DFI LanParty JR 790GX-M3H5 mATX Motherboard

The DFI LANParty JR 790GX-M3H5 is a mATX AM3 motherboard utilizing the AMD 790GX chipset. DFI is known for the high level of BIOS controls to satisfy overclockers, but it’s also an asset for silent PC enthusiasts.

June 28, 2009 by Lawrence Lee

To many, with the demise of ABIT, DFI has become the undisputed king of enthusiast
motherboards. DFI boards typically overclock well, offer nifty
features and assertive style. The “LANParty” moniker used for their
current desktop boards perhaps most aptly applies to the LANParty JR 790GX-M3H5.
It is a mATX motherboard utilizing the AMD 790GX chipset, so it can be run without
a graphics card, but it also sports two full-sized PCI Express slots to utilize
dual graphics cards in CrossFire. Gamers who lug their systems frequently to
LAN parties would most appreciate the promise of a small, yet potent gaming
system. The high level
of customization the board provides may also be a boon for those interested
in silent computing.

The included cables are bright yellow and UV reflective, and the IDE cable
is rounded. Also included are a CrossFire bridge and the DFI equivalent of Asus’
Q-Connector kit which eases the task of wiring the front panel and USB headers.

PHYSICAL DETAILS & LAYOUT

A board’s layout is important in several regards. The positioning of components
can dictate compatibility with other products (third party heatsinks mainly)
and also ease of installation. Poorly placed power connectors can also disrupt
airflow and make the system more thermally challenging.

BIOS

For enthusiasts, the options available within the BIOS can make
a board good or great. The ability to manipulate frequencies, voltages,
and fan control settings vary depending on the hardware and the amount of
trust placed in the user’s hands by the manufacturer.

The BIOS allows for plenty of voltage and frequency modification
to satisfy overclockers. The CPU voltage can also be decreased by up to 0.800V
and undervolting can be used with Cool’n’Quiet enabled meaning an undervolt
can be applied to both the idle and load voltage. The fan control also looks
promising — there minimum and maximum temperatures can be used to adjust
the fan behavior of three different fans.

TEST METHODOLOGY

Test Setup:

• AMD
  Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition processor – 2.8GHz, 45nm, 95W
• Xigmatek HDT-SD964
  CPU cooler
• Corsair
  Dominator memory 2x1GB, DDR3-1600 @ 1333MHz, 9-9-9-24
• Western Digital Scorpio
  Blue notebook hard drive – 500 GB, 5400RPM, 8MB cache
• Asus
  BC-1205PT Blu-ray drive – SATA
• Seasonic
  SS-400ET ATX power supply
• Microsoft
  Windows Vista SP1 operating system – Home Premium, 32-bit
• ATI
  Catalyst 9.6 graphics driver

Measurement and Analysis Tools

• CPU-Z
  to monitor CPU frequency and voltage.
• CPUBurn
  K7
  processor stress software.
• Prime95
  processor stress software.
• FurMark
  stability test to stress the integrated GPU.
• Cyberlink
  PowerDVD to play video.
• SpeedFan
  to monitor temperature and fan speeds.
• Seasonic
  Power Angel AC power meter, used to measure the power consumption
  of the system.
• Custom-built, four-channel variable DC power supply, used to regulate
  the CPU fan speed.

Our main test procedure is designed to determine the overall system power consumption
at various states (measured using a Seasonic Power Angel). To stress CPUs we
use either Prime95 (large FFTs setting) or CPUBurn K7 depending on which produces
higher system power consumption. To stress the IGP, we use FurMark, an OpenGL
benchmarking and stability testing utility. Power consumption during playback
of high definition video is also recorded.

Cool’n’Quiet was enabled (unless otherwise noted). The following features/services
were disabled during testing to prevent spikes in CPU/HDD usage that are typical
of fresh Vista installations:

• Windows Sidebar
• Indexing
• Superfetch

Video Test Suite

1080p | 24fps | ~10mbps

H.264: Rush Hour 3 Trailer 1 is a H.264 encoded clip inside an Apple Quicktime container.

 

1080p | 24fps | ~8mbps

WMV-HD: Coral Reef Adventure Trailer is encoded in VC-1 using the WMV3 codec commonly recognized by the “WMV-HD” moniker.

 

1080p | 24fps | ~19mbps

VC-1: Drag Race is a recording of a scene from network television re-encoded with TMPGEnc using the WVC1 codec, a more demanding VC-1 codec.

 

1080p | 24fps | ~33mbps

Blu-ray: Disturbia is a short section of the Blu-ray version of Disturbia, the motion picture, played directly off the Blu-ray disc. It is encoded with H.264/AVC.

TEST RESULTS

Our test system features a Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition and a Xigmatek HDT
CPU cooler with its fan connected to a variable DC fan controller so the fan’s
power draw does not come into play. The rest of the system consists of two sticks
of Corsair Dominator DDR3 memory running at 1333MHz (9-9-9-24) in dual channel,
an Asus Blu-ray drive, a 5400RPM notebook hard drive and an OEM Seasonic 400W
power supply. 128MB of system memory was assigned to the IGP in addition to
the included SidePort memory.

Power Consumption

Compared to the M4A78T-E,
an Asus ATX motherboard using the same chipset 790GX chipset, the 790GX-M3H5
uses the same amount of power when idle, and marginally more (2~4W) during video playback.
When the CPU and/or IGP were put on full load though, the DFI board used 10-14W
more power.

Cooling

Lower cost boards ship with simple heatsinks on the Northbridge and Southbridge
while those targeted at enthusiasts typically have large heatpipe coolers and
heatsinks on the voltage regulation modules near the CPU socket. A well-cooled
motherboard can deliver better power efficiency and stability.

The 790GX-M3H5 ran hotter across the board than the Asus M4A78T-E. While the Northbridge heatsink
measured only 1°C higher than the M4A78T-E, the Southbridge cooler was 10°C
higher and the VRM heatsink ran 17°C hotter. The Northbridge and VRM heatsink
temperatures were close due to the heatpipe distributing the heat between them. Combined,
they ran hotter than on the Asus, due probably to the VRM heatsink’s tightly spaced fins and the Northbridge
heatsink’s small size. Typically as temperature increases, electrical
components become less efficient — this could account for the 790GX-M3H5’s
higher power consumption. (Editor’s Note: Other factors such as case airflow in the system can have significant effects on all of these temperatures.)

Fan Control

To test the board’s fan control, we connected the CPU fan to a manual fan speed
controller so we could slow it down to induce higher CPU temperatures during
load. A Scythe DFS922512M-PWM (200 to 2500 RPM) fan was connected to the CPU
fan header. In the BIOS, “CPU Fan Turn Off” was set to 25C, “CPU
Fan Fully On” to 50C and “Shutdown Temperature” to 80C.

When the CPU temperature was in between the Off/Full On temperatures, the CPU
fan speed stayed fairly slow — it increased from 200 RPM at 25°C to
only 600 RPM at 50°C. Once the “Fully On” temperature was reached,
the fan speed increased almost linearly with the CPU temperature, but did not
hit the fan’s maximum speed until 75°C. At 78°C, the system shutdown.
If anything we would say the board’s fan control reacts too slowly as it did
not reach maximum speed until the Shutdown temperature was almost reached. The
“Fully On” setting acts as the trigger temperature and we suggest
you set this fairly low.

Also it should be noted that the each fan header is tied to a different temperature.
Of the two auxiliary fans that can be controlled, one is tied to the System
temperature, while the other reacts to the Chipset temperature.

SpeedFan Support

For Windows users, SpeedFan is our application of choice for fan control. It
can be configured to raise or lower multiple fan speeds to designated limits
when any specified temperature threshold is breached.

SpeedFan reported the fan speeds of three of the six onboard fan headers as
well as the CPU, System and Chipset temperatures (correlated to DFI’s Smart
Guardian utility). Through thermal testing we concluded that the System and
Chipset temperatures refer to the Northbridge and Southbridge. One of the temperature
sensors could not be identified — it stayed between 24C and 26C throughout
testing.

SpeedFan can control the CPU fan header (only if a PWM fan is connected) and
the System and 3rd fan headers which are the two at the very bottom of the board,
close to the onboard power/reset switches. To enable full fan control, select
the “IT8712F-J” chip in the Advanced tab of the Configuration menu
and set all the PWM modes to “Software Controlled.”

Smart Guardian

DFI’s Smart Guardian utility provides extra information including detailed
voltage readings.

Smart Guardian also lets you tweak the board’s automatic fan control to suit
your inidividual preferences.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The LANParty JR 790GX-M3H5 is a classic example of what DFI is all about.
Everything about the board caters to enthusiasts, primarily those interested
in overclocking. Luckily, most of these features also appeal to those looking to
build small, quiet PCs as well. DFI’s BIOS effectively gives users free reign
to attempt high overclocks, but also ultra low undervolts. The board has a whopping
six fan headers, three of which can be controlled and customized in the BIOS,
using DFI’s own Smart Guardian utility, or with our own personal favorite application,
SpeedFan. The board also has temperature sensors for the Northbridge and Southbridge
chips so users can keep an eye out on the thermal conditions at two different
spots. Most motherboards have a single “System” or “Motherboard”
sensor but it often doesn’t correlate to a specific location or chip on the
PCB. The diagnostic LED makes it easy to diagnose problems when they arise and
the onboard power/reset switches are a nice touch — the level of consideration
DFI put into the board’s usability is difficult to match.

The board isn’t the most efficient — the 790GX-M3H5 used 10-14W more when
the CPU/IGP were stressed compared to the Asus
M4A78T-E. This is probably related to the high temperatures we recorded
on the board’s various heatsinks. The Northbridge’s awkward location near the
corner of the CPU socket may also cause problems for some third party heatsinks,
though all the big tower coolers will fit without difficulty. Cooling will be
more challenging with two graphics cards in CrossFire mode, especially if the cards used are
of the dual-slot variety, as only one slot separates the two PCIe X16 slots. Needless to say, such a configuration running in a
mATX case will be difficult to run quietly.

at US$140~$150, the 790GX-M3H5 is one of the most expensive AM3 boards in the North American
market and it lacks a few features (like eSATA and FireWire) that are present on some
less expensive models. In reality, it is the only mATX AM3 board in wide distribution,
and all the extra touches make it a real treat to use.

Our thanks to DFI
for the motherboard sample.

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