Gigabyte MA-785GPMT-UD2H Motherboard

Included Software

The setup DVD has drivers to get you going and utilities to adjust things on the fly, along with a few bits of bundleware. Note that if you are running Windows Vista, the drivers will be largely unnecessary, except perhaps for the sound and network drivers.  If you are running Windows 7, they will be completely unnecessary, and can be safely skipped in favor of grabbing the latest Catalyst suite from AMD’s website.  Updating to the latest Catalyst drivers is strongly recommended in all cases, as the drivers present on the DVD are only going to get more stale with time.  Note that the Catalyst suite will only install drivers for hardware you have installed, so those using a NVidia graphics card need not fear any driver conflicts, provided that they disable the onboard graphics.

The rest of the DVD is taken up with a collection of documents and tools ranging from useful (manuals, EasyTune) to optional (Q-Share, Time Repair) to faintly useless (Face Manager).  A short-subscription version of Norton Internet Security is included; everyone is advised to stay well clear, as Norton has a long and sordid history of fouling systems up worse than any virus.  Kaspersky Anti-Virus is also included, and while it is fairly good, be aware that you will be paying for subscription renewals at some point if you elect to use it.  Our recommendation is to skip it as well, and use Microsoft Security Essentials, as it is both strong and free-of-charge, for as long as you own your computer.

EasyTune is a nice one-stop-shop for gathering system info and making OC adjustments without rebooting.  The ability to set desired warning thresholds for temperature and fan speed is nice for systems with marginal cooling or heavy overclocking.  Knowing when an important fan has failed is useful no matter what, so even those who run at stock speeds should take a moment to set these items up, and ensure that the audible warning is functioning.  The Setup DVD also includes a utility for updating the BIOS over the internet; I would not recommend using this unless you have an issue that requires a BIOS update to resolve.

  Previous Page         1. Intro2. Features3. Specifications4. Packaging5. A Closer Look6. Test System, Bios, and Overclocking7. Included Software8. Testing, part 19. Testing, part 210. Onboard Graphics11. Thoughts and Conclusion12. View All         Next Page