Wednesday, March 19th 2008

SAPPHIRE Launches Two New Motherboards

Following the introduction of the exciting new series of chipsets from AMD, SAPPHIRE Technology has just strengthened its mainboard offering with the introduction of two new products - the PI-AM2RS780G based on the AMD 780G chipset and the PC-AM2RX780 based on the AMD 770 chipset.
New Integrated Graphics

First shown at CeBIT 2008, the SAPPHIRE PI-AM2RS780G is a fully featured yet cost effective mATX mainboard featuring the new AMD 780G chipset together with the latest SB700 south bridge and supporting the new AMD Hybrid CrossFireX Graphics mode. It supports all the Socket-940 (AM2+) compatible processors from AMD including the new Phenom series as well as Athlon 64, FX, X2 and Sempron processors. High performance can be achieved with its 2000MHz HT3 bus and support for Dual Channel DDR2 memory modules. Optimisation features are included in the BIOS settings, and the board has CPU Core Voltage control.

For the first time, the on-board graphics solution supports DX10 and delivers high performance HD graphics to both VGA and DVI connectors on the rear panel. In addition, the new Hybrid CrossFireX mode enables a SAPPHIRE HD 3400 series graphics card, plugged into the PCI-Express Gen 2.0 expansion slot, to work together with the onboard GPU using the new Hybrid CrossFireX driver and deliver considerably enhanced graphics performance. Further expansion is provided by two industry standard 32-bit PCI slots.

Fully featured I/O on board includes 6 Serial ATA Devices with RAID Support, E-IDE and Floppy disk interfaces, Gigabit LAN, 8-Channel HD Audio, up to 10 High-speed USB devices as well as headers for legacy serial and parallel ports.

New CrossFireX Support

Delivering a new generation of CrossFire capability, the SAPPHIRE PC-AM2RX780 is a new mainboard in ATX format based on the new AMD 770 Chipset and AMD SB600 south bridge. Again equipped with Socket-940 (AM2+) compatibility, the board supports AMD Phenom, Athlon 64, FX, X2, and Sempron processors. The chipset supports HT3 2000MHz Hypertransport speeds and Dual Channel DDR2 Memory DIMMs up to a total of 8GB, delivering enthusiast level performance.

On-board features include four Serial ATA Devices with RAID Support, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 graphics expansion slots, supporting AMD CrossFireX, plus two PCI-Express x1 and two industry standard PCI slots. The extensive I/O provision includes up to 10 USB ports, Gigabit LAN, 8-Channel HD Audio I/O with Spdif, Serial and parallel port headers.

CrossFireX is a new level of support from AMD for multiple GPU solutions. With this mainboard and the latest graphics driver, cards from the SAPPHIRE HD3800 series can be used in combination to achieve enhanced graphics performance. This includes the HD 3850, HD 3870 and HD 3870 X2 (dual GPU) series, in any mix, allowing users to use 1, 2, 3 or 4 GPU's together with CrossFireX for industry leading performance. It also supports CrossFire with two cards from earlier ATI-based graphics families.
Source: SAPPHIRE
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20 Comments on SAPPHIRE Launches Two New Motherboards

#1
InnocentCriminal
Resident Grammar Amender
Any pictures, I hope they're the black PCB with red (& white) slots, sockets and... ;)
Posted on Reply
#3
InnocentCriminal
Resident Grammar Amender
Crapass!

Apologies for the pictures comment, they didn't load initially. They have done now...

>.<
Posted on Reply
#4
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Crossfire on AMD 770? The 770 was never meant for multi-GPU. Something doesn't fit. Oh well, that's Sapphire, you can always expect something innovative. Their 790FX board is a design patent shared with DFI. Look how closely it resembles the DFI board:


Pretty neat board layout.
Posted on Reply
#5
Jimmy 2004
InnocentCriminalCrapass!

Apologies for the pictures comment, they didn't load initially. They have done now...

>.<
No, that was my fault. Didn't add them to start :)
Posted on Reply
#6
InnocentCriminal
Resident Grammar Amender
:eek:

HEH HEH HEH!

:o

Why on earth do they have to piss about with fugly colour schemes. I mean, why can't they produce a motherboard with two colours. For example, Red and Black, or Black and Red. That'd get my money straight off!

I want a black and red motherboard!

>.<
Posted on Reply
#7
ShadowFold
There are a few 770 boards with two PCi-E slots already :) Im probly gonna get that Sapphire 770 board if it stays cheap.
Posted on Reply
#8
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
i think i might go for that 770 board on my next upgrade if it oc's nice...bu then again unless there was a typo there still using SB600
Posted on Reply
#9
MilkyWay
As long as the board performs great heck id take em in any colour except brown that dosnt go well with most colours, Black is meant to be neutral and go with and case design.

These should be good just need to wait for the new batch of phenoms.
Posted on Reply
#10
WarEagleAU
Bird of Prey
Not bad, think my 790X board will be better.
Posted on Reply
#11
TheGuruStud
Any comments on the quality of sapphire boards? Never used them, just curious. Maybe a comparison to another brand?
Posted on Reply
#12
ShadowFold
Well Sapphire makes some of the best ATi cards and there 690 board got some great reviews.
Posted on Reply
#13
devguy
That seems to be the only 780g mobo that has an 8pin EPS12V connector on the board (does anyone think that'll be a help on an matx board?). I'm curious though, why no pcie 1x slot? At least they have a decent sized heatsink on the northbridge, unlike the Gigabyte 780g motherboard.

If that matx board has the ALC889A codec (or any codec that supports DTS: Connect onboard), I'll happily choose the sapphire board over the Gigabyte one (even though the mobo color looks like it was copied from MSI).
Posted on Reply
#14
Wile E
Power User
cdawalli think i might go for that 770 board on my next upgrade if it oc's nice...bu then again unless there was a typo there still using SB600
Nothing wrong with SB600. It's a good south bridge. It's not plagued by performance issues like SB450 was.
Posted on Reply
#15
cdawall
where the hell are my stars
Wile ENothing wrong with SB600. It's a good south bridge. It's not plagued by performance issues like SB450 was.
from what i heard it has issues with SATA/raid?
Posted on Reply
#16
devguy
cdawallfrom what i heard it has issues with SATA/raid?
SB600 + AHCI + Vista = many troubles.
Posted on Reply
#17
Wile E
Power User
devguySB600 + AHCI + Vista = many troubles.
Not anymore. Those were driver issues that have been worked out. (For a while now, actually. They were worked out before I retired my KA3 MVP).
Posted on Reply
#18
devguy
Wile ENot anymore. Those were driver issues that have been worked out. (For a while now, actually. They were worked out before I retired my KA3 MVP).
Well, I still have problems with it (using Vista x64 SP1 as well) on my 790FX motherboard using AHCI on my SATA drives. Putting them in IDE Native mode, it hangs only (yeah, a crappy word - only) hangs on boot about once in twenty boots. Trying AHCI (with either latest ATI drivers or Gigabyte drivers) results in either a complete hangup in boot up, or a BSOD upon reaching the login screen (no way to predict which'll happen).

This happened with both RTM and SP1 installs, yet XP pro x64 works flawlessly in AHCI mode...
Posted on Reply
#19
DanishDevil
They announced that 790FX board over 5 months ago, and I still haven't seen it... It was my dream board, now I'll suck it up and buy the DFI.

I want more of the PURE motherboards with White PCB and red writing with red slots *drool*
Posted on Reply
#20
Wile E
Power User
devguyWell, I still have problems with it (using Vista x64 SP1 as well) on my 790FX motherboard using AHCI on my SATA drives. Putting them in IDE Native mode, it hangs only (yeah, a crappy word - only) hangs on boot about once in twenty boots. Trying AHCI (with either latest ATI drivers or Gigabyte drivers) results in either a complete hangup in boot up, or a BSOD upon reaching the login screen (no way to predict which'll happen).

This happened with both RTM and SP1 installs, yet XP pro x64 works flawlessly in AHCI mode...
I had those problems initially, but driver updates eliminated them altogether.
Posted on Reply
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