AMD 880G Chipset Overview

The ASUS M4A88TD series of motherboards are designed with the AMD 880G Northbridge and the AMD SB850 Southbridge. Of the two, the Southbridge is the newer chip, so let's start with that first. Foremost among the features contained in the humblest member of the chipset, is native support for six SATA 6Gb/s ports. No extra controller chips required, no need to split of PCI Express lanes to a bridge chip - just SATA 6, plain and simple. In order to handle the increased data rates, the data link to the Northbridge has been doubled up; by upgrading the four PCI Express 1.0 lanes to the latest 2.0 specification; it's good for 2GB/s now. Fourteen USB 2.0 connections are now available, up from 12 with the SB750. New, are also two PCI Express 2.0 connections, available for interfacing with additional support chips or just feeding PCI Express 2.0 x1 expansion slots; this board has one x1 slot. Beyond that, the full range of Southbridge functions are provided: PATA, Gigabit Ethernet, PCI, and HD Audio.

There is another member of the 800-series chipset that is not yet released, and that is the SB810 Southbridge. Honestly, the SB810 is going to be the most popular choice for pairing with the 880G Northbridge, but it isn't released yet; all the new boards are getting designed and built with the SB850. It's pretty certain that the SB810 will drop RAID 5 operation, but the other limitations are not public knowledge yet.

AMD 880G Northbridge Features

The AMD 880G Northbridge looks a lot like the 890GX, which was released a month earlier. I don't have an architecture diagram for the 880G, but the one above, for the 890GX is pretty close, and I'll discuss the differences throughout the article. The main difference is in the PCI Express 2.0 interface, intended for use with graphics cards. The capabilities and relative positioning of the various models hasn't really changed from the market model for the 700 series chipset. The 880G is essentially limited to supporting a single video card, just like the 785G Northbridge that it replaces. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because many people eschew CrossFireX and/or SLI due to the complexity, stability, compatibility, and performance issues that can surface with multi-GPU setups. Things are MUCH better today, but problems do crop up occasionally, and honestly, only a small percentage of users go down the CrossFireX path.

Let's look at a comparison of the four Northbridge chips that make up AMD's 800 series:

Here's a brief explanation of the features mentioned in the comparison above:

The published benefits of the 880G are long on praise the for the HD4250 IGP, and also takes some of the credit for the capabilities in the SB850 Southbridge:

• Versatility
  • Redefine the Way You Play
    Enjoy awesome gaming performance for the mainstream PC with stunning visual effects and dynamic interactivity with Microsoft DirectX 10.1 and support for high-end discrete ATI Radeon HD graphics
  • Accelerate Your Digital Life
    ATI Stream technology enables AMD graphics processors, working in concert with AMD Processors, to accelerate many applications beyond just graphics. This enables superior balanced platforms capable of running demanding computing tasks fast.
  • Designed for Microsoft Windows 7
    Get a smooth and amazingly visual PC experience for Microsoft Windows 7, with support for features such as "Aero Shake", "Aero Glass", "Transparent Windows" and more!5
• Visual Experience
  • Get the Ultimate HD Experience1
    Let your desktop PC be the center of your entertainment lifestyle with full 1080p HD playback. Get dual-stream PiP (Picture in Picture) on Blu-ray 1.1 playback with multi-monitor capability and support for DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort outputs.1, 2, 3, 4
  • Enhanced DVD Upscaling
    Watch standard DVD movies in near high-definition quality with DVD upscaling. The GPU uses post processing algorithms to enhance standard and low resolution videos and movies on your HD display.1
  • HDMI
    Enjoy the latest audio technologies using HDMI v1.3 which includes xvYCC support to enable a wider range of color when connected to a capable HDTV.4
    
• Connectivity
  • Connect and Transfer
    Take advantage of advanced technology to accelerate your connectivity with SATA 6Gb/s, Gigabit Ethernet, HyperTransport 3.0 technology, and PCI Express Generation 2.0.

1. HD capable monitor required.
2. Blu-rayTMdrive required for Blu-ray playback.
3. Additional hardware or software may be required.
4. Not all features will be supported on all machines. Check with your PC manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies.
5. Windows 7-capable system required.

Finally, let's take a close look at the Integrated Graphics Processor in last year's 785G, its replacement the 880G, and the next step up the current chipset foodchain, the 890GX.

You can see why there's not a whole lot of excitement being generated over the Radeon HD 4250 IGP. It's essentially the same as the HD 4200 from last year. Well, enough about the specifics of the chipset. Let's see what ASUS has made out of it, and take a closer look at the M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 motherboard itself.

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