Yesterday, AMD launched its new IGP, the 790GX, destined for the Phenom platform. For the northbridge, of course the 790GX has HyperTransport 3 support as well as 22 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes, 16 of which are attributable to 1 or 2 graphic ports. The DirectX 10 graphic core, named the HD 3300, in fact has all the characteristics of the one used on the 780G except for the frequency which increases from 500 to 700 MHz. Obviously, Avivo HD as well as Hybrid CrossFire are included and the chip also has DVI Dual Link, HDMI and DisplayPort support.
For the southbridge, we find the SB750 which is more or less an SB700 with RAID 5 support on 6 SATA ports. It also features Advanced Clock Calibration, a technology which enables (as mentioned in
this news ) overclocking the Phenom to its limits. This processor can also be combined with a 790FX which has double the 16 PCI-E lanes for CrossFire; however, it remains to be seen if manufacturers will update motherboards which aren’t necessarily best sellers.
In terms of prices, the 790GX is a notch below the 790FX and it should therefore be found on motherboards costing around 100 €. Given the positioning of the chipset, manufacturers can therefore integrate it to µATX mobos destined for HTPC or others for advanced users (CrossFire, ACC).
