ASROCK M3N78D or other AM3 Motherboards with Nvidia 720D chipset

[KowShak]

I need to choose an AM3 motherboard to replace a dead board, the requirements are that it be a socket full size ATX AM3 board and I'm working to a tight budget. A lot of the cheaper AM3 boards have older chipsets and don't support HT3 or PCIe 2.0 one board I've spotted is that does is the ASROCK M3N78D, its based around the Nvidia 720D chipset and its with budget too.

The tech press don't seem to acknowledge that this chipset exists, but the boards based upon it are not expensive and don't seem to have anything essential missing. I've had a couple of AM2 socket Nvidia chipset based board in the past, they're old and still work, so I'm fairly happy with an Nvidia chipset. I'm left wondering whether the board I found is cheap because it's light on extra features (e.g. no Crossfire, no SLI, no SATA3, no USB3) or whether there is some problem with it, e.g. speed, stability etc.

Has anybody tried a 720D based board?

[KowShak]

Well, I couldn't find anything good or bad said about the 720D chipset so a motherboard has been purchased. Installing it was uneventful, it installed and seems to work, although Windows had the usual issues with the hardware changing and drivers needing to be installed.

The motherboard is fairly basic, there are no bells and whistles (e.g. no Firewire, no SLI or Crossfire, no SATA3 and no USB3) but the basic functionality is all there and nothing important is missing.

The alternatives were older chipsets (e.g. 480x or older Nvidia chipsets) without HT3 or PCIe 2.0, so this seems to have been the best choice!

[Homeking]

That looks a good motherboard according to the specs on the ASRock site:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=M3N78D

I like the fact it supports CPUs up to 140W and DDR3 up to 1800 over clocked.

I can't see any mention that it has core unlocking features though - is this the case? I'm looking for a similar motherboard myself but definitely want one that can unlock cores. Not too worried about extra features such as SATA3 and USB3 - just want a good reliable motherboard.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What is your budget for a new motherboard?

[Homeking]

I'm looking at 2 different budgets at the moment - trying to decide between them!

Looking at around £50 for an AM3 motherboard that only supports SATA2 but will do everything else I want - up to 140W CPU support, 1800 RAM overclocked, 16GB RAM for future upgrades etc and core unlocking.

Willing to think about a second budget of £80 for all of the above plus SATA3 but can't decide whether this is worth the extra or not.

Above all I'm looking for something good and reliable that will last me a few years.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

THE Asus M4A87TD EVO is a very good motherboard IMHO. My mate has one of them and you can unlock a processor with a push of a button. It also has USB3.0 and SATA3.0 too.

However,for £69 this motherboard has USB3.0 and SATA3.0:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-8...-sata-raid-atx

Here is a review of the motherboard:

http://www.techspot.com/review/295-a...son/page6.html

If you are looking at spending around £50 the ASRock M3A770DE is worth considering as is the MSI 870-C45.

You can also get free postage from Scan too:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...-delivery.html

[Homeking]

Thanks - I'll have a look at those.

I should have also mentioned onboard graphics (for now) as I haven't budgeted for a graphics card but it is something I intend to add in the future so onboard doesn't have to be anything great.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

None of the motherboards I suggested have an IGP.

Here are some 790GX motherboards which should do the job:

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info....source=froogle

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...source=froogle

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info....source=froogle

If you want USB3.0 and SATA3.0 I would look at the following motherboards:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/msi-8...sata-raid-uatx

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...03&subcat=1782

If you want to overclock and also have SATA3.0 I would look at the M4A88TD-V EVO:

http://www.kikatek.com/product_info....source=froogle

http://www.morecomputers.com/extra.a...eferer=Froogle

[Homeking]

Thanks Cat.

Just realised the one mentioned at the start of this thread doesn't have an IGP either - I'm half asleep this afternoon!

[KowShak]

Thanks Cat.

Just realised the one mentioned at the start of this thread doesn't have an IGP either - I'm half asleep this afternoon!

That chipset has no onboard graphics but that was something I wanted to avoid! Some of the other nVidia 700 chipsets do, if you need it.

It can handle 140W CPUs and DDR3 1800 but it also has 4 RAM slots which is something you don't see on the cheaper motherboards unless they're older / obsolete models. The board only cost £38 which was what attracted me to it, an equivilent AMD chipset would have been £55 and the only benefit I could see was core unlocking which didn't matter in this build.