ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard

Do Not Purchase W/ 965 125w (C3)

Reviewed By: Greg on 11/18/2009

Tech Level: high - Ownership: less than 1 day

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: For those of you purchasing this board with one of the C2 (earlier) chips, this board has done fantastic in reviews. In fact, read the reviews on Newegg. For the most part, this board is a great overclocker and stable.

Cons: PLEASE READ: I've never given out a one egg before. Most of the time I think it's childish and you get reviews like "Did not POST, DOA, etc.", that make you want to flag the review as not being helpful. **This is very important** As of this past month (11/07), AMD released new revisions to their top line of processors (starting with the 965 125w). DO NOT PURCHASE THIS BOARD WITH THAT (OR ANY OTHER C3) PROCESSOR. AMD supports these chips in the most current version of the BIOS (v.2002). However, in order to flash your BIOS, you have to have another AM3 processor. The board will NOT boot at all with these new processors. This should be fixed in the next 6 months for this board. I say 6 months for the fact that it takes about that time for the new BIOS to be implemented into current shipments.

Other Thoughts: This is not a bad board. This is a respected, well built ASUS board that has great features. Not to mention the stellar price. Please don't purchase this board with a new AMD processor (Google C3 for a list of the new processors).


Alright ASUS, please don't bother responding to this. I know someone pays you to follow the bad reviews and give the whole "We're sorry you had a bad experience..." script. GO AHEAD! I bet anything ASUS will give the standard cut and paste rebuttal under my post. Waiting...

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

This is true. Always check our CPU compatibility list at http://support.asus.com for the motherboard/CPU in question before you make your purchase.

The C3 X4 965 (125W) needs BIOS revision 0605 or newer in order to be recognized by the motherboard. The X4 965 (140W) will work with this board from the initial BIOS revision on.

The next shipments of this model motherboard will have the latest BIOS revision, 0605.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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FIRST BOARD

Reviewed By: JD on 10/27/2009

Tech Level: average - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: There are almost all pros: easy to install, good directions straight forward design well planned and logical and plenty of material to complete the job without having to run to the store.
It had all I needed to get it in and up and running in one try.
Now, after it is in and booted up there are a ton of little utilities and gizmos that have great eye appeal but I will probably only use one.
There are a couple of good tweaking tools which are much different than the eye appealing stuff which are easy to use and do work in a game they could be interesting. I play no games but do mess with the things.
amd had a good clocking tool that is easy even for me.
express gate will have great appeal to just booting on in seconds for those few things one doesnt want to wait for and that is great if needed Alll in all there are so many things but the first and most important is how solid and easy it was to put in and right out of the boy (my own gpu though) It has been running for days and

Cons: The audio chipset has given me some of the only issues not problems per se but certainly took up some time and shouldnt have given how great the rest of the board was. It just has issues. the VIA vt1708s is particular. I use the plugs on the back and still it is quirky on when and if it will recognize my 4.1 speakers not figured out yet why it wont play the woofer, it is there just wont put sound out of it(and it works)identifies it but no sound and i tried everything in a pretty good comprehensive audio deck interface all kinds of adjustments but they dont always work. lots of issues on their web site too from asus board owners.
The only installation con is the "q shield' faceplate for the I/O jacks. it is padded and a super tight fit which throws the board from the standoffs and makes it tough to put in and line up. i got fooled when i did the lay out all lined up on the money till i put the shield in for the button down final assembly and it was a hassle shared by others.

Other Thoughts: It was the first real build for me from the ground up all new parts and it couldt have been easier and since the Asus board was the heart of the project other than the case, I was glad I picked it since I never thought of ever buying a motherboard up to a couple of months ago. It had a good book back up and a couple of great additions tiny little plugs which made some potentially tough connections very easy. As I said, i plugged the system in the lights went on and I would say it made a noise but it is silent the only sound i hear is rf hum from the cheap speakers i have. I did my research here reading the reviews and looking for sales and spent more than i wanted but still less than i would have for a great pre built one that had lots of what i didnt want and still had to buy what i did. Now i have something that would have been so far out of budget and it is all set and can upgrade for a few years and the Asus was the basis of the upgrade being AM3socket and RAM is not more $$

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Love the board! Asus Rocks!

Reviewed By: SSX4life on 2/8/2010

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 week to 1 month

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Most people cruise though reading reviews on newegg.com, I know I did the same before I purchased this motherboard. Being as that it may be, I have a few pointers for those looking to purchase this or any other M4A7 series boards.

1. The layout of the board is great.

2. Nice customizable bios that includes many tweaking options found on higher end boards

3. Windows XP / Vista / 7 drivers on the included support DVD (gives the user plenty of options depending on what they wish to do)

4. Asus Ai software allows for fans to be controlled automatically, or you can manually set them in the software as well (very handy for when you are gaming and or when you want to turn down the decibels and have a quieter computer for a home office setting.

5. Motherboard came with the most recent bios for me, so everyone complaining about C3 setting issues in the most recent processors have nothing to worry about! =) PCB also showed rev 1.01g

Cons: Only issue I have with the board was getting my DDR3 memory to run at 1600 clock speed. For some reason (after doing much googling) it appears that you must over clock your memory or manually adjust the speed rating and timings of the memory to get it to post properly.

I picked up some DDR3 G-Skil "Ripjaw" memory and had bluescreen issues with the board when I was installing Windows 7 64bit. This only happened when I manually set the speed rating on the board to 1600... it turns you you need to increase the voltage and timings to reflect this.

Your memory may not have these issues, but I know other people have mentioned this in other reviews as well. Moral of the story is do your homework before jumping headfirst into any new computer hardware build.

Other Thoughts: Very happy with the system board overall when it comes to features / price / reliability / etc.

Also very happy about the fact that the boards seem to be shipping with the most recent bios

Always do your homework before purchasing any computer hardware. Asus has great return / warranty policies and stand behind their products 100%.

This board comes highly recommended, I wish I could give it 10 eggs out of 5 due to the price vs performance and options it comes with.

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Reviewed By: on 7/28/2010

Tech Level: average - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Great mobo for the price.

Cons: Unnecessary, buggy software. Don't install anything you don't have to.

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Solid performance, good value

Reviewed By: Darkstar on 7/19/2010

Tech Level: high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Solid and reliable out of the box. Lots of SATA ports. ESATA. DDR3. Crossfire if that's your thing.

Cons: Flaky onboard audio.
ESATA not hot swappable without setting the option in an obscure place for the driver within windows.

Other Thoughts: Like many of the Asus motherboards I have owned over the years, this has been a very reliable addition to my collection of systems. It currently powers my gaming computer. The onboard audio however, at least on Win7, has proven flaky. 25% of the time on boot there is no audio until a reboot is performed. I suspect this is due to audio jack sensing tom foolery. ESATA is not hot swap capable without an obscure driver setting in windows.

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BSODs, etc. After Eight Months

Reviewed By: on 7/19/2010

Tech Level: somewhat high - Ownership: 1 month to 1 year

This user purchased this item from Newegg

Pros: Easy install. Very stable (until death).

Cons: First board died after 8 months.

Other Thoughts: Since I didn't find many other people having difficulty with the board, I ordered another from Newegg to first replace the board that was slowly dying. Started with BSODs and became worse. I sent first board to ASUS, they sent a replacement (not new) that is working fine in a heavily used gaming system.

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