AMD’s 890GX Chipset: Low-End Price, High-End Features

Michael "SKYMTL" Hoenig · | March 1, 2010

Test Systems and Setup

AMD System Setup

ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO (785G) [0512 BIOS]
ASUS M4A78T-E (790GX) [1708 BIOS]
GIGABYTE GA-890GPA-UD3H (890GX) [F2 BIOS]
AMD Phenom II X4 945
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme
Thermalright TR-FDB-12-1600 120MM FAN - 63.7CFM 1600RPM
2x2GB Patriot Sector 5 Viper II DDR3-2000 8-8-8-20 @ DDR3-1333 7-7-7-18-1T
Tuniq Miniplant 950W
Western Digital 320GB WD3200AAKS-00B3A0
Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit (with all updates)
Catalyst 10.3 Beta Driver

Intel X4500 + NVIDIA IGP Test System

GIGABYTE GA-E7AUM-DS2H (F4 BIOS) + NVIDIA GeForce 196.34 drivers
GIGABYTE GA-EG41M-US2H (F2 BIOS) + Intel INF_allOS_9.1.1.1020_PV drivers

Intel Q9550

Memory: 2x2GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2-800 4-4-4-12-2T BL2KIT25664AR802A

For all of the benchmarks, appropriate lengths are taken to ensure an equal comparison through methodical setup, installation, and testing. The following outlines our testing methodology:

A) Windows is installed using a full format.

B) Chipset drivers and accessory hardware drivers (audio, network, GPU) are installed followed by a defragment and a reboot.

C)To ensure consistent results, a few tweaks were applied to Windows Vista and the NVIDIA control panel:

Sidebar – Disabled
UAC – Disabled
System Protection/Restore – Disabled
Problem & Error Reporting – Disabled
Remote Desktop/Assistance - Disabled
Windows Security Center Alerts – Disabled
Windows Defender – Disabled
Screensaver – Disabled
Power Plan - High Performance
NVIDIA PhysX – Disabled
V-Sync – Off

D) Programs and games are then installed & updated followed by another defragment.

E) Windows updates are then completed installing all available updates followed by a defragment.

F) Benchmarks are each ran three times after a clean reboot for every iteration of the benchmark unless otherwise stated, the results are then averaged. If they were any clearly anomalous results, the 3-loop run was repeated. If they remained, we will mention it in the indvidual benchmark write-up.