[H]ard|OCP

Navigation

• [H] Forums
• Archives
• Search
• [H] Folding

GIGABYTE GA-MA69GM-S2H

Don’t let size fool you. GIGABYTE’s latest AM2 based board, the GA-MA69GM-S2H, packs a wallop in its Micro ATX package. It easily stayed with or ahead of the rest of the AM2 crowd, and even managed to close the performance gap with the Intel Core2 based systems.

Introduction

GIGABYTE is well known throughout the world’s computer industry, with a proven track record for high performance and stable products. Gigabyte has surprised a lot of enthusiasts over the last year or so in that they have started to produce a truly great line of stable and highly overclockable motherboards in the Intel Core 2 Duo arena. Today we see them focus on another market entirely, but hope to see the same quality traits shine through. With their emerging popularity of enthusiast products, GIGABYTE has worked hard to change their product design focus in order to produce some of the best overclocking gear around. Their latest AM2 based motherboard exemplifies this trend very well.

The GA-MA69GM-S2H is among GIGABYTE newest offerings for the AMD based AM2 processors. The board uses the latest in AMD chipset design, the AMD 690G Northbridge chipset paired with the AMD SB600 Southbridge chipset. The AMD based chipsets support the following technologies: Athlon64 socket AM2 type processors, DDR2 style DRAM modules operating in Dual Channel mode at speeds up to 800MHz; and single card PCI Express based x16 graphics cards. The board itself is feature complete, only needing an Athlon64 AM2 style processor, DDR2 memory, drives, and a PSU for a fully operational system. The following components have been integrated in to the GA-MA69GM-S2H’s design: 1 ATA-133 IDE port and 4 SATA II ports (SATA only RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5 capable) on the AMD SB600 controller; 10 USB 2.0 capable ports (4 in rear panel, and 3 onboard headers supporting 2 ports each); 3 IEEE 1394 capable ports (1 in rear panel, and 2 onboard headers); a Realtek GigE Ethernet port in the rear panel; Realtek 8-channel HD audio codec featuring an S/PDIF optical output port; an integrated ATI Radeon x1250 graphics controller with VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports in the rear panel ; and PS/2 keyboard and mouse port support in the rear panel.

Main Specifications Overview:

Detailed Motherboard Specification List:

Packaging

GIGABYTE chose a simple box art design for the GA-MA69GM-S2H, featuring their S-series logo on the box front. The support board technologies, board name, and support CPUs are clearly shown as well. The following components are included in with the board: ATA-133 and floppy ribbon cables; SATA drive cables; the rear panel shield; a rear bracket with SVIDEO and component output video ports; and the normal complement of manuals and drivers discs, including separate driver CDs for Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Board Layout

GIGABYTE did a wonderful job with the GA-MA69GM-S2H’s layout and design. Even though it is a Micro ATX board, components are well spaced with good access room. The board itself does not have a revision number or serial number clearly marked on the board. The capacitors GIGABYTE chose to use come from the following manufacturers: United Chemi-Con (USA, Japan) - marked KZG; Sanyo (USA); and Nichicon (Japan).

While the area around the CPU socket appears to be tight, especially along the top portion, you should have no problems with cooler mounting except with the overly large coolers. The board itself uses the standard Athlon64 style hold down cage, mounted to the board via 4 mounting holes. The AMD 690G Northbridge chipset is located to the left of the CPU socket, covered by a small aluminum heat sink. The sink is held to the chipset via push pins on opposite sides of the chipset. The passive cooler does not interfere with cards placed in either the PCI-Express x4 or x16 slots due to its short stature. Directly above the chipset is the front panel audio header, with the TV output header to its lower right. The 4-pin CPU_FAN header is located just above the CPU socket, with the 4-pin ATX12V power connector to its upper right.

The onboard DDR2 memory slots are located directly below the CPU socket, oriented in a dual-colored 4-by-1 configuration. DIMMs must be placed in like colored slots in order to activated Dual Channel memory mode. The ATA-133 IDE port, floppy port, 24-pin ATX power connector, parallel port header, and chassis intrusion header (labeled C1) are directly below the DIMM slots.

The AMD SB600 Southbridge chipset is located directly below the PCI-Express x16 port, covered by a low profile aluminum heat sink. The sink is held to the chipset via 2 push pins, and does not interfere with video card seating in the PCI Express x16 slot. The onboard SATA II ports are located to the lower left of the chipset, and are rotated 90 degrees so that the ports sit parallel to the board’s surface. Directly to the left of the SATA ports is the front panel header, with the CMOS battery and reset jumper, and the onboard USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 headers directly above. Note that GIGABYTE chose to include both a 2-pin and 3-pin header for connecting a system power LED.

The GA-MA69GM-S2H comes standard with 1 PCI-Express x16 slot, 1 PCI-Express x4 slot, and 2 PCI slots. The serial port header, SYS_FAN header, and CD_IN header are located along the outer edge of the secondary PCI slot.

GIGABYTE includes the following ports integrated in to the GA-MA69GM-S2H’s rear panel: PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports; 1 IEEE 1394 port; 4 USB 2.0 ports; video output ports for the integrated ATI Radeon x1250 controller, including VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports; 1 Realtek GigE Ethernet port; and 6 analogue and S/PDIF optical output audio ports