Being first with a new product is always a big deal for some companies, but we think ECS has gotten ahead of things just a little bit, as its most recently launched motherboard, the A790GXM-AD3 won't have a processor to go in its CPU sockets for about another two months.
The A790GXM-AD3 is the first AM3 motherboard with DDR3 memory support to be announced and as the product name suggests, this motherboard is using the AMD 790GX chipset and the SB750. The board itself doesn't look that spectacular, but at least ECS has gone for a 5-phase PWM which should allow for 125W AMD CPUs to work on this board.
Around the back there are two PS/2 ports, a clear CMOS button, a D-sub connector, an HDMI connector, six USB 2.0 ports, a single eSATA, Gigabit Ethernet and 7.1-channel analog audio jacks as well as an optical S/PDIF out. The board also has six SATA ports, a single IDE connector, three headers for an additional six USB 2.0 ports and power and reset buttons.
The board has four DDR3 memory slots, two x16 PCIe slots, two x1 PCIe slots and two PCI slots. The board also has a rather large heatsink on the MOSFETs and the chipset itself, which is located in a very unusual position towards the rear of the motherboard.
No pricing or release date was announced, but then again, it's not as if anyone is going to be in a hurry to get their hands on this motherboard, as AMD has yet to launch its AM3 Phenom II processors which are expected in February next year.
You can find the press release here
