AMD Value Platform Analysis Part 1: Choosing the components

A look at the GIGABYTE MA770T-UD3P

MA770T-UD3P comes in a box laden with images of the features of the board. The biggest feature images are of Gigabyte’s “Ultra Durable 3” technology with a full explanation on the back side. It shows the benefits of using 2 oz copper in the PCB instead of the traditional 1 oz; namely cooler components, enhanced durability, improved energy efficiency, and improved overclocking. Other features advertised include support for 140W TDP CPUs, DDR3 1666+ support, Dual Bios, and a 3 year warranty.

As this is a value motherboard the accessories are kept to a minimum. You only get 2 SATA cables, 1 IDE cable, an I/O Shield, the user’s manual, the Driver CD and the installation guidebook.

This motherboard is adorned with GIGABYTE’s typical assortment of colors. The PCB is traditional GIGABYTE blue, with the blue and white memory slots, yellow SATA connectors, green IDE connector, blue PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot, and white PCI-E x1 and PCI slots. The memory slots are color-coded to easily represent the dual channel configuration. One thing I would like to mention here is that although the board follows the ATX form factor, its dimensions are 30.5cm x 21.0cm. Pay close attention to that width dimension (21.0cm). Normally other motherboards come with 24.4 cm of width in ATX form factor. This is a cost cutting measure that GIGABYTE used in order to keep the cost of this motherboard down. Although this doesn’t cause any serious problems, I did have a few concerns that I will inform you of later on in this analysis.

This board offers 6 SATA II 3Gb/s ports.

As a result of the above mentioned cost cutting measure, the memory slots are pushed towards the AM3 socket. This may cause clearance issues with tall memory module heatsinks such as Corsair Dominator placed in the white colored memory sockets. In my testing, the first white slot was directly under the fins of my Zerotherm Nirvana 120mm cooler.

The 24-pin power connector is placed perfectly on the board on the side, but it is turned other way around so that the latch faces the memory slots instead of side of the board. This might be a problem if you are using the blue slots for your memory and want to get your fingers between the memory stick and the 24-pin power connector wire from your PSU to remove the connector from the slot. You might have to remove the memory stick everytime you want to remove the power connector.

In the second picture above, notice the processor voltage regulator circuit bare without any kind of heatsink covering it as you might be used to seeing it on the high end boards. GIGABYTE has used cost cutting measures here with the removal of any heatpipes on the motherboard. The northbridge chip only has a small stand alone heatsink covering it. The bare 8+2 phase (8 for CPU, 2 for CPU memory controller) circuit is not a pretty sight for anyone looking to overclock as these components run quite hot during the operation of the PC and their temperature directly affects the overclock.

The first picture above showcases the expansion slots that are available on this board. The board comes with four PCI-E x1 (small white) slots, one PCI-E 2.0 x16 (blue) slot and two PCI (long white) slots.

The second picture displays the back panel connectivity options on this board. Looking at this picture you would not expect this to be a budget board with support for eight USB 2.0 ports, two IEEE1394 ports, Gigabit network port, six analog audio-jacks, optical and coaxial SPDIF connectors, and PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse. Onboard pin-connectors can be used to get additional four USB 2.0 ports, one IEEE1394 port, serial COM and Parallel LPT ports.

Support for IDE hard drives is present on this board as shown by the third picture above.

Pictured above are the various controllers found on this motherboard. From left to right –

Realtek RTL8111C – Responsible for the Gigabit ethernet duties

Realtek ALC888 – Responsible for providing 8 channel HD audio

Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 – Provides FireWire and i.LINK implementations of IEEE Std 1394

ITF IT8720F – Highly integrated Super I/O providing support for the most commonly used legacy Super I/O functionality such as IEEE 1284 Parallel Port, Floppy Disk Controller and Keyboard Controller plus the latest Environment Control initiatives, including H/W Monitor and Fan Speed Controller.

ICS 9LPRS477CKL – Main clock generator.

The first picture provides a look at the CMOS battery and the BIOS reset jumper. The reset jumper is placed between the two expansion slot. Reaching it maybe a hassle if you have any cards installed in these slots.

The second picture provides a view of the 8-pin CPU Power connector. Due to reduced width of the board the power connector has been moved towards the center of the PCB. This can be a nuisance if you are trying to route the power cable behind the motherboard tray and the power supply is mounted on the bottom of the case as is the combination in some cases. In this case, the power cable would not be long enough to reach the connector.

The third picture shows the front panel connectors.