DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R Mainboard

Now let’s discuss another important component of our today’s test platform - DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R mainboard. DFI’s impeccable reputation as the leading manufacturer of solutions for overclocking fans and computer enthusiasts makes us believe that this mainboard could be one of the best choices for Socket AM2+ platform. That is why picked it for our today’s article and test session.

First of all, let’s take a look at the formal specifications of this product:

DFI LanPatry UT 790FX-M2R
CPUs	Socket AM2 and Socket AM2+ processors: AMD Athlon 64, AMD Athlon 64 X2, AMD Athlon 64 FX and AMD Phenom
Chipset	AMD 790FX + AMD SB600
HyperTransport bus	HyperTransport 3.0, up to 2.6GHz
Clock generator frequencies, MHz	200-700MHz ( with 1MHz increment)
Overclocking friendly functions	Independently adjustable PCI Express bus; Adjustable processor clock frequency multiplier; Adjustable processor Vcore, Vchipset, Vmem, HyperTransport and PCI Express bus voltages.
Memory	4 DIMM slots for dual-channel DDR2-533/667/800/1066 SDRAM
PCI Express slots	3 x PCI Express x16 1 x PCI Express x4
PCI expansion slots	3
USB 2.0 ports	10 (6 – on rear panel)
IEEE1394 ports	2 (1 – on rear panel, by VIA VT6307 controller)
ATA-100/133	2 ATA-133 channels (in the chipset)
Serial ATA	4 Serial ATA-300 channels (with RAID support in the chipset) 2 Serial ATA-300 channels (with RAID support by Silicon Image Sil3132 controller)
ATA RAID support	RAID 0, 1, 0+1 in the chipset RAID 0, 1 by Silicon Image Sil3132 controller
Integrated sound	8-channel Realtek ALC888T HD codec
Integrated network	Two Gigabit Ethernet controllers (Marvell 88E8053 and Marvell 88E8052)
Additional features	POST-controller
BIOS	Phoenix-AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Form-factor	ATX, 305mm x 245mm

At first glance, it is a pretty typical mainboard for a Spider platform. However, DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R does have a few distinguishing features worth pointing out separately. Namely, this mainboard features only three PCI Express x16 graphics card slots. Although, AMD 790FX allows implementing all four of them for Quad Crossfire configurations. However, for some reason DFI engineers decided that the users should be happy with only three graphics card slots, one of which is always working in full speed 16x mode, while the other two shift to x8 mode if used simultaneously. In fact, it is really hard to say whether this is a serious drawback or not, because true Quad Crossfire systems are not really available in the market these days.

When it comes to new processors support, DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R has no problems at all. The board features Socket AM2+ interface (that is backward compatible with Socket AM2 processors) and supports all innovations introduced in the new AMD Phenom processors: Cool’n’Quiet 2.0, HyperTransport 3.0 and faster DDR2-1066 SDRAM.

AMD SB600 South Bridge used on this board is not a new solution already. That is why DFI had to use a number of additional onboard controllers to ensure that their mainboard features all necessary interfaces: Silicon Image Sil3132 Serial ATA RAID controller, Marvell 88E8053 and Marvell 88E8052 network chips, VIA VT6307 IEEE1394 controller. As a result, there are six USB 2.0 ports on the mainboard rear panel, an IEEE1394 port, two Gigabit network ports, PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse.

Besides that, there are a few additional pin-connectors laid out on the mainboard PCB so that you could connect two pairs of additional USB 2.0 ports and one IEEE1394 port.

As for the storage devices connectivity, DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R features four Serial ATA ports implemented in the chipset and two additional ports provided by the onboard controller. All six Serial ATA channels support up to 3Gbit/s data transfer rate and allow building RAID arrays. Moreover, AMD SB600 South Bridge also provides a Parallel ATA-133 channel. So, the only thing missing here would be the eSATA interface support.

The sound tract implementation is also worth mentioning separately. DFI engineers usually put it onto a special daughter board, and DFI LANParty UT 790FX-M2R is no exception as well. The mainboard comes with an additional sound card based on an eight-channel Realtek ALC888T codec. 

Following their good tradition, they named this audio unit after another well-known conductor and music composer – Leonard Bernstein. The unit features six analogue audio-jacks, a coaxial SPDIF In and Out. Moreover, it also carries onboard pin-connectors for the optical SPDIF Out and an additional daughter card (not included with the board) that allows using standard telephone sets for VoIP.