880G integrated graphics and a brief look at the MSI board
Bringing out the table, we line up 880G alongside AMD's recent IGP solutions, as well as a couple of Intel alternatives.
| Chipset | AMD 890GX | AMD 880G | AMD 785G | AMD 780G | AMD 790GX | Intel H55 | Intel G45 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing process | 55nm | 55nm | 55nm | 55nm | 55nm | 45nm | 65nm |
| CPU support | AMD AM3 | AMD AM3 | AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3 | AMD AM2/AM2+ | AMD AM2/AM2+/AM3 | Intel LGA 1156 | Intel LGA775 |
| IGP core | Radeon HD 4290 | Radeon HD 4250 | Radeon HD 4200 | Radeon HD 3200 | Radeon HD 3300 | GMA HD | X4500 HD |
| DirectX support | 10.1 | 10.1 | 10.1 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| GPU clock speed (MHz) | 700 | 560 | 500 | 500 | 700 | 900 | 800 |
| Shaders | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 12 | 10 |
| GFLOPs | 56 | 44.8 | 40 | 40 | 56 | 32 | 24 |
| Memory type | DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR2/DDR3 | DDR2 | DDR2/DDR3 | DDR3 | DDR2/DDR3 |
| Video-processing tech | AVIVO HD (UVD 2.0) | AVIVO HD (UVD 2.0) | AVIVO HD (UVD 2.0) | AVIVO HD (UVD 1.0) | AVIVO HD (UVD 1.0) | ClearVideo HD | ClearVideo HD |
| Blu-ray PiP support (Profile 1.1) | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Native output support | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.3) | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.3) | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.3) | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.2) | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.3) | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (v1.3) | DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI |
| Hybrid GPU support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no CF for discrete cards) | Yes | No | No |
| Discrete CrossFire support | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Given that 890GX was an evolutionary step up from AMD's 7-series chipsets, it's no surprise to find 880G continuing a familiar trend.
The IGP remains a derivative of the Radeon HD 3000-series RV620 core, and clocked at 560MHz it slots in neatly between 890GX and 785G. Like the 890GX, a 128MB on-board "SidePort" frame buffer is provided as standard, but there's no official support for discrete CrossFire configurations.
Don't expect miracles from the IGP, then, and don't let it be a deciding factor, either. Most modern IGPs offer similar feature sets - including the likes of simultaneous video acceleration and hardware upscaling - leaving little to choose between them in terms of day-to-day media use.
What's perhaps more useful is that MSI's board pairs the IGP-equipped northbridge with AMD's new SB850 southbridge. Connecting north via a 2GB/s A-Link Express III interface, SB850 provides a useful array of connectivity options - including six SATA 6Gbps ports and Gigabit Ethernet.
Arriving in a micro-ATX package, MSI's 880GMA-E45 is a relatively clutter-free solution. The conservative heatsinks on both the north and south bridges suggest overclockers aren't the target market, but MSI does bundle its OC Genie tweaking utility and promotes the use of its "Military Class" components - including aluminium core solid capacitors and ferrite core chokes.
There's ample room around the AM3 socket for third-party coolers, and four dual-channel DIMM slots are available to house up to 16GB of DDR3 at officially-supported speeds of up to 1,333MHz.
A single PCIe x16 lane is available for an easy graphics upgrade, whilst two PCIe x1 slots and a single PCI slot complete the board's line up of expansion options.
In addition to offering your usual floppy and IDE ports, the board offers support for next-generation storage devices via six SATA 6Gbps ports - two sitting straight up, four angled, and all powered by the SB850 southbridge. RAID modes 0, 1 and 5 are supported.
Turning to the I/O panel, we see VGA, DVI and HDMI connectivity - but you'll be unable to use both DVI and HDMI simultaneously, as AMD's chipsets continue to offer no support for dual digital outputs.
Four USB 2.0 ports are available (another four reside on the board itself) and an NEC controller makes available a further two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports. There's no eSATA or FireWire, sadly, but the board does offer Gigabit Ethernet and six-way analogue audio jacks - via which 7.1 HD audio comes courtesy of a Realtek ALC892 chip.
In keeping with most other manufacturers, MSI is touting the board's Unlock CPU Core technology as a potential means of unlocking a CPU's hidden cores. If your luck's in, that could mean transforming the upcoming quad-core Phenom II X4 "Zosma" part into a full-fat hexa-core chip.
We'll be taking a closer look in the coming weeks, but if MSI can get the board close to an £80 price point it might have a useful solution on its hands.
