The rest of the specifications include 3+1 phase VRM for AM2+ with MSI's APS (active phase switching) feature, two DIMM slots for DDR2 memory, six SATA and one IDE port, single PCI-Express x16 slot, two plain PCI and one PCI-Express x1 slot. The VRM supports up to 125W TDP CPUs. The back panel includes PS/2 ports, D-Sub and DVI outputs, four USB ports, Gigabit Ethernet port and audio jacks for integrated 7.1-channel audio.

With Gigabyte's MA770-UD3P you'll gain every foreseeable and important feature that you'll need. You have plenty of connectivity, even stuff like optical TOSLINK output is supplied. I mean as such it's just an awesome little motherboard. Next to that it performs 100% as well as the 790 chipset, for which the motherboards start at 125 USD. And also overclocking wise, you'll have ever and any feature available much like the 790 series, including ACC control. To top it off, Gigabyte applied their UD3 strategy into this motherboard which amounts for quality components, more copper inside that motherboard which in the end offers great stability, thermals and lifespan.

The Foxconn channel sales group is purely focusing more on sales than marketing at this stage. More effort is being placed into direct sales, and as a result, it might appear as if Foxconn is going under from the outside. Foxconn had a surprisingly small presence at the large Computex Taipei trade show and according to Andrew and Sidney from Foxconn, it was because the head honchos decided to cut down on expenses and only personally invite its customers (distributors) to its private suite at the Grand Hyatt for a more targeted showing, while also keeping some of its upcoming technologies under its belt.

The launch of dual-core Phenom II and Athlon II processors created the need for inexpensive Socket AM3 mainboards. This demand is also determined by dropping DDR3 SDRAM prices as well as the fact that the use of DDR3 SDRAM with AMD CPUs can provide pretty significant performance gain of up to 5-10% in some applications. And the first one to claim the uncharted waters was Gigabyte with their GA-MA770T-UD3P Socket AM3 solution priced at only $80.

With its excellent feature set, we’re huge fans of Gigabyte’s GA-MA790FXT-UD5P. The board is loaded with options when it comes to expansion. You’ve got 10 SATA ports integrated directly on the motherboard itself, plus the optional eSATA out back, where you’ll also find dual Gigabit Ethernet connectivity with support for Teaming and another 8 native USB 2.0 ports. The dual PCI Express graphics slots may not sound like much at first, as the 790FX chipset is capable of driving up to four slots, but when you think about it, all of ATI’s best Radeon cards are dual-slot anyway, including the latest GPU, the Radeon 4770. Most of the Radeon 4850 cards on the market today are now dual-slot rather than single slot, so unless you planned on running 4-Way Radeon 4670, chances are this decision won’t affect you.