Features
- Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics
- DirectX 10.1
- Shader Model 4.1
- 55nm process
- 785G Northbridge
- SB710 Southbridge
- HyperTransport 3.0
- 40 Stream Processors
- 8 Texture Address Units
- 4 Texture Filtering Units
- 4 ROPs
- Hybrid Graphics
- AMD OverDrive 3
- 500MHz
- 16GB of DDR3 MEMORY SUPPORT
- HTPC Ready
- Easy OC Switch
- Active Phase Switching
- All Solid Capacitors
- AMD Phenom II AM3 CPUs
- AMD Live Ready
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| Part Number |
785GM-E65 |
| Manufacturer |
MSI |
| Chipset |
785G |
| North Bridge |
RS880 |
| Socket |
Socket AM3 |
| Memory speed |
1333/1066/800MHz |
| Processor Types |
AMD Phenom II X3, X4 |
| Number of CPUs |
1 |
| HT Speed |
Up to 5200MT/second |
| Memory Type |
DDR3 |
| Memory Channels |
Double |
| Maximum Memory |
16GB |
| External Graphics |
PCI Express x16 |
| IGP |
Radeon HD 4200 |
| South Bridge |
SB710 |
| Audio |
8-channel |
| IDE |
133/100/66 |
| SCSI |
None |
| SATA |
3.0 GB/s |
| RAID |
0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 |
| LAN |
10/100/1000 4 LAN Ports |
| Firewire |
IEEE 1394a |
| USB |
USB 2.0 |
| BIOS |
Licensed Award BIOS |
| Form Factor |
ATX |
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|
The motherboard supports all current AMD AM3 CPUs including the 955 Black Edition, the 810, the 7xx series and Athlon 2 CPUs. AM2+ CPUs will not fit in the Socket as there are two pins extra on that CPU, but AM3 CPUs will work on AM2+ motherboards due to the configuration of the pins. The AM3 CPUs support DDR3 memory up to DDR3-1333MHz.
The SB710 Southbridge is a lighter version of the SB750. This chip has the Advanced Clock Calibration of the SB750 meaning that it will overclock with the same ease. The main difference between the two chipsets is that the SB710 does not support RAID 5. The target market for this motherboard is for the HTPC user and RAID 5 is not likely to be a factor.
MSI uses all Solid Capacitors on their board, meaning that their capacitors will last longer than the capacitors of other motherboards that are not solid. AM3 CPUs support Active Power Switching, allowing the CPU to run at a lower clock speed when the computer is idle or doing low-intensity computing like Word. This allows the computer to save energy and thus is more environmentally conscious.
The 785G is a new Northbridge with integrated graphics. This chipset is manufactured on TSMC's 55nm process node, just as the majority of ATI graphics cards are manufactured on. ATI calls the integrated graphics on the 785G the Radeon HD 4200. This is the first integrated graphics chipset to fully support Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1. Previous integrated graphics from ATI and NVIDIA supported DirectX 10.0 only. DirectX 10.1 mainly added performance and image quality improvements to DirectX 10.0.
The Radeon HD 4200 on the board has 40 SPs making it akin to the HD 4350 chip found on ATI's most inexpensive HD 4xxx series discrete cards. There are four ROPs, 8 Texture address units, 4 Texture filtering units, and it uses shared memory with the rest of the system. ATI offers HyperMemory technology for those companies that want to add it to their board. This allows the board maker to put 128MB of DDR3 memory to use as frame buffer memory. The 4200 has a clock speed of 500MHz, which is the same as the 3400 on the 785G.
Layout
Board
Rear of PCB
4-pin power
CPU Socket
The MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard is a mini-ATX sized motherboard meaning that it will fit into virtually any case of mini-ATX or larger size. This makes it a great fit for a HTPC as the average HTPC user will not want a lot of extraneous room on their motherboard. The average HTPC user wants a motherboard with decent integrated graphics, onboard sound, USB connections, Firewire connections and minimal expansion.
Starting out at the top right hand corner there is a 4-pin power connector. The CPU Socket is located in the normal position. Surrounding the CPU Socket is a heatsink that covers the MOSFETS. A heat pipe leading to the 785G Northbridge leads out from the heatsink covering the MOSFETS. There is a 140W CPU Ready label printed on the heatsink. The 4-pin CPU fan header is located above the CPU Socket.
MOSFET heatsink
CPU Fan header
785G chipset
SB 710 chipset
Below the CPU Socket are four DIMM (Dual In-line Memory Modules) slots. The DIMM Slots are color coded. To run in Dual Channel memory mode simply install two like memory modules in two like colored slots. The AM3 CPU supports up to 16GB of memory. MSI's board supports DDR3-1333MHz. You can of course use faster memory but it will need to be overclocked to be used.
DIMM Slots
COM1 header
Capacitors
Fintek chip
The board has a single PCI Express x16 slot for add-on graphics cards. The 785G supports Hybrid Crossfire which allows the HD 4200 on the board to work with a HD 3450 discrete video card to increase performance versus the onboard video alone. A PCI Express x1 slot and two PCI slots round out the device expansion slots on the board due to the mini-ATX form factor.
Expansion slots
Capacitors and chokes
Via VT6315
ELPIDA 128MB HyperMemory
Directly below the DIMM slots is a Fintek chip that provides system monitoring for the motherboard including voltages and temperatures. Below the Fintek chip is a Parallel Port header. Legacy users will love the inclusion of a Parallel Port header but modern motherboards really have little use for it. To the left of the Fintek chip is a COM1 header another legacy item that isn't necessary.
IDE+24-pin power
JTPM
FDD
SATA
Next to the LPT1 header is a FDD port and a IDE port. The 24-pin power connector is above the IDE port due to the mini-ATX size of the board. To the left of the IDE port are four SATA ports angled 90 degrees to the board allowing for installation of a dual-slot video card without interfering with the drive expansion on the board. A fifth SATA port is face up on the board. Next to the SATA ports is a 3-pin fan connector.
JFP1
USB2 and 3
USB 1
SP, Firewire
The left side of the board starts off with the Front Panel IO connectors. The connectors are labeled so you won't install the Reset wire onto the Power Switch connector. There are three USB headers next to the FP I/O connection. Next to that is the JBAT jumper for clearing the CMOS on the board. The Speaker connection is next to the JBAT, followed by a Firewire connection, the CD-In, and the JAUD audio jumper.
ALC889
Digital Output
Driver
RTL8111C
The onboard audio for the MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard is provided by a Realtek ALC889 CODEC. This is a fully High Definition Audio 1.0 compliant CODEC that supports ten DAC channels that can split into 7.1+2 Channel Front Panel Audio simultaneous output. The ALC889 has a 104dB signal to noise ratio and meets Microsoft WLP3.10 and future WLP audio requirements. Modern onboard audio has largely taken over the market from solutions like Creative's and ESS.
Rear IO
The rear I/O on the board is varied as one would expect from one that is designed to use integrated graphics and sound. A TOSLink output supports SPDIF. Supporting the onboard graphics is a VGA port, a DVI-D port, and a HDMI port. You can also use dual monitors with the use of the appropriate monitor or an adapter. Six USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port, the RJ-45 jack for the onboard LAN which is controlled by a Realtek RTL8111 PHY and six audio jacks for the onboard audio round out the rear I/O.
Bundle
- Two SATA Data cables
- One SATA Power cable
- IDE cable
- I/O Shield
- User Guide
- Quick Installation Guide
- Driver CD
- AOD
- Norton's Internet Security 2009
Box
Rear of box
Open Box
Bundle
MSI packages the MSI 785GM-E65 in an attractive blue and white box. The left side has a stylized E covering half of the box. The front of the box has the main features and CPU support. The rear of the box has the feature descriptions and the specifications of the motherboard. Opening the box we find the accessories are separated from the motherboard by a cardboard piece.
Driver
Utilities
The bundle itself is enough to get the user started on the way to owning a new system. Two SATA Data cables are adequate for most users, and if you need more they shouldn't be too expensive from your local computer store. MSI has a comprehensive User Guide and a Quick Start Guide to get your new system up and running quickly. MSI bundles their specific software including Core Center, AutoBoot, DualCoreCenter, GreenPowerCenter, Driver Booster Manager, LiveUpdate and Overclocking Center.
The 785GM-E65 motherboard uses a version of American Megatrends AMIBIOS with MSI specific features. The menu is split into Standard CMOS Features, Advanced BIOS Features, Integrated Peripherals, Power Management Setup, HW Monitor, Green Power, BIOS Setting Password and Cell Menu.
Battery
Easy Overclock
The BIOS is very similar to that found on the 790GX-E65 board, in fact it is the same BIOS with the exception of M-Flash menu. This allows you to Flash your BIOS from a USB drive and wasn't present on the earlier board. The Standard CMOS Features is where the drives are detected; the Time/Date and System information are posted.
Advanced BIOS Features includes BIOS Flash Protection, Quick Booting, Primary Graphics Adapter, the CPU Feature, Chipset Feature, Boot Sequence and Trusted Computing menus. CPU Feature is where you can enable or disable SVM and C1E support. The Chipset Features menu is where you enable or disable the on-chip VGA, and UMA Location. If the onboard graphics is enabled the amount of memory is set here.
Max overclock
The Cell Menu is where the tweaking of the motherboard is done. Here you can adjust the CPU FSB Frequency, the Ratio, the CPU-NB Ratio, enable the Advanced Clock Calibration, Auto Overclock Technology, Multi-Step OC Booster, Memory-Z, Advanced DRAM Configuration, FSB/DRAM Ratio, Onboard VGA Core Overclock, HT Link speed and the various Voltages. The board overclocked well, as can be expected from an AM3 board. I was able to overclock the board to 337MHz FSB with a 9x multiplier and 3050MHz with the default 13x multiplier on a AMD Phenom II X4 810. 100% stable. Using the Overclock jumper the system was stable at 230MHz or the 15% overclock setting.
Bios Screenshots
The integrated graphics should be about as fast as a HD 3200 with maybe a little improvement due to drivers. The architecture is exactly the same with the addition of DirectX 10.1 with similar SPs, Texture units and ROPs. I used Crysis Warhead, a DX10 game, Left 4 Dead a DX9 game, Unreal Tournament, a DX9 game and 3DMark06. Note all settings were set to high on the DX9 games but Crysis Warhead was run using the Mainstream settings and I used 1024x768 for everything except 3DMark06 which I ran at default settings.
Test System
- MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard running Drivers off DVD
- 1 WD Raptor 74GB
- 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-2000 running at 1333MHz
- AMD Phenom II X4 810 AM3 CPU running at 2.6GHz
- Cooler Master 1000W PSU
- Windows Vista with SP1 installed
- ATI HD 4200 integrated with 256MB shared memory
Tests
- Unreal Tournament 3 1024x768 : 17.95
- Crysis Warhead 1024x768 : 8.167
- Left 4 Dead 1024x768 : 22.15
- 3DMark06 1280x1024 : 1431
Test System
- AMD Phenom II x4 810 running at 2.66GHz
- 2GB DDR3-1600MHz memory Kingston DDR3-12800 running at 1066MHz
- 1 74GB WD Raptor
- ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB running Catalyst 9.5
- MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard running Driver DVD drivers as the chipset is not released yet.
- Thermaltake Tough Power 1000W PSU
- Windows Vista with SP1
Tests
- Sysmark 2007 with patch 5
- 3DMark Vantage
- 3DMark06
- PCMark05
- PCMark Vantage
- X264 HD Benchmark
- CPUBench 2003
- Crystalmark 2004
- Pifast
- wPrime95
- SpecViewPerf 10
CPUZ
Mainboard
SPD
Memory
The recent release of the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition and the TWKR CPUs have broken overclocking records across the world. The Phenom II X4 810 we use for our AM3 platform is a Quad Core CPU and fast enough for our purposes of showing performance against other motherboards with the same hardware.
Performance: Sisoft Sandra
Performance: CPU Bench
Performance: PiFast
Performance: SYS Mark 2007
Performance: PC Mark 05
Performance: 3DMark06
Performance: CrystalMark
Performance: WPrime
Performance: Specview 10
Conclusion:
From the perspective of a gamer that is used to playing games with all of the settings on maximum and with high resolution, the 785GM-E65 is a bit of a disappointment, being that performance in games is not fully playable with high settings enabled. This motherboard is not targeted for the hardcore enthusiast who would likely have a bleeding-edge video card anyway so that's not a big issue. The casual gamer wanting to play games with all of the visual fidelity and features of the discrete card will love the integrated graphics as the HD 4200 has support for Shader Model 4.1 and fully supports DX 10.1.
The HTPC user will love this motherboard as the board has an HDMI connection for video, which most HDTVs use as a connection these days. The ability to play Blu-Ray discs without an external video card is a definite plus. AMD is catering towards the OEM wanting the complete computer with this motherboard chipset just drop in a CPU, memory, your HDD(s) and you are ready to go. MSI has a definite winner here in that the board overclocks to over 15% with ease on air cooling alone. The Easy Overclock switch works just as advertised, and is a simple way for the beginner to try their luck at overclocking. A whole slew of 785G motherboards are being announced in the next few days and this motherboard is a good example, one that should show even more promise as the drivers mature.
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