| 790GX's Side-Port Explored |
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| Written by Chris Tom |
| Thursday, 11 December 2008 12:58 |
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Tom's Hardware looks at AMD's side-port memory feature from their 780G and 790GX chipsets. The most interesting benchmark run was the one where we used the 128 MB DDR3 side-port memory and 512 MB shared memory. This is the fastest possible setting in terms of 3D performance—only running the integrated graphics unit and a Radeon HD 3450 in Hybrid CrossFire mode was superior. However, we recommend going straight for a higher-performing graphics solution instead of saddling yourself with such a low-impact hybrid solution. The side-port memory option does make a difference, but we can only recommend it if it comes at very little extra cost (just a few dollars). Most of the performance comes from AMD’s RV610-based 700 MHz DirectX 10 graphics unit. Sadly they only test games that should only be used discrete graphic solutions. |