The chipset diagram and capabilities. Do note that some features are optionally implemented by manufacturers and therefore are not present in all boards based on these chipsets.

Both boards also has roughly the same level of capability or at least is in the same market level; that is, both have integrated graphics that are more capable than the run-of-mill entry level on-board graphics. Other technologies like 5-second startup courtesy of the ExpressGate feature is available on both boards, as well as more subtle plus-points like solid-capacitos. This and a lot more similarities, as well as differences between these two boards, will be explored later in this article.

                                                            The M3A78 Pro utilizes the 780G+SB700 chipset from AMD/ATI. Note the 2nd chip at lower right.

                                                            The M3N78 Pro uses the Nvidia GeForce 8300 chip, a single chip based on an 80mm process handling all connectivity and CPU functions.

Both boards look quite spartan with large, empty spaces dotting the PCB, especially evident on the Nvidia chipset-equipped M3N78, as it is a single chip solution. Yet as most of us know (those of you who hasn’t watched “300” yet, get a move on!), Spartan does not mean any lack of capability, especially in the face of the specialization that these boards take on as mission. As both motherboards employ what are essentially new generation, low power chipsets with advanced video capabilities, they are perfect foundations for your next media center, other than the fact that they are both full-size boards of course.

                                                            Location of the SATA connectors is optimal; the M3A78 is well laid out.

                                                            Two SATA slots are in line with the single PCI-E x16 slot. Black SATA sockets are AHCI enabled.

Layout with such a large space to work with is generally very good on both boards except for three glaring mistakes in placement – an ATX power connector on the M3N78 located in the middle of the board near the rear panel connectors, a floppy connector at the lowest part of both boards beside the USB headers (not that a lot of people still use floppies, but still..), and close proximity of memory and CPU socket area on both, especially considering the size of a lot of after-market coolers. Their media center capabilities are supplemented by the aforementioned advanced video capabilities make these motherboards perfect candidates for a basic gaming PC with the capability of upgrading for future usability through the Hybrid SLI and Hybrid CrossfireX technologies (on the M3N78 and M3A78 motherboards respectively).

                                                            Both motherboard's CPU area is too close to the DIMM slots.

As we see there’s a lot of similarities between both boards though the basic chipset (or chip, in the Nvidia’s case) choice results in some video and connectivity differences. The M3A78 with its 780G chipset boasts of an HD 2400 equivalent integrated graphics card, base on the RV610 core. Called the HD 3200 in this board’s implementation, it goes up against the M3N78’s GeForce 8300 IGP, based on the company’s discrete 8400 GS videocard. As for being similar, both are budget videocards and support compliance with Shader Model 4.0 and DX10, but with the Nvidia 8300 being a single chip solution, no PCI-Express lanes lead to a southbridge like on the AMD 780G, though both has enough lanes (19 lanes of PCI-E 2.0 for Nvidia and 26 lanes for the 780G) to provide full x16 connectivity to an add-in videocard (a discrete one for implementation of the “Hybrid” video technologies of both boards).

                                                            Four USB and the built-in VGA-out define the M3A78, although one misses more exotic connectors like E-SATA and FireWire.

                                                            Rear panel connectors for the M3N78 looks even more sparse than that of the M3A78, but a FireWire connector and more rear-panel USBs trump the M3A78.

This means an HD 3450 or 3470 for the M3A78 and a GeForce 8400 can be used to supplement each board’s graphics capabilities, especially in gaming. In this regard, the Nvidia-chipset M3N78 has the upper hand technology-wise, since it employs HybridPower in addition to Hybrid SLI to automatically turn off a discrete video part when it is not needed – a valuable power-saving feature absent on the 780G-chipset M3A78.

                                                            The 24-pin ATX power for the M3A78 is right where I like it - at the right edge-center of the board.

                                                            The M3N78 on the other hand seems to have misplaced the ATX power connector by dropping it near the rear panel.

Connectivity wise, the main numbers are similar – 6 SATA ports (although the Nvidia board has support for RAID 5), 12 USB connectors (again with a slight difference - 4 at the rear panel for the 780G, 6 for the Nvidia, with the rest of the connectors on both boards found on internal headers). The M3A78 has no FireWire connectors, while the M3N78 boasts of 2 – one at the rear panel and a header that supports an (optional) bracket. Another notable difference: the M3A78 puts its VGA connector at the rear panel, right over the HDMI connector, while the M3N78 supplies a clunky VGA bracket that connects to a funny-looking header that had me flipping through the manual trying to find out what it was.

                                                           The M3N78's on-board headers. The Firewire header is absent on the other board, the M3A78.

As mentioned before both boards will support 140W CPUs, which means the high-end Phenom 9850 Black Editions with TDPs of 125W and above will be supported by both boards, and most any recent AM2+ AMD chip below it. Memory wise, using a 64-bit OS like Vista 64-bit, will enable the M3N78 to support up to 16GB of RAM (4GB per slot), while the M3A78 will be able to handle 8GB (2GB per slot) – memory type is DDR2 up to 1066MHz. Any and all high-end videocard will be able to fit and work on either board due to both board’s up-to-date support for PCI-E 2.0 and full 16x lanes. It must be noted that putting a full-length videocard on the Nvidia-chipset M3N78 will cover two SATA ports, a result of poor placement.

                                                           Be careful when buying; aside from the feature list and chipset, the motherboard boxes are very similar.

Bundles for both boards are pretty similar, with the M3N78 having an extra VGA bracket and an additional SATA/Power bundle to the M3A78’s one. Browsing through multiple reviews, forums, and our own internal testing, we see that 780G performance with its “HD 3200” versus the GeForce 8300 should be better for gaming and for multimedia, although the difference is minimal at this level of performance (a low-end videocard is low-end, however you put it). Games on either platform will perform adequately at best, slide-show-like at worst, although that is much more than can be said of previous generation on-board graphics implementations. These two products are miles ahead of the old GMA series, and the video decoding and output are fine extras.

                                                            Bundled items taken from the Nvidia-based M3N78. The ATI/AMD based M3A78 has the same bundle minus one SATA connector set and minus the VGA bracket.

                                                            A closer look at the HDMI to DVI connector - essential to covering both TV and desktop requirements. Both boards include one in their bundles.

That said, I like the HybridPower technology, since I see myself definitely springing for something more powerful than the on-board GeForce 8300 and plunking it down on the PCI-E x16 socket (at the same time covering two of my SATA ports), plus the extra firewire connectors of the M3N78, but in the final analysis, the bad placement of the ATX power, the clunky VGA bracket, and the AMD solution’s better performance (however minuscule it is as a budget card in IGP form) will make me lean towards the M3A78 Pro more when it’s time to purchase an AM2+ board.

                                                            This connector initially puzzled the reviewer, it is in fact the VGA header found on the  Nvidia-based M3N78.