GIGABYTE GA-MA78GPM-DS2H in stock and shipping

T

Toaster Oven

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 17, 2006
Messages
342
Zipzoomfly has the updated GA-MA78GPM-DS2H here. Not showing up yet at NewEgg. Judging from pics and stats the differences are:

1. 128MB DDR3 sideport memory
2. Beefier 5 phase CPU power supply
3. Improved Northbridge HS
4. All solid state caps

Maybe they finally fixed the NB temp sensor as well...
 
Also on Gigabyte's web site this board has,

2 x 8 Mbit flash Bios VS 1 on the other.
 
I think the "D" actually means Gigabyte considers it overclockable. The 690V was a mess for OC'ing, like most Phenom boards.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
I think the "D" actually means Gigabyte considers it overclockable. The 690V was a mess for OC'ing, like most Phenom boards.
Click to expand...

No D stands for "Durable".The Durable name means that all of the caps on the board are solid state.
 
sleepeeg3 said:
...which are used for overclocking.
Click to expand...

And what about people who don't want to overclock and have maximum system stability? Just b/c it has all solid caps doesn't mean that it can overclocked to a great extent.
 
Wow. One of the few boards I've ever seen outside of laptops that have dedicated memory for the onboard video.

I would say it'll improve performance wouldn't it?
 
sleepeeg3 said:
I think the "D" actually means Gigabyte considers it overclockable. The 690V was a mess for OC'ing, like most Phenom boards.
Click to expand...

CptFalcon said:
No D stands for "Durable".The Durable name means that all of the caps on the board are solid state.
Click to expand...
As Falcon said, "D" on the motherboard suffix refers to the capacitors.

The number on the suffix is what reveals the level of OC goodies Gigabyte unlocks, and how much the PCB is optimized for it. Usually, basic ATX mobos have a "3", meaning low OC capabilities, the top being "6" (on the "DQ6" models), which also means the motherboard is packing with everything, INCLUDING the kitchen sink :p.

"2" means "none to low" OC options, and it's basically reserved to mATX boards, which Gigabyte still considers to be only office-oriented :mad:. That doesn't mean OC options are not available, though. The GA-G33M-DS2R is a hell of an OC'er... (of course the BIOS is so lacking that you don't even have a 1:1 memory divider for 800MHz CPUs...)

Cheers.

Miguel
 
__Miguel_ said:
"2" means "none to low" OC options, and it's basically reserved to mATX boards, which Gigabyte still considers to be only office-oriented :mad:.
Click to expand...
So that would break their numbering scheme, right? ;) Semantics aside, if it has solid-caps, it also has decent overclocking options. 1:1 correlation. Show me a board that doesn’t…
 
sleepeeg3 said:
So that would break their numbering scheme, right? ;) Semantics aside, if it has solid-caps, it also has decent overclocking options. 1:1 correlation. Show me a board that doesn’t…
Click to expand...
Sorry, but I don't get that one... I mean, if "2" is "none to low" OC options, and "6" is "everything AND the kitchen sink", then how would that break the numbering scheme?

If you're referring to the fact that "2" boards are always mATX, well, that's a coincidence. Gigabyte uses "M" on the main part of a motherboard's name to referr to it as mATX (like the G33M variants).

As for solid caps and OC, I can't tell. From what I've seen with the G33M-DS2R, yes, that's right. If you have solid caps, then OC will most likely be easier. But as for OC options, I don't know. The G33M-DS2R was nowhere near the OC options of a top-of-the-line P965, P35 or P45 board. Some voltages, FSB, standard timings, that's it. But no 1:1 on 800MHz CPUs (not even with the last BIOS), and even 1066MHz ones for the longest time - not to mention advanced timings and voltages.

So, a "2" will give you some OC options, granted (sometimes a few more, depending on the BIOS coder, I guess... lol), but not only Gigabyte doesn't acnkowledge OC capabilities nor will it put it on the "to do" list for new features (or increased stability, for that matter). There were many requests for extra OC options on the G33M-DS2R, and every one of them was answered with "that board is not designed with OC in mind", which clearly doesn't happen with say the "4" or "6" lines, which even trade thoughts with reviewers and such...

Cheers.

Miguel
 
The GA-MA78GPM-DS2H is validated to run the power hungry Phenom range whereas the plain S2H is not.
 
dexx said:
The GA-MA78GPM-DS2H is validated to run the power hungry Phenom range whereas the plain S2H is not.
Click to expand...
That's one of the things I like about this new board, other very notable one being the inclusion of the sideport memory (which only one other 780G board has, with interesting results on gaming performance).

I do think, though, that AMD should be more carefull when allowing manufacturers to "cheap out" on power delivery... I mean, when you buy something with an Intel chipset, you already know that it can handle any CPU from any of the supported families at stock settings (you still have to be aware of CPU family compatibility, but that's another issue). Even a lowly 945G/GC €50~60 ASRock mATX board is capable of handling the Pentium D 960 or the EE P4 @ 3.73GHz (notably known for throttling at stock voltages... lol). I still can't understand why 945G-based boards are never capable of handling quads, however, but that's for another topic.

I'm assuming this is because a strict policy on Intel's side of how power delivery must be implemented, and AMD should do the same (especially because their power delivery schemes don't change all that much during the socket's lifetime). That way we wouldn't have to be worried about a 150W or even 200W part being thrown to the board and killing it instantly (or shortly after)...

Cheers.

Miguel
 
This board is on newegg now.

One thing I don't like about this board - most of the SATA ports are going to get blocked by a long, dual-slot video card. I'm getting a little tired of all these MicroATX boards that focus so much on on-board video and other things I'll never use that the other features and layout suffer.

If Gigabyte had been smart, they would have put the SATA ports in a more sensible place like ASUS did with the M3A78-EM.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top