Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H

Rob Williams · 10-03-2007, 01:46 AM

Gigabyte's new GA-MA69GM-S2H board has HTPC written all over it, with no fewer than six possible video output types, optical Toslink output, and AMD's 690G chipset with Radeon X1250 IGP. In our review, we find more than a few reasons to recommend it to anyone who’s considering a new HTPC.

You can read the full review here and discuss it here!

10-04-2007, 06:06 PM

Gigabyte's new GA-MA69GM-S2H board has lots of options for Cpu and DDr voltage adjustments if you hit Cont F1 the bios will open a whole new set of options

Rory Buszka · 10-04-2007, 09:18 PM

We're looking into this. We used the same methods HardOCP used, but with one of the new AMD Athlon BE-2300 CPUs (65nm, 45W TDP), and we can't see any of these voltage options. We suspect it's because of the CPU being used - the voltage options may not be available for CPUs that request a voltage that's outside a certain range. Over the weekend we'll test the board with a different CPU and see what we can find out. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Rob Williams · 10-04-2007, 09:47 PM

This isn't your fault, heh, it's mine, I admit it. I read over those sections without a second thought, but I knew full-well of the quirky BIOS, because I had that same problem with the first Gigabyte board I've reviewed.

I really need to stop editing reviews in the middle of the night. Sorry all.

Rory Buszka · 10-06-2007, 12:01 AM

Ok, so we figured out what's going on: None of the official Gigabyte BIOS releases available from their web site contain the voltage adjustments, but there is a modified BIOS (based on revision F3A) floating around that adds that functionality. Not like it will matter, however - we were only able to overclock our 1.9GHz BE-2300 to 2.1 GHz on the board. It's not an overclocker's board - it's designed for home theater PCs, not overclocked enthusiast machines. It's easy to see why Gigabyte decided to forego the inclusion of voltage modifications. If you have a CPU with an unlocked multiplier (like an Athlon FX or the Black Edition 5000+), you're welcome to try overclocking, but we by no means guarantee you'll get good results.

10-08-2007, 10:13 AM

I found another review that projects a totally different kind of review on this motherboard. They seem to think this board comes close to walking on water. I personally have built a system with a 65mm dual core 4000 chip and 2 gigs of Crucial Ballistix 6400 ddr and was able to get to 2.85. Not bad but it in no way will part the waters. By the way I am using a Zallman 9700 cooler too. Setting the voltages is by no means an easy process.

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==

MakubeX · 10-09-2007, 01:20 AM

Very nice review. This is one sweet HTPC board. Love that it has on-board HDMI.

10-09-2007, 10:02 AM

The stock fan that came with my CPU
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor 2.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor
Dosent fit the board.

Thanks
[email protected]

10-26-2007, 06:25 PM

I don't get it - this is obviously an HTPC motherboard... why woukdn't you test it playing Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs as well as other media like mkv h.264 video files?

I believe that the target audience for this board would be mainly interested in that.. .no gamer is going to buy this board!

11-21-2007, 11:25 AM

Yeah I totally agree with that - Nobody wants to buy this for gaming but it seems everyone that reviews these HDPC mATX boards wants to test them with demanding games!?

I just bought this board with an AMD Athlon 64 LE-1600 which is the new single core version of the 4200+ but uses both lots of cache to achieve 1mb and I'm finding it struggling to play 1080p mkv's, it's fine with 720p though. I also bought a HDDVD drive but am yet to test it but assume if it struggles with mkv's it's gonna be worse with raw HDDVD.

Saying that the board is going back due to USB ports not always detecting anything including my keyboard which makes it fail to boot! AND when playing anything fullscreen I get some sort of interference from the hard drive causing streaking across the screen

So, hopefully the fact that it struggles to play 1080p is due to a faulty board.

Also a good reason for wanting voltage control is because of RAM. I'm using Corsair XMS and that's recommended to be at 2.1v but goes to 1.8v by default.

11-21-2007, 11:26 AM

I mean HTPC

01-10-2008, 02:07 PM

The review is completely useless. Give us some statistics on dropped frames while playing back HD content. I don't want to but this for gaming, I would want to buy it based on movie playback performance. Why test a pickup truck's maximum speed when you buy it for torque and hauling performance?

Merlin · 01-10-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The review is completely useless. Give us some statistics on dropped frames while playing back HD content. I don't want to but this for gaming, I would want to buy it based on movie playback performance. Why test a pickup truck's maximum speed when you buy it for torque and hauling performance?

First off, if I understand your grammar.
This is a good part of the performance and tells you a lot of things if YOU know computers, look at the whole picture before you put forth your grammar. And not everyone used their computer for gaming .....duh

( may not understand this )....anyway

Merlin

10-03-2007, 01:46 AM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H Gigabyte's new GA-MA69GM-S2H board has HTPC written all over it, with no fewer than six possible video output types, optical Toslink output, and AMD's 690G chipset with Radeon X1250 IGP. In our review, we find more than a few reasons to recommend it to anyone who’s considering a new HTPC. You can read the full review here and discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-04-2007, 06:06 PM	#2
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Just Fred Gigabyte's new GA-MA69GM-S2H board has lots of options for Cpu and DDr voltage adjustments if you hit Cont F1 the bios will open a whole new set of options

10-04-2007, 09:18 PM	#3
Rory Buszka Super Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Posts: 388	We're looking into this. We used the same methods HardOCP used, but with one of the new AMD Athlon BE-2300 CPUs (65nm, 45W TDP), and we can't see any of these voltage options. We suspect it's because of the CPU being used - the voltage options may not be available for CPUs that request a voltage that's outside a certain range. Over the weekend we'll test the board with a different CPU and see what we can find out. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. __________________ Best Regards, Rory Buszka

10-04-2007, 09:47 PM	#4
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	This isn't your fault, heh, it's mine, I admit it. I read over those sections without a second thought, but I knew full-well of the quirky BIOS, because I had that same problem with the first Gigabyte board I've reviewed. I really need to stop editing reviews in the middle of the night. Sorry all. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-06-2007, 12:01 AM	#5
Rory Buszka Super Moderator Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Indianapolis, Indiana Posts: 388	Ok, so we figured out what's going on: None of the official Gigabyte BIOS releases available from their web site contain the voltage adjustments, but there is a modified BIOS (based on revision F3A) floating around that adds that functionality. Not like it will matter, however - we were only able to overclock our 1.9GHz BE-2300 to 2.1 GHz on the board. It's not an overclocker's board - it's designed for home theater PCs, not overclocked enthusiast machines. It's easy to see why Gigabyte decided to forego the inclusion of voltage modifications. If you have a CPU with an unlocked multiplier (like an Athlon FX or the Black Edition 5000+), you're welcome to try overclocking, but we by no means guarantee you'll get good results. __________________ Best Regards, Rory Buszka

10-08-2007, 10:13 AM	#6
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Just Fred I found another review that projects a totally different kind of review on this motherboard. They seem to think this board comes close to walking on water. I personally have built a system with a 65mm dual core 4000 chip and 2 gigs of Crucial Ballistix 6400 ddr and was able to get to 2.85. Not bad but it in no way will part the waters. By the way I am using a Zallman 9700 cooler too. Setting the voltages is by no means an easy process. http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==

10-09-2007, 01:20 AM	#7
MakubeX Partition Master Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 277	Very nice review. This is one sweet HTPC board. Love that it has on-board HDMI. __________________ HP LP2065 20.1" S-IPS LCD \| Lian Li PC-7077A case w/window \| Asus P5Q Deluxe \| Intel Q9650 4.2GHz - 1.33v 4GB G.Skill PI PC2-8800 \| Asus HD 4870X2 \| Ultra X3 1KW PSU \| X-Fi Fatal1ty w/ Front Panel\| Logitech Z-680 THX 5.1 Speakers EK Supreme \| EK FC-4870X2 block \| Enzotech SNBW-SLI \| Swiftech MCW30 \| DDC-2 w/ XSPC Top \| Laing D5 \| Thermochill PA120.3 \| Weapon Heatercore

10-09-2007, 10:02 AM	#8
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	What Cooling fan are you using in this review? The stock fan that came with my CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor 2.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor Dosent fit the board. Thanks [email protected]

10-26-2007, 06:25 PM	#9
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	I don't get it - this is obviously an HTPC motherboard... why woukdn't you test it playing Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs as well as other media like mkv h.264 video files? I believe that the target audience for this board would be mainly interested in that.. .no gamer is going to buy this board!

11-21-2007, 11:25 AM	#10
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	Yeah I totally agree with that - Nobody wants to buy this for gaming but it seems everyone that reviews these HDPC mATX boards wants to test them with demanding games!? I just bought this board with an AMD Athlon 64 LE-1600 which is the new single core version of the 4200+ but uses both lots of cache to achieve 1mb and I'm finding it struggling to play 1080p mkv's, it's fine with 720p though. I also bought a HDDVD drive but am yet to test it but assume if it struggles with mkv's it's gonna be worse with raw HDDVD. Saying that the board is going back due to USB ports not always detecting anything including my keyboard which makes it fail to boot! AND when playing anything fullscreen I get some sort of interference from the hard drive causing streaking across the screen So, hopefully the fact that it struggles to play 1080p is due to a faulty board. Also a good reason for wanting voltage control is because of RAM. I'm using Corsair XMS and that's recommended to be at 2.1v but goes to 1.8v by default.

11-21-2007, 11:26 AM	#11
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	I mean HTPC

01-10-2008, 02:07 PM	#12
Unregistered Guest Poster Posts: n/a	The review is completely useless. Give us some statistics on dropped frames while playing back HD content. I don't want to but this for gaming, I would want to buy it based on movie playback performance. Why test a pickup truck's maximum speed when you buy it for torque and hauling performance?

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