In the land of affordable PCs, the integrated motherboard is king. Naturally, an inexpensive, integrated computing solution is ideal for the small/home office – they’re not only affordable but also deliver performance where you need it. Sometimes though, depending on the office environment they’re used in, additional horsepower may be required. For example, if your business tends to use a lot of graphics heavy media content, or your work computer doubles as your home computer (although we’d suggest not going this route unless absolutely necessary) more performance may be required.
Finding a fully integrated motherboard with decent graphics performance is definitely a challenge. Along with driving up cost, a lot of times even the best onboard video is still weak. Enter Sapphire’s 780G-based, Pure PI-AM2RS780G, a motherboard with integrated DX10-capable graphics hardware and enough room for expansion to allow a more than adequate upgrade path, should the need arise.
Combining AMD’s 780G Northbridge with their SB700 Southbridge gives the PI-AM2RS780G great performance and support for all of the latest technologies. Utilizing an AM2/AM2+ CPU socket means the AM2RS780G can run even the fastest available AMD processors, while the four DIMMs can house up to 16GB of DDR2-800MHz in Dual Channel.
Built-in connectivity includes a whopping 10 USB2.0 ports (four of which are located on the back I/O panel, while the remaining six can be attached to the mobo), four SATA2 ports, and a standard E-IDE and floppy drive connector. With two traditional PCI ports and a single PCI-e x16 port, you’ll also be able to install a number of different discrete add-in boards if you need to. That said, with integrated eight-channel audio, built-in DX10 graphics hardware, and Gigabit Ethernet, chances are it already has everything you need.
The only problem I have with onboard/integrated graphics solutions is that, even at their best, they’re still entry-level. It’s a harsh truth, but an honest one. So even though the Sapphire Pure 780G has one of the most advanced integrated GPUs available, it’s still an onboard solution. What does this mean for the average user? Not much. However it’s worth mentioning to those who plan on using their system for something like CAD or 3D animation – it’s not that 780G IGP couldn’t handle these kinds of applications, just that professional graphics hardware would be more up to the task.
For average PC users — the ones that not only make up the vast majority, but also tend to be the most price cautious buyers in the market — the 780G has more graphics power than you’ll ever need. The AM2RS780G is especially potent because of Vista’s rather hefty video card requirements; the 780G IGP can easily run aero-glass, shadows, and any other of Vista’s visual tweaks. Furthermore, because the 780G IGP is effectively an AMD HD3200 graphics chip (built on the RV610 core) it has great hardware assistance for HD video playback, meaning you could smoothly run 1080p video (from Blu-Ray or HD video file) with even an entry-level AMD Sempron CPU.
One of the Sapphire 780G’s biggest selling features is its Hybrid Crossfire support, allowing you to install an additional AMD HD34XX video card for more graphics horsepower. Whereas CrossfireX allows the use of a pair of any AMD graphics cards (two HD3870 x2s, two HD4870s, etc.), Hybrid Crosssfire combines the integrated graphics chip (in this case the HD3200 that serves as the 780G’s IGP) with an additional HD34XX add-in graphics card.
Next: The DownsideThe DownsideUnfortunately Hybrid Crossfire is only compatible with the entry-level HD34XX series of cards. Ironically, while still offering a substantial boost over the standalone 780G performance, the added prowess of an entry-level card is only marginal, so it may be hard to justify the added cost. In other words, adding an HD3450 won’t magically make Crysis — the most visually impressive and graphically demanding game currently available — run at 1920x1200 at 60 frames per second.
In a lot of cases, users would be better off splurging on a higher-end HD3600 or HD3800, which have reduced in price considerably now that the HD46XX and HD48XX series of cards have been launched. It won’t take advantage of Hybrid Crossfire, but the performance improvement would still be more substantial. Luckily the PCIe 2.0 slot on the AM2RS780G is a full-sized x16 slot, so the motherboard can actually take full advantage of even the highest-end graphics cards if you have the cash.
While the usefulness of this feature for the average user is up for debate, one thing is for certain: the implementation of Hybrid Crossfire is beautiful. Simply plug in an HD3450 add-in board and Crossfire between it and the 780G IGP is automatically enabled and taken advantage of. It’s by far the simplest multi-GPU configuration we’ve used, which is a boon for both system builders and first-timers (cuts down on time and cuts down on headaches). If you don’t need the additional performance improvement offered by Hybrid Crossfire, you can still take advantage of the quad-display support that the feature enables.
To test out the 780G’s integrated HD3200 IGP and Hybrid Crossfire, we’ve included benchmarks of the 780G, a discrete AMD HD3450 add-in card, and then the results of 780G+HD3450 running in Hybrid Crossfire so you can see the advantage of the feature.
3DMark 2006 (Default Settings)780G IGP – 1,171Sapphire AMD HD3450 – 1,713780G + HD3450 Hybrid CF – 2,209
What should come to your attention immediately is that the Hybrid Crossfire performance is noticeably higher than both the standalone 780G and the HD3450. You may have also noticed that the combination performance of the 780G+3450 is not 100 per cent efficient -- rather than achieving a perfect combination of 780G + HD3450 scores, we get an improvement that of roughly 1,000 points (~1,200 to ~2,200). This is to be expected with multi-GPU configurations as there will always be latency between the two graphics chips as they communicate with each other.
A bleeding-edge motherboard with integrated video may sound like an oxymoron, but the Sapphire Pure PI-AM2RS780G offers great performance in an all-in-one package. Drop in your CPU, memory and hard drive and you’ll be ready to take on even the most demanding business applications as well as all of Vista’s bells and whistles. While not high-end, the 780G IGP serves as gateway hardware – it has enough graphics performance out of the box to whet your appetite, and enough expansion to allow you to upgrade and grow your system in a way that best benefits you. It’s a simple and effective solution that covers all the bases.
Finding a fully integrated motherboard with decent graphics performance is definitely a challenge. Along with driving up cost, a lot of times even the best onboard video is still weak. Enter Sapphire’s 780G-based, Pure PI-AM2RS780G, a motherboard with integrated DX10-capable graphics hardware and enough room for expansion to allow a more than adequate upgrade path, should the need arise.
Combining AMD’s 780G Northbridge with their SB700 Southbridge gives the PI-AM2RS780G great performance and support for all of the latest technologies. Utilizing an AM2/AM2+ CPU socket means the AM2RS780G can run even the fastest available AMD processors, while the four DIMMs can house up to 16GB of DDR2-800MHz in Dual Channel.
Built-in connectivity includes a whopping 10 USB2.0 ports (four of which are located on the back I/O panel, while the remaining six can be attached to the mobo), four SATA2 ports, and a standard E-IDE and floppy drive connector. With two traditional PCI ports and a single PCI-e x16 port, you’ll also be able to install a number of different discrete add-in boards if you need to. That said, with integrated eight-channel audio, built-in DX10 graphics hardware, and Gigabit Ethernet, chances are it already has everything you need.
The only problem I have with onboard/integrated graphics solutions is that, even at their best, they’re still entry-level. It’s a harsh truth, but an honest one. So even though the Sapphire Pure 780G has one of the most advanced integrated GPUs available, it’s still an onboard solution. What does this mean for the average user? Not much. However it’s worth mentioning to those who plan on using their system for something like CAD or 3D animation – it’s not that 780G IGP couldn’t handle these kinds of applications, just that professional graphics hardware would be more up to the task.
For average PC users — the ones that not only make up the vast majority, but also tend to be the most price cautious buyers in the market — the 780G has more graphics power than you’ll ever need. The AM2RS780G is especially potent because of Vista’s rather hefty video card requirements; the 780G IGP can easily run aero-glass, shadows, and any other of Vista’s visual tweaks. Furthermore, because the 780G IGP is effectively an AMD HD3200 graphics chip (built on the RV610 core) it has great hardware assistance for HD video playback, meaning you could smoothly run 1080p video (from Blu-Ray or HD video file) with even an entry-level AMD Sempron CPU.
One of the Sapphire 780G’s biggest selling features is its Hybrid Crossfire support, allowing you to install an additional AMD HD34XX video card for more graphics horsepower. Whereas CrossfireX allows the use of a pair of any AMD graphics cards (two HD3870 x2s, two HD4870s, etc.), Hybrid Crosssfire combines the integrated graphics chip (in this case the HD3200 that serves as the 780G’s IGP) with an additional HD34XX add-in graphics card.
Next: The DownsideThe DownsideUnfortunately Hybrid Crossfire is only compatible with the entry-level HD34XX series of cards. Ironically, while still offering a substantial boost over the standalone 780G performance, the added prowess of an entry-level card is only marginal, so it may be hard to justify the added cost. In other words, adding an HD3450 won’t magically make Crysis — the most visually impressive and graphically demanding game currently available — run at 1920x1200 at 60 frames per second.
In a lot of cases, users would be better off splurging on a higher-end HD3600 or HD3800, which have reduced in price considerably now that the HD46XX and HD48XX series of cards have been launched. It won’t take advantage of Hybrid Crossfire, but the performance improvement would still be more substantial. Luckily the PCIe 2.0 slot on the AM2RS780G is a full-sized x16 slot, so the motherboard can actually take full advantage of even the highest-end graphics cards if you have the cash.
While the usefulness of this feature for the average user is up for debate, one thing is for certain: the implementation of Hybrid Crossfire is beautiful. Simply plug in an HD3450 add-in board and Crossfire between it and the 780G IGP is automatically enabled and taken advantage of. It’s by far the simplest multi-GPU configuration we’ve used, which is a boon for both system builders and first-timers (cuts down on time and cuts down on headaches). If you don’t need the additional performance improvement offered by Hybrid Crossfire, you can still take advantage of the quad-display support that the feature enables.
To test out the 780G’s integrated HD3200 IGP and Hybrid Crossfire, we’ve included benchmarks of the 780G, a discrete AMD HD3450 add-in card, and then the results of 780G+HD3450 running in Hybrid Crossfire so you can see the advantage of the feature.
3DMark 2006 (Default Settings)780G IGP – 1,171Sapphire AMD HD3450 – 1,713780G + HD3450 Hybrid CF – 2,209
What should come to your attention immediately is that the Hybrid Crossfire performance is noticeably higher than both the standalone 780G and the HD3450. You may have also noticed that the combination performance of the 780G+3450 is not 100 per cent efficient -- rather than achieving a perfect combination of 780G + HD3450 scores, we get an improvement that of roughly 1,000 points (~1,200 to ~2,200). This is to be expected with multi-GPU configurations as there will always be latency between the two graphics chips as they communicate with each other.
A bleeding-edge motherboard with integrated video may sound like an oxymoron, but the Sapphire Pure PI-AM2RS780G offers great performance in an all-in-one package. Drop in your CPU, memory and hard drive and you’ll be ready to take on even the most demanding business applications as well as all of Vista’s bells and whistles. While not high-end, the 780G IGP serves as gateway hardware – it has enough graphics performance out of the box to whet your appetite, and enough expansion to allow you to upgrade and grow your system in a way that best benefits you. It’s a simple and effective solution that covers all the bases.
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