ASUS M4A78T-E 790GX AM3 Motherboard Review

Conclusion

Our very first AMD motherboard review is coming to a close and it has been an interesting experience. On the one hand, it is a whole lot of fun to overclock Phenom II's, especially those with unlocked multipliers like our X3 720 Black Edition. However, the DDR3 aspect of this platform was largely frustrating. The platform is picky when it comes to DDR3 modules, it doesn't have much memory overclocking headroom, and it is generally accepted that Phenom II processors do not really benefit from the extra bandwidth that DDR3 provides. As a result, the logical question is why pay a premium for a DDR3 motherboard/memory combo when the DDR2 equivalent will provide roughly the same performance for less money.

None of this is a slight against the M4A78T-E though. We would easily qualify this model as a "Jack of all Trades, Master of Most". It is a very well designed motherboard with terrific features and connectivity, it ran like a champ throughout our battery of tests. It proved to be a very good overclocker, and the only hiccups we encountered were the slight "FSB Hole" during our CPU bus overclocking efforts, and the fact that the CPU/NB frequency would revert back to stock when selecting a CPU/NB frequency above 2900Mhz. This was an annoyance, but not one that truly detracted from the overall experience. Although most gamers will scoff at it, we couldn't help but be impressed at the capabilities of the Radeon HD 3300 IGP for rudimentary gaming, and it is also one of the most capable HTPC-centric IGP's on the market.

Frankly, the only thing that prevents us from giving this product our Dam Good Award is the DDR3 memory format, and the knowledge that it has a fraternal twin that supports DDR2 and is a good $20-25 cheaper, the M4A78-E. Otherwise, it is a universally good motherboard and a model that we have no qualms recommending to those hell-bent on making the transition to DDR3.


Pros

- Top-notch layout.
- Good CPU overclocking capabilities.
- Impressive IGP performance.
- Runs cool & power efficiently.
- Excellent BIOS.
- Superior connectivity.
- Impressive software suite.
- Decent Bang for the Buck...


Cons

- ...but the M4A78-E DDR2 model provides even better Bang for Buck.
- BIOS-related "FSB Hole" & CPU/NB frequency limit.
- Not enough voltage and temperature readouts (as always).

Our thanks to ASUS for making this review possible!