AMD 770 Specs

by Steve Lander, studioD

The AMD 770, sometimes also called the AMD 770X, is a chipset used in computer motherboards. If a computer's CPU is its brain, the chipset is the nerves in the spinal column. They don't do much on their own, but they're a necessary connection point between the brain and the rest of the body. The 770 chipset is the same.

Production and Power

AMD uses a 65-nanometer process to print the chips that make up the 770 chipset. Because the microscopic connections in the chips are smaller, they carry less power, making the chipset more efficient than competing products. The 770 chipset consumes just 10 watts when operating -- less than one-half the 26-watt power consumption of a similar chipset made by another manufacturer.


AMD includes support for version 3.0 of the HyperTransport system in the 770 chipset, enabling it to achieve speeds as fast as 5,200 megatransfers per second. On the 770 chipset, the HyperTransport system determines how quickly the CPU and the graphics card can communicate with each other. A 5,200 MT/s transfer equates to 10,400MB per second.

Northbridge Connectivity

The 770's Northbridge chip controls the computer's ability to support high-speed expansion slots. It supports the high-speed PCI-Express 2.0 standard and enables you to connect one graphics card in a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. While it doesn't support the Crossfire system for multiple graphics cards, there are workarounds that enable you to use two graphics cards together by connecting a second, slower one to the Southbridge chip.

Southbridge Connectivity

AMD offers two different Southbridge chips with the 770 chipset. The less powerful SB600 supports four Serial ATA ports for drive connections and 10 USB ports. Opting to have an SB700 Southbridge chip in your system gives you the ability to support up to six SATA drives and 12 USB ports. It also adds a single Integrated Drive Electronics connection for an older drive.

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