Introduction

The ECS A890GXM-A (AMD 890GX) motherboard

AMD's new 890GX chipset is out for what, merely two weeks ? This already will be the third AMD 890 based motherboard review. This time around from the good folks at ECS.

The AMD 890GX chipset, the first in the 800 series, with that G in GX for IGP, Integrated Graphics Product. A motherboard chipset that is based of the recently introduced AMD 785 chipset, it has been revised though and is now paired with the all new AMD SB850 Southbridge chip. Keywords for this chipset are more processor compatibility, better IGP performance, increased bandwidth for the new technologies, embedding a Gigabit Ethernet into the SB850 chip and what surprised us ... AMD has already added a SATA 6G controller into that SB850 chip ready for you to use.

Today we'll have a look at an offering from ECS, namely the A890GXM-A. The motherboard is once again a Black Edition series meaning better looks, better features and better quality components. What we are looking at is a sub 115 USD / 100 EUR product that offers more than a reference based product, yet a little less than the uber high-end gear out there.

The AMD 890GX based motherboard chipsets proved their strength and by all means are really fun to work and play around with. When you plant the two chips from AMD on a mainboard from ECS, they'll try to do some more stuff. It's the ECS Black series style - with a bucket load of features like integrated graphics, sub-D, DVI, HDMI and display port connectors, passive cooling, 8-channel sound, dual Giga Ethernet, Crossfire ready ... and pretty decent overclockabilty.
Have a look at what ECS offers, after which we'll quickly step into out reference AMD 890GX snippet, and then head deeper into the review.