

The Foxconn A7DA-S

The A7DA-S is a standard ATX motherboard with a socket AM2+. Thw two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots offer room for ATI graphics cards with CrossFireX. When both slots are used however, each individual slot will run at x8 speed. The HD 3300, the integrated graphics chip of the 790GX-chipset, is apparently 33% faster in 3D-applications than the HD 3200, which is integrated into the 780G chipset.

The A7DA-S features two PCI-slots, two PCI-Express 2.0 x1 slots, the regular four DDR2 memory banks, six SATA 2 ports and a PATA (IDE) connector. The I/O panel has a VGA-, DVI- and HDMI-output, four USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire connector and a Gigabit LAN port, next to the 7.1 HD Audio and PS/2 connectors, that is. The motherboard has eight more USB 2.0-headers. 

The difference between the A7DA-S and the A7DA is the so-called 'SidePort memory', a 128MB DDR3 memory chip which will function as a frame buffer for the HD 3300 IGP. Apart from this, the A7DA-S features a FireWire port on the I/O, a FireWire header on the motherboard itself and a heatsink over the mosfets that is connected to the northbridge with a heatpipe system. The A7DA lacks these features. 

Though the 790GX-chipset is the successor of the 780G-chipset, motherboards with 790GX might be well received by overclockers as well, due to the promised better results with the SB750, when compared to the earlier SB600- and SB700 southbridges. The 790FX will undergo a 'refresh' soon, the board will also be equipped with the SB750-southbridge.

Tags: computex crossfire ddr2 ddr3 firewire hdmi heatpipe overclocking pata phenom sata socket-am2 usb

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