I have XFX geforce 8300. GPU temp stays 55c-60c don't know why since my CPU temp is only 32c at idle 40c-45c at load. I even put fan to the chipset but still temp is high.

But, will it run Diablo 3?

I think you missed an opportunity to test Nvidia's HybridPower scheme. Other reviews have shown it to have a nice power savings at idle by shutting down the discrete video card. There is a small performance hit, but it might well be worth the $ savings.

Is this the first review that you guys have done with AMD's SB700 south bridge? Gah. It looks a little bit better than the SB600, but... still. AMD really needs to fix it, those average write speeds are abysmal...

"You'll need the faster HyperTransport link present in Phenom processors to take advantage of this decode acceleration"

So given that these are megawatt CPUs, most of the advantage is lost? Really for media we are looking at AMDs 45W dual CPUs, if they can't do the job, then there is surley little point?

Also why no power use comparison with 780G? both the chipset itself and it's support for power saving technologies.

Seeing as the e7200 and e8200 are sipping around 28W at full tilt and below 10W at idle, I don't give AMD a much chance against G45 (if it works correctly!) in the media segment. Intel mean business in this segment with that m-ITX eaglelake board.

AMD really need to get Phemon to 45nm and bring the power consumption down if they want to stay in the game.

on page 4, your sisoft & hdtach links appear to be bad.

they've been that way several of the recent reviews, actually.

I personally use crystalcpuid to overclock my Athlon X2 5000+ BE, since my motherboard doesn't have mutliplier adjustments either. It says "AMD K6/K7/K8/GeodeLX Multiplier/Voltage Control", with a noticeable absence of K10. I wonder if it would just work anyway...

I wonder if these too are going to suffer from the just announced "weak material set of die/package combination" and "system thermal management designs" causing "MCP and GPU products [to fail] in the field at higher than normal rates".

The initial announcement was just for notebook integrated GPUs and MCPs, but they also said "[t]here can be no assurance that we will not discover defects in other MCP or GPU products. "

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/080702/nvda8-k.html

I certainly wouldn't jump onto one of these (or frankly any piece of Nvidia silicon right now) until they get this issue straightened out. For right now, it seems like they either aren't sure what the problem is, or they are pretty sure what it is, but haven't decided how bad it is yet.

The fact that they dropped this news late in the evening certainly doesn't bode well. After hours trading has not been kind.

When is the Intel version of the 8300 coming out? Intel Integrated is not up to par.

Honestly, the most averse part is that it requires a quad-core processor for video decoding. So, it's not really useful for a cheap media-PC. I'd prefer something that'd take the likes of the e2180 (or rather the AMD equivalent of that, which is the x2 5600, IIRC).

You know, I built a 690G board with a 1.9 Ghz X2 (low power) coupled with a 8600GT and 2 Gig of RAM and it can do anything I want -- play games, Blu-Ray (perfectly btw) and Vista's media center app is smooth on this machine.

If I were to upgrade I would stick with AMD on this one -- based on my experience with the previous generation.

Nice show nVidia but you make chipsets AND video cards but this is the best you could muster --- along with the 200 series debacle, I find myself hard to recommend nVidia these days. Get off your butt and produce something tangible again... please.

Mojo

This is a chipset begging for a better mobo.

with the update to 780G coming in July/Aug timeframe, it makes the geforce 8300 even less attractive. Hopefully, we get a review on SB750.

Hmm, if nVidia went to 55nm to make the chipsets instead of 80nm, they could have a cooler chipset, and/or an mGPU with 32 shaders instead of 16... I expect this will happen later this year or early next.

Yeah, AMD CPUs for media centres, no questions about it now. Two great chipset options and low cost.

Interesting, the nForce 780a SLI's mGPU architecture is essentially identical to what you'll find inside the GeForce 8300.

I think the 730a is a more apt comparison given this chipset lacks the ability to run two discrete GPUs in SLI. Even the 750a can do that.

Speaking of which, where are your nForce 750i and 750a reviews? Not everyone's interested in the high-end 780i/790i/780a chipsets, you know.

This is actually a pretty decent advancement in integrated graphics. You won't be playing Supreme Commander on these, but I'm willing to bet it's a pretty good Vista Aero processor.

Blu-Ray drives are approaching the magic 100$ mark. I'm probably gonna overhaul my system next year after I get the car paid off. Looks like I won't have problems playing BD movies on the PC if I choose to, especially with some help from Slysoft. :)