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ASUS M3A78-EM AMD Motherboards
Customer Reviews for ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
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Price: $78.99
Sale Price: $74.99
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Review Summary (939 Reviews): Rating + 4
OverallLast 2 WeeksLast 6 Months
Excellent Rating + 5 562ReviewsExcellent
newegg
61%
Good Rating + 4 182ReviewsGood
newegg
19%
Average Rating + 3 68ReviewsAverage
newegg
7%
Poor Rating + 2 39ReviewsPoor
newegg
4%
Very Poor Rating + 1 88ReviewsVery Poor
newegg
9%
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Reviewer Product Review
SIx
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/8/2010 7:31:01 PM

Rating + 4 Fair


Pros: Lots of features, low price

Cons: USB on board will not work with my Kingston 16GB flash drive. Tech support says update the drivers... No way! I'd have never thought to do that! That don't work... AND I guess the HDCP is messed up, no audio over HDMI at all, so that's useless

Other Thoughts: Delete my other review, whoever... Forgot to add the other comments

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aedeeley
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
2/6/2010 11:19:26 AM

Rating + 4 Excellent Product


Pros: Very consistent, well made and reliable board. I'm running an AMD Phenom II 945 X4 3.0Ghz w/ 4 GB Corsair XMS Dual Channel 800mhz Ram, ATI Radeon HD 4550 and it runs like a dream. I previously had an Athlon II X2 240 and it ran well, just upgrading components and I never have an issue with this mobo. Next step, new video card!

Cons: If you are cheap enough to actually plan on using onboard graphics they're nothing close to gaming quality. Also, it's an mATX, which really sucks for CPU cooling, it's hard to find great cooling bc the ram slots are so close to the CPU socket. But this is common among mATX.

No, real complaints.

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jbood
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/6/2010 6:26:37 AM

Rating + 4 Great so far


Pros: Works great so far, have 4gb of ddr 533 and an x2 4200 with the onboard video it should make an excellent media pc.

Cons: none, installed flawlessly

Other Thoughts: personally I am an nvidia man, but this pc is for my sister so Il go ATI haha.. but otherwise this motherboard does exactly what I want it to do.

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Happi Henri
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/2/2010 11:44:47 PM

Rating + 5 Good Micro Board


Pros: Well made board, with all metal caps.
Everything went together easily and booted up with no issues or problems. Using on-board video (for cost savings) so I do not need a video card. For surfing, email and general home office work with MS Office and typical productivity programs - it works just fine. With latest BIOS update it will also run an AM3 CPU as well.

Cons: A few $$ more than maybe it should be, given that this is an older board, but it is in line with the competition. Older chipsets. On-board video uses some of your installed RAM. Also, HD3200 is not the fastest in the world, so don't plan on using this set-up for gaming. For that you will need to add a video card, but given that this is a micro board just watch the size.

Other Thoughts: Overall - pleased with this board and setup. Works well for my needs as a 3rd home PC. Built with Windows 7 Home Premium, 2GB DDR2 800 RAM and AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 Brisbane 1.9GHz processor. (extra which I had laying around - but it works extremely well)

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
2/2/2010 8:37:13 AM

Rating + 1 Does your mobo have 30 days to live?


Pros: Onboard HDMI, 4 DIMM slots. Worked well for five weeks. Another PCIe 1x slot would be nice tho (in place of one of the 33mhz PCI slots).

Cons: The onboard video card doesn't have enough grunt to decode 1080p video. I had to buy an add-in card (Radeon 4xxx in my case).

I bought the motherboard in December. It locked up last night, will not POST today via any onboard or add-in video output. Mysteriously, this is just days after the 30-day warranty expired.

Other Thoughts: I used to think that the other people who wrote "1 month to live" reviews were over-reacting... Then it happened to me.

Newegg should extend the warranty to 90 days on this board or stop selling it.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

stiffinger
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/26/2010 4:52:01 PM

Rating + 4 Decent mb


Pros: The board offers a little bit more than other mfrs at the same price level. All connecting components function properly except for a harddrive that failed.

Cons: None other than ASUS pays the rebate by a $10.00 Citi bank card so that you have to use it at a store to purchase by. I would have had the cash or credit to my account rather than being bothered with a stupid card.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/26/2010 4:28:33 PM

Rating + 5 great mobo


Pros: cheap, works great. I this on two comps.

Cons: If you buy a video card, you will disable it's on board hdmi.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

dunski
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/26/2010 9:08:45 AM

Rating + 5 No problems


Pros: Great motherboard. Have it running in my main system for about 6 months. No problems what-so-ever

Cons: None

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Late Night Larry
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/23/2010 8:26:08 PM

Rating + 3 HTPC Maybe?, Maybe Not?


Pros: Price vs Features. Brand Name. Simplicity of Board Layout.

Cons: (1)Advertised features neglects to inform the consumer(s) that the onboard Realtek ALC1200 Audio Chip set is proprietary and built exclusively for Asus and thus there are no specs readily available.

(2) The ALC1200 audio chip set does not support Dolby Live or DTS encoders; so no 5.1 surround sound using the optical out directly into an AV receiver.

(3) Gigabyte mobos have native support for Dolby Live and DTS, therefore one does not have to purchase an additional add-on card.

Other Thoughts: Building a true HTPC with this mobo will require you to purchase an additional sound card, the HT Claro for instance, or this mobo will be absolutely worthless when playing back any media (Btu-Ray, HD DVD) that has 5.1 audio tracks embedded in them. I's too late for me now, but going forward, this oversight by the Asus/Realtek design Gurus with the audio chip set for this mobo- is a real"deal" breaker.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

scotty
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/18/2010 12:01:50 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect at the time


Pros: Excellent integrated graphics, plenty of SATA ports, many display options

Cons: Now outdated

Other Thoughts: Had this mb about a year...rock solid, lots of SATA ports. Just upgraded to 4670 video card for a good gaming experience. Today I would recommend an ASUS mb based on a more advanced chipset, which you can probably get for pretty much the same price.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Adlorin
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/16/2010 3:31:20 PM

Rating + 5 Terrific board for HTPC


Pros: The board is priced well, the over-clocking feature in bios works like a charm -- running stable @ a conservative 7% increase -- with all stock fans and AMD OEM CPU heat sink / fan. HDMI out works great on my 32 inch LCD - be sure to enable HDMI audio in BIOS! Has plenty of SATA leads, and is thoughtfully laid out to work in tiny HTPC cases.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I've had the system for about a year, and it's been a highly reliable media server / media player! Sans BIOS, Asus's website doesn't offer up to date support for the hardware -- they just offer generic drivers. You'll have to search the respective AMD (780G) and ATI (SB700) websites for the latest and greatest in support.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

The Avenger
Tech Level: somewhat low
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/14/2010 5:37:16 PM

Rating + 5 Workin Great!


Pros: Easy to install in the case. All the hardware connections were easy to reach, although I think that all has to do with the size of the case and the use of a little common sense. All in all this is my first build and so far I am happy with this particular board.

Neweeg has a great web set up to help you figure out all of what you need that would be compatible with all you new components and hardware. Hats off to Newegg!

Cons: I bought it from Newegg... whats that tell you.

Other Thoughts: Don't let this happen to you!!! I had a hard time loading the OS onto the HDD. I knew that it was none of the hardware or components that I bought because I was able to get to the MB bios and it recognized all the components, but after several hours of brain racking I finally realized that I had to set the DVD reader to start-up first in the priority...DUH!! Made perfect sense after I figured that out lol!

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/12/2010 11:32:02 AM

Rating + 1 DO NOT BUY IT!!


Pros: NONE!!

Cons: 1, owed this product for a few months. And RJ45 interface was DEAD.

2, after got a RMA, and received replacement. It was DEAD after arrive. No post screen and even the power LED that connects to case was dead.

3, called for RMA department again. put me on hold for several times. and until now, still have NOT went through.

Other Thoughts: I though that ASUS was BEST , but I am wrong!!

I owned two products form ASUS, first one is a graphic card, and it was dead after a while. second one is the motherboard and it was dead for a while. Even the RMA was dead after arrive. ( what's wrong with RAM QC? )

WILL never buy ASUS again, so frustrating in dealing with RMA ..

Period.!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Brocephus
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/11/2010 8:02:07 PM

Rating + 2 Not what I expected


Pros: Professional options in BIOS
Decent price
Good inbuilt audio chipset

Cons: Something chirps when it's on
Northbridge is too close to socket mounts, very difficult to put in cooler

Other Thoughts: I bought this motherboard as part of a silent rig. The way my desk is setup, the only place I can put a computer is right next to my face, so I need something as quiet as possible. All the other parts were nice, except for this motherboard. It makes a hard-drive-seek-like chirping noise constantly. I tried EVERYTHING to solve the problem. None of my components are causing the noise, it's the motherboard for sure. It probably wouldn't bother most people, but I never would have imagined a solid-state motherboard being the loudest part of my computer. Since it works fine otherwise, I'm just going to sell it and look for a non-ASUS board.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

IC2
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/10/2010 10:56:03 AM

Rating + 4 An O.K. replacement


Pros: It fits my ATX Cooler Master case just fine and is a replacement for a failing M3A78 ATX mother board. So far it has done all that I have wanted, but haven't checked all functions. I did need to download the latest drivers though - but that's not a negative

Cons: The only cons (so far) is one of my doing not a function of the mother board - I wanted a full ATX, and clicked the wrong buttons. Just make sure that you read the fine print - oops

Other Thoughts: It seems to be a fine mother board though a bit dated as far as drivers and possibly even AMD CPU support. Just ensure that what you are researching is the correct for your application

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/8/2010 10:48:28 AM

Rating + 3 There's a sound artifact


Pros: Inexpensive and powerful for the money.

Cons: This board has built in audio and video chip set that seems to be causing a strange buzz and the monitor skips for a second. This comes in a short 1 second burst randomly about once or twice an hour. Very annoying.

Other Thoughts: I went to forums online and heard similar stories and there seems to be no resolution for the problem. Some boards have been so bad they were unusable. I put up with the quirk since it doesn't get in my way. With the speakers up pretty loud it will make me jump sometimes. Also there was no change between XP or 7.

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Dan
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
1/7/2010 4:44:43 PM

Rating + 3 Ok for the money


Pros: Good stable motherboard for the money

Cons: Memory clock speed only goes to 800MHZ and HD Audio does not want to install without lots of extra work

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Kev
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/6/2010 12:48:33 PM

Rating + 4 adequate


Pros: Inexpensive. Takes standard DDR2-800. Good software/driver support. Q-connector is a fabulous, simple idea. BIOS flashing from USB straight from SETUP is darn cool. Integrated SPDIF/HDMI/DisplayPort. Some have evidently successfully run VMWare on it. Upgradeable all the way up to Phenom II x4 965 if desired.

Cons: Hybrid CrossfireX is a useless and obsolete feature because of its stringent requirements. Only 1 PCIe x16 port. 780G chipset is pretty dated already. Integrated video is pretty weak.

Other Thoughts: If you are on a budget, or if you already have $$$ invested in an AM2/2+/3 CPU and/or DDR2, or both, you might do well with this motherboard. Otherwise it's a bit old and not so future-proof, you may wish to spend an additional $10-$20 and get something that supports DDR3, all AM3 features, and/or has better integrated video. This is a good basic solid no-frills board.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Kendallcschm
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
1/4/2010 4:48:13 AM

Rating + 5 Great Product


Pros: This is a great board. its easy to install and comes with the ASUS express gate feature.. its really nice when trying to check e-mails fast or something. the 140W CPU support allows for someone to put and AM3 processor on the board.

Cons: difficult over clock.. it has simple overclock settings but its hard to push the boundaries on this board.. they have set default over clocks but it only goes to a 10% over clock.... im heading more for a 45%... and AMD overdrive can't overclock.. you HAVE to use the bios

Other Thoughts: great board.. has worked well and have my 2.6 GHz over clocked to 3.1 GHz

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David E.
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/31/2009 6:58:52 PM

Rating + 2 ASUS MOTHERBOARD ISSUES


Pros: NEWEGG ROCKS!!!

ASUS... Well, not looking good!
Worked good for about 9 months with no hiccups. Yes that's the Pro's...

This was not my first choice after having two other Asus Board issues with other builds. But instead I ordered an ASROCK A780 but was called and told it was on back order. No expected delivery date so I ended up with this Asus Board. Bad MoJo!

Cons: Then strange things started happening like my MS Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard wasn't working after boot up. After hitting reset on front panel it would work the next boot up. Then the hard drive started hitting or missing being recognized. Again a push of the reset and it would load up. Then one day the DVD doesn't exist. Now it's hit or miss with the Monitor, an ACER X233H. Now every day when I cold boot the system, I have to hit the reset button at least (4) times until everything is recognized and I can use the system. Suck's... All right! Once everything "does come up so I can log in" the system will work until I shut it down with no more problems.

Other Thoughts: System Build Spec's: Asus M3A78-EM Motherboard, AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000 3.1 AM2 89W Processor, MS Vista Ultimate 64 Fully Updated, G.Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 Memory, Segate Barracuda 7200 250GB HD, Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 GDDR3 2.0x16 Video Card, Thermaltake Purepower 500W ATX 2.0 Power Supply, LG 22X DVD Burner Sata Interface, and Bios updated to 2003.

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brutus2001x
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
12/31/2009 4:54:57 PM

Rating + 5 Now I have two


Pros: It's a nicely manufactured board. I've purchased two now, one from Newegg, the other from, well who cares... In any event, it has an awesome layout, solid construction, and really great graphics for onboard. I'd understand for a gamer that this may be a problem, but we are using one in a test environment as a Hyper-V server with a Phenom II x4 940 and the other is our Conference Room Media PC with an Athlon II x4. Both are working awesomely. The board runs pretty cool given it's compact nature, and when installed in a bigger case, there are no problems with square peg, blocking hard drive syndrome. With the conference room computer, some jedi skills were required to fit all the goodies in a very tiny case. I likes it!

Cons: The only real problem I ran across with the board was attempting to set up VMware. I know it's not a server board, but it was worth a shot. A big pain in the but. It uses a nic that is on the VMware HCL, but it does not recognize it, so on to Hyper-V I was.

Other Thoughts: It's a solid little package for quite a nice price. Really, it can't be beat, assuming it fits your mission.

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Luvto
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/23/2009 9:52:45 PM

Rating + 4 Decent Board...BUT


Pros: I have always liked ASUS boards. Haven't had many problems with installing and building with them.

Cons: Would not recognize wired usb mouse. Well it would ...sometimes. At boot it would find the mouse and after the windows screen came up...poof...the mouse would disappear. Running XP32 pro on this build. I was using a PS2 keyboard and a USB wired mouse. I pulled an older dell wireless mouse/keyboard combination out of my old parts closet and hooked them up and everything loaded fine, except of course the mouse and keyboard combo were worn out but still somewhat functional , but that's why they were in the old parts closet in the first place. :). But they were recognized and worked, although not very well..they were long past their usefulness. ANYWAY....I went out and spend another 60.00 dollars on a new wireless mouse/keyboard combo, hooked it up, booted and worked fine. No problems at all. Just can't figure out why the board wouldn't find the older mouse. Any Ideas ASUS?

Other Thoughts: Over all it's a decent board for the price. I haven't mailed in my rebate info yet, but am putting it in the post tomorrow.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Once Again
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/22/2009 12:37:50 PM

Rating + 4 RAID Solution


Pros: It can be made to work.

Cons: I bought this board with the intent of setting up a simple RAID 1 (mirrored) storage system using 2 Western Digital 640 GB SATA drives (Windows XP Pro). The process has cost Asus a loyal customer, not because the hardware was bad, but because there is clearly a problem with a company that cares so little about its customer’s time that it would put someone through this process without one word about it in the manual. A quick search on the internet confirmed their lack of support, and attention to detail I experienced. Anyway, here’s an abbreviated tutorial on how to make it all work (see Below):

Other Thoughts: Boot the system, enter the BIOS and set up the RAID. After you do this you will loose your Optical Drive in the BIOS. Reboot the system, go back into the BIOS, and into the Boot Devices area. You will find the standard ATPI Optical Drive there, but don’t use that one, use the optical drive that shows up as controlled by the RAID and set it as your first boot device, and the RAID as the 2nd, and the floppy as the third. A floppy is required. To finish the installation I went to the ASUS site, once it was back on line, and downloaded the AHCI/RAID controller for my board, from the “other” section of the downloads. Made the floppy. Then Using the F6 option tried to install Windows. After several attempts, Windows would install, but just not start on its first install reboot. (something about invalid disk configuration). After several hours I found a second AHCI/RAID download in the “Chip set” section of downloads for my board. It worked, go figure.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

scott
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/18/2009 7:58:08 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect


Pros: Works right out of the box
Easy bios with easy overclock
AM3 support
Price with free shipping
Perfect with Vista 32
7.1 onboard sound

Cons: Pins on the I/O shield were annoying to try and fit so i had to clip a few, after that it was like butter
onboard video isn't great but i wasn't going to use it anyway
The ide is placed kinda behind the hard drive and is hard to get at, and theres only one so you should be ready to invest in some sata drives if you haven't already

Other Thoughts: i read about problems with being grounded before you use any usb or anything but i didn't even use my I/O shield at first and i had no problems.
runs my 2.9ghz dual core at 3.2ghz and my g skill 2x4gb 1066 at 2.1v
runs everything as it should and then some

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Jimmy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/18/2009 10:08:56 AM

Rating + 4 Works well with minor USB issues


Pros: Inexpensive and easy to configure. Supports AM3 processors with BIOS upgrade. No issues with Windows 7 64-bit so far. All drivers were configured properly during Win7 installation process.

Cons: There seems to be an issue with the USB controllers on this board. There are a lot of complaints from other users about boards being dead that I believe are due to ESD damage through the USB ports. My board will reboot if I install any USB thumb drive unless I ground myself to the chassis first. This shouldn't be necessary as any good interface IC will have proper ESD clamping diodes. This happens anytime I plug in a device without grounding myself first. Then when this happens the system comes up in SAFE mode with the USB inputs DEAD. I think there may be an IC latch-up issue going on. After self-reboot, I have to cycle power to get it to boot normally. Anyway, I think a lot of dead boards that people are complaining about might be due to ESD damage through the USB or other ports.

Other Thoughts: Updated BIOS before anything in order to allow AM3 support. I haven't even touched the installation disk, but rather downloaded the latest drivers from ASUS' website. So far only updated the chipset drivers.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the USB issues you are experiencing with this board. Please contact us at OC_Support@asus.com and reference case number NE0151 so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you with troubleshooting/ RMA process.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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Upmyasus
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/15/2009 9:10:46 PM

Rating + 1 When it's bad it's very bad


Pros: You may get one that works fine.

Cons: When they don't work they are a total waste of time. Asus is going downhill I think. The chipset driver for this board on their site is 477MB!!! Not that it going to help with the problems you may have.

Other Thoughts: Never again will I buy this board.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/8/2009 11:50:12 PM

Rating + 5 good for the money


Pros: has all options you want except one, but thats because of the type of chipset it has with a 780g chipset thier is no acc on most, just like this one. acc only is on 785 series chipsets and above.

Cons: no acc, so can not unlock any cores.

Other Thoughts: even though it does not have acc. it does have everything else and it has a really good bios with lots of options. you can overclock with this easly.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

KD
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/7/2009 5:42:28 AM

Rating + 5 yet another flawless install


Pros: This is getting to be too easy. Flawless install into CoolerMaster Centurion 541 with Win 7 64-bit.

Cons: I'm not sure what the deal is with the extra aluminum flanges on the rear I/O panel shield. Every friggin install I have to sit there for 15 minutes and bend back the little flanges so the mobo fits tight an flush with the shield. I just don't get it.

Other Thoughts: Always download the lasest drivers and BIOS from the ASUS website.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/5/2009 5:49:18 PM

Rating + 3 Decent Entry Level Board


Pros: Relatively cheap, easy to setup. Lots of options on the board. It ran without much difficultly. Sound and video out to my 46" samsung. Able to overclock it pretty simply. Running on-board video at 800(std 500mhz), overclocked the board mhz from 200 to 210, so Athlon 64x2 4200+ is running at 4610mhz, 800mhz memory is running at 840mhz.

Cons: Stock settings for video card is underpowered, even for HDPC. I tried watching a DVD through the PC into the 46" TV and it was dropping frames. After pushing the settings up and overclocking the mb/video/ram it does the DVD's fine. But probably at it's limit.

Other Thoughts: Not a bad board, but for probably 10 more dollars you can get a cheap motherboard (< $50) and cheap video card (HD4350 < $40) that could easily outpace it.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

ffarkle
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
12/5/2009 4:14:29 PM

Rating + 5 6 PC's now built with this mobo...


Pros: Still think this mobo has more innovative and useful features than most folks will ever utilize. Has a wide range of possible AM2+/AM2 socket CPU and memory configurations to suit your purpose - as an HTPC, a mid-range gaming box, or, a main-stream, number-crunching PC. It supports ALL AMD 45W thru 140W CPU's, and, up to 8 GB max, of DDR2 1066 memory. I preferred the 65W, 2.8 GHz AMD 5400 CPU in 4 mobos and the 125W, 3.0 Ghz AMD 3000 CPU in the last 2. Both CPU's clocked exactly with installed PC2 6400/DDR2 800 RAM. There are many clever innovations on this feature laden mobo and its BIOS is readily over-clockable. Click the newegg product support link to visit the Asus site, and, do your research. I don't game, nor, over-clock my mobos, so WIN XP and, now, WIN 7 run ROCK SOLID with stock default BIOS settings on the all 6 PC's I've built. WIN XP PRO 32-bit installed flawlessly on this mobo, though there was a bit of manual s/w loading the ASUS driver CD. WIN 7 auto-configures all.

Cons: If it matters to you, this is NOT an extreme gamer's video solution due primarily to its limited onboard Radeon HD 3200 video. The otherwise excellent HD3200 can utilize hybrid cross-fire mode only in the Vista OS (now, assume WIN 7, too), but, not the WIN XP OS. Per a dated Toms Hardware review, this mobo can only use HD2400 and HD3450 video pcb's in true cross-fire mode. But, reading recent reviews it appears there are newer video pcb's that will work - have not verified that. Assume that you CAN add a PCI Express 2.0 x16 video card in crossfire mode for acceleration.

There are a limited number of PCI slots: 1 PCI Express 2.0 x16, 1 PCI Express x1 and 2 PCI Slots.

There is only one EIDE channel (2 devices max). The IDE cable is tough to rearrange after mobo installation - under the hard drive - tough to get at.

This is a superb compromise board. If you need to max out your system with peripherals, or, need more slots, spend more for a full size ATX mobo.

AM3 is coming!!!

Other Thoughts: 32-bit Operating Systems can only address a maximum 3 GB of RAM - period! Yet, I always prefer to install 4 GB's in a PC to "maximize" multi-tasking response time. One thing about this mobo's onboard Radeon HD 3200 is that it will "borrow" about 3/4 of a GB from the 4 GB's of installed DDR2 - meaning little or no RAM is wasted. The beauty is the HD 3200 actually can allocate more memory than what is incorporated on the video chipset itself. Hybrid CrossFireX support also allows the HD 3200 "chipset's integrated graphics processor and a discrete GPU to operate simultaneously with combined output for blisteringly-fast frame rates unleashing the graphics performance". Yeah, verily, it's TRUE! Supports HDMI™ Technology with max. resolution up to 1920 x 1200 (1080P). None of these 6 mobos I've installed have had a bit of trouble in a year. The poor reviews tickle me!!! The mobo is wildly customizable and has a boatload of features. BIOS is very customizable and has overclocking protection.

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dldba
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/28/2009 8:08:07 AM

Rating + 1 USB Failures Common


Pros: Cheap, built in Video capable of 1080p, HDCP playback.

Cons: I have purchased 3 of these boards so far. At first I though it was a fluke that one of the boxes failed during burn-in with the message "USB device over current status detected. System will shutt down in 15 seconds". I pulled off all USB devices and headers, but the message persisted. MP, newegg shipped a new board and everythng was OK. Now a second board in a different machine has failed with the same message, same circumstances.

Over the years, ASUS has been one of my top go-to manufacturers for motherboards, but now I am demoting them to # 4 on my list. At least for now they are still on the list though.

Other Thoughts: I have a difficult time beleiving these boards will last very long at this rate. It may have been a better decision to spend a bit more for a higher quality board as opposed to paying all this return shipping and being without a HTPC in a room for weeks each time this occurs... Not to mention the labor involved trying to repair these things.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issue that you are experiencing with this motherboard. Please contact us at 812-282-2787 or http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number NE595201 so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you in resolving this issue.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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scootmandoo
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/24/2009 2:22:18 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: HDMI and Videoport display outputs. Optical out for sound. Works great running my home theatre pc with Vista x64. Drive controller is also supported by ESXi 4.0. Tons of overclocking options and very stable.

Cons: None so far.

Other Thoughts: the NIC is not supported by VMWare but it can be enabled by a work around. Just do a search for "ultimate whitebox" for directions.

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checkmate3001
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/23/2009 5:52:50 PM

Rating + 5 Solid Mobo for AM2


Pros: Tons of ports on back panel and headers. Does everything I could ever want and more. Price is very reasonable.

Cons: Not really a con, but only 3 fan headers... of course this wasn't designed as a server mobo... so that's my problem. No big deal though.

Other Thoughts: I used this to replace a toasted Server mobo. Unfortunately there are very few AM2 sever mobos out there right now. AM2 is going out - but now is a good time to get a mobo for a reasonable price.

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Mark
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/23/2009 3:07:14 PM

Rating + 5 Seems a little bit slow.


Pros: Easy to install. Perfect replacement mobo for my HP Media Center PC. I now have three monitors on my desktop.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I upgraded to Vista Ultimate 64 bit with 8mB memory. I was expecting a noteworth speed improvement which did not occur. Not sure I can blame the board, could have been a lot of things

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Goldino
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/18/2009 9:09:09 PM

Rating + 4 Decent but ATI video not great for Linux


Pros: I've always been happy with Asus motherboards and this one is mostly fine for its intended purpose in my low-cost home office system.

Cons: Unfortunately I didn't do my homework to realize that ATI uses proprietary video drivers that are a major hassle to deal with in Linux. My days of building custom kernels are over so instead I'll have to shell out additional bucks for an additional video card. Too bad...

Other Thoughts: The board is well laid out and easy to work with. The Asus user guide is very well written and thorough.

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djpurity
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
11/17/2009 8:09:54 PM

Rating + 4 Superior Motherboard!


Pros: This has great graphics and 8.1 HD audio build right into the board. It has a DVI and HDMI output. I used the HDMI output to my HDMI monitor and it looks beautiful.

I can no trouble setting up this motherboard (except clearing the CMOS to initialize the board)! I love how it has so many features built right onto it that I could basically throw it in a ATX case and just use a DVD-drive and I could fresh install and O/S, instantly get full driver update support and there is a new BIOS, which is super easy to flash (you can flash it using a USB drive in the BIOS before you even put an O/S on it!).

The manual was very clear, and the kit came with everything. I added an AM3 socket dualcore processor and it worked fine, since AM3 socket CPUs are backwards compatible with AM2+ boards. I also was able to get 4GB (2xsticks 2GB) Corsair DDR2 1066MHz dual channel memory running right away.

I wish I got the 64-bit O/S in retrospect because this board supports 64-bit CPUs & operating syst

Cons: I wish that it had a built in wireless adapter, built in bluetooth, and that it isn't the most top of the line model release.

Other Thoughts: I recommend this board to anyone looking for an inexpensive board with built-in graphics and onboard High-Def sound with 8.1 channels. Their website has all the latest drivers for Windows 7 already so it was an easy install.

I recommend using HDMI out, as it really has sharp crisp detailed graphics. It has an AMD 780G chipset. You can create your own BIOS load screen logo, it supports eSATA-3G... what more can a basic system want?

This is a great board for people who can't afford the top of the line but still want something really good quality and able to keep up with technology for years to come.

It even has support for Hybrid CrossFireX Graphics when an ATI Radeon card is put in the PCI-express x16 slot.

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Chris
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/17/2009 10:31:15 AM

Rating + 3


Pros: Board has almost everything built-in that you could want. Seems very fast and fully supports Windows 7 Media Server functionality.

Cons: After a couple of months it just stopped working. With nothing installed the board won't show anything on the built-in video or a PCI video adapter. Without a built-in speaker to give an audible alert there's no indication what's going on.

Other Thoughts: It appears to be a good board for HTPC application with the built in HDMI. Unfortunately the built-in video is a bit under-powered to handle HD streaming video from Hulu: stuttering occurs in full screen.

I want to like this board but will have to wait 10 days for my RMA to be processed before getting the repaired/replacement board.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the issue you're having with this board. If you would like to check your RMA status you can do so at http://support.asus.com -> click "Service" button. On the left hand side, click "Repair Status Inquiry" and enter your RMA information.

Sincerely,

ASUS Support Team

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/11/2009 8:20:17 PM

Rating + 4 Great HTPC mainboard.


Pros: VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, GbE, eSATA, HD-Audio, Firewire, Q-fan etc. A BIOS that is good and works as advertised! Can't stress enough how important this is until you try this after a shi**y ECS mainboard!

Cons: Could be my mistake, but the temperature readings look funny under Linux; have to research more.

Other Thoughts: I really hope Asus keeps on making these all-in-one boards in the future too.

Hey Newegg, shi**y is not an inappropriate word!

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Josh
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/11/2009 2:04:37 AM

Rating + 1 Two strikes


Pros: Easy to set up, worked great right out of the box, perfect for my needs.

Cons: First board:

No DVI out on the board itself. Also wouldn't give me any video out on two different graphics cards. A friendly and helpful ASUS rep basically told me that happens and that I should return it to New Egg.

Second board:

Worked great, set up quickly. After a week of perfection, started to blue screen. I removed things one at a time, thinking each time I might be close to the source, but it just kept happening. Called ASUS and was rather curtly told I could be called back and should leave me number. This of course never happened.

Worked fine for about two days once I got rid of a sound card I had installed. Then tonight I got another bluescreen. Couldn't get back into Windows, got more bluescreens trying to repair windows. Was now on one stick of ram, an HD, and the processor, and it stopped posting.

Other Thoughts: Just packaged up for another return to New Egg. I give up on this product. It was a great deal that would have really made my day had it worked. But I'm a busy grad student and I don't have time to rebuild my computer every week cause Mobos keep flaking out.

Thanks to the first guy from Asus tech support, you were awesome.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for these isssues you are experiencing. Please contacts us at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number NE575450. Please include your system configuration and when the problem seems to occur so that we may better assist you in resolving the issues.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/9/2009 8:43:17 AM

Rating + 5 Stable and simple


Pros: Own 2 of these. Easy to setup, easy to flash bios, great mid range board.

Cons: Could have better memory config utility in bios.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Likenew
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
11/8/2009 6:30:36 AM

Rating + 5 Will be my last ASUS purchase


Pros: It works very well in a secondary machine, so far at least. Plenty of connections for all your needs. Won't deduct stars as long as its working well.

Cons: None so far, its small, but kind of the point of being in a secondary machine.

Other Thoughts: And so far so good. I sent my 790gx to ASUS as it died, but they sent me back one that also didn't work. So I bought this. I really don't care for ASUS anymore, so this will probably be my last ASUS buy. Didn't get my rebate from them, and wasted lots of money on a motherboard, and shipping to get basically nothing out of it. Thanks ASUS.

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DJ
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/7/2009 3:31:18 PM

Rating + 5 ASUS!!!


Pros: when it comes to reviewing this product the term ASUS says it all, i have always and will always be a fan, The board works great it is logically laid out, and without a doubt handles everything i can throw at it, this is the second one of these boards i have bought the first for me the second for my gf's desktop and i have never encountered any problems and i love that it is a micro, it fits any case you can imagine

Cons: the drivers disk that comes with it dose not support the windows 7 OS i am using so i had to go to the web and download all the drivers i needed, but this is not that big a deal i have had to deal with a lot worse.

Other Thoughts: i was someone else mention it before i bought my first board and i thought nothing of it, but i too am having issues getting a full 5.1 HD audio out, but this is not that big a deal

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Jeannot
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/7/2009 6:34:25 AM

Rating + 4 Great Media PC!


Pros: Asus reliability, cheap, all the right connectivity, works absolutely great. I get sound from the optical output.

Cons: No HDMI sound output. For the life of me, I can't figure it out. All the latest drivers are installed, both the Realtek and the ATI Sound drivers (which appears to be Realtek). I tried all the possible combinations in the Realtek utility. Sounds comes out great on the optical output.

Other Thoughts: I normally rate my expertise as 5 - High understanding, but this one is a humility lesson. "Bob from Hellam", please, if you can resolve this my domain name is galaxoft dot com. Precede it with the at sign, then "info".
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

I'm sorry that your having issues with audio over HDMI. You can try the following to get audio to work with HDMI. Go to link below and install the R2.22 followed by the R2.18 HDMI driver. You'll then have 4 devices (speakers, SPDIF, SPDIF Optical & HDMI). In the HDMI properties, you can enable DD and DTS, and should have audio output via HDMI now.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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Bob from Hellam
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/6/2009 1:15:05 PM

Rating + 3 Nice HTPC


Pros: Everything is very good except for HD sound.

Cons: I have tried everything I can think of but whenever it calls for HD sound in Vista media center there is no sound. No sound on HD tv stations, DVD's, etc. The sound works fine on SD tv stations. I have tried reading all the reviews and have gone to Asus site and downloaded supposed fixes to no avail. There is no HD sound thru the HDMI port or thru the spdif rca outlet that I added from the mobo.

Other Thoughts: Any ideas would be appreciated. I have made the software updates. I have made the changes in bios. I have the latest bios flashed. There are fixes on the Asus website which I have tried that were called Dday settings that quashed the HD sound after August 2005 and I tried them. What else can I do to get the sound working. I built this HTPC because Comcast does not give us HD sound thru their boxes even though the sound is there in OTA broadcasts and cable only without their box or DVR.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

I'm sorry that your having issues with audio over HDMI. You can try the following to get audio to work with HDMI. Go to link below and install the R2.22 followed by the R2.18 HDMI driver. You'll then have 4 devices (speakers, SPDIF, SPDIF Optical & HDMI). In the HDMI properties, you can enable DD and DTS, and should have audio output via HDMI now.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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SupportGuy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/4/2009 6:38:58 PM

Rating + 3 A Word Of Warning


Pros: This is a fast "value" board, and it hums right along with an Athlon64 3G & 2G of DDR. I built a file server around it for a client, who has limited space, so the micro design worked out well.

Cons: No matter what I tried it would not config for RAID1, only RAID0. Called ASUS tech support, who didn't seem too surprised about the issue, and was told it had a bad on-board controller & should be returned. Not wanting to go through all that I just installed a SATA/RAID card & all is good. My case, like most, has a 2-pin plug for the power switch. The pins on this MB were seperated by a blank pin so they were 3 wide. I cut the 2-pin in have to be able to plug it on to the board.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for this inconvenience. You shouldn't have a problem with RAID1 but not RAID0, so it sounds like the RAID controller may be defective. However, we can try to duplicate the issue from here. Please contact us at OC_Support@asus.com and reference case number NE119 so that we may get more details about your system specs and try to duplicate the issue.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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rick
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/3/2009 9:44:18 AM

Rating + 5 Great board!


Pros: Stable, feature-packed. MicroATX form factor is a perfect compromise of size/cost/features.

Cons: It cannot be turned on via keyboard hotkey. (Would have been useful for my HTPC setup.)

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Icyman
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/2/2009 3:12:49 PM

Rating + 5 Great value for Overclocking


Pros: This board makes a great basic/compact board. However I use it for work and Gaming. I bought the ATI 3450 to use the Hybrid CrossfireX. It was a little faster than my old 6400GT video card. It could play COD2 without any problems. Then COD WaW gave me issues so I upgraded to the HD4830. this is a great budget card.
here is what I really like, I'm using a Phenom X3 8450 CPU and this board allowed me to overclock it from 2.1Ghz to 2.5Ghz by setting clock to 239 and HT to x10.5. That's almost 20%. Here is the trick. search blogs and find the best memory. I used Kingston HyperX with 7-7-7-20 @ 1066. I think faster settings would be better. I had to drop the setting to 6-6-6-18 @ 800 when over clocking the MHz is raised to over 950. So over clocking with my 1066 memory was pushing it too far.
Also, I was able to over clock the PowerColor HD4830 from stock clocks of 500/750 to 650/950 and increased my FPS in COD WaW by 28%. The HD 4830 is definately an underclocked video card!

Cons: You have to accept that the onboard video alone is for basic video or great back up if a video card dies. It doesn't handle 1080p connected HDMI to my 52" 1080p LCD TV. However I only tried it using Windows Vista. This Board performs much better with Windows 7. I seem to have issues with sound in Vista. Never any issues with Windows 7.

I never find any of the Mobo web sites that good. this board has been out long enough that a google search will find your issue. Nothing is perfect, have fun!

Other Thoughts: I just ordered a new Mobo with dual x16 PCI-express slots and another HD4830 for some great CrossfireX action. COD 4 and COD WaW are optimized for Dual cards. believe it or not I've seen reviews showing a doubling of the frame rates. Which is better than a HD4890 and a stock HD4870x2.
I'm reinstalling the HD3450 for hybrid crossfire and using it as our office server. Oh yeah, almost forgot, it's in a HTPC case. I thought heat would be an issue but it's not at all, the CPU stay around 33c. when gaming 42c. the video card while gaming is around 52c. The power supply is 1/2" above video card and it actually pulls air off the video card and out the case. I only use stock fans. this case has 80mm in front and 120mm in rear. A larger case requires more fans. more fans means more dust in your computer. The air turn over in this Ultra Microfly case is great. The smaller the better as long as the fans are in the correct location. My new build is in a APEVIA Black SECC - X Master-BK case

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

smiley1956
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/30/2009 5:27:47 PM

Rating + 5 works fine


Pros: ordered this to build system for a grandson of a friend it was simple and easy especialy with the wiring blovcks they give yo9u can install the board then connect all the plugs with cables out of the case instead of trying to get my head inside case to see what I am connecting it to since my eyes are not as young as they used to be. did not try the instant internet option setup so can't speak about that installed windows vista with no problems it is running nice and smooth inspite of the reviews you hear about vista. Isaac is very happy with his system and has had absolutly no problems with playing his games or watching movies on it

Cons: none that I am aware of

Other Thoughts: this mobo
2x1gb gskill 800mhz ram
liteon dvd burner with lightscribe
western digital 80gb sata HDD
antec 300 case rosewill 450watt PSU

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/30/2009 9:57:10 AM

Rating + 1 Boot Up Problematic at First, Will not Boot At All Now


Pros: None.

Cons: Had intermittent problems getting it to boot up at first, but I managed to get XP loaded and updated. I attributed it to video problems but I believe it is more than that. I set it aside for a couple of weeks - this system was never used. Now that I need it, it will not boot up. Everything powers up, but there is no video output, no BIOS POST (no keyboard activity), no beeps, ... nothing. I see several other reviews complaining about the same problems. I tried to clear the CMOS hoping to get it to boot one more time so I could update the BIOS, but no luck. This one is going in the trash.

Other Thoughts: I've worked with numerous other ASUS products without any problems, but I cannot recommend this model.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

I'm sorry that you're having problems getting the board to POST. Please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE557505" so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you in resolving the issues you are experiencing.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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insomnix
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/29/2009 9:34:39 PM

Rating + 5 Great


Pros: One of the easiest setups I ever did. Runs great and very silent running.

Cons: After doing some research before purchasing this produt, must flash the bios before installing OS to reduce potential problems.

Other Thoughts: Flash the bios before doing anything else.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

James
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/21/2009 4:56:40 AM

Rating + 4 almost perfect


Pros: The small form factor helps a lot for a HTPC build. The board also has plenty of USB headers built in (you'll need a cable to hook them up). The motherboard comes with a "jumper extender" that lets you plug all the front-panel controls (power, reset, hdd activity, etc) into it and then plug the one bigger extender in after the motherboard is installed in the case.

Cons: The I/O shield was a pain to install. The "spacers" that are on it have a habit of getting in the way of the ports on the back, especially the ethernet jack.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/15/2009 12:34:04 PM

Rating + 5 great mobo


Pros: RAID O stripe raid was very easy to set up. Plenty of Sata ports. Simple board, very easy to use.

Cons: none really. size, one pci slot. but that's what's being paid for.

Other Thoughts: No suprises here. Asus makes a solid board.

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Lunzhegu
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/15/2009 12:06:27 PM

Rating + 4 Heat sink fan speed issue solution


Pros: Like some others here, a replacement for Asus OEM board on an HP Pavilion a1630n. It fit the case all right and runs nicely.

Cons: Fan 3-pin plug issues have been noted here. See below.

The system panel connector (20-8 Panel) would not accomodate the HP plug. You can use the plug on the Q-connector all right, but you end up without an HD activity light -- no big deal. I added a small case speaker from an unused computer and could connect it all right for POST information.

The AVC fan from the HP config ran at 5400 (according to Asus' PC Probe II) and was very noisy. (Chassis fan was running around 1150.) Initial Asus chat support recommended a 4-pin PWM fan. The cheapest recommended one I could find was around $30.

Other Thoughts: I followed up from with a call based on a couple Newegg reviewers' suggestions.

Asus support initially said the fan power connectors were interchangeable, and one Newegg reviewer swapped the chassis fan and the CPU fan. My chassis fan wire wouldn't reach the CPU fan connector (as noted by some it's right in the corner) so I plugged it into the power fan connector near to the CPU. The fans were very quiet, and PC Probe II showed both the fans (chassis and power) at around 2100. The CPU around 28-32 degrees, and the board was less than that. The highest CPU temperature I have seen is around 36. Asus support said that solution is fine.

POST then gives a four-beep CPU fan error. Asus support said to resolve the POST "Press F1 to resume" error, also noted here, by going to Boot options in the BIOS and disabling the "Wait for F1 if" error. See section 2.6.2 of the manual, page 2-34. That also works well.

See PC Probe not to monitor your CPU fan, since it's not plugged in the

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/15/2009 10:19:38 AM

Rating + 4 a good buy if you need a micro atx


Pros: installed 7 using this board with no issues after i got the latest bios update.
the pci-e slot has nothing important behind it so you can fit a fairly large sized video card in there if you have enough room in your case. i had a 9800 GTX in the case and it was fine but i have downgraded to a 9600 GSO to keep the case a bit cooler.

the board gets along well with my 9950 phenom CPU

Cons: asus support page seems nice but many of their driver links for this board do not work. i dont like the idea of installing some proprietary download manager just to get a few drivers so i did not try that. i ended up getting the drivers i needed from another site (forgot which site i used)

another PS2 port would be nice

asus pcprobe II software was not on the disc. i had to go find it somewhere but google made that fairly painless.

Other Thoughts: i do not use the integrated video card and i have not tried the esata port on the back yet.

the board comes with this little jumper extension that i thought would make plugging in all the case cables easier but it didnt quite work out that way. i decided not to use it b/c the power and reset jumpers kept coming off the pins when i tried to set the adapter to the jumper pins with all cables attached.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/14/2009 2:11:20 PM

Rating + 4 Good for the price


Pros: Compact form, easy to work on, installed with no issues OS load (XP Pro) piece of cake. Built in video actually works great for me. No need for a graphics card!

Cons: Onboard USB ports lack current to run 2.5 inch hard drives! IDE connector is in a really BAD spot. Manual needs clarity on use of eSATA in hot swap. Needs two PS2 ports.

Other Thoughts: Overall, an inexpensive build that runs well and meets my needs. This was an emergency rebuild after my other mainboard began to go crazy Ivan on me.

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zeos
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/13/2009 10:36:40 AM

Rating + 5 Great Motherboard


Pros: Worked great with athlon ii x2 cpu, surprising performance.

Cons: none

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

djfcsi
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/13/2009 8:16:52 AM

Rating + 5 Excellent motherboard


Pros: I've had this board for 9 months now with little or no problems. It's rock solid and has every feature you need.

Cons: small problem when I first installed this board. At start up it would randomly reboot just before entering windows, but bios upsate and it has not failed to boot since updating

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
10/10/2009 1:06:04 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Decent overclocking tools, HDMI, functional integrated graphics, 4 memory slots

Cons: A second PCI-Express x16 2.0 slot would have been nice, but of course I knew what I was getting when I bought it.

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Cram
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/10/2009 12:41:33 PM

Rating + 5 small case BIG power!!


Pros: RAID setup is a breeze!
140w processor support
H/T is a big upgrade for ppl that network you photos/vids etc....
makes multitasking a BREEZE!!

Cons: I know...I know..micro board...so no second PCI-X slot... be careful on the ram you chose....use AMD overdrive to atain clockings as the version of BIOS that is standard does not help....DO NOT update drivers...you will lose voltage control!! and make sure the correct version of drivers is installed for your processor or you will get RAM idle around 40-50%

Other Thoughts: Great board for the money...if you like a compact case (like I do) this is the ticket, with the chipsets...
Themaltake lanbox Lite
AMD phenom II 940
8 gb 1066 OCZ platinum
2X 640gb 32MB cach WD cav black (raid 0)
700w OCZ fatality
single 3870X2 (watch you clearance) visiontek 2GB GDDR 3

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/9/2009 4:35:46 AM

Rating + 4 Dave the wave


Pros: Good board especially if you live in the south, meaning it will stay cool at least mine does with a AMD 4850e dual core processor it idles at 32. The cool n' quiet technology really does work compared to the older motherboards from ASUS. Thumbs up, I will repost once I upgrade my processor to a new quad core.

Cons: Issues with trying to find a LinuX version to work with the onboard graphics or atleast to get the 3D effects to work like they do on my old nVidia graphics card even though it's an add on card and not on the motherboard like this. Works Flawlessly with Microsoft Windows XP.

Other Thoughts: If you live in the south this board will not generate no where near as much heat as the older 32bit boards from ASUS.

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Wcnwzrd
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/8/2009 7:16:46 AM

Rating + 4


Pros: Board boots pretty fast (after disabling express gate with all SATA)
BIOS Settings are pretty easy to figure out even for a beginner
Tons of options for overclocking including preset profiles at 2, 5 and 10% OC.
HDMI video output
6 USB ports on board and room for at least that much in expansion slots

Cons: Location of the IDE Cable on board, I have it in a full sized tower and have to hook up the IDE cable prior to placing any hard drives
Express gate (unless you disable this option in BIOS, it takes you to a mini-OS prior to booting the actual OS)

Other Thoughts: Overall a great board so far. Took my CPU and RAM with no issues. If you plan to boot up from a SATA make sure that you don't have any IDE installed as it defaults to that. Also make sure you only have one OS installed as the BOIS will only detect my old windows install and i have to force it to boot to my other SATA even though the good install is at SATA 1. Would love the option to designate any Drive as the boot drive but BIOS only gives 1 option for hard drive boot along with USB and CD/Floppy if installed.

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MikeF
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/7/2009 6:39:52 PM

Rating + 3 The bloom is off


Pros: - this m/b comes with every interface you could want
- the price is right
- ASUS is still in business

Cons: - the Express Gate instant access is flaky; my settings are constantly being lost and IIRC require s/w reload
- the m/b temp sensors are going bad and cause the CPU fan to run at max speed all the time. BTW Speedfan and the hilariously ugly ASUS PC Probe utils agree.
- so far ASUS tech support has not been responsive

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for this inconvenience. Please contact us at 812-282-2787 so that we can know more about your system configuration and assist you in resolving your issues.

Best regards,
ASUS SUPPORT TEAM

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/5/2009 9:27:03 AM

Rating + 5 Sweet motherboard


Pros: This is a pretty nice motherboard, combined with my 6000+ Windsor CPU it really kicks.

Cons: The only gripe I have is this rebate stuff why they can't have instant amount off instead of a rebate beats me except that a lot of people don't get their rebates.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/3/2009 9:47:56 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Fantastic little board! This was the easiest board to setup that I've ever done. I simply love it.

Cons: It only has 2 pci slots but I knew this going in, so it's not really a con but rather a wish for 1-2 more. Let's see... It wasn't free. Yeah, that's a con.

Other Thoughts: I put this board with:
Athlon x2 6000 3.1 GHz with stock fan (35c)
4 gb Gskill 800 ram
Apevia Black SECC Steel / Aluminum X-MASTER-BK/500 ATX Media Center / HTPC Case (I did change out the PS. I had a new/better one just sitting there staring at me)

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MicroBell
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/2/2009 1:57:28 PM

Rating + 5 Nice board so far


Pros: Nice board for the price
Lot's of built in options

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: I have an Asus M3A78-Pro and bought this board for my Mom's PC and set it up as a gaming PC. So far...both boards are doing Ok and I had no issues other then setting up some bios settings so far.

I did notice that the board bios is about 1-2 updates behind so you may need to update the bios to support newer CPU's.

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Bad M3A78-EM
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/1/2009 6:04:38 PM

Rating + 1 The board dies after 8 months


Pros: None.

Cons: This board is a piece of junk. It dies after 8 months. I does post at all. I cannot trust ASUS product any more. I have to look for other hard ware vendor. I am really frustrated.

Other Thoughts: I might never buy ASUS again. ASUS please do not concentrate on power saving instead concentrate of reliability of your product. I do not care for power usage. I just need a good, reliable MB. You put too much effort in power saving in that process, you might create too many bugs in your hard ware and bios. That is my recommendation to you, ASUS.

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Mike
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/1/2009 1:27:37 PM

Rating + 5 Great setup on a budget


Pros: Very smooth, worry-free installation. Lots of features for the price. The audio and video are more than good enough for everything I do.

Cons: None. I updated drivers and everything right off the bat, so I haven't had any issues.

Other Thoughts: It replaced a Gateway board that died. I would highly recommend this board.

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Nick
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
9/30/2009 9:03:03 AM

Rating + 5 Cheap performance


Pros: Runs cool, 140w CPU support, ASUS, wasent DOA, pretty flexible BIOS settings with the exception of the CPU voltage, not that the phenom x4 9850 can be overclocked well, but will be an issue for newer chips. I would definitely recommend this mobo if your on a budget.

Cons: Very limited CPU voltage settings, CPU heatsink sits VERY close to ram (maybe its just my heatsink?), onboard audio is garbage, and some BIOS features are not listed in the manual.

Other Thoughts: Great HTPC mobo, wish it had more PATA slots for my older hard drive and CD-ROM not really a big deal, but it would be nice.

ASUS M3A78-EM mobo
4x 2GB G-Skill DDR2 800 5-5-5-15
AMD Phenom x4 9850 BE 2.5 Ghz
WD5000aavs 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB cache
evga 8800 GTS 320 MB
Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeGamer
Antec 650w PSU

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delta
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
9/29/2009 3:48:50 PM

Rating + 4 Compatibility with other Ram


Pros: Finally got it to work after switching out the ram and using only 1 stick of ddr2 ram.
I bought the recertified or refurbished board though.

Cons: Motherboard is very pick with ddr2 ram.
be sure to check out the manufacturers recommended compatible ram.

Other Thoughts: Most PC tech headaches are solved if you have backup tester stuff like spare hardware computer stuff.

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Grimm
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/27/2009 11:17:09 PM

Rating + 2 One Problem After Another


Pros: Bought last November, I believe. At first the lack of a 2nd PS2 port was a small problem but it grew into a large problem as anyone with a KVM switch is well aware. I'm at my whits end. 4 PS, any number of ram, drive, input devices later, not to mention BIOS updates all of which added to issues or evidenced a new set of issues. Perhaps its the fact that I'm using an early 125W 9850, thats all that is left.

Cons: Irritating on and off USB recognition, BIOS update, USB solved now IDE OS HD issues. Another BIOS update, serious IDE OS HD issues and USB issues back. Replace drives, ram, PS, no help. Another BIOS update, no better. Replace IDE HD with SATA and things run smoothely...until any OS issue requires a repair from the OS CD. OS CD is no longer found on boot, wont even try to spin it up although other bootable disks do boot???, That is connecting optical drive either SATA, IDE or USB. BBS and BIOS boot selection seems just a suggestion because you set it one way and it acts another way. I could go on and on.

Other Thoughts: Boy I dont normally complain but this has been one issue after another compounded by the lack of the second PS2 port, what were they thinking? Maybe I just got a flaky board since it rates so well or perhaps the CPU draw is somehow an issue, but now, until Asus puts the second PS2 port back in, I'm done connecting 2 mice and keybaords different ways just to hopefully have something recognized at boot. I cant run an OS on an IDE drive, cant fix an OS on an SATA drive, the options are disappearing fast. If I wasnt able to clone and migrate from a different PC, I have no idea how I could ever install an OS on this board. I was an Asus lover, but thats fading fast. I cant imagine those port connectors costing too much...put them back, please. Think really hard before you buy this board.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry for this inconvenience. Please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE516931" so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you in resolving these issues you are experiencing.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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StarTrec
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/25/2009 12:03:26 PM

Rating + 4 Not the board


Pros: Good MB. SATA cables are cheap. Had 4 hard drives go bad after a few days running. They were OK on my other Computors(have 4 in house) & USB. After some more checking found the supplied SATA cables bad. replaced , no trouble for past years & the bad HDD still working fine.

Cons: Better SATA cables

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superken
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/25/2009 10:01:01 AM

Rating + 5 Update


Pros: Used this mainboard to build a budget system for a friend about 9 months ago. Paired with an X2 6000 (89W), 4 GB of inexpensive RAM and an HD 4830. Very nice budget system and it's been running fine ever since.

Very easy build, no problems at all.

Cons: The ASUS web site is the slowest of all major MB manufacturers. C'mon ASUS, fix this please!

Other Thoughts: I've built dozens of computers (using new and used) parts from newegg and I would like to offer this advice. Always fire up your new mainboard on the bench before installing it into your case. Enter the BIOS and watch the temps. I've seen several situations where the mainboard worked on the bench, but did not work after being installed into a case. The case wiring connections will cause problems (front panel USB connections, etc) if they are not correct. The case design can be a problem also - I've seen motherboard trays that make contact to the backside of the motherboard - causing an electrical short.

I really don't have a problem with purchasing returned mainboards. At this time, 95% of the open boxes I have purchased were fine. I honestly believe that most of the problems can be found and resolved without a RMA.

It's true that the newer computer hardware is easier to assemble, but there's still room for human error.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/22/2009 3:33:55 PM

Rating + 5 mother board


Pros: very good motherboard for the price. has hdmi out and dvi out.

Cons: not a big fan of the ide port turned sideways instead of straight up.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/19/2009 11:12:28 AM

Rating + 1 First Disappointing ASUS MB


Pros: Price

Cons: Did not recognize UltraDMA Hard Drive. I tried 4 SATA drives, one of which was new, and they were all corrupted within 3 days. I never heard of a MB doing this, but 4 drives can't be a coincidence.

Other Thoughts: It took a lot of time loading and testing WinXP 4 times. It's now too late to RMA :>(

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StevieD
Tech Level: average
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/19/2009 10:54:31 AM

Rating + 5 780G by Asus


Pros: Hybrid GPU technology streamed by ATI. DDR2 mem. for high caliber central processors. Q connect provides a neat lineup.

Cons: Could use more updates in Probe II for compatability.

Other Thoughts: Good software flow with AMD Athlon X2 5000+, Phenom 8450, and PhenomII X4 945. Patriot and OCZ standup vendors and BD-ROM by Sony proved to be outstanding quality.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/18/2009 6:07:33 AM

Rating + 3 Not quite right


Pros: Good layout
Easy to set up
Worked for HDTV PVR

Cons: Did not play Blu Ray

Other Thoughts: I bought this board to use as a HTPC. I got it to work fine with a HD homerun tuner as a PVR. I trieed to play a Blu Ray on it, and I got a stuttering image. I used an AAMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz. Basically it seamed the on board graphics was not up to the task. I returned it for the GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H board which worked!

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/11/2009 7:03:34 PM

Rating + 4


Pros: Works with AM2/AM2+/AM3 cpus, has all kinds of video connections. HDMI, display port, DVI, and VGA.

Cons: Overclocking abilities are lacking. Not much voltage control only +.05mv, .1mv, 1.5mv for CPU, NB, and HT.

Other Thoughts: Great for an HTPC or small PC. I managed to overclock my PII 940 to 3.7ghz despite almost no voltage control.

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rickscomputer
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/11/2009 2:52:29 AM

Rating + 5 great board


Pros: all kinds of extra features,xp works perfect even down to the hdmi sound&auido.

Cons: none yet

Other Thoughts: asus is just as good or better than gigabite

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BeachBum
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/10/2009 9:23:52 PM

Rating + 5 Accepts AM3 CPU's


Pros: Not listed in the specifications at NewEgg or on the Asus website, but when you look at the Asus "CPU support List", this wonderful board will accept AM3 Socket CPUs! If you bought this board awhile ago, all you may need to do to get this new capability is to update the BIOS. The latest version is 1902. The price is awesome for all its capabilities!

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: Thanks ASUS for frequent updates to the BIOS and drivers(including Win7) to allow this MB to ROCK!

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Louisiana Tech
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
9/7/2009 10:50:22 AM

Rating + 1 DOA board on RMA


Pros: Unbelievable. After years of great Asus boards over a dozen builds - the M3A78-EM is a complete dud to me after two boards.

Cons: RMA USA2982686 ref # NE473838.

First time they shipped me back the same board unrepaired-we checked the S/N. Poor QC in the RMA Dept.

This time the board was DOA. Nothing. No lights, no beeps. Switched power supplies "just in case"...this is disappointing and frustrating. Poor QC in the replacement department.

If I decide to try to get this replaced I will have to pay packaging costs, wait two-three weeks for another chance to spend an hour or so re-assembling this PC into a very nice but very tight case just to see if Asus cares about a long term customer?

Other Thoughts: Asus was adamant they wanted my credit card to cross ship last time. Since I was traveling I just waited for the new board. I am now out over $25 on shipping and packaging of two boards.

Two weeks ago I bought a Gigabyte GA-MA785-GM for another build. No problems...

So, do I spend another $6 or so on packaging materials to try to get another board right AND spend another two weeks without an HTPC or do I chalk this up to a learning experience with Asus and switch to Gigabyte for good?

I hate to condemn the company on two bad boards-it may be the design of this one model, but the RMA issues may be indicative of a larger problem...
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for this inconvenience. However, our replacement boards are fully tested before sending out. We would like to work with you to get you back up and running. Also, we would like to find out what the root cause was. Please contact us at APS_support@asus.com and reference case number NE491602 for assistance in resolving your issues.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2009 8:46:23 AM

Rating + 5 Great board


Pros: Board has been great. It was bougt for a basic gaming system with a AMD phenom black edition X4. Has been great.

Cons: none

Other Thoughts: AMD Phenom 2.3Ghz black edition
EVGA 8800GT
3GB Kingston HyperX

Plays Crysis on High

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kgl_m
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
9/4/2009 6:00:48 AM

Rating + 5 Works well


Pros: MicroATX format means that the board fits in any case with room to spare. The standoffs all lined up with my Coolermaster case.
Comes with plenty of cables and stuff.
Recognized my Phenom II out of the box.
Windows 7 recognized everything after a fresh install with no need to hunt for drivers.
RAM slots work when all filled up with 1GB sticks.
No fan on Northbridge.
It looks like there's plenty of space around the CPU socket for a nice big cooler.

Cons: Dual-monitor only works with VGA and digital (not two digital outputs).

No fan on Northbridge ;-)
Also, MOSFETs aren't cooled, so you'll want to be aware of that if you're overclocking.

Other Thoughts: DDR2-1066 doesn't work in dual channel mode - only supports one stick per channel, so two sticks total in this 4-slot board.

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GI Joe
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
9/3/2009 6:40:33 AM

Rating + 3 Do Research


Pros: Nice board once you get it up and going. All features plus I needed a micro for replacement.

Cons: Bios rev. delivered with board not adequate for new chip. amd 955 would not post out of the box. ASUS support, usually good, said my particular model of 955 not supported, no way it would work. Used an old athlon to boot and update bios; put the 955 back in and everything is fine. There is another review similar to this so it’s not isolated.

Other Thoughts: Beware the model #s of the chips. While the 955 is "supported" only certain models are. The model on the egg is NOT documented as supported on any of the ASUS boards I looked at on their website. I was able to get the egg model to work but ASUS would not work with me because it wasn’t on their list.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/2/2009 12:54:11 PM

Rating + 5 power on a budget


Pros: price and video options! where else can you grab a quality board with the options of hdmi, dvi, vga and even displayport(not that i'll ever use dp)?

Cons: none thus far

Other Thoughts: paired this board with a phenom II x4 940 black edition, overclcoked to 3.6ghz with stock heatsink/fan. kingston hyperx t1 memory.

built this as a budget rig or my girlfriend.

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thomas mg
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/2/2009 12:21:00 PM

Rating + 1 no full screen in windows 7


Pros: good cpu support, optical audio

Cons: ati sucks, there is no full screen in windows 7. I never had this problem with nvidia drivers.someone browsing for motherboards should stick with nvidia, the ati driver problems are amateurish.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,


We are sorry for this inconvenience. Please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE484887" so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you in resolving these issues you are experiencing.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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Golden Potato
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/31/2009 9:30:41 PM

Rating + 5 Good for Gaming at a price!


Pros: This board is everything thing I need. (For now). I've maxed out the 8 gb of ram and am happy with the results. I couldn't think of another better board than this for its great price.

Cons: It doesn't levitate and sing campfire songs too small children.
:P

Other Thoughts: I have the 2.3 ghz phenom cpu.. maybe i should go for higher.
maxed out hl2 with an alright 1 gb ddr2 graphics card, but it could be better.

Does anyone else like chicken pot pie a little more after buying this board? ummmmmmm..

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Punish101
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/29/2009 10:19:55 PM

Rating + 5 Media PC


Pros: Built my media center setup off this motherboard. I liked that it had an onboard video card. Helped keep the cost down on the overall system build. Running Windows 7 32 bit. And it picked up all the hardware/drivers on the setup. Havent played around with any over locking on it, dont plan on it since its a media center setup.

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: I put AMD Phenom 9350e Agena 2.0GHz on it. No problems!

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/28/2009 8:25:55 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: Installed with AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ cpu and 2GB G.SKILL DDR2 1066 memory. Works great!

Cons: Had to purchase a dvd drive in order to install motherboard drivers.

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/27/2009 6:59:59 PM

Rating + 5 Good Purchase


Pros: Great Motherboard for the Price. Easy Install. Everything works great.

Cons: Nothing

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/25/2009 7:24:31 AM

Rating + 5 Good investment


Pros: HDMI/Display port + optical audio, lots of rear port USB. supports the 140 w CPUs; the CPU temp is much cooler than previous mobos I've owned with same processor and heat sink, 3-4 degrees celsius. the onboard SATA location is convenient, right next to my hard drive.

Cons: Ati

Other Thoughts: the realtek LAN port supports 9k MTU jumbo frames, web pages load almost instantly once 9k size is enabled.

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Louisiana Tech
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
8/25/2009 7:24:22 AM

Rating + 1 Update


Pros: Wrote a review on the problems (June 09?) with the MB not recognizing all the DIMM slots & a bad S/PDIF port. Returned to Asus based on their review of Newegg customer concerns - a good thing they monitor this site!

Cons: They sent me back the same board unrepaired. Very disappointed.

Other Thoughts: After I tried the board & saw I had the same problem I doubted myself (again) & ran thru ALL the troubleshooting I had done the 1st time - lost 4+ hours AGAIN. The Tech Rep had me read him the S/N & sure enough - they had sent me the same board back. Sad.

They would not cross-ship without a credit card hold. I was out of town so skipped that & am awaiting the 2nd return to come to me. I am now out a system 2 months, perhaps?

I don't want to condemn Asus Tech repair on a single incident but the problem is the board will boot just does not recognize all the DIMM slots. If their tech is not capable of understanding the RMA order OR if they only fix one of the two problems (S/PDIF) I will be eternally irritated. Rebuilding the HTPC in this tight case is a difficult task...
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for this inconvenience. We would like to assist you in resolving your issues. Please contact us at APS_support@asus.com and reference case number NE473838 for assistance.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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nitefallz
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/24/2009 8:20:24 PM

Rating + 1 Horrible Experience


Pros: The only pro would be if the board was stable, it would be perfect. It's not.

not consistent where for example you watch a blu-ray movie and it crashes 15 minutes into it. It varies, sometimes it won’t crash. Benchmarking it is almost a guaranteed crash.

In Vista 32 bit there’s a blue screen and a memory dump, no other information is available. In XP it simply reboots. Event logs do not provide any information other than a serious system error occurred.

The system was first setup using the Transcend memory listed below, and using on board video with various hard drives with both Vista and XP installed (clean installs). The crashes started. I thought maybe the onboard video wasn’t stable, so I added the Sapphire Radeon PCIE video card, but the problems continued. At one point I thought the onboard sound was a problem, so I disabled it and used the HDMI sound from the Sapphire video card, but no luck. I then replaced the memory with G.SKILL, 2 sticks @ 2GB each.

Cons: he problems continued. I switched from 2 sticks to 1 stick. I used different memory slots and the same problem. I’ve used many different hardware combinations, different programs and the result were the same. I’ve updated the BIOS, and drivers for the board and attached peripherals. I used Artic Silver 5 thermal compound for the heatsink and CPU, and temperatures were never an issue. I’ve seen the cores of the CPU get up to 80c and the board temps get up to 60c and it did not crash right away. I removed the board from the case and placed it on an anti-static bag and set it up. I had extra fans directed toward the warm areas of the board keeping all temps below 55C and it still crashed. I noticed the northbridge heatsink would get hot, so I placed a fan over that, and it remained cool, but the system was still not stable. I’ve tried two power supplies, both sufficient to power this board as well, and no luck .

Other Thoughts: Parts tested with:

* Transcend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Model JM800QLU-2G
* G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Model F2-6400CL5S-2GBPQ x 2
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200 Brisbane 2.7GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5200DOBOX
* SAPPHIRE 100255U Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
* 430 watt Antec PSU
* 450 watt generic PSU

I RMA'd this board with Asus, they received it, "repaired" it, and sent it back. The same board, same serial#, and nothing was changed. It still is not stable. I want a refund so I can buy a Gigabyte board.

Newegg is the best!
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

Sorry to hear about your situation. Can you try and run memtest to see if system still crashes. If memtest passes with no errors, then i would definitely run a stress test on the CPU to see if that might be the issue. If you need further assistance, please contact us at aps_support@asus.com and reference case# NE473885.

Best regards,
ASUS SUPPORT TEAM

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/24/2009 5:29:15 PM

Rating + 4


Pros: It works very well and was easy to assemble even though I've never done a complete system before since my last 386 build in the 80's.

Cons: There was no rebate card. The purchase price was fair and you're not doing anybody any favors by mentioning rebates in your price quotes when you're dealing with manufacturers and distributors who won't live up to them.

Other Thoughts: On the other hand I'd rather have the board than the $10.

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Zopiac
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/24/2009 2:55:00 PM

Rating + 5 Great board, overall!


Pros: A ton; gigabit ethernet, 4 RAM slots, what, 6 SATA? :) Good software, small form factor. And all this for a nice, low price! What more can I ask for? Oh, maybe made by Gigabyte, but ASUS is the next best thing. I fully recommend this :)

Cons: ONLY THING I've had a problem with is that my IDE connection is dead, but I believe this was caused by a bad IDE Cable. But, who uses IDE anymore anyways? Just gotta spend $25 on a SATA DVD+RW Drive.

Other Thoughts: Not sure what the internet-at-bootup thing is, so I disabled it. It connects by the time I log in anyways...

Bootup time: 48 seconds

Specs:
This motherboard
160gb WD HDD
Dual Core 3.1GHz AMD Processor
4GB pqi RAM DDR2
Ubuntu Studio 9.04

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Hardware-browser
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/24/2009 2:00:48 PM

Rating + 1 Hard lock up under any disk IO


Pros: attractive feature list, good price

Cons: This board locks up hard (fails numlock status-no blinkin lights) under any high disk IO. This is either with the onboard SATA or 3rd party SATA controller. Booted and ran stable on Knoppix cd, and even burned the install DVD over the wire. Passed MEMTEST86 burnin.
The lockups occur only under disk IO stress. dd, Bonnie ++ or the installation format for XP, Suse, Fedora.

Other Thoughts: My first issue with any ASUS motherboard in 13 years of building systems. (granted I got lucky on the China capacitor fiasco) I will try again with Nvidia version of this board.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry for this inconvenience. Please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE472125" so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you in resolving these issues you are experiencing.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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Bagellord
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/22/2009 10:29:33 PM

Rating + 4 Great Board


Pros: Easy to set up and I have had no issues with it. Everything came together perfectly the first time around, as far as booting goes. I currently am using it for my media PC with Windows 7 RC.

Cons: RAID setup is confusing an not intuitive. I was using another Asus mobo that got fried by a power surge since I didn't put it on an actual surge protector. It had an nVidia chipset and it was much, much easier to set up and manage. To set up the RAID, I had to go into the BIOS, and into the SATA configuration and change it there. Then I was able to set up the RAID in RAID 0 and install Windows.

Another issue I had was with my Arctic Cooling heatsink and fan I installed. Mounting it was very difficult because of the chipset heatsink.

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igsciurus
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/19/2009 7:55:35 AM

Rating + 5 Good for a budget or media center pc


Pros: Lots of connections.
4 RAM slots.
Came with all the cords and adapters I needed.
Lots of options in BIOS.
Good onboard audio and video.

Cons: Only one PS-2 port. I didn't realize this at first (my own fault), and had to run to the store to get a usb keyboard.

Other Thoughts: Be sure to update the video drivers from ATI. It makes a big difference.

Be sure NOT to install the ethernet driver update that Windows Update recommends. It caused mine to stop working.

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WHo
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/18/2009 10:12:25 AM

Rating + 3 HTPC


Pros: Pretty much has all the features I wanted for an affordable and efficient HTPC build in a small and compact solution. I paired this with an AMD X2 5050e, I didn't want to bother getting another video card so I chose this 780G chipset. It really offers good rendering of 1080p video. Never experienced any lag or stuttering.

Cons: Then four months later the NIC died. No lights on when connected. LAN turned on in BIOS, updated BIOS, reinstalled drivers etc. The ethernet cable works with my laptop. I'm surprised and annoyed because this is the first time an onboard NIC has ever died on me.

Other Thoughts: I hate having to return this or send this in for warranty. I hate it so much I didn't even check the warranty terms. I'm probably going to have to leech a NIC from a friend. I picked this ASUS board over other more affordable brands because I trusted their quality. I'm just disappointed over this hassle.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry for this inconvenience. Please let us know if we can assist in the RMA process by contacting us at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/usa_rmaserv.aspx.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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MikeR
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/18/2009 9:38:13 AM

Rating + 4 Works great


Pros: I have had no problems with this board from the start. Assembled the machine, turned it on, and have ignored it since. It just works. Caveat: I tend to not ask a lot of my home desktops, mostly photo and video editing. I don't get into the high-end gaming or use as a multimedia center, so I don't use some of the higher-end functions such as optical audio or vcore adjustments. Lots of USB and SATA ports. Really like the Q Connector!

Cons: Only one PATA connector, and it plugs in from the side (?!). Board is rated to handle 1066 memory, but will only handle it if using 2 sticks. Use 4 and it switches to 800. Kinda odd. No wonder Kingston specs 800 memory for it.

Other Thoughts: Only gave it 4 eggs for the odd memory thing.

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Inferno
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/17/2009 6:13:58 PM

Rating + 5 Audio problems update


Pros: All in one package.. affordable! Great HTPC board Had to bump up the eggs from my last post!

Cons: I said before that there was issues with the boards sound.. it appears it was a Microsoft OS issue and not the board.. I did upgrade to Vista from XP (didn't want to spend the money) BUT it works great now.. the Dolby digital is awesome through a receiver and Media center...

The 9600 quad core is running a little hot with the noisy fan but not a motherboard issue.. (I will be trying to update the drivers for it... see if it helps!

Other Thoughts: Thanks for Asus and there quick reply to my post on the egg.... I didn't need them once I installed Vista, but it is good to know they will stand behind their products!

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