Another integrated GPU motherboard review, this time the ECS A790GXM-A ‘Black Series’ motherboard built using the AMD 790GX chipset and a Radeon HD 3300 Integrated Graphics Processor to deliver the best performance for AMD’s Phenom CPU with versatile overclocking and an ultimate gaming experience for everyone.


Specifications


CPU
  AMD Phenom™ processor (Socket AM2+) / AMD Athlon™ 64 FX / Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core/ Athlon™ 64 / Sempron processor
  High-performance HyperTransport 3.0 CPU Interface
  Support transfer rate up to 5200 mega-transfers per second

CHIPSET
  North Bridge: AMD® 790GX
  South Bridge: AMD® SB750

GRAPHICS
  On Chip (AMD 790GX-based with ATI™ Radeon HD3300 graphics )
  Integrated DirectX 10 graphics processor
  AMD SidePort Memory : DDR2-800 (64Mx16=128MB)

MEMORY
  Dual-channel DDR2 memory architecture
  4 x 240-pin DDR2 DIMM socket support up to 16GB
  Support DDR2 1066/800/667/533/400 DDR2 SDRAM 

EXPANSION SLOT
 2 x PCI Express x16 slots
  2 x PCI Express x1 slots
  2 x PCI slots

STORAGE
    Support by AMD SB750
    6 x Serial ATAII 3.0Gb/s devices
    RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID 10 configuration

AUDIO
  Realtek ALC 888S supports 8-channel HD audio
  Compliant with HD audio specification

LAN
  2 x Realtek RTL 8111C Gigabit Fast Ethernet NIC

REAR PANEL I/O
  1 x PS/2 keyboard & PS/2 mouse connectors
  6 x USB ports
  2 x Gigabit Ethernet Port
  1 x COM Port
  1 x Audio port (1Line in, 4x Line out, 1 Optical SPDIF Out)
  1 x VGA port
  1 x HDMI Port

INTERNAL I/O CONNECTORS & HEADERS
  1 x 24-pin ATX Power Supply Connector & 8-pin 12V Connector
  1 x 4-pin 12V Connector
  CPUFAN/PWRFAN/SYSFAN connectors
  1 x FDD connector
  1 x IDE connector
  6 x Serial ATA connectors
  1 x Speaker header
  1 x Front panel switch/LED header
  1 x Front panel audio header
  1 x SPDIF out header
  3 x USB 2.0 headers support additional 6 USB ports
  1 x Power button/1 x Reset button

SYSTEM BIOS
  AMI BIOS with 8Mb SPI Flash ROM
  Supports Plug and Play, STR/STD, Hardware monitor, Multi Boot, DMI,HDCP
  Supports ACPI revision 3.0 specification
  Support over-clocking
  ECS M.I.B. utility

FORM FACTOR
  ATX Size, 305mm*244mm


Package


It seems that fire breathing dragons are beast of choice for hardware packaging these days. The ECS ‘Black Series’ packaging sports on too on its black box with model and features decorating the rest.


Moving along, inside the box we have; manuals, driver CD, an IDE cable, four SATA cables and an I/O shield.