GIGABYTE MA790FXT-UD5P with AMD Phenom II X4 965 OC Review

[windwithme]

AMD implemented 45nm manufacturing almost one year, and made AMD product line be more competitive.
For a long time, AMD used 65nm K8/K10 to compete in the market.
However, the performance, clock and power consumption are not as good as competitor.
AMD only relied on under 100USD products to survive. Indeed, AMD supporters are worry about this.

AMD takes the opportunity of 45nm manufacturing been matured, they launched X2/X3/X4 to fight back the market share.
As the X2/X3 CPU can enable to X4 either by design or accident, AMD CPU really raise their mainstream market share.
For AMD products selling, it used to be low end more and this time they emerge to mainstream market.

In chipset, AMD has less option.
Mainly it’s All in one, 780G/790GX and also the minor revision one, 785G recently.
The hi-end chipset, AMD keeps 790FX + SB750.
This review will share you AMD hi-end combination - AMD Phenom II X4 965 with 790FX chipset.

The MB is GA-MA790FXT-UD5P.
It’s the most hi-end AMD3 product in GIGABYTE.




GIGABYTE also has another AM3 model called GA-MA790XT-UD4P which is 790X chipset.
Let’s check the outlook first, you can see the UD5P spec and components are better.




Back to UD5P details
Lower Left Corner
2 X PCI-E X16 supports CrossFireX technology and the bandwidth is X16+X16
3 X PCI-E X1
2 X PCI
Realtek 8111D dual LAN chips support Teaming
Realtek ALC889A supports 7.1 channel sound and High Definition Audio/Dolby Home Theater technology
PCB is MADE IN TAIWAN


Lower Right Corner
6 X blue SATAII support RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10 and RAID JBOD
4 X white SATAII support RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID JBOD
Dual BIOS provide dual protection. SB is GIGABYTE SA and JMB362TA2 chip
Clear CMOS button in right side has a cover to avoid careless press


Upper Right Corner
4 X DIMM DDR3 support 1066/1333/1600 and the highest capacity is 16GB DDR3
1 X IDE
1 X Floppy
Power/Reset buttons are here
DDR3 has 2 phase PWM and next is 24-PIN power connector


Upper Left Corner
AM3 CPU socket
UD5P uses 8+2 phase PWM, as Phenom II X4 965 power consumption is 140W, the PWM design is absolutely enough


IO
8 X USB 2.0
2 X RJ-45 LAN
1 X S/PDIF Fiber/Coaxial output
1 X 1394a


NB heat pipe
This design won’t interfere the PCI-E X1 slot

[windwithme]

GIGABYTE components placement are very clean



BIOS page


Main tuning menu


Voltage page
DDR3 Voltage Control +0.050~0.750V
NB Voltage Control 1.100~2.600V
CPU NB VID Control -0.600~+0.600V
CPU Voltage Control -0.600~+0.600V


CPU cores enable status
F8a BIOS adds the enable 3 cores feature
You can use this function to instead of unstable quad core CPU to enhance the stability.


DRAM Set Up page


DDR3detail parameters


PC Health Status


The setup above is my CPU OC to 370MHz.
In fact, AMD RAID compatibility issue really trouble me the extreme OC for few days to find out the issue.
If CPU want to run in high frequency, CPU NorthBridge Freq./HT Link Frequency/CPU NB VID Control need to be adjusted.
According to each CPU capability, you have to adjust the voltage and HT frequency to find out the best combination.


Test Configuration
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965
MB: GIGABYTE GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
DRAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8
VGA: MSI R4890 CYCLONE DDR5 1GB CrossFire
HD: CORSAIR CMFSSD-64GB2D
POWER: Antec TruePower New TP-750
Cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme


The first is AMD Phenom II X4 965 default performance test
CPU 200.9 X 17 => 3415.4Mhz
DDR3 1607.4 CL6 6-6-18 1T

Nuclearus Multi Core => 14890
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 17.41/8355

[windwithme]

CINEBENCH R10
1 CPU=> 3955
x CPU=> 14398


PCMark Vantage => 11844


3DMark Vantage => 16362


Phenom II X4 965 default clock is 3.4Ghz, so the performance is quite high.
As 45nm manufacturing CPU, 1.4V is a little bit high.


AMD DRAM Performance
I use CORSAIR last dual channel product, DOMINATOR-GT CMG4GX3M2A2000C8
Clock is DDR3 2000, Latency are CL8 8-8-24, and voltage is 1.65V


CPU 3.4Ghz
DDR3 1607.4 CL6 6-6-18 1T
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 9320MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 13289MB/s


CPU 3.825Ghz
DDR3 1632 CL6 6-6-18 1T
Sandra Memory Bandwidth - 9617MB/s
EVEREST Memory Read - 14274MB/s


AMD CPU has built in the Memory Control. During K8 stage, AMD had very high memory performance.
Since years, Intel also uses similar design and support Tri-channel. It makes AMD far away behind in DDR3 performance.
During my test, DDR3 can be stable at 2160 in Intel, but even it’s difficult to over DDR3 1700 in AMD platform.
In fact, AMD DDR3 is difficult to tune. Even the best capable AMD CPU, highest DRAM is only around DDR3 1800.
I think AMD needs to improve more for catch up the extreme segment. It’s nothing about memory capability now.


Phenom II X4 965 Temperature
Cooler is Tuniq Tower12 Extreme, the top level cooler in the market now.




CPU 3.825Ghz
Stanby - 40


Full speed - 59


45nm Phenom II is improved a lot which compare to 65nm Phenom.
Even I OC to over 3.8Ghz, the temp is still lower than 60.
Of course, Tuniq Tower12 Extreme cooler is indispensable contribution.

[windwithme]

AMD Phenom II X4 965 OC Performance
CPU 306 X 12.5 => 3825.2Mhz
DDR3 1632 CL6 6-6-18 1T

Hyper 4 X PI 32M=> 19m 23.341s
CPUMARK 99=> 526


Nuclearus Multi Core => 16277
Fritz Chess Benchmark => 19.44/9331


CrystalMark 2004R3 => 255735


CINEBENCH R10
1 CPU=> 4287
x CPU=> 15507


PCMark Vantage => 13138


3DMark Vantage => 17226


Previously, Phenom II X4 955 only can be atble at 3.7Ghz, and all reviews in internet are around 3.6~3.7Ghz.
This time, Phenom II X4 965 can reach 3.8Ghz, AMD 45nm yield rate is improved a lot.
However, compare to Intel 45nm CPU can reach 4~4.2Ghz, AMD still need to work harder.


GIGABYTE MA790FXT-UD5P
Good
1. GIGABYTE most top AMD product has good outlook, packing and components usage
2. 2oz PC, Japanese made solid capacitors, and plenty software bundled
3. Support ATI CrossFireX X16+X16 technology
4. Rich BIOS items, wide voltage range and latest BIOS also support enable 3-Core feature
5. Built-in 10 SATAII, 8 USB 2.0 and 8+2 power phase

Weakness
1.AMD SB750 RAID performance is not good as Intel
2.Doesn’t built in diagnostic LED
3.AMD CPU structure limitation make DDR3 clock be lower



Performance ★★★★★★★★★☆
Components ★★★★★★★★★☆
Specification ★★★★★★★★☆☆
Outlook ★★★★★★★★☆☆
C/P Value ★★★★★★★★☆☆

AMD is hot in enabling dual core CPU to 3 or 4 cores.
However, you have to be aware of the CPU is not 100% can be successful.
The highest C/P for AMD platform so far is 785G and dual core or tri core CPU to enable quad core by your own luck.

But no every user like using Micro-ATX boards.
For ATX, AMD has 770 and 790 chipset.
The review this time is the top 790FX and SB750 chipset which is only product to support X16+X16.
UD5P has very good design and components. Unfortunately, AMD CPU and DDR3 OC capability is not good enough.

GIGABYTE MA790FXT-UD5P combines with AMD Phenom II X4 965 are middle price range.
Both products are around 183/193USD, so the C/P and performance are acceptable as it’s the highest combo in AMD platform.
As the normal users, middle range and entry level, AMD platform is super valued.