Testing Configuration and Benchmarks Used
We matched up the Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P against the ECS A790GXM-AD3 and a mid-range ASUS M3A78 AM2+ motherboard. This should show us the entire spectrum in performance differences between 790FX and 790GX chipsets, AM2+ versus AM3, and DDR2 and DDR3. Let’s see if our results can pinpoint which configuration will bring consumers the best performance.
CPU-Z screenshots
Our test bench consisted of the following components:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X3 720 (2.8GHz, 14×200)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 9800GTX+ Superclocked Edition (NVIDIA Driver 185.85)
RAM: ASUS board – OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800; Gigabyte and ECS board – OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 750W 80 PLUS
HD: Western Digital 160GB SATA
Operating System: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Our 64-bit test bench for AMD AM3 processors includes 4GBs of RAM, a GeForce 9800GTX+ graphics card or onboard video (if available), and a Western Digital 160GB SATA hard drive for storage. This configuration is based off a typical mid-range computer system.
Benchmarks used:
- SiSoft Sandra 2009 SP1
- CineBench 10
- Handbrake DVD compression
- 3DMark Vantage
- Crysis Warhead
- Far Cry 2
- PCMark Vantage
- HDTach 3.0.1.0 – SATA, eSATA, USB
