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- #M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW INSTALL#
- #M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW FULL SIZE#
- #M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW PC#
- #M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW TV#
These results are based on a 35 USD Heatpipe based CPU cooler. Even overclocked (over 4 GHz) we manage to keep really acceptable temperatures. The Asus M4A88T-M motherboard is a reasonably well featured board for the price but we would have definitely given it a higher overall rating if it supported USB3.0 and SATA 6Gbps. This is one other thing we really have to complement AMD on, the temperatures of the Phenom II X6 processors are just phenomenal. We are cooling the processor with an OCZ Vendetta heatpipe based cooler only. Processor temperatures while 100% utilized remain at roughly 43 Degrees C / 109 F. Here you are looking at a CPU stress test.
#M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW PC#
Let's put the PC under heavy load and see how temperatures behave. CPU + R5870Īpparently this chipset is a little more energy friendly.
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This is a complete PC with a high-end graphics card inserted (but GPU not stressed). Our system idles at merely roughly 75 Watts depending on the OS energy saving setting. We notice our test platform peaks out at roughly 176 Watts power consumption when we stress the six CPU cores. Today's setup uses a dedicated graphics card (Radeon HD 5870), you'll notice that the end-result overall in idle and peak wattage remains good. Let's build a system and see how that translates towards real-world power consumption. So the new Phenom II X6 processors have a respectable TDP (peak wattage) at 125 Watt, that's roughly similar to the most high-end (C3 revision) AMD Phenom II 965 quad-core processor, yet now the Phenom II X6 has two more cores while retaining that TDP. Let's start off with the motherboard / Phenom II X6 combo in power consumption and temperatures first though. But for overclocking you'll notice some pretty interesting results alright. That means in the benchmarks there will be very little to compare at baseline level. There is also a PS/2 connector, six 3.5mm jacks, an optical S/PDIF connection, an RJ-45 ethernet jack, a VGA port, a DVI port and an HDMI port on the rear IO.Before we start our physical testing, let me state that we'll be using the new Phenom II X6 1090T processor today in the review. For those who require more, there are three internal headers that allow you to connect six front panel USB2.0 ports. There are six USB2.0 ports on the rear I/O panel which should be enough for most users. So we were a little surprised that Asus chose not to include one. Even though USB 3.0 seems to be removing the need for eSATA ports these days, many boards still have an eSATA port and quite a few people still use them. There are a few connections which we feel Asus should have included on this board which are missing. There is also an IDE connector along the right hand side. We would have preferred SATA 6Gbps connectors that were angled at 90 degrees but these are features often reserved for higher end motherboards. We also find 6 SATA 3Gbps connectors in the bottom right hand corner which face directly out of the board.
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Please bear in mind that large CPU coolers will hang over the RAM slots so low profile RAM is a good idea. The four DDR3 Ram slots flank the CPU socket on the other side and support 1333Mhz Ram (1866MHz OC). The voltage regulation circuitry surrounding the CPU socket is bare of any heatsinks so it's clear that Asus aren't expecting extreme overclockers to use this board.
#M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW TV#
There is also a legacy PCI slot which would be perfect for installing a TV tuner if you plan to build an HTPC with this board. All ASUS M4A88T-M/USB3 Memory Upgrades are backed by a lifetime warranty. Though it is quite old now considering the speed at which technology is developing, I want to review this motherboard. I am using it for 1 and a half years now and have found it excellent.
#M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW INSTALL#
The Radeon HD 4250 is part of the 880G chipset that Asus have used.Īsus have also included 2x PCI Express 1x slots for further expansion even though one of these will be blocked if you install a dual slot graphics card. 1 Here's a review of the Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 motherboard.
#M4A88T M USB3 REVIEW FULL SIZE#
As there is only one full size PCI Express lane, CrossfireX isn't support although Hybrid CrossfireX is supported with the on-board GPU. There is one PCI Express x16 slot so you can install the graphics card of your choice, unless you plan to use the on-board Radeon HD 4250 GPU. As a result of the more compact form factor, Asus have compromised on the number of PCI and PCI Express lanes that are included. Like the other two boards we've looked at, the M4A88TM uses a blue and black colour scheme which looks great.