Price ratingSo, before the evaluation we only need to take one factor into account and that's the price factor. We went online and compiled a small chart of the prices of the three tested motherboards ánd the average price of a motherboard equipped with the 790GX chipset, AM2+ based that is. For European prices (Euro) we used Geizhals.eu, for US-based readers we used Froogle.com to find the lowest prices. Note that the prices are only indications and can vary from location to location.
As you can see, the M3A78-T isn't really a cheap motherboard with prices a little higher than the average 790GX motherboard.
EvaluationBefore we start, there's one thing I need to stress: this motherboard isn't the newest version of Asus' AM2+ motherboard series, by which I mean that comparing it to brand-new products isn't always the correct way. However, since we want you, the reader, to know whether or not this board is worth buying at this moment, we have to follow this path.
To begin with, at standard frequencies, this motherboard is very much capable of keeping up with the two other similar mainboards we tested. When overclocking, the performance is still good, but you'll find yourself limited by this motherboard rather than the components on that motherboard, which is never a good sign. When I saw the 4-pin 12v power connector, I was afraid it would affect the overclockability of the processor and in our testings that is exactly what we noticed. Also, the HTT and IMC were held back by the motherboard as well, which makes it a non-recommendable board for those who want to get the most out of their system, even on air cooling. It has to be said, though, that the motherboard did in fact overclock the memory very high, probably due to the 2-phase power design for the memory.
The onboard HD 3300 IGP on the Asus is
a very good overclocker. Yes, I know, it's impossible to use the values we achieved as guaranteed overclocking results, but in the rankings at Hwbot, I noticed a lot of people using the same M3A78-T motherboard for overclocking.
The price of this motherboard may be a little bit too high, especially when taking the added features and extra's into account.
+ Performance is good
+ HD 3300 overclockability
- Overclockability
- 4-pin 12V power connector
- Conservative voltage option in the bios
Asus M3A78-T
Conclusive thoughtsIt wouldn't be correct to say this motherboard is a bad product, because ... well, it's not. On standard settings, this motherboard is able to outperform even more recent motherboards in certain tests and is, in other words, perfectly capable of giving you the performance you'd expect from your completely stock system. The only problem to really recommend this motherboard for our average user might be the price, which is still above average, whereas the added features are not really above average. This is, however, still a reviewing website run by hardware enthusiasts, so motherboards ought to perform pretty good when overclocking to get noticed! This aspect of the M3A78-T let us down a bit: except for the excellent HD 3300 overclockability and the above average memory overclocking, this motherboard doesn't allow us to max out our processor on either raw frequency, IMC frequency or even HTT frequency. Ergo, I'm not going to recommend this board for those who'd like to use it for an overclock-friendly platform: there are other motherboards on the market that will help you get further.
We like to thank Milan from
Asus for allowing us to stress test this AM2+ motherboard.
OCZ Technology for providing the OCZ Freeze cooling paste for this and many other reviews.
'Till the next time!