AMD 790GX User manual

USER'S MANUAL
Of
AMD 790GX & AMD SB750
Based
M/B For Socket AM2+/ AM3 Quad Core
AMD Processor
NO. G03-HA08CB-F
Rev
： 1.0
Release date: March, 2009
Trademark:
* Specifications and information contained in this documentation are furnished for information use only, and are
subject to change at any time without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by manufacturer.

ii
Environmental Protection Announcement
Do not dispose this electronic device into the trash while discarding. To minimize pollution
and ensure environment protection of mother earth, please recycle.

USER’S NOTICE......................................................................................................... iv
MANUAL REVISION INFORMATION......................................................................... iv
COOLING SOLUTIONS .............................................................................................. iv
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION OF AMD 790GX MOTHERBOARDS
1-1 FEATURES OF MOTHERBOARD..............................................................................1
1-1.1 SPECIAL FEATURES OF MOTHERBOARD ...............................................2
1-2 SPECIFICATION .........................................................................................................3
1-3 PERFORMANCE LIST ................................................................................................5
1-4 LAYOUT DIAGRAM ....................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 2 HARDWARE INSTALLATION
2-1 HARDWARE INSTALLATION STEPS .......................................................................9
2-2 CHECKING MOTHERBOARD'S JUMPER SETTING................................................9
2-3 INSTALL CPU .............................................................................................................10
2-3-1 GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................10
2-3-2 ABOUT AMD ATHLON64 Socket AM2 CPU SOCKET...............................11
2-4 INSTALL MEMORY.....................................................................................................12
2-5 EXPANSION CARDS ..................................................................................................13
2-5-1 PROCEDURE FOR EXPANSION CARD INSTALLATION ..........................13
2-5-2 ASSIGNING IRQS FOR EXPANSION CARD...............................................13
2-5-3 PCI-EXPRESS SLOT ....................................................................................14
2-6 CONNECTORS, HEADERS ......................................................................................14
2-6-1 CONNECTORS..............................................................................................14
2-6-2 HEADERS......................................................................................................18
2-7 STARTING UP YOUR COMPUTER ...........................................................................21
CHAPTER 3 INTRODUCING BIOS
3-1 ENTERING SETUP .....................................................................................................22
3-2 GETTING HELP ..........................................................................................................22
3-3 THE MAIN MENU ........................................................................................................23
3-4 STANDARD BIOS FEATURES ..................................................................................24
3-5 ADVANCED BIOS FEATURES ..................................................................................25
3-5-1 CPU CONFIGURATION……………………………………………………………..26
3-6 ADVANCED CHIPSET FEATURES ...........................................................................27
3-6-1 MEMORY CONFIGURATION ....................................................................27
3-6-2 INTERNAL GRAPHICS CONFIGURATION ..............................................29
3-6-3 PCI EXPRESS CONFIGURATION ............................................................29
3-7 INTEGRATED PERIPHERALS...................................................................................30
3-7-1 SUPER IO DEVICE ......................................................................................30
3-7-2 ONCHIP IDE FUNTION................................................................................31
3-7-3 ONCHIP PCI DEVICE ..................................................................................31
3-8 POWER MANAGEMENT SETUP ...............................................................................32
3-9 MISCELLANEOUS CONTROL..................................................................................32
3-10 PC HEALTH STATUS ...............................................................................................33
3-10-1 SMART FAN CONFIGURATION...................................................................34
3-11 THERMAL THROTTLING OPTIONS ........................................................................35
3-12 POWER USER OVERCLOCK SETTING ..................................................................35
3-13 PASSWORD SETTINGS .........................................................................................36
3-13 LOAD OPTIMISED/ FAIL-SAFE DEFAULTS ...........................................................37
3-15 SAVE CHANGES ANS EXIT/DISCARD CHANGES AND EXIT...............................37
CHAPTER 4 DRIVER & FREE PROGRAM INSTALLATION
MAGIC INSTALL SUPPORTS WINDOWS 9X/ME/NT4.0/2000/XP/VISTA.........................38
4-1 ATI INSTALL ATI DRIVER PACK .....................................................................38
4-2 SOUND INSTALL AL888 HD AUDIO CODEC DRIVER........................................40
4-3 LAN INSTALL LAN………………………………………………………………………41
4-4 RAID INSTALL ATI SATA DRIVER AND UTILITY ..............................................41
4-5 NORTON INSTALL NORTON 2009 ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM.........................42
4-6 PC-HEALTH INSTALL MYGUARD HARDWARE MONITOR UTILITY .................42
4-7 FUSION DOWNLOAD FUSION DRIVERS AND TOOLS………………………………42
4-8 HDMI INSTALL HDMI AUDIO DRIVERS…………………………………………………..42
4-9 OVERCLOCK INSTALL OVERVLOK DRIVE UTILITY ............................................43
4-10 HOW TO UPDATE BIOS.............................................................................................44
4-11 AMD PLATFORM RAID FUNCTION INSTALLATION...............................................45
4-12 PRO MAGIC PLUS FUNCTION INTRODUCTION………………………………………48
APPENDIX I .............. ...........................................................................................................51
APPENDIX II POST BIOS BEEP CODE………………………………………………………...54
TABLE OF CONTENT

ii
Safety Environmental Instruction
zAvoid the dusty, humidity and temperature extremes. Do not place the product in any
area where it may become wet.
z0 to 40 centigrade is the suitable temperature. (The figure comes from the request of
the main chipset)
zGenerally speaking, dramatic changes in temperature may lead to contact malfunction
and crackles due to constant thermal expansion and contraction from the welding
spots’ that connect components and PCB. Computer should go through an adaptive
phase before it boots when it is moved from a cold environment to a warmer one to
avoid condensation phenomenon. These water drops attached on PCB or the surface
of the components can bring about phenomena as minor as computer instability
resulted from corrosion and oxidation from components and PCB or as major as short
circuit that can burn the components. Suggest starting the computer until the
temperature goes up.
zThe increasing temperature of the capacitor may decrease the life of computer. Using
the close case may decrease the life of other device because the higher temperature in
the inner of the case.
zAttention to the heat sink when you over-clocking. The higher temperature may
decrease the life of the device and burned the capacitor.

iii
USER’S NOTICE
COPYRIGHT OF THIS MANUAL BELONGS TO THE MANUFACTURER. NO PART OF THIS MANUAL,
INCLUDING THE PRODUCTS AND SOFTWARE DESCRIBED IN IT MAY BE REPRODUCED,
TRANSMITTED OR TRANSLATED INTO ANY LANGUAGE IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS
WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE MANUFACTURER.
THIS MANUAL CONTAINS ALL INFORMATION REQUIRED TO USE AMD 790GX MOTHERBOARD AND
WE DO ASSURE THIS MANUAL MEETS USER’S REQUIREMENT BUT WILL CHANGE, CORRECT ANY
TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. MANUFACTURER PROVIDES THIS MANUAL “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY
OF ANY KIND, AND WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTIAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMANGES FOR LOSS OF PROFIT, LOSS OF BUSINESS,
LOSS OF USE OF DATA, INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS AND THE LIKE).
PRODUCTS AND CORPORATE NAMES APPEARING IN THIS MANUAL MAY OR MAY NOT BE
REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OR COPYRIGHTS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE COMPANIES, AND THEY
ARE USED ONLY FOR IDENTIFICATION OR EXPLANATION AND TO THE OWNER’S BENEFIT,
WITHOUT INTENT TO INFRINGE.
Manual Revision Information
Reversion Revision History Date
1.0 First Edition March, 2009
Item Checklist
5AMD790GX Platform Processor Chipset based motherboard
5CD for Motherboard Utilities
5User’s Manual
58 in 1 Cable Package
5I/O Back Panel Shield
5Switch Card
AMD K10 Processor Family
Cooling Solutions
As processor technology pushes to faster speeds and higher performance with increasing operation
clock, thermal management becomes increasingly crucial while building computer systems.
Maintaining the proper computing environment without thermal increasing is the key to reliable, stable,
and 24 hours system operation. The overall goal is keeping the processor below its specified
maximum case temperature. Heatsinks induce improved processor heat dissipation through
increasing surface area and concentrated airflow from attached active cooling fans. In addition,
interface materials allow effective transfers of heat from the processor to the heatsink. For optimum
heat transfer, AMD recommends the use of thermal grease and mounting clips to attach the
heatsink to the processor.
Please refer to the website for collection of heatsinks evaluated and recommended for Socket
AM2+ processors by AMD. In addition, this collection is not intended to be a comprehensive listing
of all heatsinks that support Socket-AM2+ processors.

1
Chapter 1
Introduction of AMD790GX Motherboards
1-1 Features of motherboard
The AMD790GX chipset motherboard series are based on the latest AMD790GX
Chipset and the SB750 chipset which supports the innovative AMD Phenom™ II X3
processor and AMD Phenom™ II X 4 processors. With an integrated low-latency
high-bandwidth DDRIII memory controller and a highly-scalable Hyper Transport
technology-based system bus up to HT 3.0. AMD790GX Platform Processor Chipset
motherboard series deliver the outstanding system performance and professional
desktop platform solution.
The AMD790GX Series motherboards support new generation Socket AM3
processors with an integrated DDRII memory controller for dual channel DDRII400/
DDRII533 /DDRII667 /DDRII800/DDRII 1066 DDRII modules up to 4GB, and DDRIII
memory controller for dual channel DDRIII 1066/DDRIII 1333 modules up to 8GB; also
provide DDRIII 128Mb GPU Memory. The motherboard is embedded with SB750
chipset of providing 1 ULTRA ATA 133 connector and Serial ATA2 with RAID 0, 1,
10,5, JBOD functions which support up to one IDE hard disk drive devices and six
Serial ATA2 devices to accelerate hard disk drives and guarantee the data security
without failure in advanced computing performance.
The AMD790GX motherboards provide 10/100/1000 LAN function with RTL8111CVC
PCI-E Gigabit LAN which supports 10/100/1000Mbps data transfer rate. And the
embedded 8-channel HD Audio CODEC is fully compatible with Sound Blaster Pro
standards that offer you with the home cinema quality and satisfying software
compatibility.
The AMD790GX Series motherboards deliver outstanding value and performance for
gamers, with a true bandwidth design for Multi-GPU configurations. This high
bandwidth architecture in the AMD 790GX chipset is with the flexibility for single or
dual card or three cards configurations. The AMD 790GX chipset provide 2 x16 by 8-
lane PCI Express 2.0 slots to support simultaneous operation of graphics cards for
astonishing performance with brilliant and intense 3D graphics.
AMD790GX Series motherboard series offer two PCI-Express2.0x16 by 8-lane
graphics slots that deliver up to 4Gbyte/sec data transfer rate at each relative direction.
When PE4 installed switch card, the PE1 will doubled its bandwidth. Two PCI Express
x1 I/O slot offers 1024 Mbyte/sec concurrently, over 7 times more bandwidth than PCI
at 133Mbye/sec, tackling the most demanding multimedia tasks nowadays. The
AMD790GX motherboards also carry two 32-bit PCI slot guarantee the rich
connectivity for the I/O peripheral devices. This motherboard support Hybrid
CrossFire function, the VGA Card on PE1 or PE4 will activate a Hybrid CrossFire with
the onboard VGA Card when select sideport function in BIOS, the performance will be
increased 15% to 75%.
Embedded USB controllers as well as capability of expanding to 12 of USB2.0
functional ports delivering 480Mb/s bandwidth of rich connectivity, these

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motherboards meet the future USB demands which are also equipped with hardware
monitor function on system to monitor and protect your system and maintain your
non-stop business computing.
Some special features--- CPU Thermal Throttling/ CPU Vcore 7-shift / CPU Smart Fan
/OC-CON / Debug Port/DIY Clear / Power On Button/ Reset Button in this motherboard
are designed for power user to use the over-clocking function in more flexible ways.
But please be caution that the over-clocking maybe causes the fails in system
reliabilities. This motherboard provides the guaranteed performance and meets the
demands of the next generation computing. But if you insist to gain more system
performance with variety possibilities of the components you choose, please be
careful and make sure to read the detailed descriptions of these value added product
features, please get them in the coming section.
1-1.1 Special Features of Motherboard
CPU Thermal Throttling Technology---(The CPU Overheat Protection Technology)
To prevent the increasing heat from damage of CPU or accidental shutdown while at
high workload, the CPU Thermal Throttling Technology will force CPU to enter
partially idle mode from 87.5% to 12.5% according to preset CPU operating
temperature in BIOS (from 40 to 90 ). When the system senses the CPU℃℃
operating temperature reaching the preset value, the CPU operating bandwidth will be
decreased to the preset idle percentage to cool down the processor. When at
throttling mode the beeper sound can be optionally selected to indicate it is in working.
(For detail operating please read Section 3-11 Bi-turbo Configuration)
CPU Smart Fan---( The Noise Management System )
It’s never been a good idea to gain the performance of your system by sacrificing its
acoustics. CPU Smart Fan Noise Management System is the answer to control the
noise level needed for now-a-day’s high performance computing system. The system
will automatically increase the fan speed when CPU operating loading is high, after
the CPU is in normal operating condition, the system will low down the fan speed for
the silent operating environment. The system can provide the much longer life cycle
for both CPU and the system fans for game use and business requirements.
CPU Vcore 7-Shift--- (Shift to Higher Performance)
The CPU voltage can be adjusted up by 31 steps for the precisely over-clocking of
extra demanding computing performance.
OC-CON ---（High-polymer Solid Electrolysis Aluminum Capacitors）
The working temperature is from 55 degrees Centigrade below zero to 125 degrees
Centigrade, OC-CON capacitors possess superior physical characteristics that can be
while reducing the working temperature between 20 degrees Centigrade each time,
intact extension 10 times of effective product operation lives, at not rising degrees
Centigrade of working temperatures each time a relative one, life of product decline
10% only too.
DIY Clear…
The CMOS button is to facilitate the clear CMOS process for power user overclocking
function. The user can easily clear or restore CMOS setting by pressing the button
without tacking trouble to remove the case and locate the jumper for clear CMOS.

3
Power On Button…
You can easily start the computer by pressing down this button for a few seconds,
without troubling yourself to locate the front panel jumpers to find the Power on
jumper.
Reset Button..:
You can easily restart the computer by pressing down this button for a few seconds,
without troubling yourself to locate the front panel jumpers to find the reset jumper.
Debug Port --- ( The Professional Hardware Diagnosis System )
Being bugged of abnormal system failure through the tossed and turned nights no
more, the embedded Hardware Debug Port offers you the real-time visual system
healthy for the demanding usage of computing. No more bugging by unknown system
failure and no more time wasted in the first moment of 24-hour nonstop ping business
computing, the embedded Debug Port will turn you into a well training hardware
professional with the seeing system situation. (The Post Code please refer to
appendix)

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1-2 Specification
Spec Description
Design zATX form factor 4 layers PCB size:30.5cm x24.5cm
Chipset zAMD790GX North Bridge Chipset
zAMD SB750 South Bridge Chipset
CPU Socket AM3
zSupport 64bit AMD Athlon64 940-Pin package utilizes Flip-Chip Pin
Grid Array package processor
zSupport for future AMD Athlon64 940-pin Dual –Core Athlon 64x2
processor, Athlon 64 & Sempron Processors with HTT Frequency
1GHz and the latest AMD Phenom™ FX, quad core AMD Phenom™
processors with HT 3.0.
zReady for AM3 CPU
Memory Socket
z240-pin DDRII Module socket x 2
z240-pin DDRIII Module socket x4
zSupport 2pcs DDRII533/DDRII667/DDRII800/DDRII1066 Modules
Expandable to 4GB
zSupport 4pcs DDRIII 1066/DDRIII 1333 Modules Expandable to 8GB
zDual channel supported
GPU Memory zDDRIII 128Mb GPU Memory
Expansion Slot
z2pcs PCI-Express x16 by 8-lane
z2pcs PCI-Express x1 slot
z32-bit PCI slot x 2pcs
Integrate IDE and
Serial ATA2 RAID
zOne IDE controllers support PCI Bus Mastering, ATA PIO/DMA and
the ULTRA DMA 33/66/100/133 functions that deliver the data
transfer rate up to 133 MB/s for 2 IDE Devices.
z6 Serial ATA2 ports providing 300 MB/sec data transfer rate with
RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 functions
Gigabit LAN
zIntegrated RTL8111CVC PCI-E 10 / 100 / 1000 LAN.
zSupport Fast Ethernet LAN function of providing 10Mb/100Mb/1000
Mb/s data transfer rate
8 CH-Audio
zRealtek ALC888 8-channel HD Audio Codec integrated
zSupport 8-channel 3D surround & Positioning Audio
zAudio driver and utility included
BIOS zAMI 8MB DIP Flash ROM BIOS
Multi I/O
zPS/2 keyboard and PS/2 mouse connectors
zCoaxial and Optical SPDIF_OUT connector
zHDMI Connector / DVI Connector / VGA Connector
zUSB2.0 port x 4 and headers x 4
zESATA Connector x1
zRJ-45 Connector x1
zAudio connector x1 (8CH Audio)
zFloppy disk drive connector x1 /Hard Disk Drive Connector x1
zSerial port header x1
zHDMI-SPDIF header x1
zIR header x1

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1-3 Performance List
The following performance data list is the testing result of some popular benchmark
testing programs. These data are just referred by users, and there is no responsibility
for different testing data values gotten by users (the different Hardware & Software
configuration will result in different benchmark testing results.)
Performance Test Report
CPU: 4600+
DRAM: DDR2 667 2G
VGA Card: onboard
Hard Disk Driver: Maxtor 60G IDE
BIOS: T02
OS: winxp+sp3 (en)
AMD 790GX
3D Mark 2001SE 10945
3D Mark 2003 3879
3D Mark 2005 2335
AQUAMRK3 35694
PCMark2005
System / CPU / Memory 4359/5518/3684
Graph / HDD 2723/2921
Content Creation Winstone 2004 35
Winbench 99 V2.0:
Business /Hi-end Disk Winmark99 16500
SYSMark 2004: SISMark Rating(Internet Content Creation / Office Productivity )
SYSMark 2004 215
3D Creation/2D Creation 256/316
Web publication 269
Communication/Document Creation 132/207
DATA Analysis 167
SISOFT Sandra 2009 : 1.CPU Arithmetic Benchmark 2.CPU Multi-Media Benchmark 3.Memory bandwidth
Benchmark
DHRYSTON ALU MIPS 17286
WHETSTONE ISSE3 FLOPS 14699
Multi-Media int x8 asse2 Mpixel/s 4229/4188
Multi-Media float x4 isse2 Mpixel/s 44959/49026
UT2003 Benchmark (flyby/botmatch) 161.024597/69.832047
Quake3 DEMO1 /DEMO2 FPS 79.7
Super Pi (1M) Second 38.500S
CPUZ System / CPU Clock 4600+ 2400/112/200/1000