Motherboards 790GX Chipsets

With the release of the Phenom II processor my interest in motherboards based on AMD chipsets has grown. The 790FX chipset is currently the top of the AMD range. The only other 790 series chipset that seems to be commonly used is the 790GX which has integrated graphics.

If a 790GX based motherboard is used with a higher end graphics card such as the 3870, does the integrated graphics become a redundant feature?

 

The 790GX is actually newer and better than the 790FX. Consider integrated graphics a bonus.

The 790FX, even though it's a "high-end" chipset, was one of the chipsets that launched with the original Phenom. The 790GX could best be described as an evolution of the 780G crossed with the 790FX.

 

Basically, yeah.

It's not an awful thing to have, really, if the price isn't more than a few dollars more - if your video card ever craps out on you or gets fried or whatever you can still do basically everything except game on it.

But yes, when you pop in a discrete card, it takes over.


- Diosjenin -

 

To put it plainly, yeah.

You'll most likely disable the onboard graphics once you install your dedicated card. AMD doesn't have anything like Hybrid SLI where both are used, so that's pretty much the story.



EDIT: Wow, two replies while I was replying.

._.

 

That's because we're ninjas.

- Diosjenin -

 

Wait, the GX is better than the FX? In what way?

It seemed like the specs for the FX were superior.

EDIT:

Research tells me that the GX northbridge is 55nm, while the FX is 65nm, but the GX has two x8 PCI-E lanes, while the FX has two x16s.

Still kinda confused. How long have they been out anyway? Will they be replaced soon?

 

Silent and deadly!

 

Actually theres two versions of the 790FX chipset, one version has the SB750 southbridge although there's only about 3 motherboards in this category and the rest have the old SB600.

 

Well, Diosjenin and myself, that is

 

There's only one 790FX chipset. But you're correct, that the 790FX now is paired with the SB750 southbridge. You can pretty much mix and match these chipsets. The SB600 was (unsurprisingly originally created for AMD's 6xx-series chipsets. As for the SB750, it was created as a companion to the 790GX.