An on-board graphics solution supporting DX10
SAPPHIRE's PI-AM2RS780G was first shown at CeBIT earlier this month and marks the company's first mainboard to feature AMD's 780G chipset together with the SB700 south bridge and support for AMD's Hybrid CrossFireX Graphics mode.
Here at HEXUS, we took an early look at what AMD's 780G chipset has to offer and concluded that it "ushers in a new era for gaming with respect to graphics integrated into a motherboard".
SAPPHIRE's offering, pictured above, supports AMD's AM2+ processors and features a 2000MHz HT3 bus as well as support for Dual Channel DDR2 memory.
The on-board graphics support DX10 and output to both VGA and DVI connectors located on the board's rear panel. Users seeking a little more punch for their gaming can utilise AMD's Hybrid CrossFireX mode and plug a HD 3400 series graphics card into the PCI-E 2.0 slot to work in tandem with the on-board GPU.
A second addition to SAPPHIRE's motherboard range was also announced today in the form of the SAPPHIRE PC-AM2RX780. With it comes CrossFireX capability on an ATX board based on AMD's 770 chipset and SB600 south bridge. Again, the board supports AMD's AM2+ processors and supports HT3 2000MHz Hypertransport speeds and Dual Channel DDR2 Memory DIMMs up to a total of 8GB.
Using CrossFireX (which HEXUS previewed last month), users can use one, two, three or four HD 3800 series GPUs together.
Both the PI-AM2RS780G and PC-AM2RX780 are now in production and will soon be available through SAPPHIRE channel and retail partners, the complete specifications for both are as follows:
SAPPHIRE PI-AM2RS780G specifications:
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- Socket AM2+ HTT 2000 MHz AMD® Athlon™64 With HyperTransport Technology
- Compatible with 64-bit Dual Core AMD® Athlon™64 X2 Processor and AMD Phenom™
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- AMD 780G Chipset ( Hybrid CrossFireX™ ) + AMD SB700 Chipset
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- 4 x 240-pin DIMM Sockets for unbuffered Dual DDR2 800Mhz SDRAM (up to 8 GB)
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- 2 x 32-bit PCI Slots / 1 x PCI EXPRESS 2.0 x16 Slot
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- 2 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 IDE Device Support
- Embedded AMD SB700 Southbridge Chipset Supports 6 x Serial ATA2 HDDs with RAID 0, 1 , 10 Functions
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- Realtek ALC883 8-Channel HD Audio
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- Marvell M88E8049/M88E8056-F PCI Express Gigabit PHY
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- Embedded 10 x High Speed USB @ 480 Mbit / s
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- Advanced 4+1 Power Design that supports the latest K8/K10 CPU and HT3.0
- BIOS Debug LED Display
- Hybrid CrossFire. Ability to combine the features or raw horsepower of both your on board graphics and those of any Hybrid CrossFireX compatible PCI-e add in board.
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 Internal Graphic core fully supports DX10
- HDMI (Audio and Video) function supported by adaptor connect to DVI port
- Support for ACPI S3 (Standby) function
- “IMAGE IT!” System Backup Software and “ProMagicPLUS!” System Recovery System
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- 4 x High Speed USB Connectors @ 480 Mbit / s
- 1 x PS / 2 Mouse & 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Connector
- 1 x VGA D-Sub 15-pin Connector & 1 x DVI-D Connector
- 1 X RJ45 LAN Connector
- 1 x 8-Channel Audio I / O
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- 3 x High Speed USB Connectors @ 480 Mbit / s for 6 USB 2.0 Ports
- CPU / Chassis Fan Connectors
- 1 x 12V 8-pin ATX Power Connector and 1 x 24-pin ATX Power Connector
- 1 x Serial Port 9-pin Header Block
- 1 x Parallel Port 25-Pin Header Block
- CD / AUX Audio in Connectors
- 1 x Floppy Connector
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- mATX Form Factor 245X220mm
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SAPPHIRE PC-AM2RX780 specifications:
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- Socket AM2+ HTT 2000 MHz AMD® Athlon™64 With HyperTransport Technology
- Compatible with 64-bit Dual Core AMD® Athlon™64 X2 Processor and AMD Phenom™
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- AMD 770 Chipset + AMD SB600 Chipset
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- 4 x 240-pin DIMM Sockets for unbuffered Dual DDR2 800Mhz SDRAM (up to 8 GB)
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- 2 x 32-bit PCI Slots / 2 x PCI EXPRESS 2.0 x 16 (2 x PCI-E x 8 when used with CrossFireX™ Technology / 2 x PCI EXPRESS x1
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- 2 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 IDE Device Support
- Embedded AMD SB600 Southbridge Chipset Supports 4 x Serial ATA2 HDDs with RAID 0, 1 , 10 Functions
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- Realtek ALC883 8-Channel HD Audio
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- Marvell M88E8049/M88E8056-F PCI Express Gigabit PHY
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- 10 x High Speed USB @ 480 Mbit / s
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- Advanced Power Design that supports the latest Socket-AM2 K8 CPU
- Premium Capacitors and Power design afford best Over-Clocking performance
- “IMAGE IT!” System Backup Software and “ProMagicPLUS!” System Recovery System
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- 4 x High Speed USB Connectors @ 480 Mbit / s
- 1 x PS / 2 Mouse & 1 x PS/2 Keyboard Connector
- 1 x RJ45 LAN Connector
- 1 x SPDIF Coaxial In and 1 x SPDIF Coaxial Out port
- 1 x Serial port
- 1 x 8-Channel Audio I / O
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- 3 x High Speed USB Connectors @ 480 Mbit / s for 6 USB 2.0 Ports
- CPU / Chassis Fan Connectors
- 1 x 12V 8-pin ATX Power Connector and 1 x 24-pin ATX Power Connector
- 1 x Parallel Port 25-Pin Header Block
- CD / AUX Audio in Connectors
- 1 x Floppy Disk Drive Connector
- SPDIF header
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- ATX Form Factor 305X220mm
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Related reading
Review: AMD RS780G - integrated graphics redefined!
Preview: AMD CrossFireX preview - quad-GPU scaling to new heights
Review: AMD Phenom 9900, and the Spider Platform
Review: When quad-cores collide: AMD Phenom 9600 vs Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Official press release
SAPPHIRE Strengthens Mainboard Offering
