Motherboard AMD 760G: specifications, description and reviews

When it comes to choosing a personal computer in a budget class, many potential buyers come to the conclusion that there is nothing cheaper in the market than a PC on an AMD platform with integrated graphics. In this article the reader will get acquainted with the cheapest representative of the computer world - the AMD 760G chip and motherboards based on it. Specifications, descriptions and reviews of the owners will help the buyer to draw their own conclusions and determine the need to purchase.

Market positioning

The main advantage of the budget representative with the system logic AMD 760G is a video card, the characteristics of which allow owners to run low-resource games. The manufacturer provided the chip with an integrated accelerator IGP Radeon HD 3000. Affordable price (about 3000 rubles) and gaming capabilities will definitely appeal to all potential buyers.

An important advantage of the motherboard is the support of all modern AMD processors and the work of the chip with the PCIex16 interface, thanks to which the budget representative, with the appropriate upgrade, can compete with the more expensive segment in the computer market.

Form factor and its features

The motherboard AMD 760G is made in the format micro-ATX. As you know, in the market of computer devices this form factor is popular only in the corporate segment. Along with low cost, the buyer receives a very economical device in terms of power consumption. For installation in the office at the enterprise it is welcomed, however for home use such motherboard is not always acceptable.

The problem for all owners is hidden in the functionality, or rather, in the absence of the ability to install or connect expansion cards. Before buying an AMD 760G based chip, the user must prioritize, which is more important to him: the cost or the possibility of an upgrade.

The Heart of a Computer

Support for all modern processors with the 760G chip from AMD I can envy all the platforms of competitor Intel. And if we take into account the presence of integrated graphics, then the motherboard does not have a single competitor in the budget class. For a set of system logic AMD 760G processors are available both in the cheap segment and in the gaming class: AM3 +, FX, Phenom II, Athlon II and Semprion. The only limitation that the motherboard has is heat dissipation - the crystal should consume no more than 95 watts.

The owners will also like the installation of the socket, because there are no capacitors and other batteries on the processor platform. This means that the user can install any radiator, including a passive cooling system. For fans of silence, AMD 760G platform opens wide opportunities.

Spanning several generations

An interesting feature of this chip is the support of several types of RAM. In the market, the buyer can meet motherboards that can work not only with DDR2 or DDR3, but also a symbiosis: DDR2 + DDR3. However, such devices are not so much in the market, because this functional reduces the consumer ability in the market of computer parts.

Studying the description of the AMD 760G chip, a potential buyer may find that all motherboards support dual-channel memory mode , but the number of required slots for installing modules is limited to two connectors. The fault of all the form factor is micro-ATX, which limits the possibilities of increasing the RAM.

Potential in gaming applications

Fans of resource-intensive games obviously will not like the power of the integrated video adapter. But the manufacturer took care of customers and installed one PCIex16 slot, which supports all graphics accelerators on the market that have this interface. However, for the AMD 760G chip, the video card, the characteristics of which depend on serious power consumption (more than 150 watts), will not work. The South Bridge, which responds at the hardware level for data transfer between the video adapter and the motherboard, is not designed to work under extreme loads and can simply burn out due to overheating.

The presence of just one PCIex16 connector limits the owner and improves gaming performance by installing multiple graphics cards. But the user can not worry that the cooling system of the video adapter will override the expansion cards. All manufacturers of motherboards based on AMD 760G placed the claimed slots (PCIex16 and PCI) at a great distance from each other (3 units).

Working with Hard Drives

Well implemented and support for the file system in the motherboard AMD 760G. The chip's specifications allow working with four SATA III devices at the same time. An important factor for many office users is the presence of an integrated RAID controller that can combine hard drives into arrays of levels 0, 1, 10 and JBOD. Most budget devices have always had problems with this.

It is not clear just what the manufacturer was guided by when he placed the IDE interface on DDR2 memory cards, and on the upgraded systems with DDR3, simply removed the popular slot from users. But there is a place on the system boards, and many computer owners still have an internal DVD-drive or a hard drive with IDE-interface.

A small step in the future

Chipset AMD 760G supports work with PCIex1 - all motherboards are equipped with this newly claimed slot. True, some manufacturers for some unknown reason placed it directly under the PCIex16 bus. After all, any discrete video adapter will simply close the required port with its cooling system. The set of system logic AMD 760G has full support (at the BIOS level) of all existing SSD drives on the market, implemented for connection via PCIex1 interface.

Stepping into the future, AMD's technology has lost sight of the chip's ability to work with hard drives of large capacity. The user will not be able to enjoy working at a computer with a hard drive that has a capacity of more than three terabytes. Updating the firmware of the motherboard does not eliminate the problem, which spoils the general idea of the 760G chip from AMD.

Sound subsystem

The integrated sound card deserves special attention of the potential buyer . In the media, many owners claim that for a budgetary representative of the computer market, the Realtek ALC887 chip looks too expensive. Thanks to such a gift from the manufacturer, the baseboard AMD 760G supports work with a full 7.1 system. The user can easily connect 7-channel speakers and enjoy the surround sound.

In the budget segment, a good audio system looks unusual, but it is this feature that attracts many music lovers who know a lot about quality sound. The board has an excellent power reserve, and from the interference of other devices in the system unit the chip is protected by noise suppressive insulation. As the owners note in their reviews, for complete happiness, only gilded contacts and an optical outlet are missing.

The weak link of the motherboard

Restriction of processors and video adapters by heat release will unambiguously lead the potential buyer to the idea that there are some problems with the power management system of the AMD 760G. The owners' reviews contain quite a lot of negativity in this regard, because manufacturers install the cheapest electrolytic capacitors, which have the peculiarity of swelling and failing literally in the first year of operation (of course, this happens when the processor is running in overclocking).

Apparently, in the walls of AMD have decided in this way to reduce the price of the motherboard, but this approach is not welcomed by many buyers. In the media, many owners claim that they were ready to overpay the manufacturer for the product, if only he installed solid-state capacities on the motherboard.

Interfaces and connectors

For a chip based on AMD 760G, the characteristics describing the features of the motherboard are more like an advertising booklet. The manufacturer attributes superiority over competitors in the speed of memory, support for processors, the presence of an integrated video adapter, but does not mention the interfaces. But many potential buyers are more interested in knowing what periphery it can connect to a computer.

External connectors on the motherboard are unlikely to surprise demanding users. Firstly, two PS / 2 ports for keyboard and mouse connections are not very popular on the domestic market. The second negative concerns 4 USB 2.0 ports. They are not only small, but they are also ancient - where support for USB 3.0? The integrated video adapter outputs only through the analog VGA interface. No DVI or HDMI is provided. In general, it is unclear what the manufacturer thought, releasing a modern chip on the market.

Budget segment for end users

For the production of motherboards based on AMD 760G, the characteristics of which, as it turned out, do not go beyond the inexpensive segment, many well-known brands have undertaken. And they need to pay tribute, because the product clearly needed further development. Companies ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and AsRock took responsibility and improved their motherboards in their laboratories. Changes primarily concerned with power elements - the replacement of electrolytic capacitors by ferrite drives removed the limitation on the heat generation of processors.

Within the walls of the company Foxconn technology added an expansion card for USB-ports. True, they all work only with the interface 2.0, but their number has doubled. Distinguished in the market of the company Biostar and ECS - adding digital video output as DVI will definitely appeal to users who want to connect a computer to a widescreen TV.

Finally

The cheapest chip on the market marked AMD 760G is uniquely able to attract the buyer's attention with its low cost. 3000 rubles for a multipurpose motherboard with a lot of potential - it's a bit. Support for all processors based on AMD logic is undoubtedly a virtue, even despite some limitations on heat dissipation. Integrated graphics and the ability to install a discrete video adapter should attract buyers from the gaming segment. And the presence of a RAID controller and high-quality sound will appeal to music lovers and office employees.

Negatives include work with multimedia and peripherals. In the yard of the XXI century, and on the motherboard there is no HDMI-output and the number of USB-ports is limited! Also there are problems with working with memory modules - only two DDR2 / DDR3 connectors do not allow the owner to increase the system's performance, limiting the amount of RAM 8 gigabytes. In any case, decide the buyer what is more important to him: price or performance in the future.