More Specifications:

As you can see, the ECS A780GM-A Motherboard is not without some decent features. There's a few of the standard expansion features like SATA, RAID0, 1, and RAID10 which can be found on the standard platforms. There are a couple new ones

780G NorthBridge Chipset

The 780G North Bridge utilizes the newly updated HyperTransport 3.0 hyper-link. HyperTransport was the magical interface that fed AMD's once top X2s memory controller which graciously carried them to the top of the market. HT 3.0 continues to move that memory bandwidth at up to a 1.8 GHz frequency and allows the use of 667 to 1066 MHz DDR2 memory. This isn't quite up to speed with Intel's chipsets, some of which support 1200 MHz DDR2 which is an overclocker's dream.

The board offers AMD and ATI's Hybrid CrossfireX Graphics support which utilizes a Southbridge (SB700) Integrated Graphics Processor (ATI Radeon HD 3200) to augment the primary video card giving the system a video performance boost. Sorry, fellow XP users, this feature is intended only for Vista. (Insert insulting MS remark here) Some of the preliminary testing showed a decent 30% increase with the right configuration and settings.

Another feature to follow suit with the High Definition capable SB700 graphics, is the optional VGA and HDMI ports. If you don't have a primary video card, then you can at least enjoy some form of capable graphics via either port. And it just so happens, this HannsG 22" LCD Monitor on the desktop here is all HDMI. Rest assured that the 780G's integrated GPU strongly supports MPEG-2, H.264, and VC1. The GPU completely handles playback which requires much less of the processor allowing for other things.

The last thing worth mentioning is the use of an integrated IDT HD Audio Processor. . Most of the motherboards tested in recent months have all had Realtek HD audio which isn't bad as far as budget audio goes. It'll be interesting to compare the two later on in testing.

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