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- Date:
- Wednesday, April 07, 2010
- Author:
- Morry Teitelman
- Editor:
- Kyle Bennett
- Share:
GIGABYTE 890GPA-UD3H Motherboard Review
GIGABYTE's latest AMD based board uses the AMD 890GX chipset in order to deliver a feature rich solution packing a lot of promise. Is this the board that will usher in a new performance era for AMD?
Introduction
GIGABYTE is an established brand name for high performance and stable computer products. It strives to cater to both the mainstream and enthusiast crowds through the use of design quality and innovation. Its latest addition to the AMD line of motherboards exemplifies this trend, touting the stability that mainstream users demand and the bleeding edge performance that enthusiast's crave.
The GIGABYTE 890GPA-UD3H motherboard was created using the AMD 890GX Northbridge and AMD SB850 Southbridge chipsets.
This chipset combination allows the board to support the following technologies: AMD Socket AM3 processors, DDR3 memory operating in Dual Channel mode up to 1333MHz officially, and ATI CrossFireX graphics mode using matching video cards. GIGABYTE offers the following integrated devices as standard on the 890GPA-UD3H board: 6 SATA 6G ports (RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the AMD SB850 controller; 2 SATA II ports (RAID 0 and 1 capable per controller) and an ATA-133 IDE port on the GIGABYTE controller; 12 USB 2.0 capable ports (4 in rear panel, and 4 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 2 hybrid USB 3.0/2.0 capable ports in rear panel; 3 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers supporting 1 port each); 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; Realtek 8-channel HD audio codec with integrated S/PDIF optical output port; integrated ATI Radeon HD 4290 graphics controller with VGA, DVI-D, and HDMI output ports in the rear panel; and a PS/2 keyboard / mouse port in the rear panel.
Main Specifications Overview:
Detailed Mainboard Specification List:
Packaging
GIGABYTE chose to keep the box front for the 890GPA-UD3H straightforward and simple, with the board name and supported technologies displayed clearly across the box on a simple white background. While not pictured due to scheduling issues, the board is packaged with the following accessories: IDE and SATA drive and power cables; the rear panel shield; USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 port rear panel brackets; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs.
Board Layout
The 890GPA-UD3H's design and board layout is very clean and artfully done, with an eye-catching blue and white design. There are no real tight areas on the board, with all integrated components given sufficient breathing room to work with. The board revision is silk screened to the surface in the upper left corner of the board, with the board used for testing a 1.0 revision. GIGABYTE chose to use high quality polymer solid-electrolyte capacitors for the board's power regulation needs.
The 890GPA-UD3H's CPU socket area is clear of cooler inhibiting obstructions, with enough clearance provided for using larger CPU cooling solutions The board uses the standard AMD Socket AM3 mounting solution to hold the cooler to the CPU surface. To the left of the socket is the AMD 890GX Northbridge chipset, covered by a sizable heat sink that is cooled by a passive heat pipe system. Directly above the Northbridge chipset and below the rear panel assembly is the front panel audio header. The 8-pin ATX12V power connector and CPU_FAN header are to the upper right of the CPU socket.
The 4 DDR3 memory slots are located just below the CPU socket, implemented in a bi-colored 4-by-1 configuration. Dual Channel memory mode is active with modules placed in like colored slots. The ATA-133 IDE port, 24-pin ATX power connector, and PWR_FAN header are located just below the DIMM slots.
The AMD SB850 Southbridge chipset is located just below the secondary PCI-Express x16 slot, covered by a stand-alone low profile heat sink. The blue colored chipset controlled SATA 6G ports are located just under the chipset, alongside the white colored GIGABYTE controlled SATA 2 ports. The front panel header is located to the left of the SATA 6G ports, with the SYS_FAN1, USB 2.0, and IEEE 1394 headers just above along the lower left edge of the board.
GIGABYTE designed the 890GPA-UD3H with a total of 7 card slots: 2 PCI-Express x16 slots, 3 PCI-Express x1 slots, and 2 PCI slots. The floppy port and serial header are located along the outside edge of PCI slot 2. The CMOS battery and reset jumper are located just under PCI-Express x1 slot 3, with the CD_IN and S/PDIF input header just above it. The SYS_FAN2 header is located in between the upper edge of the primary PCI-Express x1 and PCI-Express x16 slots.
The 890GPA-UD3H's rear panel contains the following integrated ports: a shared PS/2 keyboard / mouse port; 4 dedicated USB 2.0 ports; 2 hybrid USB 3.0 / 2.0 ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port; VGA, DVI-D, and HDMI graphical output ports; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical output ports.
GIGABYTE EasyTune 6
For windows based monitoring and overclocking, GIGABYTE packages version 6 of their EasyTune software on the install DVD with the version shown being revision B10.0301.1. The application functionality is accessed via a series of tabs in located at the top of the application window.
The CPU tab shows real time system statistics on the various bus speeds, and well as detailed CPU and BIOS related information. The memory tab shows memory statistics for all onboard slots on a slot by slot basis. Note that the information shown in both tabs in very similar in nature to the data you would see in the freeware CPU-Z application.
The Tuner tab allows for user controlled manipulation of the various board bus speeds and voltages. The Advanced mode allows for full user control of board bus frequencies and voltages, with settings shown similar in nature to those shown in the BIOS.
The Graphics tab shows current core and memory speed for the video card in use, as well as allowing for direct video card based core and memory speed manipulation.
The Smart tab contains settings for manually setting the CPU Smart Fan temperature thresholds for optimal CPU cooler performance.
The HW Monitor tab displays statics on all BIOS monitored voltages, fan speeds, and temperatures. This screen also allows for the configuration of alert settings for the monitored fan speed and temperature devices.