The *Official* GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AMD 785G Chipset Motherboard Thread

Table of Contents

• AMD 785G Chipset
• AMD 785G Chipset Reviews
• GIGABYTE 785G Chipset Motherboards
• Chipset Drivers
• AMD Chipset Roadmap

AMD 785G Chipset


AMD 785G chipset (codenamed RS880), released on August 4, 2009, is the successor to AMD 780G chipset that has been used widely since its release on March 2008. The main difference is a new IGP called Radeon HD 4200 (codenamed RV620, clocked at 500MHz, but the number of stream processors is 40, the same as HD 3200, RV610). Southbridge is SB710, a minor revision of SB700. Improvements over 780G are:

Integrated Graphics HD 4200

• DirectX 10.1 support
• 2nd generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2)
  • Full hardware decode acceleration of H.264/VC-1/MPEG-2 (full hardware decode acceleration of MPEG-2 is not supported in HD 3200?)
  • Hardware decode acceleration of a secondary video stream (Picture-in-Picture) (10-20% CPU usage decrease)
• Improved ATI Avivo Video Post Processor
  • Enhanced DVD up-conversion to HD
  • Automatic dynamic contrast adjustment
• Multichannel LPCM over HDMI (no PAP, no HD audio bitstreaming, of course). Update: Only stereo LPCM in addition to DD/DTS bitstreaming is supported over HDMI

Southbridge SB710

• ACC (Advanced Clock Calibration) support

AMD 785G Chipset Reviews

• AnandTech – AMD's 785G Chipset - Revolutionary or Evolutionary? (August 4, 2009)
• AnandTech – AMD 785G Update - Multi-Channel LPCM is not Available (August 4, 2009)
• bit-tech.net – Gigabyte GA-MA785GMT-UD2H Review (August 4, 2009)
• FiringSquad – AMD's 785G with Radeon HD 4200 Graphics: Performance and Features Explored (August 4, 2009)
• Guru of 3D – AMD 785G chipset review - ECS A785GM-M test (August 4, 2009)
• Hardware Zone – AMD 785G Graphics Performance Update (August 4, 2009)
• HEXUS.net – AMD 785G chipset. ASUS M4A785TD-V motherboard under the spotlight (August 4, 2009)
• Hot Hardware – AMD 785G Chipset Launch: ASUS and Gigabyte (August 4, 2009)
• OCWorkBench – Gigabyte MA785GPM-UD2H AMD 785G+SB710 Mainboard Review (July 20, 2009)
• PC Perspective – AMD 785G Chipset Review: Integrated Evolved (August 4, 2009)
• The Tech Report – AMD's 785G integrated graphics chipset: A classic gets updated (August 4, 2009)
• Tom's Hardware – AMD 785G: The Venerable 780G, Evolved (August 4, 2009)
• TweakTown – GIGABYTE MA785GPM-UD2H 785G AM3 Motherboard (August 4, 2009)

Well if you are interested only in the video playback aspect of HD 4200, perhaps most of them are not worth reading. The articles that contain (meaningful, IMO) video playback performance tests are:

• AnandTech – Blu-ray Playback Performance & Experience
• The Tech Report – Blu-ray playback

That's it! The other articles neglected this aspect, as expected usually.

GIGABYTE 785G Chipset Motherboards


Here are brief descrptions of the available models and their differences.

MicroATX, DDR2 SDRAM

• GA-MA785GM-US2H
  
  
  The most basic version. Supports DDR2-SDRAM.
  
  
  - Newegg, $80
  
  - PROVANTAGE, $80 .
  
  
• GA-MA785GM-UD2H
  
  
  All solid capacitors (letter D: durable).
  
  
• GA-MA785GPM-UD2H
  
  
  SidePort memory (letter P), all solid capacitors (letter D: durable).

MicroATX, DDR3 SDRAM

• GA-MA785GMT-UD2H
  
  
  Supports DDR3-SDRAM (letter T), all solid capacitors (letter D).
  
  
  - Newegg, $90
  
  - PROVANTAGE, $90
  
  
• GA-MA785GPMT-UD2H
  
  
  Supports DDR3-SDRAM (letter T), SidePort memory (letter P), all solid capacitors (letter D).

ATX

• GA-MA785G-UD3H
  
  
  ATX (no letter M), DDR2 SDARM, all solid capacitors (letter D).
  
  
  - Newegg, $90
  
  - PROVANTAGE, $85 .
  
  
• GA-MA785GT-UD3H
  
  
  ATX (no letter M), DDR3 SDARM (letter T), all solid capacitors (letter D).
  
  
  - PROVANTAGE, $91 .

Chipset Drivers


Basically the drivers are common to all the above models.

AMD Chipset Roadmap

VR-Zone - AMD 800 Series Chipsets Launch Schedule (September 4, 2009)

Quote:
VR-Zone has put together a roadmap of the AMD 800 series chipsets line-up slated for release in Q2 next year. AMD 890FX/GX + SB850, part of the "Leo" platform for enthusiasts is slated for launch in April 2010 replacing the current AMD 790FX/GX + SB750 chipset. AMD 880G + SB810, part of the "Dorado" mainstream platform will come along in May 2010 replacing the current AMD 785G + SB710 chipset. AMD 880G comes with enhanced IGP graphics performance which we presume is DX11 capable and sports the next generation ATI Hybrid graphics technology. Overall, the AMD 880G board could be priced cheaper due to the integrated clock generator and integrated Broadcom MAC.

Click to expand...

Hopefully AMD will fix the HDMI audio issue with the AMD 880G chipset.