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Asus M3A79-T Deluxe Review & Overclocking - PAGE 1
William Henning - Saturday, November 15th, 2008 Like ShareToday we are taking a look at the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe -- an AMD socket AM2+ motherboard using the AMD 790FX chipset with the AMD SB750 southbridge.
Unlike some previous AM2+ motherboards, this board is designed to work with the 140W TDP Phenom processors. Asus makes sure we know this, not only by labeling the box, but also with a huge sticker right on the motherboard itself!
Among the many features of this board are the four GPU slots that can be used in the following modes:
- Dual card - PCIe 16x 2.0 (two slots unused)
- Triple card - one PCIe 16x 2.0 slot, two PCIe 16x 2.0 8x slots
- Quad card - four PCIe 16x 2.0 8x slots
Now that's a lot of potential GPU power... and let's not forget that a PCIe 2.0 8x slot has the same bandwidth as the previous PCIe 16x slots had.
Here are the specifications of the board:
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PU
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AMD Socket AM2+ / AM2 Processors
for AMD® Phenom™ FX / Phenom™ / Athlon™ / Sempron™ processors AMD Cool 'n' Quiet™ Technology Supports CPU up to 140W |
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Chipset
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AMD 790FX/SB750
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System Bus
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Up to 5200 MT/s HyperTransport™ 3.0 interface for AM2+ CPU
2000 / 1600 MT/s for AM2 CPU |
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Memory
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4 x240-pin DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR2 1066/800/667 Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture *Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one DIMM per channel only. Refer to www.asus.com for the memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists). **Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Hence, a total installed memory of less than 3GB is recommended. |
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Expansion Slots
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4 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slots with ATI CrossFireX™ support (@ dual x16, triple x16 / x8 / x8, or quad x8 modes)
2 x PCI 2.2 |
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CrossFire
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Supports ATI CrossFireX™ graphics cards; up to Quad CrossFireX™
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Storage
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Southbridge
1 xUltraDMA 133/100/66 6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,5,10 Marvell® 88SE6111 SATA controller 1 x External SATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go) |
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LAN
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Marvell® 88E8056 Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET 2
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Audio
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ADI® AD2000B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
- Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-Streaming, and Front Panel Jack-Retasking - Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF Out ports at back I/O - ASUS AI Audio 2 - ASUS Noise Filtering |
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IEEE 1394
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LSI® L-FW3227 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports (1 at mid-board; 1 at back panel)
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USB
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12 USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
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ASUS Unique Features
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ASUS Quiet Thermal Solutions:
- ASUS 8+2 Phase Power Design - ASUS Fanless Design: Heat pipe solution - ASUS Fanless Design: Stack Cool 2 - ASUS Q-Fan 2 ASUS Express Gate: - Access the Internet in 5-second* boot time without entering Windows - Friendly picture manager interface *Actual boot time subject to hardware configuration. ASUS Power Saving Solutions: - ASUS AI Gear 2 - ASUS AI Nap ASUS Crystal Sound: - ASUS AI Audio 2 - ASUS Noise Filtering ASUS EZ DIY: - ASUS Q-Shield - ASUS Q-Connector - ASUS O.C. Profile - ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 - ASUS EZ Flash 2 - Onboard Switch |
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Overclocking Features
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Intelligent overclocking tools:
- AI Overclocking (Intelligent CPU Frequency Tuner) - AI Booster Utility Precision Tweaker 2: - vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment - vDIMM: 36-step DRAM voltage control - vChipset (NB): 16-step Chipset voltage control SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) - FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 600MHz at 1MHz increment - PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz increment Overclocking Protection: - ASUS C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall) |
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Special Features
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ASUS MyLogo 2™
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Back Panel I/O Ports
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1 x PS/2 Keyboard / Mouse combo port
1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Out ports 1 x External SATA port 1 x IEEE1394a port 1 x LAN (RJ45) port 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 8-channel Audio I/O ports |
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Internal I/O Connectors
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3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
1 x Floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector 1 x COM connector 6 x SATA connectors 1 x CPU Fan connector 2 x Chassis Fan connectors 1 x Power Fan connector 1 x IEEE1394a connector Front panel audio connector 1 x S/PDIF Out header Chassis Intrusion connector CD audio in 24-pin ATX Power connector System Panel (Q-Connector) 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector Power on Switch Reset Switch |
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BIOS
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8 Mb Flash ROM
AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0a, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 2 |
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Manageability
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WOL by PME, WOR by PME, WOR by Ring, Chasis Intrusion, PXE
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Accessories
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2 x ASUS CrossFire bridge cables
1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable 6 x Serial ATA cables 1 x 2-port Serial ATA power cable 1 x Q-Shield 1 x User's manual 1 x Multi-functional module (1-port IEEE 1394a + 2-port USB2.0) 1 x Q-connector Kit (USB, 1394, system panel; Retail version only) *The floppy disk drive cable is purchased separately |
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Support Disc
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Drivers
ASUS Express Gate ASUS PC Probe II ASUS Update ASUS AI Suite AMD OverDrive Utility (AOD) Anti-virus software (OEM version) |
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Form Factor
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ATX Form Factor
12 x 9.6 ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm ) |
next: The Board »
- optical and SP/DIFF out
Both are S/P DIF (Sony/Phillips Digital Interconnect Format). One is the Optical S/PDIF over TOSLINK, the other is Electrical S/PDIF over COAX. So the text could read: