ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 - AM3 - AMD 890GX - DDR3 - USB 3.0 SATA 6 Gb/s - ATX Motherboard Review

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(More customer reviews)This is actually my first ASUS board. I have been using MSI products for the last few years with no issues, so why the change? Upon reading the specifications of the new MSI, I liked the fact that ASUS has more features including the core unlocker that allows all cores to achieve full performance capabilities, also I've heard from friends that ASUS makes some really good bios chipsets. This board has some really noticeable features like USB 3 and SATA 6 which don't have so much of an impact on users now, but will soon in the future. Another feature which I have not seen before is the easy bios upgrade feature that allows a user to upgrade bios in bios and checks the file to be sure its compatible with the chipset. There are many other feature which I haven't had the chance to mess around with yet, like the Hybrid CrossfireX technology and ASUS TurboV EVO, not to mention even more overclocking features, however, I must admit I'm not one to overclock even with liquid cooling installed, mostly since I'm not a millionaire and can't afford to overheat a cpu, but if you have the money and experience this board will definitely take advantage of what your processor can do, also this will support the new 6 cores; also this new chipset features the Radeon HD 4290 onboard GPU that supports 512mb and has direct X 10.1 features and comes with multiple VGA outputs, HDMI, DVI, RGB. I only used the onboard when first firing her up, so I didn't get a chance to see what it could do in games like Bioshock or Battlefield Bad Company, but I can imagine being able to play at 1920 X 1080p with just about every setting maxed. If there is one negative thing about this board it would have to be that it has no floppy drive support, and while you don't really need one anyways, I did buy a brand new one, along with floppy disks, but that's just being to used to older tech since it was required to have a floppy disk to create partitions and for RAID drivers in the past.Overall, the price and technology in this board is more than exceptional and had it up and running with the first power on without any problems, ASUS also gives you some pretty good software on their driver CD like ASUS Probe 2 which has a great interface and shows motherboard and cpu temperatures. Now I just need to save some money for another Radeon card then I can give crossfire X a test run. -Great board.

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Product Description:
ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 - Unlock the Potential, Turbocharge your Performance features Core Unlocker - Intelligently Unlocks True Core Performance, Turbo Key II - Switch on the Potential, Turn up the Performance, ASUS GPU Boost - Instant iGPU Level Up, TurboV EVO - Ultimate O.C. Processor, MemOK! - Any Memory is A-OK and USB 3.0 support

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Gigabyte Intel Core i7/ Core i5/ Core i3/ LGA 1156/ Intel H57/ 4DDR3-2200+/ATI CrossFireX/ HDMI/ USB3.0/ Raid Micro ATX Motherboard GA-H57M-USB3 Review

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(More customer reviews)Ordered on 6th feb, left Memphis TN on 8th, reached Miami FL feb 10 with free standard shipping from amazon and then I got it in Trinidad 2 days later via a skybox. The motherboard was the only item ordered and it came in a slightly bigger box with brown paper padding on the outer edges, I uploaded a pic of it here.

The board worked as soon as I powered it on. I first used a usb keyboard but when the system woke up from sleep the left side of the board would be messed up and show multiple keys in an area being pressed when only one was pressed, eg when I typed 'a' it would show 'as' in Word. The same keyboard works perfectly on every other system I have and it corrects itself if i unplug and replug it back in even if it is the same port. It is not just the usb 2.0 or just the 3.0 ports, I get the problem for all ports on the back, I did not try the front ports on the case. I have switched to a ps/2 keyboard and it works perfectly now.

Another issue is the 1 terabyte hard drive (WD1001FALS) I use makes a funny noise when plugged into any one of the blue sata ports, it sounds like it is shutting down but midway it spins back up again, it may be a power setting somewhere, but it is random and the sound comes every 5 - 10 mins whether I am using the system lightly on the internet, or doing nothing just staring at the screen. While gaming or watching a movie I have the music on loudly so I'm not sure if it happens then too. If I use either of the white sata ports the sounds never comes which is why I suspect it is a setting somewhere. The system never freezes or stalls, the mouse always moves smoothly with the funny sound on.

About a week ago after I was looking around the bios and the system restarted the system did not boot. The power led kept blinking as it normally did during booting (it does not stay steady as with most other systems) but it did not beep and never booted. To get the system to boot I had to unplug the power cable and pop the battery on the board out then let it sit for a few mins. I then updated the bios to f5 from f1 revision using the windows utility, the same thing happened the first time I restarted after the bios update but not since. The drivers on the CD included were installed with no problem. The Easy Tune 6 app does give an error message when it starts up but runs properly I think.

The board has all the necessary settings to overclock the cpu and the memory. The i5 steps down and back up in speed as necessary. I do not have any usb 3.0 devices to check the speed on the ports.My XFX 5770 which uses 2 slots just meets the top of the level of the first pci slot, so I consider it blocked, I would not squeeze a pci card in to block air for the fan on the 5770.

I am very happy with this build and I see it lasting me well into the future. When games get even more demanding I will use xfire and a SSD and mayb overclock.

NOTE: - Make sure you get an ATX V2.2 or 2.3 power supply with an 8-pin EPS connector as this board requires it.
- I had to choose 'Profile 1' in the bios under XMP profile for the board to recognise the memory as 1600mhz, 9-9-9-24, the default was 1300 mhz.System specs:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Intel Core i5 750 Processor 2.66 GHz 8 MB LGA1156 CPUI5-750BOX (quad core, turbo boost)
Corsair CMX4GX3M2A1600C9 XMS3 4 GB PC3-12800 Core i5 Memory Kit (1600mhz)
XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB DDR5 PCIE Graphics Card HD577AZNFC (1gb, DX 11)
Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 H57 motherboard (usb3, 7.1 audio, xfire, raid)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1001FALS
OCZ OCZ600MXSP ModXStream Pro 600 Watt Power Supply (ATX12v 2.2, modular cables, 80+)
Thermaltake VI1000NWS M9 case (2 x 120mm fan, toolless, bought locally)
IDE dvd burner
Logitech MX 518 High Performance Optical Gaming Mouse (Metal)
Dell S2209w 22" LCD (5ms, 1080p, DVI-D)
Logitech x530 speakers (5.1, 70w rms)
MS Keyboard
Sony MDR-XD200 headphones
500VA UPS
HP 3050 AIO

Windows Experience Index Ratings:
Processor: 7.3
Memory:7.7
Graphics:7.4
Gaming graphics: 7.4
Primary disk:5.9

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Gigabyte GA-H57M-USB3 Intel Core i7/ Core i5/ Core i3/ LGA 1156/ Intel H57/ 4DDR3-2200+/ATI CrossFireX/ HDMI/ USB3.0/ Raid Micro ATX Motherboard

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Gigabyte LGA1366 SATA3 ATI CrossFireX ATX Motherboard GA-X58A-UD3R Review

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(More customer reviews)I picked up one of these for my latest system build, and I'm pleased to say that it booted up perfectly the first time and has been running rock-solid ever since.

Here is the hardware that I'm using with it:
1) Core I7 920 CPU
2) 12GB Corsair DDR3 1600 memory (9-9-9-24)
3) Seasonic M12II 620w PSU
4) Radeon 5770 1GB (running 2 screens @ 2560x1600 & 1200x1600)
5) Intel X25M-G2 160GB SSD

I am a C programmer and I tend to use my system heavily.A typical work load would be running Windows 7 x64 with 2 copies of Visual Studio + VMware Workstation 7 with up to 4 or 5 VMs running simultaneously, and all the other source control and debug utilities that I am using at any given time.This system breezes through that like butter.

The main issue I typically have is that I keep my PC locked in an enclosed cabinet with only one 92mm intake fan and a 120mm exhaust fan vented into the garage - both are running at low speeds to keep it quiet.Because of that, my hardware needs to run solid at fairly high temps.In this system, the CPU temps have gotten as high as 160F and I haven't seen any instability at all.

I used to only buy Asus motherboards until a few years ago when their quality started to drop off.Now I only buy these Gigabyte 'durable' boards and they have all been true to their name for the kind of stress I run them under.This board hasn't had any problems at all going in or out of standby (S3) either.

Personally, I don't overclock anything anymore (I got sick of burned up hardware when I blew up my P90 system 15 years ago); but this motherboard is extremely flexible if you are inclined to do that.

Overall, I highly recommend this board if you are looking for a solid entry in the socket 1366 space.

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Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R LGA1366/ Intel X58/ 6DDR3-2200/ SATA3/ USB3.0/ 2-Way/3-Way ATI CrossFireX?/NVIDIA SLI/ GbE/ Raid/ eSATA/1394 ATX Motherboard

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Gigabyte Intel Core ATX Motherboard GA-X58A-UD7 Review

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(More customer reviews)Here is a "flagship" motherboard from Gigabyte that promises the world and leaves you hanging. It all sounds amazingly good on paper but absolutely fails to deliver in practice. Anyone who did a quick research about this board can easily spot widespread memory issues. This board is very finicky about what memory is used. In my case it didn't even like the one I picked from vendor's approved module list (Patriot Viper Triple channel 2000mhz 6 gig kit). Although explicitly stating it supported DDR3 2100+ speeds, people including myself had problems getting past the stock 1066Mhz setting. Having said that it is a colossal shortcoming for an overclocker's board. Turning to Gigabyte tech support for resolving this issue was in no way shape or form helpful. Let's just say that Gigabyte Tech Support was a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. Bios flash after bios flash and various settings, I came to the sad realization that, at least in my case, it was a no go for fast settings. Overclocking capabilities are good, but no cigar yet for this board. Good overclocking yields is expected from a board of this price segment. Things start to look even worse when compared to EVGA's X58 boards. The chipset cooling attachment is big and intimidating, and quite pretty to look at. At first glance, it arouses a certain level of curiosity and excitement. Once again, in typical fashion of this board, the big bad mean NB cooler falls short also. In fact, under stock settings at full load it is very hot. You can crack a few eggs on it.

So what is good with this board? Let's see... The layout is good, although if you incorporate the NB cooler, it becomes very cramped in that section. X58-UD7 incorporates 24 phase power, USB 3.0 and Sata 3 as well as added copper which Gigabyte claims will result in a cooler running board, less energy waste, and a more stable board which yields better overclocking return.

I feel that this is a half baked product rushed to the market to claim "we did it 1st!." Obviously they are the 1st manufacturer to roll out a product with USB 3.0 and SATA 3 support. However, USB 3.0 and SATA 3 are not a part of an official AMD or INTEL controller yet. Which means it is a 3rd party controller that is slapped on the PCIe bus. Bad news is, the more PCIe bus gets populated the less available bandwidth to each device. That is true for your killer fast graphics card also. There are few articles on hardware enthusiast websites, which show that SATA 3 is essentially does not make any difference when compared to sata 2. However, with the advent of insanely fast SSDs this is sure to change. SSDs with their mind blowing speed will be required to saturate that kind of bandwidth. Until then, it only seems wise to wait until INTEL and AMD decide to incorporate USB 3.0 and SATA 3 into one of their upcoming chipsets. Hopefully by then SSD prices will soften a little more.

Coming back to our review at hand here... This board is way too expensive to have all these issues and especially for a "flagship" hardware, I cannot help but have a bitter smile on my face. Because it is not worthy of that many dollars and that title. If you are hellbent on buying this board because it looks good on paper feel free to do so. And those who are looking for a great built with rock solid stability need to look elsewhere.

Feel free to comment, I would like to see what others thought about this review and the board.

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Product Description:
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Intel Core i7/ LGA1366/ Intel X58/ 6DDR3-2200/ 3-Way ATI CrossFireX?/NVIDIA SLI/ 2GbE/ Raid/ 7.1-CH ATX Motherboard

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