Replacement AM3 Motherboard

Hello all.

Recently I've not had much luck with a new PC build I put together off the back of advice taken from this here forum:

Asus M4A785TD-V EVO 785G Socket AM3 onboard DVI VGA HDMI
AMD Athlon II X3 435 2.9GHz Socket AM3 1.5MB L2 Cache
Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3 1TB HD
Crucial 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10600 Ballistix Memory Kit
Coolermaster Elite 335 Case
OCZ 400W StealthXStream PSU

The main issue has been when I installed Windows 7 Ultimate on this system, there seems to be a compatability issue with the motherboards BIOS / hardware, something extremely technical anyway, which means the internal clock on the chip itself pulses at double/treble/quadruple speed.

O.K. already you're thinking I'm crazy, but I'm not. I've tried everything from turning off HD Audio, resetting/updating the BIOS, and any other wild suggestions. There are numerous unsuccessful threads about this on the net, one can be found here: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?...Language=en-us

In essence, we are all ****ed and ASUS have no solution, at least until some kind of BIOS upgrade. In the meantime I do not have a working PC at home, so I'm biting the bullet and sending the motherboard back. I'm going to buy a new bleeding motherboard that won't have the same problems. And in a kind of protest against ASUS it will not be ASUS!

So can anyone suggest to me a good AM3 motherboard (with video graphics on board) or alternatively a AM3 motherboard plus another suggestion for a cheap graphics card. I'm willing to spend between £50 and £100 to kill this ridiculous issue.

Sorry to hear your board is all wrong.

The toady only (yesterday's) on scan is all Asus! this should update this afternoon so may be worth finding a board with 785g 780g. they always have some at the weekeend. Almost at 20 posts so should be able to get free postage. I think compared to your current board almost anything would be fine. MSI 785GM-E51, AMD 785G, AM3, PCI-E 2, DDR3 1600(OC), SATA 3Gb/s, SATA RAID, mATX, On Board Graphics is mATX but meant to be an ok budget board.

I take it you are on onboard graphics and not ocing or unlocking. (have not read your previous posts).

Yeah im working with the on board graphics from the silly ASUS knackered motherboard.

I've not overclocked or tried unlocking any cores (does the Athlon II X3 have any cores to unlock?) and am starting to get interested in budget motherboard plus budget graphics card rather than say a motherboard with on board graphics.

Hoping to spend around the £100 mark either way, although given options I'd consider to push it :P

By the way, I'll be needing some kind of chemical to remove the heatsink paste from my Athlon chip if anyone has any good recommendations online for that remover stuff as well?

What are you going to do with youPC? Unless you are gaming or doing intensive 3D work i would stick with onboard as cheap GPUs are not going to give much advantage imo. For £100 you could always keep some cash back if teh onboard is not to your taste. For £50 you are not really going to get a powerful GPU new.

The CPU has teh potential to unlock a fourth core and the level 3 cache. It may get a bit toasty though as teh cooler is obviously for a tricore. You'll need a 710/750 southbridge to try this. All the major brands that support ACC have these integrated. Its a little bonus but not work.

I usually look for good deals and then find a couple of reviews, If I still like it I have a browse of the instruction manual before buying. If you are not overclocking or unlocking then they are much of a muchness. There is no board I know of to stay away from although that asus you have may be one I would avoid!

Wikipedia has a good comparison of the chipsets if you find them confusing. The 65nm run a bit hotter apart form that they have a few differences in functionality.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sunday

The main issue has been when I installed Windows 7 Ultimate on this system, there seems to be a compatability issue with the motherboards BIOS / hardware, something extremely technical anyway, which means the internal clock on the chip itself pulses at double/treble/quadruple speed.

---

I have the mATX version of this motherboard and ran 7 Ultimate RC before installing 7 Home Premium 32bit, and I've not had any issue with it at all. Sounds like it might be a duff batch or something, I guess...? Have you tried installing Linux or an earlier version of Windows to see if it's a software problem?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sunday

By the way, I'll be needing some kind of chemical to remove the heatsink paste from my Athlon chip if anyone has any good recommendations online for that remover stuff as well?

---

I've always just wiped it off with plenty of tissue or kitchen roll, without any issues. So unless you've got some particularly resistant thermal paste, I'm not sure you'll need a chemical cleaner...

Anyway, to address your original question:
Since it looks like you're using the full ATX version of the EVO, your best bet for mobo + discrete is probably an MSI 770 C45 plus either a Radeon 4650 (just under budget) or a Radeon 4670 (just over budget). If you like a nice quiet computer, ebuyer are currently doing the passive Sapphire 4670 Ultimate for about the same price as the standard actively cooled version, too...

Thanks to you both.

Domestic_Ginger - I will be playing some not exactly top-end games, so things like Empire:Total War, Supreme Commander, HL:Source games, Football Manager because basically I've missed out on about 2 years worth of gaming and want to pick up all the good uns from lately. Not fussed about graphics but don't want everything to be juddering as to be unplayable hence a *decent* graphics card would be nice.

Jim - those suggestions look like just the ticket. Will do a bit more homework and have a looky.

I haven't been able to get online on the PC in question due to this silly issue, so downloading a copy of Linux has been difficult. Saynig that I think if I take a USB HD to work I can download to it, and work from there. I will give it a try, but really don't want to be using Linux if I can help it. Don't have any other versions of Windows to hand, but I do think it's a Vista/Windows 7 problem and judging by my intensive(!) research on the net, so far incurable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sunday

Jim - those suggestions look like just the ticket. Will do a bit more homework and have a looky.

---

Good stuff :D From the sound of the games you fancy playing you'll definitely benefit from spending the extra £10 on a 4670. This Hexus review compares special edition 4650 and 4670s and finds the 4670 to consistently be 30% faster, and the difference between stock editions will be even greater than that. Well worth the extra £10.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sunday

Empire:Total War

---

Is a real pig! It will be a slide show with onboard. I would try and find out how your prospective card is going to cope before buying. My 8800GTS 512 can just about handle it on medium settings unless I zoom in. I reckon most things can handle FM.

Isopropyl alcohol is good cleaner for removing paste, old paste will still need some elbow grease but will shift eventually. I like Gigabyte boards atm, they'll have a 785 board I'm sure, I went for the 770 series as I didn't want/need onboard graphics.