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Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD Motherboard
BIOS and Overclocking
I wouldn't say that the BIOS options are finely grained, but they do tweak settings for all possible hardware functions. This BIOS fits in well with the rest of the motherboard: all possible options are included. It's as well-featured as any enthusiast or professional BIOS, and you can manually set the values for CPU, memory, chipset, onboard video, and even discrete video, for overclocking not just the processor, but everything else along with it. The nice thing is that there are no BIOS-imposed limits on the values; the upper limits on the CPU go as high as 500MHz HTT, with voltages up to 1.55V, which, in all probability, exceeds the capacities of any AM2 processor. I was able to push a 3GHz 6000+ to 3.45GHz, hitting the same overclock ceiling on this modest Gigabyte board as on a DFI Lanparty behemoth. The only catch was that the motherboard would not boot with memory running at values greater than DDR2-1066. Another nice touch was being able to manually set the onboard video out to broadcast standards other than NTSC. Every aspect of the BIOS that can be tweaked, er… can be.
Overclocking
(Show All Graphs)
200
200
0
MHz
350
235
n/a
0
MHz
350
266
n/a
0
MHz
350
Conclusion 690 surprised everyone and, at a time when Intel is all out of bubble gum, it's this chipset (and the motherboards that use them) that's keeping AMD competitive. And the GA-MA69GM-S2H is the best 690 board yet. It's overflowing with connectivity, it's unmatched for performance, and it goes beyond the call. Because of Gigabyte's GA-MA69GM-S2H, there's a higher bar for micro-ATX motherboards. It's perfect for the small, quiet workstation. It's perfect for the home theater. It's perfect for the serious gaming rig. So, then, is it perfect? 'Course not. AMDs 690 is a chipset between chipsets, never mind the fact that it is, hands down, the fastest AM2 chipset in production. No matter how good it is, pretty soon it's going to seem dated. Right now, on the other hand, this is the best of the best. Gigabyte has no choice but to try hard to make everything else live up to this kind of product, and everyone else is going to have to try harder to compete against them. The connectivity, the performance, the features...everything about the GA-MA69GM-S2H has that "nice touch" quality to it. When that happens, components get awards. I'm going to go one further with this motherboard; I'm going to use one in my next HTPC, because it's the one. Hat's off.  Pros Incredible all-around performance Every video-out option included Every BIOS option is accounted for Unobtrusive passive cooling Excellent layout Inexpensive Compact--it's micro-ATX Cons Micro-ATX isn't for everybody Last of the great 690 motherboards
Page 1: Introduction, Board Layout & Bundle
Page 2: System Configuration & Benchmarks Page 3: Overclocking & Conclusion 
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