The wife's pc croaked.. so I get to give mine to her and build myself
a new one.

Picked out the cpu
AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core
Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103249


Got two mobos on my short list to pair with the above cpu

ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard -
Retail
Support AMD Phenom 9850 & Future 140W TDP Processors
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131320


ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131325

Right now I'm leaning towards the M3N78 mainly because of the onboard
firewire.. Anything I'm not seeing that makes that a bad choice?

I don't plan on using the onboard vid.,


Both boards state:
"DDR2 1066
*Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one
DIMM per channel only. "

I would be fine with two sticks of 2gig ddr2 1066, right? wither board
would accept this correct?

It's doubtful one would see any real-world-app major performance
changes between the 800 and 1066 sticks... would that be a true
statement?


Thanks for advice/suggestions !

Tony!

Tony wrote:
> The wife's pc croaked.. so I get to give mine to her and build myself
> a new one.
>
> Picked out the cpu
> AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core
> Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retail
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103249
>
>
> Got two mobos on my short list to pair with the above cpu
>
> ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard -
> Retail
> Support AMD Phenom 9850 & Future 140W TDP Processors
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131320
>
>
> ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131325
>
> Right now I'm leaning towards the M3N78 mainly because of the onboard
> firewire.. Anything I'm not seeing that makes that a bad choice?
>
> I don't plan on using the onboard vid.,
>
>
> Both boards state:
> "DDR2 1066
> *Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one
> DIMM per channel only. "
>
> I would be fine with two sticks of 2gig ddr2 1066, right? wither board
> would accept this correct?
>
> It's doubtful one would see any real-world-app major performance
> changes between the 800 and 1066 sticks... would that be a true
> statement?
>
>
> Thanks for advice/suggestions !
>
> Tony!
>

The two boards you mention, are on the "140W list". That would be
my primary concern. The M3N78 Pro has a grand total of two reviews
that I can find, so it has just arrived. The M3A78 Pro has
zero customer reviews (checked both Newegg and vip.asus.com
forums).

The M3N78 Pro has a FW322 for Firewire, which I thought was by Agere
(maybe LSI bought Agere or something).

Each board has its irritations. The M3A78 Pro has an ATI Southbridge,
which can mean some surprises when installing disks. The M3N78 Pro chose
not to put the VGA connector in the I/O area, instead putting it on a
PCI slot cover, on the end of a ribbon cable. That could affect video
quality at higher resolutions. The M3N78 Pro is also missing a PS/2
mouse connector, while the M3A78 Pro has one (a consideration for
KVM owners/users).

To help make your choice, I would download the PDF manual. There, you
can see what the BIOS is like, and what they recommend for memory
setup. Now that the Asus web site uses Akamai for the actual downloaded
files, there is no longer a wait. My link runs at full rate during the
actual download. One of the manuals took about 30 seconds (my service
cap isn't that high).

Paul

Tony,

Am currently building a PC with similar specs:


AMD Phenom 9850 Black Edition

Asus M3N78 Pro motherboard

Zerotherm Butterfly BTF-90 CPU cooler

Corsair DDR2 1066 Dominator Ram (2 x 2gb)

XFX 8600gt video card

2 x WD SATAII 7200rpm 320gb hard drives

Lite-on DVD-Rom and DVD-RW drives

Thermaltake PurePower 500w power supply

Thermaltake Armor MX+ mid-tower case.


The folks who I originally ordered the Ram from sent me the wrong Ram,
so I ordered it from another supplier. Should finish the build next
weekend after the new Ram comes in. Will let you know how it turns
out.
I like the M3N78 Pro because of the hybrid Nvidia graphics. I haven't
seen a lot of good reviews for boards built with AMD's 780g hybrid
system. Best wishes on your build.

Ed H.
South Carolina, USA




On Jul 6, 2:34*am, Tony <n...@none.com> wrote:
> The wife's pc croaked.. so I get to give mine to her and build myself
> a new one.
>
> Picked out the cpu
> AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core
> Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103249
>
> Got *two mobos on my short list to pair with the above cpu
>
> ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard -
> Retail
> Support AMD Phenom 9850 & Future 140W TDP Processorshttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131320
>
> ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131325
>
> Right now I'm leaning towards the M3N78 mainly because of the onboard
> firewire.. Anything I'm not seeing that makes that a bad choice?
>
> I don't plan on using the onboard vid.,
>
> Both boards state:
> "DDR2 1066
> *Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one
> DIMM per channel only. "
>
> I would be fine with two sticks of 2gig ddr2 1066, right? wither board
> would accept this correct?
>
> It's doubtful one would see any real-world-app major performance
> changes between the 800 and 1066 sticks... would that be a true
> statement?
>
> Thanks for advice/suggestions !
>
> Tony!

Thanks Paul & Ed for the responds.. Looking forward to hearing your
experience with the M3N78 and 1066 ram

-T-


On Sun, 6 Jul 2008 12:28:38 -0700 (PDT), Ed29229
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Tony,
>
>Am currently building a PC with similar specs:
>
>
>AMD Phenom 9850 Black Edition
>
>Asus M3N78 Pro motherboard
>
>Zerotherm Butterfly BTF-90 CPU cooler
>
>Corsair DDR2 1066 Dominator Ram (2 x 2gb)
>
>XFX 8600gt video card
>
>2 x WD SATAII 7200rpm 320gb hard drives
>
>Lite-on DVD-Rom and DVD-RW drives
>
>Thermaltake PurePower 500w power supply
>
>Thermaltake Armor MX+ mid-tower case.
>
>
>The folks who I originally ordered the Ram from sent me the wrong Ram,
>so I ordered it from another supplier. Should finish the build next
>weekend after the new Ram comes in. Will let you know how it turns
>out.
>I like the M3N78 Pro because of the hybrid Nvidia graphics. I haven't
>seen a lot of good reviews for boards built with AMD's 780g hybrid
>system. Best wishes on your build.
>
>Ed H.
>South Carolina, USA
>
>
>
>
>On Jul 6, 2:34*am, Tony <n...@none.com> wrote:
>> The wife's pc croaked.. so I get to give mine to her and build myself
>> a new one.
>>
>> Picked out the cpu
>> AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION 2.5GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core
>> Processor Model HD985ZXAGHBOX - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103249
>>
>> Got *two mobos on my short list to pair with the above cpu
>>
>> ASUS M3N78 PRO AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard -
>> Retail
>> Support AMD Phenom 9850 & Future 140W TDP Processorshttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131320
>>
>> ASUS M3A78 Pro AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retailhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131325
>>
>> Right now I'm leaning towards the M3N78 mainly because of the onboard
>> firewire.. Anything I'm not seeing that makes that a bad choice?
>>
>> I don't plan on using the onboard vid.,
>>
>> Both boards state:
>> "DDR2 1066
>> *Due to AMD CPU limitation, DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU for one
>> DIMM per channel only. "
>>
>> I would be fine with two sticks of 2gig ddr2 1066, right? wither board
>> would accept this correct?
>>
>> It's doubtful one would see any real-world-app major performance
>> changes between the 800 and 1066 sticks... would that be a true
>> statement?
>>
>> Thanks for advice/suggestions !
>>
>> Tony!

Ed29229 <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
> I like the M3N78 Pro because of the hybrid Nvidia graphics. I haven't
> seen a lot of good reviews for boards built with AMD's 780g hybrid
> system.

Odd... every review I've seen of the 780G has been very positive -- the
basic view seems to be "finally a decent integrated video solution".

-Miles

--
Erudition, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull.

At the time when I was shopping for a motherboard there didn't seem to
be an overwhelming positive response to the boards I was looking at
with the 780G chipset. After recently looking at some of the reviews,
I see that things have certainly changed and there are also some new
offerings in that category. I am glad it has changed.

Thanks,

Ed H
South Carolina, USA









On Jul 7, 8:24*am, Miles Bader <miles.ba...@necel.com> wrote:
> Ed29229 <edward.hy...@gmail.com> writes:
> > I like the M3N78 Pro because of the hybrid Nvidia graphics. *I haven't
> > seen a lot of good reviews for boards built with AMD's 780g hybrid
> > system.
>
> Odd... every review I've seen of the 780G has been very positive -- the
> basic view seems to be "finally a decent integrated video solution".
>
> -Miles
>
> --
> Erudition, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull.

On Jul 7, 8:24*am, Miles Bader <miles.ba...@necel.com> wrote:
> Ed29229 <edward.hy...@gmail.com> writes:
> > I like the M3N78 Pro because of the hybrid Nvidia graphics. *I haven't
> > seen a lot of good reviews for boards built with AMD's 780g hybrid
> > system.
>
> Odd... every review I've seen of the 780G has been very positive -- the
> basic view seems to be "finally a decent integrated video solution".
>
> -Miles



I have checked the market and things have changed since I reviewed
motherboards. There are new offerings and more of an overwhelming
positive response. This is a good thing.



>
> --
> Erudition, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull.

I am a Christian man though and a degreed professional. There was no
need for your public insult.

Thanks,

Ed H
South Carolina, USA

Ed29229 <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>> --
>> Erudition, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull.
>
> I am a Christian man though and a degreed professional. There was no
> need for your public insult.

Random signature, not aimed at you particularly.

-Miles

--
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
--Albert Einstein

On Jul 8, 10:11*pm, Miles Bader <miles.ba...@necel.com> wrote:
> Ed29229 <edward.hy...@gmail.com> writes:
> >> --
> >> Erudition, n. Dust shaken out of a book into an empty skull.
>
> > I am a Christian man though and a degreed professional. *There was no
> > need for your public insult.
>
> Random signature, not aimed at you particularly.
>
> -Miles


Miles,

Thanks for the explanation, no offense taken then.

Have a good day,

Ed H





>
> --
> The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
> * --Albert Einstein

I just built a system with a M3A78 Pro and 5000+ BE and Xigmatek 92mm
heatsink/fan. I got the board from zipzoomfly for $110. I couldn't
find any reviews but i thought i would take a chance on a 780 chipset
that is supposed to support 140W cpus. I didn't have any problems
installing my scsi boot drive, sata, and pata drive, and sata and pata
burners. It's running fine although i haven't overclocked it yet. The
only problems were my 24" long floppy cable couldn't reach the
connector as it is on the top of my full tower. Also my hard drives
were physically interfering with my OCZ Reaper memory. I scrapped the
floppy and extended the screw slots on my hard drive rack so the
drives would go into the rack a little more and all is well. I would
have liked to have firewire but i can always add a card.