The AMD 785G chipset

So then... what is really new about this AMD 785G chipset you ask? Well, a couple of key features have been changed compared to the older 780 series.

First off, the boards support socket AM3 and thus DDR3 memory allowing the latest Phenom II processors. More importantly, incorporated into the chipset is ATI's Radeon HD 4200 IGP. On the ECS board we received this embedded GPU is clocked at 700MHz, and as a Radeon HD 4000-series product, it brings with it support for DirectX 10.1; this ECS board even comes packed with HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs and as such it sounds like an optimal HTPC and office PC chipset. But the biggest change is the integration of that R4200 graphics core.

Integrated Graphics HD 4200

• DirectX 10.1 support
• 2nd generation Unified Video Decoder (UVD 2.0)
  • Full hardware decode acceleration of H.264/VC-1/MPEG-2 (full hardware decode acceleration of MPEG-2 is not supported in HD 3200?)
  • Hardware decode acceleration of a secondary video stream (Picture-in-Picture) (10-20% CPU usage decrease)
• Improved ATI Avivo Video Post Processor
  • Enhanced DVD up-conversion to HD
  • Automatic dynamic contrast adjustment
• Multichannel LPCM over HDMI (no PAP, no HD audio bitstreaming)

So in the 785G chipset the GPU is upgraded from the HD3200/3300 utilized in the 780G/790GX to the HD4200. As stated, the primary difference between the cores is that the HD4200 fully supports DX10.1, Unified Video Decoder 2.0 (UVD), hardware accelerated picture in picture capabilities, dynamic contrast, HQ video scaling, hardware accelerated video transcoding, and comes with full Powerplay support.

As far as games go, compared to the last-gen chipset expect a 10% performance increase in games. But really, if you like to play games... pop in a dedicated graphics card please. Also, being a series 4000 graphics core, it will open up ATI Stream technology, which means you can encode media files over the GPU with 3rd party software like MediaShow Espresso and sure... have your embedded GPU active for things like Folding@home 

So for HTPC and media aficionados... the most important thing is that the 4200 has the UVD 2 engine - which means an improved high-definition accelerator/enhancer, you'll love the Blu-ray playback capabilities of the 785G as you can now also post process HD content with features like Dynamic Contrast, noise reduction and color vibrance. We'll chat a little more about UVD 2.0 later on though.

Other than that all the standard features are there like HyperTransport 3.0, PCI Express 2.0, ATI Hybrid graphics support. The 785G board is paired with a SB710 South Bridge - and much to our surprise the chipset offers very decent overclocking potential.

The 785G chipset as such is targeted against Intel's Intel G41 with say a E6300 combo, and you'll notice that after reading this review... really a motherboard like this is the way to go, as the G41 has much less features and specs and performance. But let's have a look at ECS's offering.