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MSI 785GM-E65 Motherboard
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INCLUDES: User's Manual, Driver CD, (2) SATA cables, (1) SATA-to-Molex power cable, I/O Shield, IDE cable.
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Chipsets: AMD 785G (128MB) / AMD SB710
CPU Support: AMD socket AM3
Memory Type: Dual Channel DDR3-800/1066/1333
Videocard Support: (1) PCI Express x16 2.0
Integrated Graphics: Yes (HDMI, Analog, DVI)
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The launch of the AMD 785G chipset also includes an update for ATI Stream. ATI Stream is a initiative to bring GPU hardware acceleration to graphics-heavy desktop applications like Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Silverlight and Cyberlink Espresso. In these applications the Radeon HD 4200 IGP will take over for the CPU, and should result in somewhat faster performance in applications that can take advantage of the extra compute power. ATI Stream has some very exciting potential, and PCSTATS will be putting it to some real-world tests in this review.
The graphics capabilities of the AMD 785G are the real selling point in our books. Just like the AMD 690G/780G before it, we're spoiled with a trifecta of video outputs - HDMI, DVI and VGA.
Dual controllers mean it's easy to get dual monitors running with the 785GM-E65 too. The digital HDMI output is fully HDCP compliant and can carry audio as well as video, so it's no problem getting a HDTV hooked up for some big-screen computing.
The Radeon HD 4200 is HDMI 1.3 compliant, so it also supports higher bandwidth and greater colour depth for future video standards.
For real FPS 3D gaming a videocard is what you'll need. An integrated graphics processor cannot compete with a decent mainstream videocards, and in that regard the MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard features a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot which is likely to see almost immediate use. The board can be run for standard desktop applications on the Radeon HD 4200 quite well - a videocard isn't needed to do office work, or even watch an HD movie. The 785G's got you covered in those respects!
<!---It can be used independently or in conjunction with a Radeon HD 4650, 4550 or 4350 videocard in Hybrid Crossfire mode, which will let both GPUs share a 3D workload. --->The 785GM-E65 also has an additional PCI Express x1 slot and a pair of legacy PCI slots for legacy peripheral expansion.
Storage on the MSI 785GM-E65 is handled by the AMD SB710 southbridge, which has support for five SATA 3Gb/s ports and an eSATA port for external storage. The SATA connections can be operated in RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD modes. There's also an IDE and floppy connector.
On the I/O panel of the MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard we find six USB 2.0 ports, an IEEE 1394a firewire port, a PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port, gigabit LAN, S/PDIF optical output, eigh channel stereo output, and the aforementioned eSATA, HDMI, DVI and VGA ports. Considering this is a micro-ATX motherboard, having such a fully-featured suite of inputs and outputs is impressive, and definitely adds to its value-quotient.
The MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard is surprisingly affordable, retailing on average for $95 CDN, ($90 USD, £55 GBP). When paired together with AMD's economical 3.0GHz Athlon II X2 250 processor and a Radeon HD 4770 videocard it's possible to put together a versatile PC that could work as a gaming box, HTPC or home/office productivity computer for under $500 .
How will the MSI 785GM-E65 and AMD's new 785G chipset compare to other IGP solutions like Intel's G45 Express or NVIDIA's nForce series ?
Follow along as PCSTATS explores the AMD 785G chipset and examines the MSI 785GM-E65 from corner to corner.
Introducing the AMD 785G chipset / SB710 Southbridge
The AMD 785G chipset brings support to the Dragon platform for DirectX 10.1, making it fully Microsoft Windows 7 compliant. It's high definition hardware-base decoding accelerates certain kinds of video transcoding and graphics-intensive applications; a new tool to the world of IGPs. AMD's 785G is an all-around incremental improvement to the AMD 780G chipset, the previous darling of the IGP world.
The AMD 785G chipset also continues AMD's strategy of having cross-compatiblity support for a huge range of processors, including the new Athlon II 250 microprocessor. Since the AMD 785G chipset leaves memory control up to the CPU, it can be used with both socket AM2 and socket AM2+/AM3 processors and support DDR2 or DDR3 memory.
The centerpiece of the AMD 785 chipset is the Radeon HD 4200 IGP. This new graphics core is very similar to the Radeon HD 3200 that powered the AMD 780G. Both IGPs are built on a 55nm process, have 40 stream processors, and are made up of ~205 million transistors. Performance of the 500MHz Radeon HD 4200 IGP should be largely similar to AMD's previous IGPs, with the key changes being support for DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1.
Should you want to use a stand alone videocard the AMD 785G chipset supports a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, and can be used in Hybrid Crossfire mode with selected ATI Radeon graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 3450. In ideal situations, this will double the performance of the Radeon HD 4200 IGP... although doubling an IGP's 3D performance still isn't comparable to the power of a dedicated graphics card.
The Radeon HD 4200 IGP also continues support for Sideport memory, which adds a small amount of DDR3-1333 memory for the IGP to use as a cache, so it's not eating into shared system memory. Sideport memory is optional, so availability depends on the motherboard manufacturer. The MSI 785GM-E65 that PCSTATS is reviewing today has 128MB of DDR3-1333 sideport memory, which should give it an edge in 3D graphics benchmarks.
Further improvements include new hardware-accelerated transcoding support for selected video applications. ATI Stream lets the Radeon HD 4200 GPU accelerate media encoding, which can result in dramatic performance improvements when compared to CPU transcoding speeds. Unified Video Decoding is also here, and also uses the GPU to decode video, reducing load on the CPU.
The Radeon HD 4200 supports HDMI, DisplayPort (if integrated) and DVI. HDCP support is native to the Radeon HD 4200's video controller, so it's fully compatible with high-definition content played over Blu-ray discs. Within the AMD 785G are two independent display controllers, one digital (DVI/DP/HDMI) and one analog for displays. Depending on the manufacturers board-level implementation, the 785G will easily support dual monitors (one analog and one digital).
The AMD 785G supports up to six PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots along with six PCI bus mastering slots, although it's up to the motherboard manufacturer to implement each expansion slot. There are generally six Serial ATA II ports and a single Ultra/133 IDE controller, coming from the AMD SB710 Southbridge. Also integrated are twelve USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit network MAC and a 7.1 channel High Definition audio controller. The AMD's 785G chipset is a real challenger to Intel's older G45 Express chipsets, although only time will tell how it fares to next-generation chipsets like Intel's G55 Express.
ATI Stream and Hardware acceleration tests are next. Can a little IGP really speed up transcoding an HD movie for the iPod?
ATI Stream and HD Acceleration
ATI Stream, like NVIDIA's CUDA, is a way of accelerating desktop applications like Adobe Creative Suite 4, MediaShow Espresso and Microsoft Silverlight using a graphics processor instead of relying on just the CPU. There are certain intensive tasks that are easy to optimize for the massively parallel nature of an IGP like the Radeon HD 4200 that can cause even the fastest CPUs to choke and stall. ATI has been working with developers like Adobe and Microsoft so that everyday programs can take advantage of a dedicated GPU in a desktop environment.
Adobe in particular has embraced GPU acceleration, and the latest version of their Creative Suite brings support for both NVIDIA Geforce and AMD Radeon GPUs. Hardware acceleration support in programs like Adobe Acrobat Reader and Photoshop can improve rendering performance and smoothness when navigating large PDF documents and images.
The lastest version of ATI Stream has also added a new video transcoding technology that lets the Radeon IGP to accelerate video encoding. With the advent of video-capable portable media players like the iPhone, Sony PSP and Microsoft Zune, video encoding is an increasingly popular task even amongst mainstream and home users.
Video encoding remains a very intensive task, and encoding or transcoding a movie that has been ripped from DVD to play on your iPod can take hours depending on the video quality and length of the movie. Acceleration support is still quite limited at this point, with only certain codecs (H.264, MPEG2, VC1) and programs (Cyberlink Espresso, ATI Video Converter, Arcosoft Total Media Theatre) supported. Hopefully as this technology evolves it will become more widely supported and turn full hardware acceleration for the desktop into a reality.
ATI Stream and Hardware acceleration on the desktop
To test out hardware acceleration of the desktop under ATI Stream, we used Cyberlink's MediaShow Espresso. It's a transcoding program that can take advantage of both CPUs and GPUs in order to convert video files from one format to another. MediaShow Espresso has a very simple interface for adding new files and several transcoding presets to make it easy to get your videos formatted properly.
We tested MediaShow Espresso with the trailer for Pixar's Up! The original file format was a 1920x1080 Quicktime.MOV file, encoded in H.264-avc1. We transcoded the file into a 1080p mpeg-2 file using just an Athlon II X2 250 CPU first, and then the Radeon HD 4200 IGP GPU.
| Hardware |
.MOV Transcode Time
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| Athlon II X2 250 (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP, no hardware acceleration) |
2:59
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| Athlon II X2 250 (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP, hardware decoding enabled) |
2:55
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| Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP, no hardware acceleration) |
2:12
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| Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP hardware decoding enabled) |
1:49
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As you can see, both the CPU and GPU work together in these instances to accelerate encoding performance. While the Radeon HD 4200 IGP isn't dramatically decreasing encoding times, it is shaving off a few seconds off every encode. The faster the processor, the more pronounced the effect of having hardware accelerated decoding becomes.
Power Savings
Integrated chipsets under Windows 7 have better support for power saving technology, and the Radeon HD 4200 capitalizes on this with dynamic underclocking that will reduce the speed of the GPU based on how much load is being used. This will reduce the power usage of the GPU, and ultimately that of the entire system while the IGP is in an idle state (for example, when sitting at the Windows Desktop).
Measuring Energy Efficiency
Energy efficient computers are a good thing, so it helps to know how power efficient, or power hungry different parts of a computer are when stressed with different tasks. Since it is very difficult to isolate a videocard or CPU and measure power draw separately, PCSTATS measures total system power draw with the aid of an Extech 380803 AC Power Analyzer and A-PFC compliant PC Power and Cooling 750W power supply. The meter is placed between the 120V AC outlet and the PC power supply. By stressing the test platform's graphics solution or processor, it's then possible to measure power draw relative to the PC at an idle state.
The test system is measured at Idle (Windows desktop), Graphics Loaded (3Dmark06) and CPU Loaded (Prime 95) states.
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Total System Power Draw
 MSI 785GM-E65
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Graphics Solution
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Idle |
Graphics Loaded |
CPU Loaded |
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AMD HD 4200
(Integrated Graphics)
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82W
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152W
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159W |
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nVidia Geforce GTS250
(Discrete Graphics)
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137W |
246W |
204W |
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(At desktop) |
(via 3Dmark 06) |
(via Prime95) |
AMD's Radeon HD 4200 IGP still has a fairly small TDP, so when running in integrated graphics with a low-wattage AMD CPU the MSI 785GM-E65 doesn't have much trouble keeping it to just 147W. Discrete graphics predictably increase total system power draw to 198W.
We'll be taking a closer look at the performance of the AMD 785 chipset uses in just a minute, but first let's get familiar with MSI's 785GM-E65 motherboard.
High-Definition Content Playback Tests
No one can deny that high definition content has been warmly embraced, but what with the success of Blue Ray, today's mainstream media center PCs need HD decoding acceleration like never before. AMD hope to address HD decoding in the 785G chipset with its Unified Video Decoder 2. UVDs directs HD playback decoding to the integrated Radeon HD 4200 GPU, rather than to the AMD processor, allowing the system to playback VC-1, MPEG-2 and H.264 content up to 1080p resolution with less CPU usage.
On the rear I/O of the MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard there are HDMI, DVI-D and analog VGA connectors. The DVI and HDMI ports are HDCP compliant, while the latter supports audio streams.
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Overall, all HD playback was smooth and uninterrupted, and showed no visible artifacting or visual anomalies. First up are the Blu-Ray playback tests and then HDD based HD 720p/1080i content playback. The goal of both rounds of testing is low overall CPU utilization.
 Blu-Ray Disc HD Playback |
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Blu-Ray High Definition content demands a lot of PC processing resources during playback, if CPU load becomes too high that can lead to jittery video quality or other artifacts. Many integrated graphics processors now feature Blu-Ray and High Definition H.264, VC1 and M-PEG2 content acceleration decoders to offload this processing from the CPU, freeing up system resources for other tasks.
The PCSTATS Blu-Ray HD content playback test scenario monitors average CPU utilization. It's simple and to the point. The motherboard's integrated graphics processor is taxed in the same way it would be in your home theatre environment, and average percent CPU utilization monitored with Windows task manager. Lower CPU utilization values are best, provided video playback remains smooth and stutter free.
How PCSTATS Tests: Each integrated graphics motherboard is connected to an ASUS MK241 wide screen 1920x1200 (1080P) resolution LCD display with an HDMI cable. The Blu-Ray movie "10,000 BC" (VC1 encrypted) is then played back from Chapter 22 on an ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray combo drive, using WinDVD Platinum software and the average fluctuation of CPU load recorded. Lower results are better.
 Blu-Ray Content Playback Tests (BR-DVD) |
| Integrated Graphics Solution: | % CPU Utilization | Ranking |
| Intel GMA X4500HD |
32 - 38% |
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| AMD HD 4200 |
7 % |
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| AMD HD 3300 |
6 - 14% |
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| Nforce 750a |
18 - 20% |
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Blu-Ray playback wasn't a huge tax on the AMD 785G chipset. While Intel's G45 chipset paired with a Core 2 Duo E6750 stayed at around 30 to 40% CPU load, the AMD 785G chipset stayed consistently under 30% load while playing back high-def content. Watching Blu-ray movies over the MSI 785GM-E65's HDMI connection was flawless, with both audio and video coming over a single cable without any setup or playback issues.
Hard Drive 720p/1080i Video Playback
Playing high definition content on current generation PCs can bog down even the fastest processors because there is more data to handle. To test the integrated graphics processor's capabilities at HD content accelerating capabilities, we played the High Definition video clip, "The Discoverers" at 720P and 1080i from the hard drive while monitoring the percentage of CPU utilization through Task Manager. Lower results are better.
Again, CPU utilization on the MSI 785GM-E65 platform is minimal, high-bandwidth video should have no problem playing on this chipset thanks to hardware accelerated decoding.
Overclocking and benchmarks are coming up, but first a closer look at the MSI 785GM-E64 motherboard and all it has to offer...
MSI 785GM-E65 Motherboard Highlights
Let's start off by taking a quick look around MSI's 785GM-E65 motherboard.
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From left to right: PCI Express x1 slot, PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot with x16 bandwidth, and a pair of 32-bit PCI slots. Along the bottom edge of the 785GM-E65 board are audio, COM and EEE1394a firewire headers. The red DIP switch is for overclocking the bus speed 10%-20%.
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In the lower left corner we find the AMD SB710 southbridge behind a small passive heatsink. The MSI 785GM-E65 motherboard has five 3Gb/s SATA II ports which can run in RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and JBOD modes. There are three USB headers (that can be split into six USB 2.0 connections), IDE, and the front panel I/O header.
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MSI's 785GM-E65 board supports up to 16GB of DDR3 800/1066/1333MHz memory in four DIMMs. Along the bottom edge of the board is the ATX 24-pin power connector, IDE and floppy connectors and a printer port header.
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Socket AM3 is compatible with Phenom II and Athlon II processors. While those processors are backwards compatible with socket AM2+/AM2, AM2 processors are not pin-compatible with socket AM3. Next the CPU socket are solid state capacitors, low RDS chokes and power MOSFETs under a passive heatsink. The MSI 785GM-E65 has a 4-phase power supply, indicated by the cluster of LEDs at the bottom right of this photo.
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AMD's 785G chipset is power efficient enough it can be cooled with a small passive aluminum heatsink under normal desktop work loads. The 785G incorporates an integrated Radeon HD 4200 GPU and 128MB of DDR3-1333 SidePort memory. It can also share upto 512MB of system memory, if needed. The GPU will cause the heatsink temperature to rise significantly after a few rounds of intensive 3D gaming, so it's worthwhile having airflow go over this heatsink.
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The AMD 785G chipset that powers the MSI 785GM-E65 is a brand new design from one of the biggest microprocessor manufacturers. Let's take a look at just how well it performs...
Overclocking the Motherboard and IGP, BIOS screenshots
There are a number of IGP overclocking options in the MSI 785GM-E65's BIOS dedicated to performance tuning, including Sideport memory speed adjustment and voltage tweaking. Given that this is an integrated graphics chipset (the northbridge is also interfacing with the processor and controlling the PCI Express lanes) we took the prudent route and left most of the voltage tweaking options alone. 
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