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Gigabyte's GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard is based on the AMD 790FX and SB750 chipsets and offers up much in the way of dual videocard gaming and generally fast socket AM3 AMD processor support.
84% Rating: 
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Total System Power Draw and Conclusions
 Total System Power Draw |
Source: PCSTATS |
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Here's how
the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard stacks up in real life against a
couple different motherboards. We have no way of directly measuring motherboard
power draw, so PCSTATS measures total system power draw and compares that in
CPU-loaded (max value recorded in Prime95) and idle states (at Windows Vista
desktop). An Extech 380803 AC Power Analyzer and A-PFC compliant PC Power and Cooling 750W power supply were used for
these tests.
 System Power Draw Tests:
|
| Desktop Idle (W) |
Watts |
Ranking |
 Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
(AMD 790FX 200/1066 AM3 Phenom II X4 955 GF GTS250) |
149 |
   |
| ASUS M4A78T-E (AMD 790GX 200/1066 AM3 Phenom
II X3 720 GF 8800GTS) |
143 |
   |
| ASUS M3A78-T (AMD 790GX 200/1066 AM3 Phenom
II X3 720 GF 8800GTS) |
155 |
|
| Foxconn A7DA-S (790GX 200/800 GF 8800GTS) |
131 |
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| Biostar Tpower N750 (NF 750a 200/800 AM2 X2
5000+ GF 8800GTS 320MB) |
110 |
|
| Prime95 Stressed (W) |
Watts |
Ranking |
| Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
(AMD 790FX 200/1066 AM3 Phenom II X4 955 GF GTS250) |
221 |
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| ASUS M4A78T-E (AMD 790GX 200/1066 AM3 Phenom
II X3 720 GF 8800GTS) |
188 |
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| ASUS M3A78-T (AMD 790GX 200/1066 AM3 Phenom
II X3 720 GF 8800GTS) |
214 |
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| Foxconn A7DA-S (790GX 200/800 GF 8800GTS) |
192 |
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| Biostar Tpower N750 (NF 750a 200/800 AM2 X2
5000+ GF 8800GTS 320MB) |
187 |
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Gigabyte's GA-MA790FXT-UD5P has the highest power draw
under load, and the second-highest while idle, but again, the performance
numbers are skewed since there are different parts in the various test systems.
It will take further reviews with this setup to really determine the true speed
of this motherboard.
PCSTATS' final thoughts on the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P are next!
The ideal AMD Phenom II
motherboard?
The Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P is very close to being the
ideal companion for an AMD Phenom II processor. The motherboard straddles the
line between expensive overclocking motherboards from the likes of ASUS Republic
of Gamers series, and more generic motherboards that simply mirror AMD's
reference motherboard designs.
In terms of features and support, the socket AM3 Gigabyte
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard uses DDR3 memory at speeds of 1066/1333MHz, or
1666MHz when overclocking, and can hold up to 16GB of RAM when running in a
64-bit operating environment. Only socket AM3 AMD processors can be used with
this motherboard, which right now limits it to Phenom II processors only.
Gigabyte's GA-MA790FXT-UD5P motherboard is designed with
Crossfire X multi-videocard support in mind. While it doesn't support some of
the more exotic 4-way Crossfire configurations, putting in dual videocards, or
even dual-GPU dual videocards like the Radeon 4870X2 in Crossfire mode. All of this videocard
handling prowess is done by the dual x16 PCI Express 2.0 lanes, which have more
than enough bandwidth for any current videocards.
To round out the rest of the expansion slots, the
Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P also has three PCI Express x1 slots, and a pair of
legacy PCI slots. These are intelligently arranged so that even when using wider
videocards there will still be a few empty slots for peripherals. The I/O panel
is similarly well stocked, with eight USB 2.0 ports, dual gigabit ethernet
connections, dual firewire connections, as well as optical audio and stereo
outputs. The extra USB ports are especially helpful given the ever-growing
amount of peripherals which are now sharing this bus.
Gigabyte ensures that owners of the GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
aren't wanting for storage space, with ten SATA II ports available to handle
harddrives and optical drives. Six of these are controlled by the AMD SB750
southbridge, and can be run in RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and JBOD modes. The remaining
four can be placed in RAID 0, 1 and JBOD mode, using dual integrated JMicron
controllers. There's also an IDE and floppy controller for plugging in older
storage devices.
Finally Gigabyte has included a lot of extras with the
GA-MA790FXT-UD5P that have gone into the overall design of the board. Gigabyte's
Ultra-Durable 3 uses solid-state capacitors, more efficient MOSFETs for power,
and a thicker copper layer on the PCB, all of which translate into a more
reliable motherboard, and will hopefully extend the motherboard's lifespan.
This attention to detail has also translated into setting
up and installing the motherboard. Gigabyte does a good job of labeling on-board
motherboard headers, the included Click-Connect SATA cables are easy to install
and secure, and the motherboard even has on-board power, reset and clear CMOS
buttons, what are especially handy for overclockers.
Altogether a motherboard this fully-featured is a steal
at just $235 CDN ($190 USD, £130 GBP). While other
motherboard manufacturers might have slapped the word "Gamer" on it and raised
the price by $100, Gigabyte has sensibly kept the price low, in line with AMD's
CPU pricing scheme. When paired with one of the new socket AM3 Phenom II
processors, the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P can become a real powerhouse.
Find out about this and many other reviews by joining the
Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today! Catch all of PCSTATS
latest reviews right here.
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