ECS A780GM-A v1.0

Conclusion:

While the AMD 790FX Chipset is the big brother to the 780G, the ECS A780GM-A v1.0 was able to stand its ground against the flagship Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 in the tests we had conducted. The LAME MP3 encoding, disk read performance, and Gzip compression results between the two motherboards were similar with the 790FX Chipset only having a slight lead. With RAMspeed, the MA790FX-DS5 had slightly better performance over the AMD 780G motherboard. When it comes to Linux compatibility, both AMD motherboards are winners as neither possess compatibility issues if using a newer Linux distribution.

The ECS A780GM-A works great with Linux, but it's not the perfect motherboard. The AMI BIOS options on this motherboard aren't the best if you are looking for enthusiast-grade tweaking and Hybrid Graphics and the UVD aren't yet supported under Linux. However, with this motherboard selling for under $80 USD it's not a bad deal at all. The A780GM-A supports Phenom Quad-Core processors, Radeon HD 3200 graphics with HDMI, and some overclocking options. The layout of this motherboard is fine by our standards and shouldn't pose any problem whether it's used for an HTPC/media setup or a mainstream gaming PC. The bottom line is that the ECS A780GM-A v1.0 is a fine low-cost motherboard for those looking at a Linux-compatible motherboard with quite powerful integrated graphics.