|
On the positive side, there is a "Reset CMOS" button in the I/O panel of the motherboard. I recommended this motherboard to my sister as it had an included e-SATA port in its I/O section at the back of the motherboard (and she has an external hard drive enclosure that is able to connect via USB 2.0 or an e-SATA connection). Also, this board only supports AMD processors that have a 95W power rating or below, so you will need to make sure that your processor meets this limitation. Also, be aware that the manual is located on the CD (there is no printed manual included with it), and (contrary to what has been posted by the other reviewers here) there is not a complete listing of the LED post codes for this board. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking to build a moderate gaming system as the board features "Hybrid SLI" that allows you to run a discrete videocard in tandem with the onboard GeForce 8200 onboard video chip. If you plan on installing your memory sticks in dual-channel memory configuration, you will need to make sure that you purchase "kitted" pairs of memory sticks that have been manufactured to have identical capacities, timings, and CAS latencies by qualified vendors.
Within twenty-four hours of having received my RMA'ed board at their service dock, they sent two emails: The first one confirmed having received the board; the second email confirmed that their testing conclusively identified that the motherboard was indeed faulty and they would be sending a replacement. However, in order to use the e-SATA connection in the I/O section of this motherboard, you have to connect a SATA cable between the SATA connector just in front of the e-SATA port and one of the six onboard SATA connectors near the front of the motherboard. I also give XFX a "thumbs up" in their online support ticket communication and for their timely emails that we received when I had to RMA this board to XFX for warranty service. Otherwise, you will never get a video signal to the monitor from either the VGA or the DVI connections on the board. Be aware that in order to get any online support for this product you will need to first register it at XFX's support site and establish an account username and password. The board performed flawlessly for about six months before needing to be RMA'ed, and I was very pleased with their responsiveness and honesty when I needed support for this product.
Just make sure that you have at least a 600W PSU that has a large +12V rail capable of supplying a maximum of 45A, and has at least a P4 auxiliary CPU power connector (you do not need one that has a P8 connector, but you will need to contact XFX support to learn how to plug the P4 connector into the P8 connector on the motherboard in order to get the thing to boot (they should have explained this in the manual, but did not).
Pros- It has a lot of ports, hdmi, dvi, firewire, even esata.- The integrated graphics card i have to say it's the best i have tried, i can even play crysis. at 800x600 low res.- I haven't try to plug an nvidia 8500GT ($50) to run it in SLI mode with the integrated graphics card but if this alone runs crysis at 800x600 with the 8500GT i can say that is going to run very well- Easy overclock utility on the BIOS- Has a readable boot up display codes in the back fo troubleshootingCons- When i plugged a PATA disc (yes, the oldies before SATA) i couldn't boot up with my SATA plugged discs, every time i goes to the BIOS boot options and mark my SATA disk instead on the PATA for booting but for some reason it keeps booting the PATA, i will try updating the BIOS- I have a corsair DDR 1066MHZ memory and i couldn't set this speed on the board, if i try to do it, the pc hangs and boot with a BIOS reset (yes a very nice feature, it has 2 bios in case one fails to boot), so it's recognized at 800MHZ (i could saved like $30 buying cheaper memory)In general a very good motherboad with a lot of features, i will keep this for some time
You can get this info in the BIOS but not in Windows. I remember that i read that i need to update the BIOS so i didn't care a lot. When i was done installing XP the BIOS was freezing anymore. While i was performing normal activities with my PC the MoBo was doing just fine. This Mobo supports only 95W CPU's.
So i didn't updated the BIOS.For the people that says that this Mobo doesn't have a decent manual inside the CD there is a manual with all the POST codes in it. This Mobo doesn't support Unix or Linux. This comes very handy when you need to troubleshoot.Now the bad things about this Mobo. My old GeForce 7600 GS (witch is AGP) scored 1924 3dmarks. It doesn't come with a software that monitors the fan speed,CPU temperature etc. After like 1 hour of encoding my PC just turned off. There are still no drivers for these OS. (how come).
I was having some problems in the beginning though.First the BIOS was freezing. I benchmarked it using 3dmark 2006 with a resolution of 1024x768 and it only scored 774 3dmarks. Well i don't regret it. The last bad thing is the integrated videocard.
This Mobo has only 2 fan connectors my old Abit kv8pro had 4. I downloaded SpeedFan. It doesn't show you only the fan speed and temperatures (inclusive HDD temperatures)it shows you some voltages also. In the beginning i was wondering if i shouldn't buy this Mobo. I know the one has shared memory and the other don't but i still expected a lot more from the integrated video card. So if your planning to buy this Mobo by it with a pci videocard.Overal this is a good Mobo and i recommend it.Beware.After like 2 months of owning (and using) this Mobo i knew what the other reviewers where saying about this Mobo and his CPU compatibility. At the XFX site (and not at the amazon specifications) they tell you that you can use 125W CPU's but not for CPU intensive task. Well let me tell you what my AMD Athlon Dual Core 6000+ (125W) did to this mobo.
First i thought that it automatically turned of due to heat but it wouldn't turn on any more. It was annoying though that everything i reboot is froze.When i was installing XP it froze for a moment and i had to do it over again. After some troubleshooting i found out that the problem lies with the MoBo. This means that you have to download a separate program to do this. And the best part it's free. After 2 months i decided to encode some video. More specifically at the 8 pin power connection.So if you are planning on buying this Mobo remember that you cannot install a 125W CPU(unless if you are planning to use your PC only as a type machine :) ).At last i give 10 points to Amazon because i returned my defective Mobo and the refunded me my money (less 15% restocking fee of course).
Was embarrassed when I popped in World in Conflict, Ghost Recon.Assassin's Creed. 4 DDR2 slots, which maxes out at 8GG. It obviously handles videos well which was the intention. Its also mATX so its smaller than usual.
Lots room for upgrades. This fit the bill perfectly but it still has some downs. Also an FDD but who uses those. Sometimes I get a CMOS Checksum error and then vista loads with an intolerable amount of flicker.
It says there's a jumper for changing the settings for DVI or HDMI. 6 Sata headers, and an ide header. I think I saw 3 usb headers as well. PCIe 2.0 for those newer graphics cards. Got this board cause I wanted a workable integrated graphics card with options to upgrade.
Got that initially but its been a while since I got it. I also haven't gotten DVI to work. changed that yet nothing, even when vista boots. It sucks that I gotta use VGA with my DVI ports free but my screen still looks great. There's a 2 digit temperature LCD at the back panel that is kinda cool. First off Am2+ means quad amd compatible. I also expected more from the 8200 on board but was kinda disappointed, but its still an integrated card.
I don't do overclocking so I cant speak on that but it looks like its quite capable. I would complain about it being at the back but.what else could be done on a motherboard.Now what made me not give a 5 star to this board: My first trouble was with the board itself. It runs middle demand games like FIFA 08 and NFS Pro Street and Age of Empires III at 'ok' speeds, at medium details, 20-35fsp, but the high end DX10 games are too much. I guess IGPs needs more work done.In all its a great board for the productivity machine am building and would recommend for that purpose.
La verdad es un excelente producto a un excelente precio, es increible ver todo el potencial que tiene esta Tarjeta Madre ya que con su chipset nVidia se desembuelve muy bien para los juegos.En lo unico que no me satisface es que no pude activar el modo SLI HÃbrido, pero ya me puse en contacto con XFX para la solucion del problema, otra cosa es que la tapadera del case, la que va en los puertos de la Tarjeta, no esta bien ya que no tiene la ventanita para el panel de OC que trae en la parte tracera, lo unico que esta bien es el boton de reset del BIOS.Pero estas dos son cosas triviales, para TODO el potencial de esta Tarjeta. 5 Estrellas.
|
