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ASUS M4A78 PRO AMD Motherboards
Customer Reviews for ASUS M4A78 PRO AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
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Review Summary (159 Reviews): Rating + 4
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Reviewer Product Review
Steve
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
11/4/2009 2:21:52 PM

Rating + 3 Video Dropout Problem


Pros: Board has a lot of nice features; sata connectors,hdmi hookup, etc

Cons: Built this machine using an AMD Phenom, 4 gigs of Mushkin Ram, a Maxtor sata drive (Wiped clean, then fresh install of Win 7 64), sata DVD/CD drive. Machine runs well, until it needs to be rebooted, then you get no video after the Win start screen.

The bios id page loads, then the win start logo loads, then the video drops out and you get a blank screen.

Tried updating to the latest bios to no avail.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry that you're experiencing this issue with the board. Please contact us at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number NE562356 so that we may get more details about your system configuration and assist you in resolving this issue.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

1 out of 1 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
10/31/2009 5:26:06 PM

Rating + 2 Good if you like headaches


Pros: When it works, great. The onboard video is what I was looking for, given I am using in a headless server.

Cons: 1st board: everything worked except onboard lan. Tried to upgrade bios using ASUS EZ Flash 2 utility in bios. Flash reported success, but board then would not post, no beeps, nothing. Did the usual remove battery, jumpers, nothing. RMA'd.

2nd board: everything worked, even onboard lan. Left on for 2 days, everything fine. Turned off. Next day, turned on (or tried to). Board dead - no beeps, no boot screen, nothing. The now usual jumper/remove battery procedure, nothing. Not even a chance to upgrade bios given no post. RMAing again. Hopefully 3rd times the charm.

Note: Query to ASUS about lan produced response that driver not included for WHS2003, suggesting I switch to XP/Vista/Win7. This even though Maximum PC magazine recommended this very board for use in a home server, an article I was following. And proof it does work was that the board, and lan, did work for 2 days, until I made the dire mistake of turning it off.

Other Thoughts: Using Athlon X2 245, socket am3, Corsair
DDR2 Dominator 1066 (2 x 1gb)

Board also provides a greater appreciation of buying a pre-built system.

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

Qbanguy
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/26/2009 9:13:45 PM

Rating + 1 Unlucky Board


Pros: None.

Cons: Bought this MOBO and found it to be DEAD ON ARRIVAL. The board's light would come on but no beep, no bleep... nothing! I removed the battery to clear the cmos overnight and nothing... I removed it and placed it on cardboard to ensure that the board was not shorting with the case... nothing. I RMA'd this baby and I am now waiting for the next one... I will flash the BIO if I get video this time.... wish me luck!

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

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

Craig
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/26/2009 2:35:44 PM

Rating + 2 Beware


Pros: Once (IF) you get it working, seems like a really nice board.

Cons: Bought a total of 4 M4A78 series boards. First 3 would only give a picture until you tried to change the BIOS settings. Then no more screen available. Emails and calls to ASUS only gave more frustration (must RMA, no one else is having this trouble, etc.). The troubleshooting steps recommended by them did not work. Finally in a fit of frustration I removed the CMOS battery and left it out overnight. Started it up and got a screen. Reset the BIOS and restarted--no picture. This time I took out the battery and left it out for about 15 minutes. I got a picture so I tried doing what some had suggested and updated the BIOS using the program in the BIOS. IT WORKED!! Now all 4 boards are working.

Other Thoughts: Good luck. Hopefully the board will work out of the box, but if it doesn't try the above.

Was using AM3 processors 945 and 955, 2 GB RAM.
Not sure what is happening at ASUS, but they don't seem quite up to the products that I have purchased over the last about 10 years--an average of over 100 boards a year. Customer service is way down, and reliability even more so. Hope they get back on track.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for the negative experience that you had. If you need any further technical support, please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx for assistance.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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StrYkeR
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/23/2009 7:14:06 PM

Rating + 5 Good board


Pros: Does everything i need it too.
Game, Video, Music, Internet, Etc.
Everything worked out of the box, happy for that as always.

Cons: None for me, because when you shop for a MOBO you get exactly what you want, and nothing you don't witch is what i got.
You will not be playing Crysis on the intergrated, lets be claer on that, Plants Vs. Zombies, a PS2 emulator, WoW, thats about it.

Also, I found out that the DVI is a full digital DVI-D, a DVI to VGA adapter like you get with a video card will not fit, <diff sized pins> DVI-D you need a full digital monitor, it will not support VGA to my knowledge.

So if you were thinking Dual View in the intergrated, you would need 1 VGA and 1 Digital, not sure on VGA and HDMI, pretty sure HDMI is full digital.

Whatever the case, at least you know about the DVI-D.

Other Thoughts: If you get this board and a phenom Proc, BE AWARE you may need BIOS update.
It's so easy. get a floppy, or a USB drive. Go to:
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=EbXqq06yxpJwlABf&templete=2
>Downloads > OS > BIOS.
Get the latest BISO, put them on your floppy, usb drive.
Get everything else ready, OS disc USB drive, ECT.
During POST hit <ALT> <F2> to enter ASUS EZ Flash, navigate to your BIOS file, and it dose the rest.

If you can't get a POST, Clear CMOS, this can be done by moving the jumper or removing the battery <CAREFULLY!> for a few mins, power on again and be hitting <ALT> <F2> as you go, and hopefully you will POST into the EZ Flash before the CMOS farts on the Proc lol.

If still no post, well then, check cables, RAM seating, PSU, make sure the MOBO is not grounding out, try to be sure to POST with as little unnecessary hardware as possible.
AND GOOD LUCK!

Specs.
OCZ RAM
Phenom II X2 3.1 Black Ed.

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

andrei
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/19/2009 9:28:43 AM

Rating + 4 flash me


Pros: -price
-supports AM3
-blue heatsinks look cool

Cons: says that it supports AM3 CPUs, doesn`t mention anywhere that it does so AFTER a BIOS update. mixed and matched parts for 2 hours when i got my 955. can be a real pain in the bottom.

Other Thoughts: great after you get the BIOS updates out of the way.

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

mike
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/17/2009 11:43:44 AM

Rating + 2 great while it worked


Pros: while it worked, it was dandy

Cons: after about 4 months the pci bus died out, making it almost useless. and the on board graphics stopped working also, like my motherboard hates me seeing my desktop or something.

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

Or, if you need further technical support, please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/17/2009 1:40:43 AM

Rating + 5 I Love this board


Pros: I Love this board! It has not let me down yet. Not one time. I bought this board as a replacement for an old Asus. My old board burned out. Don't know how, don't really care how, all I know is I replace the old one with this one and it works wonderfully. Oh, Asus tech support answered ALL of my questions when I had questions about processor compatibility.

Cons: None so far

Other Thoughts: I have no beef with Asus.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

Mike
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/16/2009 5:29:08 PM

Rating + 2 seems to poop out


Pros: while it worked it was great

Cons: i had the same problem JIM 236, after about 4 or 5 months, it stopped working, for no reason at all. but what really bugs me is that i was not even using on board video, i had a card. and the card works fine, i even tried it in a different pc.

Other Thoughts: asus really fell threw with this one. i used to have alot of faith in them, but not so much anymore.
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

Or, if you need further technical support, please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/10/2009 5:10:37 PM

Rating + 5 Whats with the Hub Bub?


Pros: Works very well. Easy to install (well kinda).

Cons: The I/O shield was a pain in the behind! I literally bled to get this into my system. The I/O shield refused to fit with the board, and cut my both thumbs & index fingers..

Other Thoughts: I ended up just taking out the I/O shield and taping it outside the motherboard. For the price, I would bleed again though! :O

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

JIM236
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
10/3/2009 4:39:27 PM

Rating + 1 lasted 5 months now video port dead.


Pros: while it worked it was awesome,used as a gaming machine.

Cons: i've been building pc's since 1998,this board lasted 5 months the pci express port(the only one this board has)
is dead in the water,first Asus board that ever let me down, all the rest that i've had (and built for others) lasted my standard upgrade time of 2.5 years,and still worked when retired to the pc graveyard.

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

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

Henry
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/18/2009 11:26:56 AM

Rating + 4 Pretty good for the price


Pros: Low price and it works (well, mostly -- see "cons"). What more can you ask for?

Cons: The on-board LAN was dead in the board I got. It's possible I could get it working and I certainly could return it for a replacement but frankly, I can't be bothered since I have LAN cards lying around anyway.

Also, there are only two SATA data cables included with this mother board, despite the fact that there are six SATA ports on the board. They aren't particularly expensive but it wouldn't have done them any harm to include two or even four more.

Other Thoughts: A decent piece of hardware and a bargain price. I am using an AMD Phenom 9750 2.4GHz Socket AM2+ processor. Getting things up and running is as easy as it could be.

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2J95GT
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/17/2009 2:50:25 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent Board


Pros: Excellent board. Worked great right out of the box. Straight forward procedures for switching between video outputs. Raid utility simple, clean, effective.

Cons: Like all Asus boards i've used, the labeling of the Sata ports is not always how the system reads the ports. All the ports work....the marking on the board and how the bios reads the order of the ports is different.

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

JIMUSNY
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/15/2009 7:05:23 PM

Rating + 4 2nd times a charm


Pros: Seems to be working fine.
good layout of board making for easy plugging,
handles my AM 3 CPU with the latest bios

Cons: No firewire, but I dont use it anyway.
The built in graphics are reading my displays resolutions on my HD TV/Display wrong, so I don't get many choices of compatible resolutions to use, and which can cause major problems if set higher than display can handle. My Nvidia reads it correctly on my old computer. I ordered a PCI express Nvidia card to see if that takes care of that problem
the RaidXpert program is very confusing, and I cant even get it to run but I guess its not ASUS's fault as it is AMD product

Other Thoughts: This is a rewrite of my last review. where the board died after a few hours of building the OS and updating drivers. This time I was ready with the latest bios and loaded it before doing anything else.. also downloaded all the drivers from another PC because the DVD that comes with it is flaky and quite down level, first one had no files on it, this one would run on my old pc but not my new one that I needed it for, ended up burning a copy with my old computer and it worked fine, then updated with the newer files I downloaded once I got my OS going. no problems with the board after two days this time. knock on wood.. hopefully the nvidia card I ordered takes care of the graphics problem

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

Scott
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
9/11/2009 10:33:19 AM

Rating + 2 Some issues


Pros: relatively small footprint. Drivers for RAID worked with vista 64; RAID 0,1,5,10, jbod capable; 6 internal SATA slots; built in vga, hdmi, and dvi; 3 pci slots allows continued use of cards from older machines.

Cons: Optical out location too close and blocks 1 usb when utilized. Microsoft photo wireless keyboard not recognized by bios with latest flash; No firewire capability on the board (but still com1 and floppy hookups (?!)).

Other Thoughts: This was an open box unit purchased from Newegg. When they say the peripherals and software may not be with open box items they weren't kidding. This board came without anything from newegg, including the i/o backing to match the board outputs to the tower. Should be included in my opinion.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

Scott
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
9/10/2009 10:28:46 PM

Rating + 2 You get what you pay for


Pros: Built in video (VGA, HDMI, DVI), fiber optic out, RAID 0,1,5,10, JBOD; capable of locating and flashing bios under windows; 6 SATA slots, potential of 12 USB; 3 PCI slots handy to recycle various cards from old computer (ie old TV card)

Cons: Bios only partially recognizes my Microsoft wireless photo keyboard set (mouse, not keyboard); Utilizing the optical out blocks one USB out (TOO CLOSE TOGETHER), No Firewire inputs on board (yet STILL with COM1 and floppy inputs?!)

Other Thoughts: This was an open box item for 60 bucks which Newegg indicates will not ship with the full complement of stuff, but I was expecting the I/O backing to at least cover up the back of my tower for this system of outputs...Alas, no. This baby shipped with just the board and NADA else...

The wireless keyboard error is just weird. It allows you use the keyboard to hit delete to get into the CMOS, but after reboot indicates 'No Keyboard, hit F1. Of course, by hitting F1 the system advances indicating that you obviously have a keyboard...That is, until the password screen in Vista in which the keyboard can't be used...I found and loaded the drivers for the keyboard to no avail. This is a CMOS issue...

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
9/7/2009 7:33:16 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: Great Board

Cons: None

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

someguy
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/6/2009 12:02:26 PM

Rating + 2 I won't buy ASUS again


Pros: There are only a few in my opinion. The ExpressGate is pretty handy but very limited. It's too bad you can't load your own OS and use that instead of the ASUS provided software. Once I got this board working, it worked flawlessly until one day it just died. Currently it's being processed by ASUS since it happened just a day after the standard 30 day return policy.

Cons: First of all when I installed this board I thought it was DOA since it didn't boot. There were no error beeps, no signs of anything. I had to reset the bios in order for it to boot. Once I rebooted it wouldn't boot again. It took me a few tries to figure out what was going on. I noticed my cpu speed was only at 800mhz not 3200mhz like it should have been. Long story short... If this happens to you reset your bios and manually set your cpu speed and you'll be good to boot. When it finally died, I would turn the PS on and it would start automatically. Lol this board is a joke.

Other Thoughts: You would think they'd have a proper cpu detection system in such a "high tech" board. Oh well... Fair warning to those that want this board. When I called ASUS about a dead board they said it was either an issue with the board or it was being grounded out. I had tried it all before I called them so I just had it RMA'd. Stay away from this board if you want stability!
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We apologize for this inconvenience. Please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE491653" 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

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

JIMUSNY
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
9/5/2009 4:33:14 PM

Rating + 2 Hard to Tell


Pros: Fit in my Case, It worked for 5 hours..
RMA part seemed easy.

Cons: It worked for 5 hours, and ASUS Utility/Driver CD was a blank disk!
with RMA will have to wait at least two weeks to get new board I assume.. So by the next time I get to try my CPU and new Memory will probably be over the 30 day return policy if they end up bad after a week of use

Other Thoughts: Spent the better part of a day cloning my hard drive on my old PC for the upgrade to a new board and CPU, while thats going on I installed the new board CPU and Memory in spare case I have.. wanted to make sure all was good before swapping out my current board and raid array. anyway all was ok, post went well, loaded Windows on old drive and went to install drivers, but ASUS CD was blank! Now my old computer was in middle of clone and had at least 3 hours to go so couldnt download any drivers from web either.. In the mean time I installed a intel PCI ethernet card and got that working with windows default drivers.. so went to asus to download drivers, but without the display adapters was tough at 16bit color and 640x480 display. finally got the chipset drivers after about 2 hours download time.. but before I could install system went dead.. No post no nothing.. removed everything but CPU, still no post, no beeps, reset cmos.. no help.. board is dead.. RMA in progress
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry for this inconvenience. If you need any assistance with your replacement board, please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE491732" 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

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

Goldmar
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/28/2009 12:58:50 PM

Rating + 5 Solid Board


Pros: Even though it has onboard video, I have in in a machine with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz AM2+ processor and $GB Kingston HyperX DDR2 ram running WinXP SP3, and it still plays everything i have put on it. Might not be the most top of the line system, but it's fast enough and very stable. Well over a year with no crashes or hardware failures.

Cons: No SLI, but unless your looking for that it doesn't matter.

Other Thoughts: I was planning on getting a video card for this system, but it really doesn't need one. Plays WoW with great responce. ASUS is one of my favorite mobo manufactures.

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

Sergio
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: more than 1 year
8/26/2009 8:09:36 PM

Rating + 5 Great Bored!


Pros: This board is packed with a HDMI Port Video and Audio Card! what more can you ask for?!?!?! Im running windows 7 and it runs smooth and win7 has all the drives for this board!

Cons: NONE!!!!

Other Thoughts: This board is great and easy to work with

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Wes
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
8/22/2009 6:13:28 PM

Rating + 5 Great motherboard!


Pros: Great board, works fantastic. ASUS does have Win 7 software on there website, even though it is not on their CD. I am running Windows 7 64-bit on this board with a AMD Phenom II X4 945 and 4GB of RAM, love it.

Cons: For some reason the DVD wouldn't read in my DVD burner, but it would in other DVD drives, so I had to make a copy of it and then I could read it in my DVD burner, but it was of no use to me anyways since it does not have Win 7 software/drivers on it. Otherwise, no complaints.

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dylebob
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/19/2009 1:20:46 PM

Rating + 5 Nice Mobo!


Pros: The thing just works right out of the box. No fuss, no muss.

Cons: None.

Other Thoughts: I bought this and put a middle-of-the-road processor on it with 2 GB of RAM. Very crisp and smooth running. I was building this for someone else but decided to keep it for myself. Seems like a good board.

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SloppyGoat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/16/2009 12:21:12 AM

Rating + 5 ASUS did help me get it working!


Pros: I finally have audio! Win 7 seems to be working fine now.

Cons: It took awhile to find the right ASUS tech.

Other Thoughts: Thanks to ASUS for helping me out on this one. It is possible to get the Vista drver to install. I emailed ASUS and finally found someone who knew what they were talking about. Thanks!!!

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Havoc
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/15/2009 10:59:58 PM

Rating + 5 Great Board


Pros: Great board, amazing range of compatible processors, easy to edit and flash BIOS

Cons: None that I can really think of...

Other Thoughts: To the people complaining about drivers...I have used both Vista Ultimate 64-bit and now am using Win7 Ultimate 64 bit and have had no problems. In fact when I installed the Release Candidate for Win7 it found all of my drivers without having to use the disc. I don't know what issues with drivers that the other people have had but in my opinion this is a great basic board.

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

nixter57
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
8/15/2009 12:44:05 AM

Rating + 4 !! NO PROBLEMS !!


Pros: EVERYTHING..(Fully Installed)..Powered UP the 1st.Time I turned it on WITHOUT a HITCH / GLITCH !! Immediately installed Windows 7 (RTM 7600) with the SAME RESULTS !! Can't see what all the "FUSS" is about from the other reviews ? Once again..ASUS..makes a "GREAT" board !! Couldn't do "BETTER" for the $money$ Definitely.. "WELL WORTH IT"! Maybe I'm just "LUCKY"!! "Sorry Guys! ;-)

Cons: NONE! EVERYTHING WORKED!! EVEN X-FIRE!!

Other Thoughts: I wanna' get MORE of these and try and.."Take Over The World"!!...

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Zerofire
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/12/2009 5:43:13 PM

Rating + 3 AM3 fake and NIC hell


Pros: It was not DOA.

Cons: The socket on the board is AM2+ not AM3.
Needs a BIOS chip to detect AM3 CPU's.
NIC card would not work for me.

Other Thoughts: I went through two RMA's with this board and a third has been just issued. One from ASUS and one from Newegg have already occurred. ASUS tech support is in my contact list because I call them so much. Newegg should still have the 1 year replacement policy because it is impossible to do all the tests for a board in 30 days. Where did the quality of service and after purchase guarantee of operation go? The only thing good about this experience was the shipping and that's just a minor part of the sale.

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SloppyGoat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/12/2009 12:19:11 PM

Rating + 1 ASUS LIES!!!! - Win 7 Audio Drivers Issue


Pros: ASUS cares enough about their reputation to reply to these reviews.

Cons: They lied. I called ASUS at the number they provided and nobody there had any answers or have even heard of any way to get Vista drivers to work. They only told me that they do not support Win 7 and they don't know any way to load Vista drivers.

Other Thoughts: Thanks for wasting my time, ASUS. I thought perhaps there was some trick I had missed or something, but two different support techs had no idea how to make Vista drivers work with Win 7, so either they lied, or their techs are not trained very well.

I want the last 20 minutes of my life back. (0_o)
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

All you need to do is download the vista audio driver from our website and run the setup.exe file. The via audio driver should auto install after that. Please contact us at APS_support@asus.com for further assistance in resolving your issues.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
8/11/2009 9:38:43 PM

Rating + 2


Pros: Asus gives you are lot of nice software
expressgate
good build quality
overall layout

Cons: Drivers
drivers
more drivers!
Weird kinks with audio and usb port in the back

Other Thoughts: This board is overall an okay board. Major issues with it that I have encountered is that the board's onboard audio has a weird static issue. When it is dead silent, I hear a backround static noice. Also, when I talk online, and my mic is hooked through the back audio channels, people on the other end say I sound static like, unclear and low, even with mic output maxed out. Then I discover there are new audio drivers! I downloaded them. Problem became a little better but the static is still there. Also, 2 usb ports in the back work detect devices, then other times do not, even if it is the same device. Only solution I found is to restart the machine.

I heard that Asus products were good prior to buying this motherboard, but the results of my purchase is making me think the other way.
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 "NE456282" 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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Evil Kaneval
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/11/2009 5:56:51 AM

Rating + 4 Fine motherboard, after BIOS update.


Pros: - Nice onboard options, although I'm not currently using them.
- Everything is where it should be.
- Lots of OC options in BIOS.
- After BIOS update, everything worked very nicely.

Cons: - Bought this as a combo deal with the Phenom II X4 955 CPU from newegg. Did not post upon first boot attempt. Decided to clear the BIOS afer an hour of head scratching. Posted then but BIOS would not save my settings and complained of a low CMOS battery. Went to the store, bought a few batteries (thought I had been shipped a dead or low battery) and popped them in and received the same complaint - low battery. Surrendered to googling the problem, which I should have done inititally, and found that an outdated BIOS was the culprit. Update the BIOS and has been working very well since. Be prepared to update BIOS right away.

Other Thoughts: - Using this with " OCZ Gold 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800" and it works perfectly well.
- Combined with the Phenom II X4 955 and EVGA GTX 260, this is a fine foursome.

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SloppyGoat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/11/2009 2:19:40 AM

Rating + 1 Windows 7 - NO AUDIO!!!


Pros: It works ok, if you don't try to do anything even remotely special with it.

Cons: ASUS is very slow with drivers. There is no Win7 audio driver for the 8 channel integrated sound.

Other Thoughts: Don't plan on buying this for Windows 7 yet! (Unless you like silence!)
Come on, ASUS!!! Get with the program! It's a simple audio driver! Is it that difficult to have drivers ready before Windows RTM is actually released? I wouldn't think it should be.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

We are sorry for this inconvenience. To resolve your issue, you can install the vista audio driver to get it to work with windows 7. For further support, please contact us at 1-812-282-2787.

Best Regards,
ASUS SUPPORT TEAM

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boo
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/8/2009 12:29:39 PM

Rating + 1 DOA


Pros: None at the moment. I will updated with the next replacement board.

Cons: This motherboard arrived to me DOA. Won't even post boot. I tried 3 different power supply because I thought it was the problem. Not even. Then I tried different ram & videocard same result over and over. RMA'd it after.

Other Thoughts: Why me!?! OH why.
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 and reference case number "NE453479".

Or, if you need further technical support, please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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coedshowers
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
8/6/2009 1:16:33 PM

Rating + 4 bios


Pros: nice board for a home media setup with the 3200 hd and hdmi/dvi ports on it. with optical audio out makes it great.
i bought 3 and have had no problems with how the board works once the 1303 bios are updated to it.

Cons: newegg was selling this with a phenom ii 3.0 ghz x4 945 for a awesome price so i bought 3 of them and all 3 had old bios on them. it would boot once then when u changed any bios setting it wouldn't boot on restart. if anyone has this problem just go to asus's website and get the bios put it on a thumb drive or floppy then reset the cmos and then start it up and tap [alt]+[f2]. the asus eazy flash utility will boot up and see the rom and you just have to hit enter. this fixes the "no boot" or "one boot" problem.

hope this helps some people who are wasting their time RMA'ing this board when all you have to do is flash the bios. don't be scared its easy and it checks the file so no bad flash's ( unless power is lost ).

Other Thoughts: nice board for the price i like the solid state capacitors they make the board look very "different"

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martin
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/4/2009 11:18:44 PM

Rating + 5 Great mobo, but 945 needs BIOS update


Pros: Nice full-size ATX (I needed another PCI slot in the worst way). Typical good quality and ASUS's by now expected working support for ECC memory - the only vendor who bothers to wire up those traces, apparently, aside from $$$erver mobos. Everyone else must have rocks in their heads, this is a must for a workstation.

Cons: Yeah, that was kind of cheesy, setting up a combo special with older stock mobos and a CPU that their as-delivered BIOS didn't recognize. I had an Athlon X2 CPU available so it wasn't a huge deal to flash the latest BIOS, after which the 945 started humming. Obviously I'm cutting it some slack with the 5 egg rating, but without this glitch that's fully deserved.

Other Thoughts: Still can't get my 2G 800MHz ECC sticks from newegg... well, they sometimes show stock on some "Intel certified" parts, but those have some different timing specs, and I don't care to find out experimentally how well they get along with the regular KVR800D2E5/2G I already have a bunch of. :-/

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B2
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/3/2009 12:50:07 PM

Rating + 1 Avoid this MB!!


Pros: I got it with the phenomII945 combo deal, which seemed like a good deal

Cons: I was using the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK memory with it. I talked with ASUS Customer No Service and they told me it would work only with 4 sticks of this memory (It does say that in the user manual as well). So I bought two more sticks...still no worky. I called Customer Service and this rep pointed me to the disclaimer section of the manual that says the AMD processor will only work with two sticks in separate channels:(

The MB would boot if I cleared the RTC every time I boot:( Otherwise a blank screen. Thus I am shipping the whole thing back.

Other Thoughts: Newegg at first was not going to give me a full refund, but after some pressuring they caved. Unfortunate that I should have to do that, givin how much money I have spent with them in the past. Makes me wonder if I should look for a new supplier.
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 "NE444717" 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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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
8/2/2009 12:11:53 PM

Rating + 3 good mobo


Pros: Decent board worked as it should with no probs good bios easy to work and fired right up out of the box.

Cons: hybird crossfire rather it be crossfirex and this only has 1 pci express 2.0

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

Deslicks
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/2/2009 12:30:33 AM

Rating + 2 Not compatable bios with 945 am3 phenom 2


Pros: i bought this mobo with the phenom 2 am3 945 Deneb 3.0 processor for a great deal .

Cons: the 945 am3 3.0 phenom 2 processor had a newer version bio on it and so this mobo has a later version bio chip on it. im having to get a new chip for the mobo to be compatable with the cpu. But i hate how new egg didnt even test theese two products to see if it really would work and instead saw that is said compatable and allowed it to be shipped when the bios's were different. Now im down for about a week or 2 waitng for the new bios chip..lets hope that the chip will fix the problem.

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
8/1/2009 7:27:40 PM

Rating + 3 Memory compatibility


Pros: Has been fairly problem free with one huge exception. Dependable.

Cons: Huge exception - this board will not read the EPP section of the SPD chip on my corsair XMS memory. Therefore it interprets DDR2-1066 memory as DDR2-800. If you try to force 1066 it can't get the timings right because it can't read them. Not sure whether to blame Corsair or Asus. I do know other MoBo's will read the EPP section and configure this memory correctly - I have two which names I won't mention.

Other Thoughts: I have eight + machines to build for my office in the next three months. This MoBo just fell out of contention. I've noticed other reviews, especially in the memory section, where users could not get their memory to run at 1066 with their Asus board. I should have paid attention to those posts.

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LordZordec
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
8/1/2009 4:55:31 PM

Rating + 3 Alls well that ends well


Pros: Well laid out MB with plenty of connectors all in the right place.

Cons: 1. The MB I received DID NOT support the Phenom-II X4 processor it was BUNDLED with out of the box. The machine wouldnt boot. ASUS told me that I would need to upgrade the BIOS before the CPU would be supported, and that if I didnt have an older AM2 processor to pop into it, I would have to ship it to ASUS to get it flashed. Another reviewer on Newegg got the idea to reset the BIOS; that worked and then it would boot once, but then after a reboot you would have to reset the BIOS to get it to boot again. This was good enough to get the BIOS flashed and now the board works OK.

Other Thoughts: Newegg, if you are going to bundle a CPU with a MOBO, please make sure they actually do work together. If not for the helpful suggestion from another customer, this would have been an RMA.

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N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/31/2009 8:08:15 PM

Rating + 1 cheap


Pros: cheap, and that's about it.

Cons: wont post. I got it with the phenomII945 combo deal, and no luck. I even tried the bios reset and battery removal tricks. No go. AVOID 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 "NE444845" 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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dgabler
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/31/2009 10:20:44 AM

Rating + 3 Ok not Great


Pros: Has 3 PCI , Com ports etc

Cons: Where to start?
This board has issues, many issues.
Onboard networking does not work out of the box. Had to run with pci network card. To get onboard network card to even show a link light had to do: Upgrade bios to 1301, downgrad to 1201, turn off onboard network, upgrade to 1301. Oh and with linux you need the atl1e driver if running centos. The headaches are not worth it. Co-workers have had problems with the M4 line as well.

Now the boot order. The bios lets you choose which SINGLE hard drive you want to boot off of. It does NOT let you choose multiple hard drives as your boot order. As an additional "feature" you have to change in the bios the order of drives that is presented to the os inorder to "move" hardrives the the first postition in the list of hdd's as the first position is the ONLY hard drive that can be selected for booting. No way!

Other Thoughts: Do your bios upgrades and get that nic working BEFORE you install linux. bios upgrades change order of disks and foo bar grub. Not fun trying to recover grub. Super Grub to the rescue.

the AM3 chip may have been part of the problem with network (bios upgrade notes seem to cnfirm this).

ASUS your products have been headed downhill as of late focus on your core business and the products that brought you where you are today!

Config: Athlon II X2, patriot 4gig mem.

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Ravestar
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
7/31/2009 5:55:03 AM

Rating + 2 Board came DOA


Pros: Good price

Cons: DOA - Light came on, no one home. Called Asus. Would not start. Fan clicked on once for a second, and never again.

Other Thoughts: Returning for RMA. Will try again.

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/30/2009 10:32:16 PM

Rating + 4 Nice board, but watch the combos


Pros: Very nice layout - works well with large graphics cards and you can get to the PCI-ex tab for card removal. Card doesn't block the ports.

Removable front-panel connector is a nice feature, made that a lot easier for me (I have large hands, so normally connecting multiple 2-pin connectors to a tightly packed plug is difficult, esp. once the motherboard is installed).

Built-in BIOS flash utility is *very* nice, lets you just select the file off a flash drive/CD/etc and burn it.

There's an on-board COM port that appears functional and is configurable in the BIOS, but it's not replicated on the back panel. Not stated in the NewEgg specs, but I suspect I'll be happy to have it in those rare cases I need to use an RS-232 device (I know I've got a few replicators for such around).

Cons: Bought it as a combo deal with an AMD Phenom II X4 945. First try it wouldn't post/boot, no video. After resetting the CMOS with the onboard jumper (CLRTC, just next to the middle PCI slot) it would come up once and only once each time. Processor was detected, but reported wrong speed (2.0GHz instead of 3.0GHz).

Upgrading the BIOS to a recent rev fixed this. So far, so good. If there had been big bold text saying I needed to do this if I bought the combo, would have been nice - still would have bought the combo and wasted much less time setting it up. Lost an egg for that.

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Yakeshinu
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
7/28/2009 7:43:41 AM

Rating + 5 Great board


Pros: Easy to install/setup. The manual walks you through almost* everything--It's very easy to follow. My wife has only a limited understanding of tech and SHE was able to set it up.

Does everything it promises and more.

Great layout/design, specifically:

GPU: If you're installing a large GPU (we installed a Sapphire Radeon 4870) it will fit easily, as long as your case is large enough (see my other reviews for those items, if you wish) and IT WILL NOT BLOCK IDE, SATA OR ANY OTHER PORTS ON THE BOARD except maybe one of the PCIX1 slots if the card is a double-wide.

RAM: Memory channels are side-by-side and color-coded for ease of use--Great if you're only using 2 sticks.

IDE port: It is set at a 90* angle (flat against the board) so large GPUs will easily fit without IDE cable getting in the way.


BIOS: General setup is easy.

Driver disk: Lots of "tweaking" and other software is included, if you're in to that kind of thing.

Onboard video: It works well for

Cons: Some small issues:

Only one PCIX16 slot (not an issue for most people who are not heavy gamers.)

Only three fan power ports (not counting the one for the CPU.) If you plan to have more fans, grab a few molex (4-pin) adapters.

It will only run four SATA drives in RAID mode, so if you want to use all six ports you'll have to configure them as IDEs in the BIOS.

The included software has a bunch of stuff you don't need, and it can be a bit system-hoggy if you install it all.

It could possibly have problems with an Nvidia (GeForce) video card. I don't know personally since I've never installed one. If you plan to use one, maybe you should consider a board with an Nvidia chipset.

Other Thoughts: Overall this is a great board. If you do have problems, ASUS is good about helping you out.

The BIOS is designed *specifically* to make OCing a breeze. The manual even comes with basic instructions on how to do it (but DO NOT ATTEMPT IT IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.) <--The manual has that warning as well.

Get the newest drivers from the manufacturer's website. They're better than the ones on the included disk.

Remember to check the compatibility lists on the manufacturers' websites (both ASUS and each of your other components)--the lists in the manual are woefully incomplete.

It's the best board of its kind at this price point.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/28/2009 6:47:11 AM

Rating + 2 run away now!


Pros: lots of cool features, looks good

Cons: northbridge overheated, its heatsink was loose, not actually an am3 board (it's am2+, which completely supports am3 proc after bios update)

Other Thoughts: had to return, it's been 5 days and deliver to newegg isn't scheduled for another 2 days. then i have to wait for newegg to ship a new one and wait for ups to get it here. i didn't realize returns were so slow.
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 and reference case number "NE437566".


Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

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soon2barmn
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/27/2009 8:13:39 AM

Rating + 5 very slick


Pros: Great support and included utilities. looks very slick in case too.

Cons: none

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Pickles
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/26/2009 12:21:01 PM

Rating + 5 It's Asus


Pros: It let me plug all my junk into it to make a nice PC. Plenty of SATA and USB ports. One PCI-E x16 slot makes it easy to decide whether or not to SLI/Crossfire or single card it.

Cons: Can't find any right now. It's working better than the one I replaced it with.

Other Thoughts: I got this to replace an M4A78 Plus that went and broke its primary PCI-E x16 slot. This is a nicer board even though it's only got the one slot. Made it an easy decision to go with one x16 slot since I just got an HD4890, so I'm not seeing the need to Crossfire at the moment.

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gbrown
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/22/2009 9:32:35 AM

Rating + 4 Solid board


Pros: Handles everything I need to do without a hitch after I finally got it running properly. I don't know a whole lot about mobos, but I've only had one problem with it so far, see cons.

Cons: I had some trouble after initially installign it. I needed to reset the CMOS everytime I booted, which was a real pain. It turned out that it was something with the USB jumpers. Once I got those in order and flashed the BIOS it booted fine.

Other Thoughts: Other than a couple hiccups at install, no problem.

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

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/19/2009 12:04:42 AM

Rating + 5 Great Board


Pros: This board rocks. I never had a problem with it. I bought this because my old board and processer crashed. Plus I needed to upgrade anyway. Was running an old AMD socket 939 with single core, DDR 1 RAM and I don't remember what the old ASUS board was. It handles Windows 7 RC 64 bit just fine.

Cons: If u have a SATA hard drive or CD/DVD drive your good to go. However if both are IDE watch out this board only take one IDE. I had to buy a SATA hard drive. But I guess thats ok because my old drive crashed 2 weeks later anyway.

Other Thoughts: Great board for the price. I recommend ASUS to all computer builders.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/18/2009 7:41:16 PM

Rating + 5 simple and fast


Pros: love it, so easy to setup. went from a socket a to this motherboard and WOW its great helps everything!

Cons: NONE

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benlg
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/18/2009 1:06:06 PM

Rating + 1 Wasted 3 hours with this mobo


Pros: None,problems right from the start

Cons: Locking up, random reboots and physical memory dump.

Other Thoughts: I read all the bad reviews but decided to buy it anyway, having faith in the Asus name. Got problems right from the start. Motherboard wouldnt boot until I reset CMOS. XP and Windows 7 would freeze halfway through the installation, requiring a hard reboot. Finally installed Windows 7 RC after 5 tries and guess what, freezes again on desktop. I checked temps on Kuma 7750 and I have reliable 2GB Corsair memory. Updated motherboard bios, more freezing, random lockups and restarting of system. Also got a physical memory dump even though RAM is fine. Wasted 3 hours troubleshooting, thinking the problem might be RAM, CPU or PSU. Finally got fed up and swapped it for a ECS A780GM-A which works perfectly right from the start. So obviously no problems with my other components. Avoid this mobo and RMA headaches. Asus name used to be rock solid but things have changed in the past two years (also bought a 24" Asus LCD recently which had massive backlight bleed).

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/17/2009 2:42:53 PM

Rating + 1 My beef is with how Newegg packaged the MB


Pros: So far so good. ASUS is always decent plus got it at a good price.

Cons: None at this time.

Other Thoughts: I see all these posting of components failing and I wonder how much does the way they are packed serve as a cause. This MB came with a bunch of Styrofoam packing on the top and the MB at the bottom of the box, that is just asinine.

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Jake
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/15/2009 7:33:57 PM

Rating + 4 A pain to set up, good once its up


Pros: Good board once you get it running, easy to install comes with useful driver disc, etc... BIOS are easy to flash and it lets you tweak pretty much anything you want in the BIOS

Cons: At first, it wouldn't POST. Had to mess with jumpers just to boot it the first few times. Once I flashed the BIOS it booted fine every time. This took me about 3 hours to figure out and was a major hassle. If there was any mention of this at all in the manual, it would have saved me about 3 hours of breadboarding swapping all all sorts of parts

Other Thoughts: Great for mid range systems, and since it has AM3 support, it beats buying a dead platform like LGA755

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
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/14/2009 7:50:49 PM

Rating + 3 My User Update


Pros: It is a lot of bang for the buck. When it works.

Cons: Unreliable video output. I have HDMI out connected to Acer X233H HDMI monitor. Sometimes it displays the POST and startup screens. Sometimes not, and only shows video at the Vista login screen. Sometimes I get no video at all, even when I plug in the VGA cable. I reboot, and then video returns. (most of the time)

Other Thoughts: Still have not gotten through to Asustek for support.
M4A78 pro
AMD Phenom 9600 black box
4 GB Kingston Hyperx PC2 8500
Dual LG 22x
Striped WD 320GB 7200rpm set

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

Jason
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/13/2009 4:26:50 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome Board


Pros: Tons of features for under $100. AM3 and DDR2 8500 RAM compatibility.

Cons: Wouldn't post at first, had to reset bios everytime until I updated the BIOS.

Other Thoughts: I'm really happy with this board, I have it along with AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2G, 4 GB G-Skill DDR2 8500, 10k Raptor 36GB, 1TB Deskstar, ASUS 512mb video card and it makes short work of everything I throw at it!!

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

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/10/2009 9:59:38 AM

Rating + 4 BIOS Update


Pros: Nice layout, decent built-in graphics card, plenty of SATA connections for what I intend to do with it. Supports my 64-bit Phenom II Quad-Core

Cons: had to reset the on-board clock every time I wanted to boot the machine until I updated the BIOS. This was a little tricky as it was not seeing the Ethernet connection in the back, so I used a second computer to download the .ROM file and transferred it back using an external hard drive (not a large file, just all I had). After this, everything is running like a dream.

Other Thoughts: Reading other reviews, I am not the only one with this problem. Hopefully the company will upgrade the BIOS before anymore get sent out to the vendors.

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

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
7/5/2009 2:13:27 AM

Rating + 5 troublesome at first, but runs beautiful


Pros: runs like a champ

Cons: troubleshooting was difficult and getting my wireless card and sound card to work together took quite a bit of time

Other Thoughts: the ram limitation might throw some off, but it's no problem as regular ddr2 800 ram runs beautifully

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

N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
7/2/2009 10:00:29 PM

Rating + 2


Pros: Nice layout, hdmi, onboard 3200

Cons: I bought a Phenom II X2 processor with hopes I could unlock the 3rd and 4th core. I heard Asus mobos were good at that.

To unlock those cores, I need to download latest bios and go into ACC to unlock. This mobo does not have the ACC feature. Despite getting the flashing bios version.

besides that the ultilities that come with this board are amazing and i highly recommend it for first time builders like me

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DigitalPioneer
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/29/2009 12:16:46 PM

Rating + 3 Decent board once it works, but no ExpressGate


Pros: It works... Eventually. But once you get it going, it works and works well.

Cons: When I first got it, it wouldn't POST. I finally realized I needed to pop out the CMOS battery for a while, and then it would boot. Apparently it didn't like my Phenom II 955 out of the box. I had to pull the battery every time I booted until I upgraded the BIOS, but that wasn't hard and now it works great.

Also, it DOES NOT support true ExpressGate/SplashTop. You have to install EG to the hard drive, on an NTFS filesystem, in a windows OS. That's stupid. If you want real EG, you have to get a Deluxe board, not a Pro. Way to go for deceptive advertising!

Other Thoughts: It gave me some grief at the start, but once it started going, it works without a problem.

ExpressGate just won't work until you install it in windows. I don't use windows, so I just can't use it. I really can't express how stupid that is. There's no technological reason for it. As far as I'm concerned, this just isn't an EG board.

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Krish
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/25/2009 2:48:16 PM

Rating + 5 Great MB


Pros: * Lots of expansion ports
* Built-in HDMI, video card, and HD audio
* Clearly marked sockets

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: This is a nice MB for a first time installer like me.

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Gahwok
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/20/2009 12:08:56 AM

Rating + 5 SMOKING


Pros: Everything works like it should

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: Newegg is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been ordering computer parts from newegg since 4/5/2006, You just cant beat the service from these guys.

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N/A
Tech Level: average
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/12/2009 10:24:58 PM

Rating + 3 sighss


Pros: runs fine, it wasn't DOA

Cons: wont recognize phenom II x2 550 black edition, still trying to find a solution to it. Asus BIOS update doesn't work either

Other Thoughts: should had bought a Gigabyte
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

Please contact our Technical Support Department at http://vip.asus.com/eservice/techserv.aspx and reference case number "NE392159" 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

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Johann
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
6/11/2009 9:12:36 AM

Rating + 1 How to wear down yourself?


Pros: 24pin ATX power connector is pluggable, now, finally

Cons: 1) I never have had a situation like this one. It was impossible to plug in the power plug ! into the 24pin ATX power connector. I tried it with three diff. power supplies, it was impossible. I checked it with a high magnifier, nothing to see, it looked fine. Nevertheless, it didn't fit.
Had to go back to the shop and could exchange it. Went home and plugged in and it worked from the very first moment without any problem.
My question ... Where is the manufacturer's final check? Lost an half day and had to go 50 miles because of that.
I assume there's no quality check / final check.
2) I hate to watch out getting extra software installed from a diff. company because I need to install all driver in a hurry. This time, again, Norton internet security ... 90 day trial. 90day trial ... you can read it after you've installed this software (unintentional). You need to install all drivers and need to exclude Norton by hand. Norton uninstall takes a lot of time ! Arrrgggg ...

Other Thoughts: ...
3) Be glad motherboard DVD is included, with AMD Chipset drivers. Why? Download takes ~ 447 MB ! Download rate ~ 15 KB/s, takes more than 8 hrs.
Means, keep that DVD well.
4) No IEEE 1394a (???)
5) No mounting stuff included (screws, ...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Usually I buy (almost) all IT-stuff @ newegg. This time not but only because it was a very urgent situation and I needed it very fast.
newegg is the best !
----------------------------

3 out of 14 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

PCBUM
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
6/3/2009 3:38:59 PM

Rating + 5 Bombay!


Pros: Turbo button! Booted up right away. No locks no problems!!

Cons: N/A

Other Thoughts: Asus really came through with this board.

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
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/26/2009 3:42:40 PM

Rating + 5 Great motherboard


Pros: I just built a new computer w/ the AMD 940 Phenom II processor. It started up great and the bios flashed automatically as soon as I got it connected to the internet. Has everything one could need except firewire but I don't use firewire devices so I love it.

Cons: none so far.

Other Thoughts: Newegg shipped it out fast and most of it was free shipping at that.

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

Tuba Terry
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
5/23/2009 6:01:16 PM

Rating + 3 Ehhh...


Pros: Fast, plenty of features.

Cons: Odd POST problems since the beginning, with default BIOS settings and even after a BIOS update. Most of the time I have to power the system on, wait for it to fail to detect the SATA devices, then hit the reset switch in order to boot anything. Linux barfs out a couple ATA "softreset failed (device not ready)" on every boot and hangs for about 10 seconds while it sorts itself out. Similar delays in booting Vista.

The HDAudio Control Panel, is about as useful as pouring water into your case. Never have I seen such a terrible driver suite from something costing more than $15. Sound was horrendously choppy in every program I tried to get playback from, WMP, WinAmp, TeamFortress 2, COD4, etc. Fortunately I've got a PCI sound card from 2001 that does surround sound properly in vista. You can forget about Linux entirely, it's like the bad old days of OSS with that onboard sound. Don't even bother.

Other Thoughts: I can deal with the odd boot issues, they only result in a mildly annoying delay. Once I worked around the incompatibilities and disabled onboard sound, the board is pretty snappy.

Is it really too much to ask that a motherboard's onboard sound device actually work? I'm pretty sure it was designed and fabbed by drunken orangutans, and the drivers were probably written by left-handed elephants.

This is a nice board if you're prepared to work around its shortcomings.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat low
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/18/2009 10:31:52 AM

Rating + 5 Awesome


Pros: This is very gooddd MB.... i've got phenom x4 920 in it... works like a charm mm

Cons: none from myside

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

MustangDriver
Tech Level: high
Ownership: less than 1 day
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/12/2009 10:21:10 AM

Rating + 1 Disappointed


Pros: I have always been happy with ASUS products, they are very reliable. I was able to talk to a tech support person in short order when I called.

Cons: This MB does not support hardware virtualization, and will therefore not support XPmode in Windows 7. I returned mine to NewEgg for a refund and purchased a Gigabyte instead.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Evol inc.
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/12/2009 2:14:18 AM

Rating + 5 Asus does it again


Pros: OK this Mobo rocks, with the return of the turbo button to the color schem, asus has brought it home again, I havent had a single problem with this mobo and have tested it with AM2 & am2+ cpus, I have used both vista and XP on it flawless, all in all I say get it best bang for the buck I have bought as of yet. Turbo button rocks takes my 9850 from 2.5GHZ to 2.95 GHz at the push of a button wooohoooo

Cons: The bios menu needs a little help and some of the bios add on from asus are kind of shaddy but all in all this mobo does it for me..... it's the bees knees

Other Thoughts: Asus M4A78 Pro AM2+/AM3 780G ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9850 Black Edition 2.5GHz 125W Quad core Processor
ASUS EAH4870 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256bit GDDR5 Graphics Card
GeIL Black Dragon 4GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Channel Memory
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm 32MB Cache SATA Hard drive
Raidmax Hybrid 530W ATX12V V2.2 Modular LED Power Supply

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

Craig
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/11/2009 11:30:47 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: This board has restored my faith in ASUS. I had none of the problems mentioned by others. I would recommend this MB to anyone looking to replace an earlier version of a ASUS 780G based chipset.

Cons: I agree with other statements made about this MB's back plate. I was bleeding in 2 places by the time I got all the grounding tabs where they belong - razor thin tabs.

Other Thoughts: I changed MB’s because from day 1 the M3A-H had BIOS problems. It repeatedly failed to post on startup. I would have to unplug the power supply and wait for the CMOS to reset – sometimes that would be hours. I could only get it to boot from DVD once. Every time I changed the boot order the thing wouldn’t post. Sometimes I would have to go as far as removing the battery and clear the date and time in order to prompt the BIOS setup screen. After starting the new M4A-78 PRO I wonder why I tried for so long to make the old board work. I can go into the BIOS and direct it to boot to DVD or a USB device and it does just that. Now when I am having a problem with Vista’s master boot record I can pop in the DVD and boot from the drive and select repair. Problems gone!

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Petey
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/8/2009 1:39:40 PM

Rating + 3 So far so good


Pros: The setup of the board was pretty straightforward. Once I figured out the cabling I was rolling and had teh OS loaded on it pretty fast. I loaded Windows 2008 Server 64-Bit Enterprise and the performance is great

Cons: Not many cons. If I had one it would be to have better documents on the overclocking features.

Other Thoughts: Great board is very upgradable I got a dual core CPU and will upgrade to quad core when those prices go down. I'm happy with my purchase.

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

Kaxx
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: less than 1 day
5/7/2009 9:19:58 PM

Rating + 5 OEM open box version.


Pros: All things coinsidered, this is a good board. I purchased an open box version, lots of room on this board. Running with Kuma 2.7GHz CPU and PNY 2x2GB 800 MHZ RAM, running Prime 95 stresstest and no probs so far 3 hours into it. I'm even using my 5 year old 350 watt 20 pin Power supply, but I have a good one on the way though. (From Newegg, of course). Boots up extremely fast, but that could be my new hard drive as well.

Cons: VGA video port is EXTREMELY flimsy, maybe it's just my board but I don't think it will survive too many times of plugging it in and unplugging it. No extras came with my OEM open box board (Unless you count the antistatic sleeve and foam). I knew this could happen, but I was hoping for at least the back plate. Upon initial startup, the boot up screen and BIOS screen looked fine, but when I first started loading the OS, the screen kept bouncing up and down (flickering). It did this all the way through the install and while running the OS, and I almost RMA'ed it but after trying 3 different monitors (with each video output on the board), I decided to reset the CMOS with the jumper. Works flawless ever since. Sometimes the obvious things are the things overlooked, as was probably the case with the previous owner. Still had CPU thermal paste from previous owner on the CPU socket

Other Thoughts: I don't think I'll buy OEM again, I'm just glad I got it working. I plan to use Server 2008 x64, it has been loaded and ran for a while but am currently running Vista x64 to stresstest it for a few days, then it will be my server. Now, if only the 4GB sticks of RAM would come down in price......Doesn't accept my VGA to DVI adapters, too many pins on the adapter and not enough on the DVI port so the adapters won't plug into it. Perhaps a DVI monitor will work, I'm too lazy to try it with mine.

0 out of 2 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
5/7/2009 5:43:34 PM

Rating + 5 very very happy


Pros: This mobo has impressed me. I put in an AMD 64 3800 dual core that came from a mini HP and I've added 4GB of RAM (that's not up to par for speed), and my system is super fast. The onboard video is really great too.

Cons: Only thing I've notice is that the SATA ports are incorrectly numbered on the mobo compared to what the BIOS is telling me. No biggie.

Other Thoughts: Woot!

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

Ronnie
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/5/2009 5:45:11 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: first ever build!!! read the book pc building for dummies.
Bought all the bargains from "newegg"stuck 'em all together
and hey presto i have one hell of a computer.If i can build one, any body can.GO BUILD YOUR SELF ONE YOU CAN DO IT.

Cons: NONE.

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

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/4/2009 9:28:09 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: Really fast, easy to use BIOS/CMOS, SATA connectors are in good places, all plugins on the I/O are very sturdy.
GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!

Cons: Just one - (I was told) This MB can only run one 1066MHz stick on each channel. The other one is going to be limited.

Other Thoughts: ASUS M4A78 PRO, AMD Phenom II X4 OCed @ 3.0Ghz, G.skill 4GB RAM @ 1066MHz, nVidia GTX 260, 750 GB HDD..

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

TomC
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/4/2009 7:32:18 AM

Rating + 3 Intermittently powers off and on


Pros: Nice feature set, decent price

Cons: I'm putting this in here in hopes that ASUS tech support sees it and forwards info to manufacturing. After about a month of flawless operation, board began intermittently powering off...then powering on. Discovered cold solder joints on main power connector. Reflowed solder connections and problem solved. I DO NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE DO THIS. I happen to have a Nasa solder cert so felt i could easily do this but it would be very easy for a novice to burn and destroy the board.

Other Thoughts: Cold solder joints are caused by slightly insufficient heat or contamination on the parts during manufacturing and is visually characterized by a flat (unshiny) finish and micro cracks (under magnification)

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

Extli
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/2/2009 10:47:33 PM

Rating + 5 Excellent quad core Mobo!


Pros: Great features, stability and price.

Cons: Um...it's not free?

Other Thoughts: I've been impressed with this offering since day one. I've put it through it's paces and been pleasantly surprised throughout. The turbo mode-instant overclock is a stupendous addition.

Not one crash, ever.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

riggsracing
Tech Level: average
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
5/2/2009 10:42:17 PM

Rating + 5 i love this board


Pros: it is great it goes so fast

Cons: none

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aeromachines
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
5/1/2009 9:25:07 PM

Rating + 5 Humming along nicely


Pros: Running Windows-7 like it was supposed to do so. No discernable problems. Have added a Radeon B2 3450 512 MB PCIE card but don't know how to make it go Hybrid. I hope to fix this, or maybe get your help? 4 GB OCZ SDRAM, PC-6400, 800 Mhz. AMD Athloln X2 64 CPU at 6000+. Best thing is my Sigma Windstorm case. Love it, and am wary also about the tornado warning at start up.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I am running two ASUS boards and about to order another one of this model.

Did you find this review helpful? Yes No

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/30/2009 12:35:42 PM

Rating + 2 ASUS WARRANTY SUCKS


Pros: Excellent while it worked. Always supported ASUS but now I will have to think twice.

Cons: ASUS claims that it will not honor warranty even for extra fee as stated on their website. They claim that they are not sure why that info is stated on their website!.

Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

For questions about warranty service, please contact our Customer Service Department at 510-739-3777 and reference case number "NE357303".

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

1 out of 3 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
4/29/2009 9:04:43 AM

Rating + 5


Pros: Support for newest processors
ASUS EPU is excellent. Makes overclocking in Vista a breeze, stable, and you can overclock by simply sliding a bar. Also makes powersaving very easy. I wish it showed temperature and fan speeds, and gave me control over them.

Cons: Not an SLI board.
Hybrid Crossfire is still pretty useless when a single $200 ATI card completely obliterates the numbers off of any possible hybrid combination.

Other Thoughts: Definitely worth the buy unless you must have SLI.

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Laz
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/27/2009 5:41:11 AM

Rating + 4 Good Board but the M4A78 Plus would have been a better choice for me.


Pros: Nice bios - OC ability, Easy setup, worked with components

Cons: No esata port (-1 egg), 780G / HD 3200 only crossfires with compatible HD 3200 or less.

Other Thoughts: Bought this board, Gskill F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK, and Kuma. They worked as described and was a cheap way to replace a dead board. I tried to save money where possible so I got this with the integrated video and figured I could crossfire when I added a new card. The built in HD 3200 struggled when trying to play games in 1080P so I ended up buying a 4850 a few day later which would not crossfire with the 780g chipset. Also there was no Esata port on MB so I had to buy a bracket $15. I should have done better research and gone with the M4A78 Plus and saved $20 on the board and $15 for the esata to sata bracket. Not the boards fault but mine for failing to research properly. The thing does run like a champ and was easy to adjust setting to run the 1066 5-5-5-15 Cas setting with Gskill and Kuma at 3G. CPU does get hot compared to my last setup hitting 55-58 C when gaming but well below the 70 mark where it would become unstable.

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

SloppyGoat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/27/2009 12:34:18 AM

Rating + 1 Board Number Five - I give up!


Coming Soon!video


Pros: There are no pros for me, really. I guess the only pros I have are that one of the boards did run ok for awhile, but it was like there was an intermittent connection to whatever regulates the vcore, and just changing a card might send it into a mode where it no longer delivered the proper vcore, whether assigned or default.

Cons: I've tried replacing this, and everything in my case 5 times. I was determined to make this thing work, but every single one has a problem with a low vcore, and the board ignores setting it manually. If I set the vcore to auto, it gives me 1.21V+/-3. If I set it to any other value, it gives 1.11V+/-5. Even the Auto setting delivers less voltage than the processor needs to run stable. The Phenom II X4 940 takes 1.33V to run stable at default speed. This board has some kind of issue with this processor and the vcore.

Other Thoughts: I replaced everything at least 3 times, and other parts up to 5 times...even trying different things one at a time. Nothing will make this board run a Phenom II X4 940 (Black Edition) run properly, and forget overclocking if you can't get enough vcore out of it.

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

Six
Tech Level: high
Ownership: more than 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/26/2009 2:40:02 PM

Rating + 1 Former Asus fan will never buy Asus again


Pros: Nice board overall, good processor support, excellent on-board video for HD playback in an HTPC application.

Cons: Board will not play AC3 out the S/PDIF under Windows XP. Googling this issue, there seems to be maybe driver problems with the VT1708 chipset used on this board.
Asus Tech Support staff (even the so-called "Lead" is incompetent.)

Other Thoughts: After struggling with an inherent bug in this implementation of the VIA VT1708 audio whereby the S/PDIF cannot properly play AC3 content, I submitted a support case with Asus.

Here is their reply:

ASUS CASEID=RWTM200904231117457074-423

Hello,

This board's audio chip does not support that feature.

Best Regards,

Rob
Lead Support Technician

ASUS
http://www.asus.com
Tech support: 812-282-2787 option # 3
Live Support: http://livesupport.asus.com
RMA: 510-739-3777 Option # 2
Download: http://usa.asus.com/download
MB Category: http://www.wikihardware.com/wiki/Category:Asus
Where to buy: http://usa.asus.com/wheretobuy.aspx


Unbelievable. Stay away from Asus motherboards folks. There are better quality boards out there, and companies who actually KNOW their own products.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

For your convenience, a case number has been created for you. Please contact us at APS_support@asus.com and reference case number NE354719 for assistance in resolving your issues.

Best Regards,

ASUS Support Team

6 out of 9 people found this review helpful. Did you? Yes No

Geeky1
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/24/2009 2:05:11 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect for basic systems


Pros: The integrated gpu is MORE than enough for basic use; with a Phenom x3 8650 and 4GB of RAM, this thing hit 1375 in 3dmark 2006. Still slow, of course, but for an *integrated* GPU? Very impressive. The board layout is good, the northbridge stays cool, and this thing supports more USB ports than you can shake a thumbdrive at. The legacy ports (VGA, PS/2), which come in handy when you have old KVMs that you don't need to replace right now.

The SB700's SATA interface appears to be pretty good; I've got a 30GB OCZ Vertex on it and it's hitting about 155MB/s writing and over 220MB/s reading in ATTO.

In short, while Intel's CPUs are faster & more power efficient, AMD's 780/790 chipset is hands down the best chipset out there right now, and the Phenom is fast enough for most people. Out of the box this board + a Phenom will handle basic office or home use (including very light gaming), and it offers plenty of upgradeability to build a respectable gaming system.

Cons: Nothing significant, really. The VRM circuit has holes for a heatsink (for higher end M4A boards) but it's not heatsinked. This isn't critical-it doesn't get that hot-but I'd be happier if it was.

The board doesn't have as many fan headers as I'd like (I'd like to see 6-8 as standard fare on *any* motherboard. It's not like they're expensive to add and I'd happily pay a few bucks more for them), and I wish they were all 4 pin PWM headers (a la most decent server boards), but that's not exclusive to this board, it's an issue with consumer boards in general.

Other Thoughts: I've got this board in an internet access machine for one of our managers; system specs are as follows:
-This board (# N82E16813131362)
-Phenom x3 8650 (# N82E16819103253)
-4GB Corsair XMS DDR2-800 (# N82E16820145184)
-PC Power & Cooling 420w PS (# N82E16817703017)
-XIGMATEK HDT-D1284 CPU Heatsink (# N82E16835233018) (overkill for the x3, it doesn't get very hot with the stock heatsink, but this way even if the heatsink gets clogged with dust, it'll still keep it adequately cool, and the extra airflow from the 120mm fan blowing directly onto the board helps keep the NB, the RAM and the VRM cooler)
-30GB OCZ Vertex Solid State Disk (# N82E16820227393)
-existing, generic midtower case

For their use (internet browsing, email, etc.) this system is more than adequately fast, and with an excellent motherboard backed up with a very good power supply and quality RAM, it has been rock solid stability wise. You really can't go wrong using this board for all but the most demanding syste

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

N/A
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/23/2009 11:34:33 AM

Rating + 5 Great Board


Pros: AM3 support, plenty of SATA connectors, and ASUS behind it.

Cons: You have to manually set your ram to 1066.

Other Thoughts: Used this board for a new system with a Phenom II X3 720 and picked it right up. Everything went together nicely no compliants here.

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

Julio
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/21/2009 1:59:37 PM

Rating + 5 It's ASUS - need I say more?


Pros: This board was a perfect marriage with an AMD Phenom 9950 right out of the box. Ran great on initial setup using Vista Premium 64.

Overclocked to 3mghz/1.45v with no problem. Since it's overclocked ASUS EPU doesn't work and I removed it entirely. Shut-off "Cool & Quiet" since I've found it to be a nuisance with other ASUS builds.

Board likes the G. Skill 4GBPQ memory.

BIOS update was seamless but again, it's ASUS.

Cons: None so far and doubt there'll be any.

Other Thoughts: This is my second build with an ASUS using onboard ATI 3200. Meets my needs for now and if and when I find a good deal on a video card. I'm not a gamer but I've run Empire Total War using the onboard video and so far so good.

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

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/19/2009 3:48:13 PM

Rating + 5 Quite Impressed


Pros: Easy to install, Have put 3 together thus far and have had no problems with drivers for XP or Vista. Plays well with others. Used a Phenom II x4 940 chip, HIS Radeon HD 4670,and 4G ram. With a little tweak, This combo is low cost and gives great performance. ASUS proves why they are the leader, in my book.

Cons: Get rid of all the after programs"Q-button.. etc.. " if you are gonna overclock the system, do it in your bios, through OS caused instability.

Other Thoughts: Direct Quote from my daughter: " The Computer Plays WOW faster than I can!!!"

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

Philip T
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/19/2009 1:35:14 PM

Rating + 5 Perfect Motherboard


Pros: Worked perfectly with Phenom II 940 right out of the box ... no BIOS updates necessary.
Vista 32 & Vista 64 = no errors or issues whatsoever.
Asus EPU software is excellent ... set to "auto" it increases CPU fan speed as necessary.

Cons: Backplate is cheap & flimsy (but who really cares).

Other Thoughts: With all due respect I don't see how anyone who knows what they are doing can have issues with this motherboard (unless of course it's defective).
Read The Manual !!!!

This is the "Pro" version, & the complex BIOS option can easily get a newbie into trouble.

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

OdeToJoy
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/16/2009 5:39:55 PM

Rating + 5 Running Rock Solid


Pros: Booted up easily with a Kuma processor and 4Gb of RAM (2x2Gb). Easy to overclock processor from BIOS. Installed with Vista Home Premium 64-bit without any problems. Onboard video is quite capable with a Vista experience score of 4.0.

Cons: Tried overclocking the 2.7GHz Kuma processor to 3.0GHz with included utilities, but system became unstable. Finally loaded system with only Express Gate utility and overclocked to 3.0GHz with BIOS.

Other Thoughts: Express Gate is cute.

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

Loki
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/16/2009 8:18:58 AM

Rating + 3 Lacking Driver Support


Pros: Layout works well in my system, 6 sata ports, 3 pci ports, 2x pci-e. Fully featured board.

Cons: Picked up this board for a WHS build, unfortunately NO DRIVERS for WHS (Win 2003 Sever) not impressed, not sure if this will be a huge issue, but it's a PITA right now.

Other Thoughts: CPU - AMD Athlon X2 4850e 2.5
RAM - G.Skill 4gb (2x2gb) PC2 8500 - had to adjust the ram voltage from 1.90 to 1.99 for the motherboard to accept both ram sticks.

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

NFB
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/13/2009 8:04:20 PM

Rating + 5


Pros: POSTed with my Phenom II x3 immediately

Cons: Will fit a little tight in some cases. Be prepared to possibly move your hard drives

Other Thoughts: Still haven't found a working AHCI driver for Windows 7 BETA yet, as the Vista driver doesn't want to install.

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

N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/13/2009 5:33:55 AM

Rating + 4 Good, with a ram speed problem?


Pros: The board was laid out well. Its has a really nice heatsink on the northbridge. Worked great with my AM2+ 2.7 ghz Kuma processor.

Cons: I couldn't find any information on the ram speed in the bios. It took me 3-4 times of watching the post information (it goes by really fast) to find out that my two sticks of HyperX 1066 mhz ram were running in "800 mhz unganged mode" I'm not sure what that means, but I'm guessing its no the 1066 mhz dual channel I was going for. I can't figure out how to fix it.

Other Thoughts: I tried four IDE optical drives before I found one that worked. The bios, and windows recognized them, but when I put a disk in, it didn't show up. They may have been two old for the motherboard. Not sure.
Manufacturer Response:Dear Valued Customer,

The default memory frequency is dependent on it's SPD timing. To get your memory to run at 1066mhz, please manually set your dram frequency in bios to 1066mhz. For further support, please contact technical support at 1-812-282-2787 and reference case# NE347242 so that we may get more details 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 day to 1 week
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/12/2009 10:10:55 PM

Rating + 4 Nice MB, but.....


Pros: Lots of features. Very nice looking board. 6 SATA ports. Asus Qconnectors are great. Onboard HDMI is decent. Mostly seems to work well. Lot of bang for the buck.

Cons: Lack of onboard 1394 for a full featured board. Lack of Qconnector for front panel audio. Lack of detail on how to setup system with drives set as RAID. Lack of Support disk ability to make a driver flash drive. Once you select RAID, cannot have non RAID SATA drive (Optical drives). Cannot set as AHCI when your optical drives are on SATA 5 and/or 6. MB won't see the drives.

Other Thoughts: Have RMA for first board because it hangs-up half the time after BIOS exit or OS initiated reboot. Have to press reset button.
This is my first system with RAID0 and no floppy. Once RAID selected, SATA DVD drives belong to RAID controller though they are not configured as a RAID set. When loading Vista64, would ask for driver to detect SATA RAID DVD drives, but drivers are on DVD and I have no floppy. Asus utility will make driver floppy, but not driver USB flashdrive. Manually copied Vista64 driver folder to flashdrive and system was able to see USB flashdrive to get RAID controller drivers.
Asus M4A78 Pro
AMD Phenom 9600
Kingston Hyper-X PC8500 (2) 2GB big blue heatsink.
(2) WD Caviar 320 GB 16MB buffer 7200 rpm
(2) LG 22x Super Multi SATA DVD drives

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SloppyGoat
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 month to 1 year
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/11/2009 4:05:34 PM

Rating + 1 Almost 3 months of pure hell


Pros: When it ran, it ran great. NewEgg has been very good about working with me on refunds and replacement parts thoughout this entire ordeal. I thank them for that.

Cons: I went through 3 replacement boards, 2 CPU's, 3 sets of different RAM, 3 different video cards, 3 different power supplies...basically replaced everything in the case multiple times, and still could not get this board to run right with a Phenom II X4 940 BE. The vcore was always way too low, and even adjusting it manually would only max it out at 1.24V. I am stumped. I'm sending it all back and I believe I'm going to reorder everything and give it one last shot. I don't know if this board is somehow destroying brand new CPU's, or what. That is the only thing I didn't replace more than once. Total frustration, here. I have NEVER had so much trouble with a build before, and I've built many computers. I'd still really like to know what's wrong.

Other Thoughts: I still don't know what is responsible for this problem. Perhaps it's just a bad combination of parts, but I tried others, too! And ASUS even tested a board (with similar components to what I was using) and sent me the tested one. Well, same thing...low vcore. I am finally so frustrated, I'm putting this on hold for awhile. When NewEgg refunds all the items, I believe I'm going to reorder all of it and hope this was some kind of strange fluke. If it still doesn't work, then it's all going back and I guess I'll be building something completely different. I really need this board to work, though. There just aren't many boards that have useable PCI slots anymore, and I need really them. Why do they all seem to place the few PCI slots right under the PCIex16 slots?! My card takes up two slots, so that sucks! Also, I'm not a fan of all these new boards with only one PS2 header. You need yet another PCI slot to use a USB PS2 card, if you want to use a KVM. AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

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

Divider
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/10/2009 6:00:51 PM

Rating + 5 A True Review


Pros: This board has it all, If your building a system with an x2 pre-crossfired card, this is your board. Plenty of room, instant Phenom II recognition. Board Overclocks Perfectly. North bridge is very cool. 19*c . Handles Every High-end Dimm i've tried. EZ flash is a Dream Come true. All drivers for board recognize in Ubuntu Linux Intrepid Ibex.

Cons: The via audio chipset driver is a bit wonky, and with some applications it will just blue sceen of death. Having tested other cards and disabling the onboard, i have found no issue. Driver updates are minimual. Hoping vista has a better response.

Other Thoughts: If your looking for a cheap board, lots of features, and can still pack a MAJOR punch this is your board. I took a gamble on it and I wouldn't change change it for the world. Get an aftermaket CPU cooler, those phenom II's run HOT with stock AMD cooler.

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

green
Tech Level: high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
4/8/2009 9:18:45 PM

Rating + 4 PS2 Issues


Pros: HDMI works great, looks good on 50 inch plasma with cheap 30 foot cord. phenon II X4 compatible. Decent onboard video.

Cons: 1st board defective would not post every time upon retstarting. Returned to NewEgg, shipping paid. No problem as usual. Replacement board took care of posting problem, but PS2 issue mentioned by "unhappy camper" is real and needs to be addressed. Approximately every 3-5 reboots it decides that the INS key was pressed and resets BIOS to original shipped board values and hangs on bootup with the "<INS> Pressed; F1 to Enter Setup; F2 to continue with defaults" messages. Works OK with USB KBD and mouse. If PS2 is on the motherboard, then they should work properly. If you plan on using Logitec Clearchat wireless headphones you need to buy a USB PCI card because the onboard USB causes robotic voice sounds during game chat. Once installed PCI USB card, headset worked perfect.

Other Thoughts: Onboard video should have probably been dual DVI because when using HDMI it uses digital controller and only leaves your analog for LCD hookup. IDE could have been located in a better spot.

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N/A
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 day to 1 week
4/5/2009 3:28:20 PM

Rating + 1 FLAKY onboard audio


Pros: -Phenom II support out of the box
-3x PCI slots
-Feature packed BIOS
-Specs look great on paper

Cons: I have tried 3 operating systems (XP, Vista, 7) and I still can't get 5.1 sound over S/PDIF working. I have lost track of the different driver revisions I have tried. All I hear is a bunch of popping and crackling.

I could always throw in my trusty AV-710 (which worked flawlessly) but why waste a PCI slot?

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 "NE343807" 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

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

H Lee
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
4/3/2009 5:38:35 AM

Rating + 5 Incredible Board - Saves you alot of money


Pros: This board has everything important that you would or could possibly want. But it is not a redundant board. It has only one video slot and only one ethernet slot, one ide connection. I installed a Phenom II x4 940 chip and the board recognized it instantly. My windows updated itself sufficiently to run and let me run the motherboard CD. Beautiful, did not need to reinstall windows. Used 800 speed memory, I installed 3 chips for 3 GB, they cost me 25 each. And if you plan to use a hybrid card for the crossfire in this its gotta be HD 3200 or lower. I installed a HD4870 and the hybrid crossfire does not activate. I love the new lil connector for pwr switch, hdd led, pwr led, spker etc. Beautiful board, lots of color coding, easy to read labels. Unlikely you will need a manual. I did flash the bios online in windows using the utility. I did not need do the foolish DOS disk and pray routine. Personally I am not a overclocker, but gosh every setting you can imagine is there.

Cons: None that I can think of. Any of the flaws are flaws all the boards have of this chip set, such as crossfire hybrid not working for faster than hd3200 adi cards. A mini or micro ATX version would be nice for the small cases as an option.

Other Thoughts: I think its silly for people to use 1066 or 1200 memory in this MB since it has only one vid card slot I am assuming you are a normal user that likes to play games but dont need every setting on the game maxed. If you are like me and dont over clock and dont max every setting on everything out the it makes no sense to use anything faster than 800 mhz memory, i think that is called pc 6800

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

TheDuder
Tech Level: somewhat high
Ownership: 1 week to 1 month
This user purchased this item from Newegg
3/31/2009 8:55:02 AM

Rating + 5 Good Board


Pros: Runs cool, Recognized Phenon II 710 CPU without any updates. Everything installed and worked as it was supposed to. Built PC for friend. Not much of a gamer so he is Using the onboard video which surprisingly runs everyruns great

Cons: I couldn't get the memory to run ganged at 1066. Not sure why.

Other Thoughts: Didn't find the express gate or other Asus tools very useful.

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

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