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Thread: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

  1. #33
    Senior Member Max Tractor's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    The order has to be over 49.99



    http://www.ebuyer.com/special/1293

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    watercooled (11-02-2011)

  3. #34
    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    Right, got that ASRock board ordered, along with an Optiarc drive I'll use in a HTPC build I'm planning a few months down the line, to make the order over 50 to get free delivery, and an eBuyer mug for 50p (Doh! got pulled in by the marketing!).
    Last edited by watercooled; 24-02-2011 at 05:33 PM.

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    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Thumbs up Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    Quick update/review for those interested,
    New motherboard installed and after using it for a few days, all seems well. Problems I had seem to be solved.

    The chipset seems to run much cooler, possibly due to the larger heatsink. But this adds one minor problem - look at the position of the PCI-E x1 slot relative to that heatsink: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/249342 you can't fit a full-length card in there without forcing anything. I mean you might be able to fit a card without any protruding features in there, my NIC would fit between the fins but didn't quite align with the socket, it would be pressing against the fins if you did get it to fit, with a big risk of shorting. This may or may not be a problem depending on what cards you're using, it's not for me as I'm only using the one so I put it in the x16 slot instead. Alternatively, you could cut one or two rows of fins off and the chipset should still run cool enough, if you didn't mind voiding the warranty.

    Graphics performance isn't noticeably different (not that I've tested it beyond playing a few HD videos) but it gets 0.1 points higher on WEI for graphics and gaming graphics than the 780V.

    Power use is basically the same as my previous board and within the error margin of the power meter.

    The board is physically smaller than the other one, making it a much nicer fit in the case. It's smaller than the usual uATX spec at 24.4 x 19.1cm vs the spec 24.4 x 24.4. This comes at the cost of having only 2 RAM slots and having a few less ports than my other board, e.g. 4 SATA, 1 IDE, 2 USB (headers) but that's all fine with me, I prefer this boards size over having more unused ports!

    Something that puzzled me a bit is they only include a single SATA cable in the box which is a bit tight, I mean how many systems only need one cable? Of course, it also comes with a useless IDE cable which they could have done without in favour of a SATA cable (which people are far more likely to use) if they have no more budget for the accessories. Even the Intel Atom D510MO board includes 2 and it only has 2 ports! I'd take points off for that if it was a new board but since it's a few years old it's a bit more acceptable.

    The manual is excellent for a board in this price range. The BIOS is VERY well detailed in it which is very unusual, and the BIOS is also very good IMO. There are a few strange default settings which is something that might be a problem for those who don't go through and check every setting like I do. Other than that, it's laid out very well and has tons of options I've not seen even on high end boards before! I mean, there's about 4 manual pages worth of options for memory alone! Seriously, just have a look at the manual!

    Sound quality seems to be better and this board also doesn't have a strange problem the other one had but I didn't really think much of - if you typed or held down a key while listening to audio it would chop the sound up, sort of like when you get a weak mobile phone signal. Not something I ever bothered investigating but definitely annoying.

    Well, that was a bit longer that I was expecting! I don't think that's going to make anyone want to buy my other board but NVM, I'm fine keeping it as a spare considering how much I'd probably get for it.

    Overall, if you're after a uATX AM2+ board I think this one is definitely worth considering!
    Last edited by watercooled; 24-02-2011 at 10:44 PM.

  5. #36
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    get that IGP folding dude

  6. #37
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    You can fit a full length pci-e x1 card in there, just use the pci-e x16 slot instead.
    one of the advantages of pci-e is that any smaller sized card can be used in a larger slot.
    a x1 card will still run at x1 of course but it will run.

  7. #38
    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    Quote Originally Posted by watercooled View Post
    ... it's not for me as I'm only using the one so I put it in the x16 slot instead.
    That's what I did, I just meant it could be a problem for people who will have the x16 slot occupied with a discrete graphics card.

  8. #39
    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    sorry I missed that bit (I was skim reading )

    PS that's not the only budget motherboard that only comes with 1 sata cable, was it at least a locking one?

  9. #40
    Senior Member watercooled's Avatar
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    Re: After an AM2+ mATX motherboard

    Nope, not a locking one. But now I come to think of I don't think that 780V board had more than one either, there's only one in the case and the e-manual only says cable (singular) in the parts checklist.

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