AMD's 890GX Chipset - Same Graphics, Better South Bridge
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 2, 2010 4:36 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet MAC
The SB850 includes a new integrated Gigabit Ethernet MAC. However, unless I’m reading this incorrectly both the ASUS and Gigabyte boards I’ve seen thus far still rely on external Realtek RTL8111 series single chip MAC/PHY solutions.
| Windows File Copy from NAS to SSD | AMD 890GX | Intel H55 |
| Peak Bandwidth | 952 Mbps | 952 Mbps |
Performance is as expected - transfer rates approach 1000Mbps regardless of platform. I don’t believe these boards are using AMD’s integrated MAC though.
Final Words
At this point there’s not much to say about AMD’s 890GX. With no improvement in graphics performance, no die shrink and no new audio/video features today’s launch is really about the SB850 South Bridge.
Native 6Gbps SATA support is an impressive move by AMD. Unfortunately I’m not totally sold on AMD’s SATA controller. Compared to the SB750, the new SB850 appears to be a step forward. However, even the new south bridge isn’t as fast as Intel’s I/O controllers when it comes to peak performance with a high end SSD. With standard hard drives and even slow SSDs I doubt there’s much cause for concern, but as SSDs become more commonplace we’re going to see controller deficiencies exposed more readily. I had hoped for a bigger reset in south bridge performance with the 890GX/SB850 combo. Perhaps it’ll take a few more BIOS/driver revisions before we get there. Update: We're getting closer!
While I would have liked to have seen native USB 3 support as well, at least AMD is willing to provide enough bandwidth to feed any external USB 3 controllers at this point. It’s more of a theoretical advantage than anything else today, but it’s worth giving credit for.
I get the distinct feeling that there just wasn’t much effort put into 890GX. The real focus for AMD has been Llano and making sure that chip has the sort of significant improvement in graphics performance that we’ve been waiting for. Until then, it looks like we’ll get a model number update with few new features. In a sense, AMD has finally taken a page out of Intel’s chipset playbook.
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Paladin1211 - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
TechReport has pointed out the 890GX has very good overclock capabilities. I want to know if it can really get the Athlon II X4 630 to over 4Ghz. You have been praising the overclocking potential of the Core i3/i5 + H55/57 all lately. How about the same test with a few sensible AMD CPUs?Thank you.
Reference link:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/18539/10">http://techreport.com/articles.x/18539/10
Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
Hi,From the looks of it, those were simply bus frequency tests made possible by a low CPU multiplier. I doubt that CPU's are hitting higher overall core frequencies (at normal CPU multiplier ratios) just by a change of Southbridge.
regards
Raja
Paladin1211 - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
Wasn't it a change of southbridge that "Enabled higher Phenom overclocks?"http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...">http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?...
Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
I'd have thought once you get to 4GHz or so most people are limited by cooling because the AMD substrate seems to favour lower temperatures for outright CPU frequency.We can test it against 790 at some point (assuming both boards have been 'engineered' to the same level).
later
Raja
Paladin1211 - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
Waiting for boards, BIOSes, drivers to be more mature is always a good idea. I do care about 24/7 stable overclocking at stock voltage and highest possible core speed on air.Thank you, I'll stay tuned :)
Rajinder Gill - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
Hi,Waiting for things to mature would be a good idea based upon what I'm seeing with the Sharkoon Drive Port..
regards
Raja
chucky2 - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
What was the point of this release, other than to come out with a "new" product to increase sales from the Gotta Have It crowd...?1. STILL no 8 channel over HDMI???? It's something that should have been done in 780G, then 790GX, then 785G, and now 890GX does not support it?!?!?! I don't need to buy an add-in card AMD, I can just buy an Intel box. Insanity.
2. Would it seriously have been so hard to put in a 5000 series core to one-up Intel and actually have SOME reason to buy this over cheaper - and essentially just as good - mature 790GX alternatives (which can also still do core unlocking btw)? Exactly why buy this over a cheaper, more stable 790GX, or competing Intel product?
They should have called this 795GX and saved themselves the embarrassment. <- 690G and 790GX user, not an Intel fanboi.
Chuck
leexgx - Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - link
the audio is very good point, it still can unlock cores and do ACCgeok1ng - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
I once again request a side by side image quality comparison.AT is almost making me concede that Intel graphics are good enough, now all the matter is to proof once and for all that Intel is not cheating ( again, i would kindly remember)on image quality, as it did on the past.
swaaye - Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - link
I'm guessing that one big reason for the IGP being the same is that the bandwidth to RAM, across the HT bus, is unchanged since Phenom came out. The peak bandwidth is a measly 8.8GB/s assuming you have a CPU with a 2.2GHz HT clock, and that is shared with the rest of data going across HT.