MSI 790FX-GD70 with latest AM3 structure marks a new beginning
Everyone's deepest impression of AMD came about three or four years ago with the hot release of the K8 chipset,
which was the first desktop board to support dual-core processors.
This architecture raised the bar on performance and low-temperature processing, and was very popular in the market for quite some time.
Intel, at that time, was fighting back with its P4 architecture,
but though it updated to the LGA 755 P4, its performance didn't show a significant improvement.
This continued until about two years ago when Intel released its Core 2 Duo processor
and began a whole new dominance in the market - one that it still maintains.
Although AMD later released its AM2 Phenom with much anticipation,
aside from its performance at comparable frequencies lagging behind Intel,
its built-in L3 Cache and 65nm structure made it impossible to decrease its running temperature and energy use.
It was also hard to bring the frequencies to a 3.2~3.6 GHz level.
As such, the Phenom series had a hard time attracting customers concerned with performance and/or temperature.
This all changed in January of 2009, when AM2 Phenom released a new 45nm chip, the Phenom II.
This new CPU has already received a lot of attention from online and traditional media,
and tests are showing that its temperature has come down a lot, whiles the frequencies can reach 4GHz using only air-type cooling systems.
AMD's time in the back is finally over with the release of this new, strong chip.
In February of this year, news about the AM3 has begun to be leaked.
The AM3 is the first platform to support DDR3 memory, and,
if history is any indication of the future, this will quickly become standard for AMD.
This takes me back to the new AM3 motherboard: MSI 790FX-GD70.
This board is able to support AMD Phenom II triple- and quad-core processors, and below is of course the DDR3 version box.
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Inside peripherals
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MSI 790FX-GD70 board itself
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The MB's lower-left side
4 X PCI-E X16, supporting ATI CrossFireX
1 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
sound chip is Realtek ALC889,which supports HD Audio 7.1 channels
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MB's lower-right side
6 X SATAII(SB750),supporting Raid 0, 1, 5, 0+1
2 X SATAII(JMB322)
1 X IDE
Indicator lights: POWER/RESET/clr CMOS/Green Power/OC Dial and function buttons
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MB's upper-right side
4 X DIMM DDR3, with two power supply connections
Supports 800/1066/1333/1600/1800/2133 MHz with a 16GB maximum memory.
The 1600/1800/2133 frequencies require overclocking to be obtained.
The power supply connectors are 24 PIN.
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MB's upper-left corner
CPU connection is a Socket941 supporting the latest AMD AM3 45nm PhenomII CPUs.
The board comes with a 5 phase power supply supporting MSI's unique DrMOS technology.
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IO ports
7 X USB 2.0
1 X IEEE 1394a
2 X RJ45
1 X eSATA
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