ASUS M4A78T-E 790GX AM3 Motherboard Review

Included Software

Now that we have the motherboard unpacked and installed, it is time to take a look at some of the software utilities that ASUS has included with the M4A78T-E.


Here are the setup screens for the included software CD. As you can see, ASUS has really not left anything out when it comes drivers or utilities.


PC Probe II


PC Probe II is a system monitoring utility that displays information regarding fan speeds, component temperatures and voltages, as well as alerting users once preset thresholds have been surpassed. Although the M4A78T-E doesn't really have an abundance voltage readouts, PC Probe II is still a joy to use and it remains a superb piece of manufacturer-provided monitoring software.


AI Suite


The AI Suite provides basic system information, but its main function is to host shortcuts to five other ASUS utilities and features, namely the EPU-6 Engine, AI NAP, CPU Level Up, Fan Xpert, and TurboV. The AI NAP is an advanced sleep feature that allows users to put their computers to sleep without terminating any tasks. Fan Xpert allows users to select from 7 fan speed profiles that can be individually applied to any fan.


TurboV


TurboV is an overclocking utility that allows users to alter all essential system parameters, such as the CPU clock frequency, CPU voltage, memory voltage, CPU/NB voltage, VDDA voltage, HyperTransport (HT) voltage, northbridge (NB) and southbridge (SB) voltages, all without the need to reboot. Regrettably, unlike with the Rampage II Extreme, the settings that you apply in TurboV are not saved to the BIOS.


EPU-6 Engine


First showcased on the P5Q series, the EPU-6 Engine has been one of ASUS's most highly touted new features. This utility works in coordination with the EPU (Energy Processing Unit) controller in order to minimize your system's energy consumption. It does this by continuously monitoring and altering the speeds and voltages of the CPU, VGA card, hard drives and fans. There are four manually selectable modes and an automatic mode that varies settings according to system load. Regrettably, unlike Gigabyte's Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) technology, EPU-6 will not work when your system is overclocked, which obviously makes it a less attractive proposition from our power user point-of-view.


AMD OverDrive Utility


When it works properly the AMD OverDrive Utility is very impressive piece of software. It provides in-depth system information, extensive monitoring capabilities, lots & lots of tweaking and overclocking functionality, benchmarking and stability testing capabilities, the works. However, as we mentioned, it is only great when it works properly, and that's the issue. All too often, the figures that AOD was displaying were flat-out wrong, which is obviously disconcerting when you are trying to tweak and overclock. We hope that it is simply some early teething problems between the utility and the new AM3 platform.


ExpressGate


Last, but certainly not least, is the ExpressGate “instant-on” operating system. This SplashTop Linux mini-OS allows for quick access to basic functions.


In mere seconds, users can web browse, view photos, chat via Pigdin, and even make internet calls through Skype. It was painless to set up thanks to its completely automated installation procedure, and a delight to use. As you can see in the image that is directly above, ExpressGate features an application dock somewhat similar to that which can found in recent Apple OS X versions. It is a convenient way to layout the four included applications. There are also a configuration panel with some very basic setup options.

Overall, ExpressGate is useful for those instances where your PC is off and you need the internet or Skype right away, but otherwise it becomes a novelty feature due to its inherent functionality limitations.