ASUS M4A89GTD Pro - A Core Unlocking 890GX for $140
by Rajinder Gill on March 10, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Conclusion
Although there are areas that ASUS need to work on with the M4A89GTD Pro, what they’ve managed to do is set a paper baseline around the $150 mark that is going to be hard for any vendor to compete against. We think ASUS are bang on the money with BIOS layout, automated overclocking, fan control and core unlocking features.
The only thing we see as a potential hindrance at this stage is the random S3 resume behavior we experienced with our Corsair TX950 PSU. As it stands, out of every ten sleep mode resume attempts, you might find one that requires an AC power cycle to reboot. We know of one other person who has encountered this thus far, and that was after going out to find it on purpose at our behest by using the same components. Given the scarcity of the problem, we could probably live with it if we had to, but these things should work properly and it’s our job to point out when they don’t.
Most of the issues we’ve encountered during the course of this review may not affect you at all depending upon component choices and how you intend to use the board. In fact, a lot of what we’ve pointed out relates to Elpida Hyper memory modules, which many of you won't be pairing with a $150 motherboard. If you fall into that category, then we have no hesitation in recommending the M4A89GTD Pro to you. However, if you’re looking for a little more certainty all round, we’ll repeat a familiar mantra at this point and urge you to wait another month before laying down dollars on this platform.
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Calin - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
I use a TV capture card in a PCI slot, and I don't think I'm the only one. True, my PC is an oldie box (Athlon X2 4600+ AM2, 2300MHz I think).feelingshorter - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
One thing about unlocking (some?) AMD CPUs is that the lose their ability to use the auto fan speed feature (cool n quiet). Otherwise, using the stock cooler, your fan wont speed up despite being at 100% load. Not to mention there is only an 80% chance of getting all 4 cores working without corruption (the cores work but its usually the cache that has issues). AMD mobo + cpu is cheaper than Intel's offerings. As soon as you spend 140$ on a mobo AMD lose their value and your entering i7 price territory.Voo - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
cool n quiet has as much to do with fan speed as SpeedStep has, which is to say absolutely nothing.alimaamoser - Thursday, March 18, 2010 - link
All Topics are very nice......So I read one by one so I like it......
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/livea-...">http://www.articlesbase.com/health-arti...o-get-fr...
jigglywiggly - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
I dun like amd cpus btwafkrotch - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
I'm with you, so I didn't even bother to read this article on the board's performance. I can say, this is a very nice clean looking motherboard.I think more should strive for this and not start randomly throwing crap in every which way direction.
Taft12 - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
Daily Tech forum downrating feature badly needed here :(jonup - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
Highly doubt that it will keep him from posting. May admin should ban himJohnMD1022 - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
No one cares.Learn grammar.
piroroadkill - Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - link
Thanks for that contribution