Anyone own an ASUS M4A78??

Damascus

Damascus

New Member
Anyone running one of these?? I just bought one as part of a combo deal on newegg, since I wanted an AM3 CPU so when I upgrade later to DDR3 when it's feasible, I won't have to upgrade my CPU (Phenom II X4 955 B.E.)... But I got to reading a lot more in depth of the reviews on newegg's customer reviews, and there's a few of them stating that the onboard LAN is DOA, or doesn't last... Some others say something about not being able to unlock all 4 cores on they're Phenom X4's - only 2.. I don't know anything about that, since this is my first quad-core PC...
I have the entire system now, except for the case and PSU, which will be here tomorrow (Fri) afternoon.
Anyone running a M4A78 Plus? If so, what do you think about it??
I get SO mad when I spend $750+ on a new rig and get DOA parts... then you have an entire system setting there that you can't even try out because you have to wait another week on a stupid part...
IF this board is DOA, I want to keep the PII X4 955BE and return the mobo, and get a different mobo... Which are the best right now that can use DDR2-1066 (I have a nice 4GB set of DDR2-1066, Gskill Trident) and will accept my AM3 PII X4 955BE? Also, I'd rather avoid the hassles of onboard video, I have a GTX260 to go in it.
Sorry to have 2 questions in one post, I just thrive on others' input, suggestions, and opinions! Thanx in advance!
 
The M4A78 is supposed to be a good motherboard, i knew a few people with them and they have no complaints. Ive had motherboards come doa from alot of manufacturers, its just a risk you take is that something might come doa. Any reasons you went with a GTX260 on a crossfire motherboard though?
 
Oh, well I'm not a fan of multiple cards, SLi or Crossfire... I had access to an XFX GTX260 Core edition c216, and since I'm only ever going to be running one card, I figured it didn't matter whether I used it or bought a HD 4870... I hope it runs ok, I didn't think about that being a "Crossfire" motherboard until now... Whenever my graphics get too slow, I rather buy a faster, single card rather than adding another one.
Thanx for your input...
Is there any reason I shouldn't use the 260 in this board?
 
Damascus said:
Oh, well I'm not a fan of multiple cards, SLi or Crossfire... I had access to an XFX GTX260 Core edition c216, and since I'm only ever going to be running one card, I figured it didn't matter whether I used it or bought a HD 4870... I hope it runs ok, I didn't think about that being a "Crossfire" motherboard until now... Whenever my graphics get too slow, I rather buy a faster, single card rather than adding another one.
Thanx for your input...
Is there any reason I shouldn't use the 260 in this board?
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Nah, didnt know you already had the 260, thought you were ordering with the board so was giving a suggestion. What kinda psu you gonna be running with this rig?
 
PSU: OCZ StealthXStream 700W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341019
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103011
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231270
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150329
Mobo/CPU Combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131381
Although now it shows the combo with a Phenom II X4 945 3.0... the combo I got last week came with a Phenom II X4 955 3.2 Black Ed. (Unlocked Multi)...
My CPU, Mobo, RAM, all came in the mail Wed... this morning the case and PSU arrived. It'll all be together and running, God willing, by this evening. I hope it'll do what I built it for - which is nothing but game (on a budget lol).
 
Yep, I just got it about 2 hours ago...
I like the overall construction, and I like how the 2 huge 250mm side panel fans have on/off switches and RPM control - I expected it to be a fixed speed.
The only thing I don't like about it is that the front panel pops off wayyyy too easy... You don't even have to push the tabs over from the inside, just pull on it and it'll pop off. Just a picky thing though - Newegg says the original price is $140... I would NOT pay $140 for this case, but $100 seems to be perfect... I just checked it, and now it says $109! Man, I must have gotten lucky.. I got my case for $99 - which went up to $109 overnight... THEN, I got that mobo/CPU combo for $239, when the price of the CPU by itself is $215 and the mobo itself is $89 !! And I must have gotten the last Phenom II X4 955 B.E. because the combo is now with a PII X4 940 for $195, and even the individual PII X4 955 B.E.'s are listed as sold out - so I must have gotten one of the last ones lol..
 
Damascus said:
Yep, I just got it about 2 hours ago...
I like the overall construction, and I like how the 2 huge 250mm side panel fans have on/off switches and RPM control - I expected it to be a fixed speed.
The only thing I don't like about it is that the front panel pops off wayyyy too easy... You don't even have to push the tabs over from the inside, just pull on it and it'll pop off. Just a picky thing though - Newegg says the original price is $140... I would NOT pay $140 for this case, but $100 seems to be perfect... I just checked it, and now it says $109! Man, I must have gotten lucky.. I got my case for $99 - which went up to $109 overnight... THEN, I got that mobo/CPU combo for $239, when the price of the CPU by itself is $215 and the mobo itself is $89 !! And I must have gotten the last Phenom II X4 955 B.E. because the combo is now with a PII X4 940 for $195, and even the individual PII X4 955 B.E.'s are listed as sold out - so I must have gotten one of the last ones lol..
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Hmm, i cant even pop the front off if i want to half the time, its in there really good. Have you made sure that its all clipped in there right? Might need to give it an extra "push". Incase you didnt know(manual doesnt say it), there is room for a 120mm fan in the front, right after you pull the front panel off. I actually spend $180 on mine, its the WTBK Advanced one, with a 200mm top fan on it. Looks like they changed the hard drive mounting system somewhat since i bought mine though. This is the one here that i have, except an older version of it:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103019&Tpk=WTBK Advanced
 
Yep, mine looks identical - except mine just has a grill on top rather than a fan.. it's a square shaped grill, that could probably take a fan, with some light modding... Maybe it's there to mount the PSU upside down so the PSU's 120mm can draw air in from that vent rather than draw in hot air from around the CPU/RAM...?
As far as the HDD bays, I see that they changed that. There was a manual addendum in the box about it too - The white accessory box is now gone, and the HDD cage has black plastic tool-less removable shelves now - albeit a bit lightweight, seems to work ok.
Working on building this thing now, hopefully I'll have it done by I tomorrow! Thanx for all the replies everyone!
 
Damascus said:
Yep, mine looks identical - except mine just has a grill on top rather than a fan.. it's a square shaped grill, that could probably take a fan, with some light modding... Maybe it's there to mount the PSU upside down so the PSU's 120mm can draw air in from that vent rather than draw in hot air from around the CPU/RAM...?
As far as the HDD bays, I see that they changed that. There was a manual addendum in the box about it too - The white accessory box is now gone, and the HDD cage has black plastic tool-less removable shelves now - albeit a bit lightweight, seems to work ok.
Working on building this thing now, hopefully I'll have it done by I tomorrow! Thanx for all the replies everyone!
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Make sure to post some pics, im curious to see how it looks in the newer case with the new hard drive mounting system;)
 
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