AM3 Reference Diagram Disclosed

psyph3r writes "Chilehardware has released what appears to be a confidential image showing the future customer desktop AM3 reference boards for AMD and ATI. Here is an English site talking about this reference design image and the features it enables. 'The biggest improvement for this generation of chipsets is the audio and video capabilities integrated into the motherboard. The new features packed into these chipsets are beginning to look like standalone platforms. The RS780 supports DirectX 10 and has a UVD, which is similar to most High-end cards of today.'"

What I want from a motherboard...

[unfunk]

* No integrated Audio
* No Integrated Video

Is that really so hard? Integrated video is easy enough to avoid, but you just can't get a motherboard these days that doesn't have onboard audio. I'm sick of having to disable it whenever I get a new board, and the amount of space the jacks take up on the rear panel could be better used for more USB or Firewire ports.
I use an old Soundblaster Audigy for my sound needs, and it does everything I need. In hardware. Every time I buy a new motherboard, I test the onboard audio first, just to see if it's gotten any better than I last tried it.
So far, this card's lasted me four complete system overhauls, and at this rate, will last until a version of Windows comes out that where Creative don't release drivers for it.

Re:What I want from a motherboard...

[TheMeuge]

Agreed ... I still haven't found an onboard adapter better than my Live 5.1.

You mean like every single board that has audio based on the Via chipset that integrates the Envy24HT chip?

Live 5.1 is sonically one of the worst sound cards ever made. My 8-year-old Vortex2 from Aureal, is MUCH better... and the $20 Chaintech AV-710 absolutely blows it away.

Re:What I want from a motherboard...

[Aladrin]

It's simple: Adding onboard audio costs them almost nothing and gains them quite a few sales.

Re:What I want from a motherboard...

[unfunk]

...and on that note, I have a SB Vibra 128 that I bought for $20aud about six years ago that has vastly, [i]vastly[/i] superior MIDI sounds than the vile DLS crap that my Audigy (and all other modern cards) uses. While I was studying Music Composition at uni, I actually ran both cards specifically so I could use the MIDI soundset of the Vibra.

Re:What I want from a motherboard...

[GreatBunzinni]

Touché. In fact, I've upgraded a while ago and I bought a nice little asus M2NPV-MX motherboard. I've chosen that particular motherboard for three simple reasons: it was a socket AM2 motherboard, it's price was very reasonable (about 60 euros) and it had an NVIDIA integrated video card (NVIDIA GeForce 6150). I don't play demanding games (mainly openttd), the integrated audio is excellent and from time to time I tinker with opengl. In the end that particular hardware combination made it possible for me to buy a new computer with a dual core processor for less than 200 euros.

So exactly what's wrong with integrated audio/video? Absolutely nothing. At least that's what my wallet's opinion.

Will this have the new AMD DRM?

[doas777]

I heard that you should never use ATI with AMD, because they would be releasing a new hardware DRM, that will lock out your access to the framebuffer, as described here http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/28/14OPcurve_1.html [infoworld.com] does anyone have any idea if the AM3 contains such DRM?

Re:In other words, integrated

[Aladrin]

I agree totally... Except that conditions are a bit different. The improvements in graphics aren't as mind-blowing as they were 3+ years ago. I'm a graphics whore. I admit it. I'm one of those fools that buys $500 video cards.

But since the 7800s, things haven't been so urgent. The new cards aren't -that- much better than the old ones because games aren't pushing the limits as much. It used to be there were several games a year that required rigs that were insane. Now there's maybe 1 or 2. Most of the really fun games, the ones that focused on gameplay instead of maxing out a high-end system, just don't need that kind of power.

I keep looking at new cards, but really the only thing that draws me in is the 'silent' ones... I'm about sick of the noise. The extra power will be nice, but not necessary at all.