AMD 700 chipset series - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The AMD 700 chipset series (also called as AMD 7-Series Chipsets) is a set of chipsets designed by ATI

ATI Technologies

ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...

for AMD

Advanced Micro Devices

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. or AMD is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for commercial and consumer markets...

Phenom

Phenom (processor)

Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series...

processors to be sold under the AMD brand. Several members were launched in the end of 2007 and the first half of 2008, others launched throughout the rest of 2008.

Development history

The existence of the chipsets was proven in October 2006 through two hardware websites in Chile and Spain which posted the leaked slides of an ATI internal event, "ATI chipset update". In the slides, ATI has shown a series of RD700 series chipset logics codenamed RD790, RX790, RS780 and RS740 respectively. A SB700 southbridge

Southbridge (computing)

The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture. In Intel chipset...

was also mentioned in the event. The 790X (codename RD780) chipset was spotted in Computex 2007, exhibited by ASUS, while the SB750 southbridge was reported by VR-Zone. The RS780D was first reported by HKEPC while the RX780H was first seen on ECS internal presentations.

After the acquisition of ATI Technologies, AMD started to participate in the development of the chipset series. And as a result, the first performance and enthusiast segment chipsets products under the AMD brand, the 790FX, 790X and 770 chipsets were launched on November 19, 2007 as part of the Spider codenamed desktop performance platform. The 780 chipset series, first launched in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

on January 23, 2008, and released worldwide on March 5, 2008 during CeBIT

CeBIT

CeBIT is the world's largest and most international computer expo. CeBIT is held each year on the world's largest fairground in Hanover, Germany, and is a barometer of the state of the art in information technology...

2008, mobile chipsets (M740G, M780G and M780T chipsets) were released on June 4, 2008 during Computex 2008 as part of the Puma mobile platform and the 790GX chipset was released on August 6, 2008, while some other members released at a later date in 2008. The 785G was announced on August 4, 2009.

790FX

Codenamed RD790, final name revealed to be "AMD 790FX chipset"
single AMD processor configuration
Four physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x8 or two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 38 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
HyperTransport
HyperTransport
HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...

3.0 with support for HTX slots and PCI Express
PCI Express
PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...

2.0
ATI CrossFire X
AutoXpress
AMD OverDrive
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 65 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
Extreme overclocking, reported to have achieved about 420 MHz bus for overclocking an Athlon 64 FX-62 processor, from originally 200 MHz.
Optional discrete chipset cache memory of at least 16 KB to reduce the latencies and increase the bandwidth
Supports Dual Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...

, and teaming option
Reference board codenamed "Wahoo" for dual-processor system reference design board with three physical PCI-E x16 slots, and "HammerHead" for single-socket system reference design board with four physical PCI-E x16 slots, also notable was the reference boards includes two ATA
AT Attachment
Parallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...

ports and only four SATA
Sata
Sata is a traditional dish from the Malaysian state of Terengganu, consisting of spiced fish meat wrapped in banana leaves and cooked on a grill.It is a type of Malaysian fish cake, or otak-otak...

3.0 Gbit/s ports (as being paired with SB600 southbridge).
Will pair with SB750 southbridge
Southbridge (computing)
The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture. In Intel chipset...

with support up to six SATA ports and enhanced Phenom processors
Phenom (processor)
Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series...

overclocking via ACC functionality, and will later support Socket AM3
Socket AM3
Socket AM3 is a CPU socket for AMD processors. AM3 was launched as the successor to Socket AM2+ on February 9, 2009, alongside the initial grouping of Phenom II processors designed for it...

with DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 SDRAM
In computing, DDR3 SDRAM, an abbreviation for double data rate type three synchronous dynamic random access memory, is a modern kind of dynamic random access memory with a high bandwidth interface. It is one of several variants of DRAM and associated interface techniques used since the early 1970s...

support in the first quarter of 2009.
Enthusiast discrete multi-graphics segment
Public documentation is not available yet

790X

Codenamed RD780, final name revealed to be "AMD 790X chipset"
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot or two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x8, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
ATI CrossFire
AutoXpress
AMD OverDrive
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 65 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
Mobile version (codenamed RD780M) planned, supporting CrossFire for two AXIOM/MXM discrete mobile GPUs
Can pair with SB750 southbridge
Southbridge (computing)
The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture. In Intel chipset...

with support up to six SATA ports and enhanced Phenom processors
Phenom (processor)
Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series...

overclocking via ACC functionality.
Supports Socket AM3
Socket AM3
Socket AM3 is a CPU socket for AMD processors. AM3 was launched as the successor to Socket AM2+ on February 9, 2009, alongside the initial grouping of Phenom II processors designed for it...

with DDR3 SDRAM
DDR3 SDRAM
In computing, DDR3 SDRAM, an abbreviation for double data rate type three synchronous dynamic random access memory, is a modern kind of dynamic random access memory with a high bandwidth interface. It is one of several variants of DRAM and associated interface techniques used since the early 1970s...

depending on motherboard BIOS
Performance discrete multi-graphics segment
Public documentation is not available yet

790GX

Codenamed RS780D, final name seen on internal AMD presentation
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot or two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x8, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 3300
- ATI Hybrid Graphics
- Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR2
  DDR2 SDRAM
  DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM...
  
  and GDDR3
  GDDR3
  Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory...
  
  chips.
- ATI PowerPlay technology
  ATI PowerPlay
  ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...
Two physical PCI-E x16 slots (one 16x and one 8x electrically. In Crossfire mode, both will revert to 8x electrically)
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
ATI CrossFire
- Hybrid CrossFire X
AMD OverDrive
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 55 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
- 528-pin Flip Chip
  Flip chip
  Flip chip, also known as Controlled Collapse Chip Connection or its acronym, C4, is a method for interconnecting semiconductor devices, such as IC chips and Microelectromechanical systems , to external circuitry with solder bumps that have been deposited onto the chip pads...
  
  Ball Grid Array
  Ball grid array
  A ball grid array is a type of surface-mount packaging used for integrated circuits.- Description :The BGA is descended from the pin grid array , which is a package with one face covered with pins in a grid pattern. These pins conduct electrical signals from the integrated circuit to the printed...
  
  (FCBGA) package
Performance hybrid multi-graphics segment

785G

Codenamed RS880
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 4200
- ATI Hybrid Graphics and PowerXpress
- Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR2
  DDR2 SDRAM
  DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM...
  
  and { GDDR3
  GDDR3
  Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory...
  
  chips (needs reference) }
- UVD 2
  Unified Video Decoder
  The Unified Video Decoder, previously called Universal Video Decoder, or UVD in short, is the video decoding unit from ATI Technologies to support hardware decode of H.264 and VC-1 video codec standards, and being a part of ATI Avivo HD technology....
- ATI Stream capabilities
No 7.1-channel LPCM support
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
AMD OverDrive
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 55 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
Mainstream hybrid graphics (DirectX 10.1 IGP) segment

785E

Codenamed RS785E
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot or two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x8, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 4200
- ATI Hybrid Graphics and PowerXpress
- Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR2
  DDR2 SDRAM
  DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM...
  
  and GDDR3
  GDDR3
  Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory...
- ATI PowerPlay technology
  ATI PowerPlay
  ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...
- UVD 2
  Unified Video Decoder
  The Unified Video Decoder, previously called Universal Video Decoder, or UVD in short, is the video decoding unit from ATI Technologies to support hardware decode of H.264 and VC-1 video codec standards, and being a part of ATI Avivo HD technology....
One x16 or two x8 PCI-E x16 slot (physical x16 slot)
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
ATI CrossFire
- Hybrid CrossFire X
High-end embedded systems segment

780G/780V

Codenamed RS780/RS780C
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 3200 (780G), Radeon 3100 (780V)
- 205 million transistors
- ATI Hybrid Graphics and PowerXpress (780G only, PowerXpress for M780G only)
- Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR2
  DDR2 SDRAM
  DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM...
  
  and GDDR3
  GDDR3
  Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory...
  
  chips (780G only)
- ATI PowerPlay technology
  ATI PowerPlay
  ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...
- UVD+
  Unified Video Decoder
  The Unified Video Decoder, previously called Universal Video Decoder, or UVD in short, is the video decoding unit from ATI Technologies to support hardware decode of H.264 and VC-1 video codec standards, and being a part of ATI Avivo HD technology....
  
  (780G only)
One physical PCI-E x16 slot
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
AMD OverDrive
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 55 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
- 528-pin Flip Chip
  Flip chip
  Flip chip, also known as Controlled Collapse Chip Connection or its acronym, C4, is a method for interconnecting semiconductor devices, such as IC chips and Microelectromechanical systems , to external circuitry with solder bumps that have been deposited onto the chip pads...
  
  Ball Grid Array
  Ball grid array
  A ball grid array is a type of surface-mount packaging used for integrated circuits.- Description :The BGA is descended from the pin grid array , which is a package with one face covered with pins in a grid pattern. These pins conduct electrical signals from the integrated circuit to the printed...
  
  (FCBGA) package
- 1.1 V
  Volt
  The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
  
  core voltage
"Remote IT" (temporary name, 780V only)
Pin-to-Pin compatible to RS690
Reference board design codenamed "Seahorse"
Mobile version (M780G, codenamed RS780M/M780V, codenamed RS780MC) demonstrated in May 2007, and will be available during second or third quarter (Q2-Q3) 2008, with the implementation of PowerXpress technology, providing one PCI-E slot for AXIOM/MXM
Mobile PCI Express Module
A Mobile PCI Express Module is an interconnect standard for GPUs in laptops using PCI Express created by MXM-SIG...

modules and HyperFlash support for the Puma platform
Mainstream hybrid graphics (DirectX 10 IGP) segment (780G), value and commercial DirectX 10 IGP segment (780V)

780E

Codenamed RS780E
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot or two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots @ x8, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 3200
- 205 million transistors
- ATI Hybrid Graphics and PowerXpress
- Side-port memory as local frame buffer, supporting DDR2
  DDR2 SDRAM
  DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM...
  
  and GDDR3
  GDDR3
  Graphics Double Data Rate 3 is a graphics card-specific memory technology, designed by ATI Technologies with the collaboration of JEDEC.It has much the same technological base as DDR2, but the power and heat dispersal requirements have been reduced somewhat, allowing for higher performance memory...
  
  chips up to 128 MB
- ATI PowerPlay technology
  ATI PowerPlay
  ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...
- UVD
  Unified Video Decoder
  The Unified Video Decoder, previously called Universal Video Decoder, or UVD in short, is the video decoding unit from ATI Technologies to support hardware decode of H.264 and VC-1 video codec standards, and being a part of ATI Avivo HD technology....
One x16 or two x8 PCI-E x16 slot (physical x16 slot)
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
ATI CrossFire
- Hybrid CrossFire X
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 55 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
- 528-pin Flip Chip
  Flip chip
  Flip chip, also known as Controlled Collapse Chip Connection or its acronym, C4, is a method for interconnecting semiconductor devices, such as IC chips and Microelectromechanical systems , to external circuitry with solder bumps that have been deposited onto the chip pads...
  
  Ball Grid Array
  Ball grid array
  A ball grid array is a type of surface-mount packaging used for integrated circuits.- Description :The BGA is descended from the pin grid array , which is a package with one face covered with pins in a grid pattern. These pins conduct electrical signals from the integrated circuit to the printed...
  
  (FCBGA) package
- 1.1 V
  Volt
  The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta , who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.- Definition :A single volt is defined as the...
  
  core voltage
Reference development board design codenamed "Mahogany"
High-end embedded systems segment

770

Codenamed RX780, final product name revealed by ECS
Elitegroup Computer Systems
Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd , is a Taiwan-based electronics firm. It is the fifth largest PC motherboard manufacturer in the world , with production reaching 24 million units in 2002...
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot and two PCIe 2.0 x1 slots, the chipset provides a total of 22 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
AMD OverDrive
Energy efficient Northbridge design
- 65 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
Mobile version (M770, codenamed RX781), supports discrete graphics, and support for "add-on" graphics solution, via external PCI-E
PCI Express
PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...

cabling
Mainstream discrete single-graphics segment
Public documentation is not available yet

760G

Codenamed RS780L
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slot and one PCIe 2.0 x4 slot, the chipset provides a total of 20 PCIe 2.0 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Integrated graphics: Radeon HD 3000
- 55 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
- ATI PowerPlay technology
  ATI PowerPlay
  ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...
- ATI Hybrid Graphics
HyperTransport 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0
Value DirectX 10.0 IGP segment
Public documentation is not available yet

740G

Codenamed RS740, value version codenamed RS740C
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 1.1 x16 slot and one PCIe 1.1 x4 slot, the chipset provides a total of 20 PCIe 1.1 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
Updated version of the AMD 690G chipset
Integrated graphics: Radeon 2100
- 55 nm CMOS
  CMOS
  Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
  
  fabrication process manufactured by TSMC
  TSMC
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...
- ATI PowerPlay technology
  ATI PowerPlay
  ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...
HyperTransport 1.0 and PCI Express 1.1a
Pin-to-pin compatible to RS690C
Mobile version (M740G, codenamed RS740M) available
Value DirectX 9.0 IGP segment
Public documentation is not available yet

740

Codenamed RX740
Single AMD processor configuration
One physical PCIe 1.1 x16 slot and one PCIe 1.1 x4 slot, the chipset provides a total of 20 PCIe 1.1 lanes and 4 PCIe 1.1 for A-Link Express II solely in the Northbridge
HyperTransport 2.0 and PCI Express 1.1a
Energy efficient Northbridge design
Value discrete single-graphics segment
Public documentation is not available yet

Southbridges

Besides the use of SB600 southbridge for earlier releases of several members in late 2007, all of the above chipsets can also utilize newer southbridge

Southbridge (computing)

designs, the SB700, SB710 and the SB750 southbridges. Future server chipsets will also utilize the server version (SB700S/SB750S) of the southbridges. Features provided by the southbridge are listed as follows:

SB700

Support up to 6 SATA
Serial ATA
Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...

3.0 Gbit/s hard disk drives, with RAID 0, 1, 10 support
eSATA support
No S.M.A.R.T. support under Windows with AHCI enabled (only happens working under Windows XP using RAID drivers for supporting AHCI)
1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices
Support up to 14 USB
Universal Serial Bus
USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

ports (12 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 1.1)
I/O acceleration technologies
Consumer Infrared receiver/transmitter port compatible with IrDA
Infrared Data Association
The Infrared Data Association defines physical specifications communications protocol standards for the short-range exchange of data over infrared light, for uses such as personal area networks ....

standards
Additional management and security technologies such as IDM (Intelligent Device Management
Intelligent Device Management
Intelligent device management is a term used for enterprise software applications that allow equipment manufacturers to monitor and manage remote equipment, systems and products via the Internet...

) and TPM (Trusted Platform Module
Trusted Platform Module
In computing, Trusted Platform Module is both the name of a published specification detailing a secure cryptoprocessor that can store cryptographic keys that protect information, as well as the general name of implementations of that specification, often called the "TPM chip" or "TPM Security...

).
DASH
Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware
DASH is a DMTF standard on requirements for implementing the Desktop and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware....

1.0 support

SB710

All features from SB700
Super I/O
Super I/O
Super I/O is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices...
Advanced Clock Calibration for enhanced CPU overclocking
- Direct communication channel composed of six data pins which were previously reserved between the CPU and the southbridge
- Advanced Clock Calibration (Option available with AMD OverDrive software 2.1.1 and later)

SB750

All features of SB700
RAID 5 support
Super I/O
Super I/O
Super I/O is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices...
Enhanced CPU overclocking for K10
AMD K10
The AMD Family 10h is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD. Though there were once reports that the K10 had been canceled, the first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November...

-based processors only, originally named "OverDrive 3.0"
- Direct communication channel composed of six data pins which were previously reserved between the CPU and the southbridge
- Advanced Clock Calibration (Option available with AMD OverDrive software 2.1.1 and later)

SP5100

All features of SB700
Super I/O
Super I/O
Super I/O is a class of I/O controller integrated circuits that began to be used on personal computer motherboards in the late 1980s, originally as add-in cards, later embedded on the motherboards. A super I/O chip combines interfaces for a variety of low-bandwidth devices...
Target for future server chipsets
AMD 800 chipset series
The AMD 800 chipset series is a set of chipsets developed by AMD, released in 2009. The chipset series was revealed in its presentation slides during the AMD Financial Analyst Day 2007 held on December 13, 2007...
Originally named SB700S , later renamed as SP5100.

Multi-graphics

The ATI CrossFire X

ATI CrossFire

AMD CrossFireX is a brand name for the multi-GPU solution by Advanced Micro Devices, originally developed by ATI Technologies. The technology allows up to four GPUs to be used in a single computer to improve graphics performance.-First-generation:CrossFire was first made available to the public...

technology supports multiple video cards to be connected to enhance the visual display and 3D rendering capabilities of the system, using AFR

Alternate Frame Rendering

Alternate Frame Rendering is a technique of graphics rendering in personal computers which combines the work output of two or more graphics processing units for a single monitor, in order to improve image quality, or to accelerate the rendering performance...

mode and/or scissor mode. Alternatively, systems with multiple video card CrossFire X setup will support multiple display monitors

Computer display

A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...

up to eight.

For the AMD 790FX chipset, the CrossFire X

ATI CrossFire

technology allows up to 4 video cards to be connected, made possible as the chipset supports four physical PCI-E x16 slots. The PCI-E lanes can be configured for 4 slots at x8 bandwidth or 2 slots at x16 bandwidth (16x-16x, 8x-8x-8x or 8x-8x-8x-8x CrossFire X setup). Reports indicate 2.6 times the performance with triple-card CrossFire than that of a single card, and more than 3.3 times the performance increase for quad-card CrossFire. Gigabyte

Gigabyte Technology

Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of computer hardware products best known for its motherboards. The company is publicly held and traded on the Taiwan Stock Exchange .-Company:...

have revealed in a leaked product presentation that the four card CrossFire X setup does not require CrossFire connectors; the data will be exchanged among the PCI-E slots which is monitored and controlled by Catalyst drivers.

For the performance segment, CrossFire on the AMD 790X chipset has two physical PCI-E x16 slots with one operating at x8 bandwidth (dual-card 8x-8x CrossFire), supporting up to four display monitors

Computer display

A monitor or display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry, and an enclosure...

.

Multi-graphics is also supported for the 790GX IGP chipset, named as Hybrid CrossFire X.

AMD OverDrive

Another feature is AMD OverDrive, an application designed to boost system performance through a list of items in real-time, without a system reboot, as listed below:

Real-time Overclocking:
- Novice mode for users not familiar with system tuning, includes a slider of level 0 to 10 for easy system tuning
- Advanced mode for more familiar enthusiasts to fine tune various system parameters including: Clock frequencies – independent clock frequencies for independent processor cores (Phenom processors only), PCI-E
  PCI Express
  PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
  
  lanes, system bus frequency; Multipliers for each of the CPU cores and HyperTransport
  HyperTransport
  HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
  
  links (downward direction only except Black Edition processors); And voltages for CPU (VID
  Voltage Identification Digital
  Voltage Identification Digital or VID is a circuit concept developed to provide the central processing unit of a computer with the appropriate supply voltage. Instead of having a power supply unit generate some fixed voltage, the CPU uses a small set of digital signals, the VID lines, to instruct...
  
  and V_DDC), CPU HyperTransport
  HyperTransport
  HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
  
  , DDR2 Memory (V_DDQ and V_TT), northbridge
  Northbridge (computing)
  The northbridge has historically been one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a PC motherboard, the other being the southbridge. Increasingly these functions have migrated to the CPU chip itself, beginning with memory and graphics controllers. For Intel Sandy Bridge and AMD Fusion...
  
  core (V_Core) and Northbridge PCI-E
  PCI Express
  PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...
  
  . Overclocking also applies to the IGP and the side-port memory since the release of version 2.1.4.
- "Auto Clock" for automatic fine-tuning and overclocking
Memory fine-tuning – DDR2 Memory parameters
System monitoring:
- System information
  - Simple mode – Windows Task Manager
    Windows Task Manager
    Windows Task Manager is a task manager application included with the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems that provides detailed information about computer performance and running applications, processes and CPU usage, commit charge and memory information, network activity and...
    
    like CPU cores usage histogram, with CPU core clock Frequencies, CPU Multipliers, CPU core voltages (V_Core), CPU Temperature; GPU details including GPU core frequency, video memory frequency; and system parameters including system bus frequency, southbridge
    Southbridge (computing)
    The southbridge is one of the two chips in the core logic chipset on a personal computer motherboard, the other being the northbridge. The southbridge typically implements the slower capabilities of the motherboard in a northbridge/southbridge chipset computer architecture. In Intel chipset...
    
    frequency, PCI-E lanes frequency and memory frequency
  - Detailed mode – include all system information items presented in the simple mode, with the addition of CPU caches, CPU voltages, memory details including memory frequencies and SPD settings, HyperTransport frequency and link width
- System Monitor
- (Optional) System benchmark, resulting a value to reflect relative system performance, tests include: integer computation, floating-point computation, memory speed, cache speed
- (Optional) Processor stability test, normally runs for one hour, can also be run for a minimum of 1 minute or a maximum of seven days, to identify whether the system becomes unstable for use after fine-tuning under full-loading condition. Tests include: integer (integer units) calculations and stack operations test for each processor core, floating-point (128-bit FPU) calculations test for each processor core, calculation test (Phenom
  Phenom (processor)
  Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series...
  
  processors only), MCA registers checking test
Maintenance/User-friendly functionalities:
- Profile(s) saving and loading capabilities
- Log records output

The application will support all members of the AMD 700 chipset series, including the 740 series chipsets which are aimed at value markets, and AMD processors including Phenom

Phenom (processor)

and Athlon 64

Athlon 64

The Athlon 64 is an eighth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by AMD, released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name Athlon, and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP...

family of processors, but due to architectural limitations, independent clock frequency settings for different processor cores (a feature implemented in the K10

AMD K10

The AMD Family 10h is a microprocessor microarchitecture by AMD. Though there were once reports that the K10 had been canceled, the first third-generation Opteron products for servers were launched on September 10, 2007, with the Phenom processors for desktops following and launching on November...

microarchitecture) will not function on Athlon 64 family of processors (except for Athlon X2 7000 series which is based on K10).

AutoXpress

The AutoXpress technology is a set of automatic system tuning features to enhance system performance, which were revealed by members of ChileHardware when investigating the BIOS for AMD 790FX, 790X and 770 chipsets. AutoXpress will be available on AMD 790FX (codenamed RD790) chipset, with AMD 790X (codenamed RD780) and AMD 770 (codenamed RX780) chipsets implementing a subset of all the features. The AutoXpress technology is similar to the LinkBoost capability presented on NVIDIA

NVIDIA

Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...

nForce 500

NForce 500

The nForce 500 is a motherboard chipset series and the successor to the nForce4 series. It was revealed by NVIDIA on 2006-03-07 and released on 2006-05-23...

/600

NForce 600

The nForce 600 chipset was released in the first half of November 2006, coinciding with the GeForce 8 series launch on November 8, 2006. The nForce 600 supports Intel's LGA 775 socket and AMD's Quad FX platform and replaces the nForce 500 series....

chipsets.

The feature must be enabled via BIOS, options appeared in the BIOS includes ON/OFF/Custom, which choosing the "Custom" option will open up three further options, namely "CPU", "XpressRoute" and "MemBoost" with ON/OFF options, and ON as default. Details about the AutoXpress features are listed as follows:

style="background:#096; font-size:16px; color:white;"|**AutoXpress**
Availability	CPU supported	Other hardware	Particulars
CPU
790FX, 790X, 770	AMD Phenom Phenom (processor) Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series... family		Change CPU ClkDivisor to “Divide-by-1” mode, allowing 1 MHz frequency intervals tuning
XpressRoute
Availability	CPU supported	Other hardware	Particulars	Overclocking frequencies
Availability	CPU supported	Other hardware	Particulars	Min.	Default	Max. possible
790FX, 790X	All AMD Processors (Socket AM2+ Socket AM2+ Socket AM2+ is a CPU socket, which is the immediate successor to Socket AM2 that is used by several AMD processors such as Athlon 64 X2. Socket AM2+ is a mid-migration from Socket AM2 to Socket AM3 and both AM2+ and AM2 socket CPUs and motherboards have the potential to operate together... /AM2 Socket AM2 The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 , is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments... and Socket F+ Socket F+ Socket F+ is a CPU Socket for AMD server processors starting from the 45 nm generation of the K10 CPU family. It is the successor to Socket F... /F Socket F Socket F is a CPU socket designed by AMD for its Opteron line of CPUs released on August 15, 2006. In 2010 Socket F was replaced by Socket C32 for entry-level servers and Socket G34 for high-end servers.-Technical specifications:... )	Radeon R580 and Radeon R600 based video cards	PCI-E clock overclocking, to accelerate data transfer to and from video cards by increasing PCI-E bandwidth	100 MHz	125 MHz	150-160 MHz
		All CrossFire-enabled (software/hardware) Radeon Radeon Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by... video cards	Allowing point-to-point transfer between multiple-video card setup	colspan="3" rowspan="2"
	HT 1.0 HyperTransport HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001... -enabled processors (All K8-based processors, including Opteron 1000 series)	All Radeon Radeon Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by... video cards	Double pumping graphics data across the CPU HyperTransport link
MemBoost
Availability	CPU supported	Other hardware	Particulars
790FX, 790X	All K8 AMD K8 The AMD K8 is a computer processor microarchitecture designed by AMD as the successor to the AMD K7 microarchitecture. The K8 was the first implementation of the AMD64 64-bit extension to the x86 processor architecture.Processors based on the K8 core include:... -based processors	DDR2 DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM... -800 memory modules	Tweaking CAS latencies, as follows: tRC, tWR reduced by 2; tRRD, tWTR reduced by 1; tREF set to 7.8 μs from originally 3.9 μs; Enabling "Bank Swizzle Mode"; and Increase Bank Bypass Maximum to 7x
790FX, 790X	All AMD processors (Socket AM2+ Socket AM2+ Socket AM2+ is a CPU socket, which is the immediate successor to Socket AM2 that is used by several AMD processors such as Athlon 64 X2. Socket AM2+ is a mid-migration from Socket AM2 to Socket AM3 and both AM2+ and AM2 socket CPUs and motherboards have the potential to operate together... /AM2 Socket AM2 The Socket AM2, renamed from Socket M2 , is a CPU socket designed by AMD for desktop processors, including the performance, mainstream and value segments... and Socket F+ Socket F+ Socket F+ is a CPU Socket for AMD server processors starting from the 45 nm generation of the K10 CPU family. It is the successor to Socket F... /F Socket F Socket F is a CPU socket designed by AMD for its Opteron line of CPUs released on August 15, 2006. In 2010 Socket F was replaced by Socket C32 for entry-level servers and Socket G34 for high-end servers.-Technical specifications:... )	DDR2 DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and has itself been superseded by DDR3 SDRAM... memory modules	Disable the "PowerDown" mode of DRAM modules (setting the register to "0")
790FX			Read performance SPD settings of high-end modules and set as default, giving maximum performance

Advanced Clock Calibration

Advanced clock calibration (ACC) is a feature originally available for Phenom families of processors, particularly for Black Edition ones, to increase the overclocking potential of the CPU. ACC is supported by the SB710 and the SB750 southbridges, and available through BIOS settings on some motherboards and AMD OverDrive utility.

It was later discovered that this functionality has the possibility of unlocking the supposedly disabled cores of some Phenom II X2/X3 processors. In normal cases, it is not possible to use or unlock any of those hidden cores because originally those cores were disabled: a technique called "chip harvesting" or "feature binning" used by AMD to sell parts with one or two defective cores which will cause system instability if not disabled.

The following are available through the Advanced Clock Calibration feature:

Auto or manual settings
Allow separate settings for each of the CPU cores
Allowed range: -12% to +12%
Possibility of unlocking AMD Phenom II X2/X3, AMD Athlon II X2/X3 and AMD Sempron locked cores / cache. (with BIOS support)

The principle of ACC is not publicly discussed by AMD but some third-party vendors, including ASUS (Core Unlocker) and Biostar (BIO-unlocKING) have had it for some time. Gigabyte has added this feature, called CPU Core Control, to many NB785/SB710 boards via BIOS update, and will be including this feature (now called Auto Unlock) in all of their 800 Series boards with the SB850 chip. On many of the boards, the feature is dependent on BIOS version. While NVIDIA also has a similar technology for its nForce 780a motherboards, called NVCC (NVIDIA Clock Calibration) with very similar functionality.

Energy efficiency

One of the major focus of the chipset series is the energy efficiency of the chipsets. The need for energy-efficient chipsets have risen since chipsets starts including more features and more PCI Express

PCI Express

PCI Express , officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a computer expansion card standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus standards...

lanes, to provide better system scalability by using PCI-E add-on cards.

But one issue is that chipset circuitries were usually made on a larger fabrication process nodes compared with the latest CPU process node, making recent chipsets to consume more and more power than their predecessors. Recent examples including the Intel X38 chipset Northbridge (MCH), labelling 26.5 W

Watt

The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...

TDP

Thermal Design Power

The thermal design power , sometimes called thermal design point, refers to the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate. For example, a laptop's CPU cooling system may be designed for a 20 watt TDP, which means that it can dissipate up to 20 watts of heat...

with a maximum idle power of 12.3 W, which results in the world's first integrated heat spreader

Heat spreader

A heat spreader is most often simply a copper plate, having high thermal conductivity. Functionally, it is a heat exchanger that moves heat between a heat source and a secondary heat exchanger whose surface area and geometry are more favorable. By definition, the heat is "spread out", such that...

(IHS) design over the chip to help heat spread evenly, with ASUS

ASUS

ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...

even adding water cooling block directly on top of the heatsink of the X38 Northbridge as a part of the motherboard heatpipe system. Although the aforementioned figures may be small compared to the TDP figures of a performance CPU, there is a growing demand for computer systems with higher performance and lower power consumption. While Intel focuses only on the energy efficiency of its processors, NVIDIA's nForce 780i chipset requires an overall power consumption of 48 W with the northbridge, southbridge and the nForce 200 PCI-E bridge.

In response to this, all discrete northbridges of the chipset series were designed on a 65 nm CMOS

CMOS

Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...

process, manufactured by TSMC

TSMC

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited or TSMC is the world's largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry, with its headquarters and main operations located in the Hsinchu Science Park in Hsinchu, Taiwan.-Overview:...

, aimed at lowering power consumptions of chipsets. According to internal testing and various reports, the Northbridge of the AMD 790FX chipset (RD790) runs at 3 W

Watt

when idle, and maximum 10 W

Watt

under load, nominal 8 W

Watt

power consumption, the northbridge was seen on reference design of the AMD 790FX chipset with single passive cooling heatsink instead of connecting to heat pipe

Heat pipe

A heat pipe or heat pin is a heat-transfer device that combines the principles of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces....

s which are frequently used on current performance motherboard offers, the chipset on the whole (the combination of RD790 Northbridge and SB600 Southbridge) consumes nominally less than 15 W

Watt

.

The integrated graphics northbridges were also benefited, as most of the IGP northbridges were made on 55 nm process manufactured by TSMC with the inclusion of ATI PowerPlay technology

ATI PowerPlay

ATI PowerPlay is a collective name for a set of technologies implemented in a series of graphics adapters manufactured by ATI, including the Mobility Radeon, the Imageon handheld chipset, and the Radeon family of desktop GPUs...

, allowing dynamically changing the core clock frequency to minimum 150 MHz. The 780G Northbridge, sporting DirectX 10 support, consumes only 11.4 W on full load, 0.94 watt when idle. This is also smaller than the TDP figures of the Intel G35 chipset Northbridge at 28 W with the maximum idle power of 11 W.

ATI Hybrid Graphics

The ATI Hybrid Graphics technology applies to all or some of the integrated graphics chipsets of this chipset series, technologies including Hybrid CrossFire X, SurroundView and PowerXpress. Reports confirmed that the 790GX IGP (codenamed RS780D) chipset will be able to handle dual video card and IGP as a CrossFire X setup. Hybrid Graphics are only available with 24xx, 34xx, & 42xx model ATI graphics cards.

I/O acceleration technologies

All chipsets paired with either SB700, SB710 or SB750 southbridge will support two I/O acceleration technologies, as listed below:

Hybrid Drives

The southbridges also support hybrid drive

Hybrid drive

A Hybrid Drive, Hybrid Hard Drive , or Hybrid Hard Disk Drive is a type of large-buffer computer hard disk drive. It is different from standard hard drives in that it integrates a cache using non-volatile memory or even a small solid-state drive...

s via SATA

Serial ATA

Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...

or supported ATA ports, which is compliant with the requirements of the Windows ReadyDrive technology, which is basically a conventional hard drive with an embedded NAND flash module.

HyperFlash

The HyperFlash, basically a NAND flash module on a card, originally planned as a device connected to the supported IDE/ATA 66/100/133 channel, to speed up system performance through the Windows ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost

ReadyBoost is a disk cache component of Microsoft Windows, first introduced with Microsoft's Windows Vista in 2006 and bundled with Windows 7 in 2009...

and Windows ReadyDrive functionality.

A HyperFlash module consists of two parts, the first part is a HyperFlash memory card which are flash memory chips on a small PCB (dimensions similar to a Canadian quarter

Quarter (Canadian coin)

The quarter is a Canadian coin, valued at 25 cents or one-fourth of a Canadian dollar. It is a small, circular coin of silver colour. According to the Royal Canadian Mint, the official name for the coin is the 25-cent piece, but in practice it is simply called a quarter.-History of...

25¢, with diameter 23.88 mm, but rectangular in shape) with contacts similar to SO-DIMM

SO-DIMM

A SO-DIMM, or small outline dual in-line memory module, is a type of computer memory built using integrated circuits.SO-DIMMs are a smaller alternative to a DIMM, being roughly half the size of regular DIMMs...

modules. The other part is a flash controller on an ATA

AT Attachment

Parallel ATA , originally ATA, is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, floppy drives, and optical disc drives in computers. The standard is maintained by X3/INCITS committee...

connector, with similar latches/socket ejectors as SO-DIMM sockets. The HyperFlash memory card is inserted into the flash controller and then directly plugged into the motherboard ATA connector. The memory chips used on the HyperFlash memory card will be Samsung

Samsung

The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...

's OneNAND flash memory modules with maximum four-die configuration (four-die in a single package), running at 83 MHz frequency, providing a bandwidth of 108 MB/s on a 16-bit bus width. Since the flash controller is designed to be compatible with ATA

AT Attachment

pin-out definitions (also to fit the ATA motherboard connector) and is designed by Molex

Molex

Molex is a leading global supplier of electronic interconnectors. Molex sells over 100,000 products, including everything from electrical and fiber optic interconnect solutions to switches and application tooling....

, this allows OEM

Original Equipment Manufacturer

An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a...

s to produce their own brands of HyperFlash modules while at the same time providing maximum compatibility between HyperFlash modules.

Three variants were reportedly be available for HyperFlash modules, with capacity of 512 MiB, 1 GiB and 2 GiB respectively, with expected DVT samples in November 2007 and mass-production expected in December 2007 (supported by Beta motherboard drivers) and official motherboard driver support planned in February 2008. However, it was reportedly cancelled.

RAIDXpert

The RAIDXpert is a remote RAID configuration tool, for changing the RAID level of the RAID setup connected via SATA 3.0 Gbit/s ports (connected to SB600, excluding extra SATA 3.0 Gbit/s ports through additional SATA chip on some motherboard implementations), including RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 0+1.

Integrated graphics

Some of the members of the AMD 700 chipset series, specifically the 780 and 740 family of chipsets and the 790GX chipset, have integrated graphics onboard (IGP), as well as supporting hardware video playback acceleration at different levels. All IGP northbridges are pin-compatible

Pin-compatibility

In electronics, a pin-compatible device, such as a logic integrated circuit , memory module or microprocessor, is one that has the same functions assigned to the same particular pins....

to each other and even predecessors (690 series

AMD 690 chipset series

The AMD 690 chipset series is an integrated graphics chipset family which was developed and manufactured by AMD subsidiary ATI for both AMD and Intel platforms focusing on both desktop and mobile computing markets...

), to lower the product cost for each PCB redesign due to pin incompatibility and maximize the product lineup. These IGP features are listed below:

style="background:#096; font-size:16px; color:white;"|**IGP features**
Chipset/ Codename	Gfx model (Radeon Radeon Radeon is a brand of graphics processing units and random access memory produced by Advanced Micro Devices , first launched in 2000 by ATI Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. Radeon is the successor to the Rage line. There are four different groups, which can be differentiated by... )	DirectX DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,... API supported	IGP frequency	Video playback acceleration		Video formats decoding support			Multi-graphics	Other video features	Native video output support				SurroundView (Multi-display)
Chipset/ Codename			IGP frequency	AVIVO	AVIVO HD+ UVD Unified Video Decoder The Unified Video Decoder, previously called Universal Video Decoder, or UVD in short, is the video decoding unit from ATI Technologies to support hardware decode of H.264 and VC-1 video codec standards, and being a part of ATI Avivo HD technology.... +AVP	MPEG-2 MPEG-2 MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available storage media and transmission...	H.264	VC-1 VC-1 VC-1 is the informal name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard, which was initially developed as a proprietary video format by Microsoft before it was released as a formal SMPTE standard video format on April 3, 2006...	Multi-graphics	Other video features	DisplayPort DisplayPort DisplayPort is a digital display interface standard produced by the Video Electronics Standards Association . The specification defines a royalty-free digital interconnect for audio and video. The interface is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device such as a computer monitor... (with DPCP)	HDMI 1.2a (with HDCP High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections... )	DVI Digital Visual Interface The Digital Visual Interface is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device and a display device. The DVI standard has achieved widespread acceptance in the PC industry, both in desktop PCs and monitors... (with HDCP High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections... )	D-Sub D-subminiature The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....	SurroundView (Multi-display)
785E/RS785E	HD 4200	10.1			, UVD 2					Dual video stream¹
785G/RS880	HD 4200	10.1	500 MHz		, UVD 2					Dual video stream¹
790GX/RS780D	HD 3300	10.0	700 MHz							Dual video stream¹
780E/RS780E	HD 3200		500 MHz							Dual video stream¹
780G/RS780	HD 3200		500 MHz							Dual video stream¹
780V/RS780C	3100		350 MHz
760G/RS760	3000		350 MHz
740G/RS740	2100	9.0
Notes: Dual video stream may include the following at a maximum total bitrate of 40 Mbit/s: 2 HD High-definition video High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels... video streams OR 1 HD video stream + 1 SD video stream + 1 HD audio stream 760G supports DisplayPort and HDMI signals as video output, but actual implementation will depend on different motherboard designs.

"Remote IT"

For the enterprise platform, the "Remote IT" technology (temporary name) was reported to be released by the end of 2007 or early 2008. The platform composed of an AMD 780V chipset with an SB700 southbridge, and chips from Broadcom, Realtek and Marvell. It was reported to have incorporated the Broadcom BCM5761 managed NIC controller with Intelligent Platform Management Interface

Intelligent Platform Management Interface

The Intelligent Platform Management Interface is a standardizedcomputer system interface used by system administrators to manage a computer system and monitor its operation....

(IPMI) 1.5 manageability standard, together with DASH 1.0

Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware

DASH is a DMTF standard on requirements for implementing the Desktop and Mobile Architecture for System Hardware....

specification (DASH page on DMTF

Distributed Management Task Force

Distributed Management Task Force is an industry organization that develops, maintains and promotes standards for systems management in enterprise IT environments. These standards allow for building systems management infrastructure components in a platform-independent and technology-neutral way...

) support of the SB700 and SB750 southbridges, and reported support additional management and security technologies such as IDM (Intelligent Device Management

Intelligent Device Management

Intelligent device management is a term used for enterprise software applications that allow equipment manufacturers to monitor and manage remote equipment, systems and products via the Internet...

) and TPM 1.2 (Trusted Platform Module

Trusted Platform Module

In computing, Trusted Platform Module is both the name of a published specification detailing a secure cryptoprocessor that can store cryptographic keys that protect information, as well as the general name of implementations of that specification, often called the "TPM chip" or "TPM Security...

Reception

In a comparison against the GeForce 8200, Anandtech

AnandTech

AnandTech is an online computer hardware magazine. It was founded in 1997 by then 15-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who is the current editor-in-chief and CEO. The web site is recommended as a good resource of hardware reviews for off-the-shelf components addressed to computer building enthusiasts...

considered the 780G "a better balanced chipset offering improved casual gaming performance, equal video quality, similiar [sic] power requirements, greater availability, and better pricing." The 8200, however, was preferred as a single-purpose HTPC solution. Both chipsets were considered superior to Intel's G45/X4500HD, which was cited for a lack of driver quality and features, and a higher price.

Northbridge issues(760G, M770, 780x, M780x, 790GX)

All platforms:
- Low speed instability with HyperTransport
  HyperTransport
  HyperTransport , formerly known as Lightning Data Transport , is a technology for interconnection of computer processors. It is a bidirectional serial/parallel high-bandwidth, low-latency point-to-point link that was introduced on April 2, 2001...
  
  version 3 capable processors. HT3 speeds 1.2 GHz up to 1.6 GHz should not be used, only 1.8 up to 2.2 GHz speeds are safe to be used. HT3 processors operating at 1.6 GHz(Phenom X3 8250e, Phenom X4 9100e and Phenom X4 9150e) will suffer from high retry count on the HyperTransport link which may result in hangs on revision A12 northbridges.
Windows platform:
- Microsoft KB959345

Southbridge issues(SB7x0)

Most OSes require patches in order to work reliably.

Windows platform:
- Microsoft KB982091
- Microsoft KB956871
- Microsoft KB953689
Linux platform:
- HPET
  High Precision Event Timer
  The High Precision Event Timer is a hardware timer used in personal computers. It was developed jointly by Intel and Microsoft and has been incorporated in PC chipsets since circa 2005...
  
  operation with MSI
  Message Signaled Interrupts
  Message Signaled Interrupts, in PCI 2.2and later in PCI Express, are an alternative way of generating an interrupt. Traditionally, a device has an interrupt pin which it asserts when it wants to interrupt the host CPU. While PCI Express does not have separate interrupt pins, it has special...
  
  causes LPC
  Low Pin Count
  The Low Pin Count bus, or LPC bus, is used on IBM-compatible personal computers to connect low-bandwidth devices to the CPU, such as the boot ROM and the "legacy" I/O devices . The "legacy" I/O devices usually include serial and parallel ports, PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mouse, floppy disk controller...
  
  DMA
  Direct memory access
  Direct memory access is a feature of modern computers that allows certain hardware subsystems within the computer to access system memory independently of the central processing unit ....
  
  corruption on devices using LPC DMA (floppy, parallel port, serial port in FIR mode) because MSI requests are misinterpreted as DMA cycles by the broken LPC controller
- USB
  Universal Serial Bus
  USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
  
  freeze when multiple devices are connected through hub (related to AMD Product Advisory PA_SB700AK1)
- Erratic behaviour of the HPET
  High Precision Event Timer
  The High Precision Event Timer is a hardware timer used in personal computers. It was developed jointly by Intel and Microsoft and has been incorporated in PC chipsets since circa 2005...
  
  when Spread Spectrum is enabled (related to AMD Product Advisory PA_SB700AG2)
- Disabling legacy interrupts for SATA
  Serial ATA
  Serial ATA is a computer bus interface for connecting host bus adapters to mass storage devices such as hard disk drives and optical drives...
  
  disables MSI too
- SATA soft reset fails when PMP
  Port multiplier
  A Serial ATA port multiplier is a device that allows one to connect multiple SATA devices to a single SATA host port in a similar manner to that of a USB hub...
  
  is enabled and attached devices will not be detected
- SATA internal errors are ignored because the controller will set Serial ATA port Error when it should not

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Development history

790FX

790X

790GX

785G

785E

780G/780V

780E

770

760G

740G

740

Southbridges

SB700

SB710

SB750

SP5100

Multi-graphics

AMD OverDrive

AutoXpress

Advanced Clock Calibration

Energy efficiency

ATI Hybrid Graphics

I/O acceleration technologies

Hybrid Drives

HyperFlash

RAIDXpert

Integrated graphics

"Remote IT"

Reception

Northbridge issues(760G, M770, 780x, M780x, 790GX)

Southbridge issues(SB7x0)

See also

External links