Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H review

Like the Foxconn A7GM-S, the GA-MA78GPM-DS2H is a microATX board, which will fit either a compact or standard-sized case.

Inevitably, its diminutive scale means there's limited room on board for controllers and connectors. That's clear from the single PCI Express x16 slot, but it isn't a showstopper. As with the Foxconn, unless you want to play recent 3D games you can use the integrated Radeon HD 3200 GPU.

Also like the Foxconn, the Gigabyte offers only four USB ports on the backplate. Thankfully, they needn't be eaten up by input devices and external drives, as beside them sit two PS/2 ports, plus FireWire and eSATA. The GA-MA78GPM-DS2H also punches above its weight when it comes to RAM support: its four DIMM sockets will take a whopping 16GB.

Enthusiasts may be disappointed by the absence of onboard controls and displays, but it isn't intended to be a board for tweakers. And the BIOS does offer full overclocking features, accessible via the startup menu or within Windows, via AMD's OverDrive software. If you manage to corrupt your BIOS you can restore it from a backup thanks to Gigabyte's DualBIOS system.

Yet while this board clearly harbours ambitions beyond its size, its power demands are admirably modest. Its idle draw of just 73W without a graphics card was the lowest of any AMD board this month.

The GA-MA78GPM-DS2H certainly crams in more features than the identically-sized Foxconn - but then it costs £20 more, making it a less compelling value proposition. If you're putting together a small but capable desktop system, however, it's a great choice.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith