Asus M3A79-T Deluxe

[kazgirl]

ok i have a question about CF on this board , do i put in it pcie1 and 2 or 1and3?

Iwas told to put it in 1and2 im asking here cause you all know what you doing with this board

Maybe this is why AOD isnt seeing the video cards hmmmmmm

Well by Slot 1 and 2, if you mean the top slot (Blue) and the next PCI-E slot immediately below it (Black) then that would be wrong..

You need to have the cards in matching colour slots, I have mine in the 2 blue slots on the M3A32-MVP which has the same slot layout as the M3A79-T which go's

Blue (PCI-E Slot 1)
White (PCI)
Black (PCI-E Slot 2)
White (PCI)
Blue (PCI-E Slot 3)
Black (PCI-E Slot 4)

In which case the correct slots are Slots 1 and 3, you'll need to use the Crossfire Bridges that came with the motherboard, to be able to connect the cards, as the standard connectors that come with the cards are not long enough.


On another subject, I'm worried now about my Scan Order, I placed it last night, and the site was showing it as being in stock when I placed my order, I woke up this morning and have had an email confirming my order, but nothing about shipping as of yet, just an initial ordder confirmation.

I went to the website to check the order status and there's no info on it on the website, so I go again to product page, and its showing today as only being available for pre-order.... so I'm really, REALLY hoping that the stock status was right at the time of my order and that I'm not going to be stuick waiting AGAIN for stock to arrive.....!!!!!

[adam9977]

There is a new BIOS out for that board on the ASUS site...... BIOS 602
M3A79-T Deluxe 0602 BIOS
Fixed HDD device Boot priority will refresh when change HDD device.
Fixed system can not reset after recovery BIOS from USB device.
Update ExpressGate version to 1.3.12.1

Anyone else have major trouble with this BIOS update? After installing it, my system wouldn't boot...HDD's were detected, but all were inaccessible. I even had to unplug all HDD's in order to even flash back to my previous BIOS. Flashed back, and all was OK again.

[kazgirl]

Anyone else have major trouble with this BIOS update? After installing it, my system wouldn't boot...HDD's were detected, but all were inaccessible. I even had to unplug all HDD's in order to even flash back to my previous BIOS. Flashed back, and all was OK again.

This BIOS was released around the same time that a new BIOS came out for the M3A32-MVP and others, not sure if its a general release date wiht ASUS or something, but I found that I had USB problems, with the new BIOS for my M3A32-MVP (v1301) and also had to flash back to an earlier BIOS to fix the problem, (BIOS v1203).

Might just be a c-incidence or a sign that its a bigger problem within their general BIOS coding for AM2+ boards..!!

[XRogerX]

Well by Slot 1 and 2, if you mean the top slot (Blue) and the next PCI-E slot immediately below it (Black) then that would be wrong..

You need to have the cards in matching colour slots, I have mine in the 2 blue slots on the M3A32-MVP which has the same slot layout as the M3A79-T which go's

Blue (PCI-E Slot 1)
White (PCI)
Black (PCI-E Slot 2)
White (PCI)
Blue (PCI-E Slot 3)
Black (PCI-E Slot 4)

In which case the correct slots are Slots 1 and 3, you'll need to use the Crossfire Bridges that came with the motherboard, to be able to connect the cards, as the standard connectors that come with the cards are not long enough.


On another subject, I'm worried now about my Scan Order, I placed it last night, and the site was showing it as being in stock when I placed my order, I woke up this morning and have had an email confirming my order, but nothing about shipping as of yet, just an initial ordder confirmation.

I went to the website to check the order status and there's no info on it on the website, so I go again to product page, and its showing today as only being available for pre-order.... so I'm really, REALLY hoping that the stock status was right at the time of my order and that I'm not going to be stuick waiting AGAIN for stock to arrive.....!!!!!

Ty kazgirl i was right then cause this person is telling me diffrent , anyways about your board my wife is over in malta and there is a scan there also she has never had a problem with them what so ever but to relax you mind call them and ask them the sooner you know whats going on the better you will be

[kazgirl]

Right well,

I've had an email from Scan now confirming my order, and giving an expeccted delviery date for tomorrow, but there is a line there that go's on to say that this is subject to stock availability and sales volume and fluctuation etc.....

The order tracking system says its at stage 2 of 4, with 1 being order printed, 2 being the payment authorised, 3 being the product picking, and 4 being the despatch, with emails to be sent at each step...

So far I've had the emails for steps 1 and 2, so order taken and payment taken. Still waiting for the 3rd and 4th.

So given that its supposed to arrive tomorrow, these should come some point today, if they don't arrive by 6pm then I think its safe to say that there's going to be a problem...!!!!

I keep checking my email, as once I get confirmation that the order has been despatched I can start taking M3A32-MVP out of its case and get on with fitting it into my HTPC in the living room, but I don't want to take my main system offline until I know for sure that the mobo is definitely being delivered tomorrow.

Oh well I'll give it another hour and a half until 5:30pm Local Time, and keep my fingers crossed...!!!!

EDIT: Well YAY.. Scan have lived up to their reputation.... I just got an email from them confirming that my item has been picked and the email even includes the Serial # of the motherboard and also the PCI Wireless adapter I bought for the M3A32-MVP as well, so at least I know that they defintiely have the mobo and that once their orders for the day have been picked up by the courier then it should be making its way to me...!!!!

So I guess its time to start taking this PC apart, got lots to do now:

1. take the mobo (M3A32-MVP) out of this PC and install into a new case I got for it to replace the HTPC in the living room.
2. take the HSF, CPU, RAM, PSU out of the HTPC in the living room, and fit each of them into the new case with the newly installed M3A32-MVP.
3. take the IDE DVD-RW out of this PC and fit to the new case with the M3A32-MVP (got to do this because of the SB600 SATA Optical Drive problem thing)
4. take the SATA DVD-RW out of the old HTPC and fit to this PC ready for the M3A79-T (now that I know that the SATA Optical thing has been fixed with SB750)
5. take the HDD out of the old HTPC and fit to the new case with the M3A32-MVP
6. Fit 3 new case fans to the new HTPC case.
7. Give the case that the M3A79-T will be going into a good clean to get rid of the dust thats built up.
8. Connect up the new HTPC and start it up and see if it all works OK (Bit concerned about this part as I'm using an OEM Vista Install from an old Acer PC that I used to have, the Acer PC had a NV chipset, and when I swapped it from the Acer to the M2N32-SLI PC I built it worked fine, and Windows axtivated no problem, but this time its going into a new mobo, with new CPU, new RAM, different chipset etc, etc, so I'm not sure if it will activate etc....!!)
9. Provided it all works OK I then want to take the HDD's out of my main PC that the M3A79-T will be going into and connect them to the new HTPC to do a complete 1's+0's format of both of them to prepare them for a new clean install of Vista when I install the M3A79-T.
10. I think thats about it, other than to wait for the new mobo and wi-fi adpater to arrive, maybe even get some sleep while waiting...

So what do you reckon its coming up to 5pm Local time here, and I want to get all the above done tonight before going to sleep....... doable..??????? or not...????

[Jazzman]

Anyone else have major trouble with this BIOS update? After installing it, my system wouldn't boot...HDD's were detected, but all were inaccessible. I even had to unplug all HDD's in order to even flash back to my previous BIOS. Flashed back, and all was OK again.

I had no problem with BIOS 0602 update. I just put the bios on a usb stick, its too large for a floppy, then use the alt-F2 feature on boot. I then load the new bios and reboot. Simple and effective with this version.

[XRogerX]

Well Kaz sounds like you going to be up most of the night from the sounds of it

[kazgirl]

Well I just got the email from Scan confirmng despatch of my order, and that it will be delviered tomorrow..

At last after all this time, I will finally be getting this mobo.

So I'm about to log off and yes its going to be a very long night of getting things ready, I'm just glad to know for sure that the mobo will be here tomorrow.

I'm just wondering now whether it might be better to wait until the mobo arrives and get it in and wroking before I strip down the other PC as well, just in case, the mobo turns out to be DOA.....

Oh stuff it I'll take a chance. At least I can get the HTPC done tonight, well all apart from the Wi-fi, got to wait for the PCI adapter to arrive before I can get it back into the living room and hooked up to the telly, but at least I can get it all set up and tested.

OK well, back later, much, MUCH later...!!!

[XRogerX]

Well I just got the email from Scan confirmng despatch of my order, and that it will be delviered tomorrow..

At last after all this time, I will finally be getting this mobo.

So I'm about to log off and yes its going to be a very long night of getting things ready, I'm just glad to know for sure that the mobo will be here tomorrow.

I'm just wondering now whether it might be better to wait until the mobo arrives and get it in and wroking before I strip down the other PC as well, just in case, the mobo turns out to be DOA.....

Oh stuff it I'll take a chance. At least I can get the HTPC done tonight, well all apart from the Wi-fi, got to wait for the PCI adapter to arrive before I can get it back into the living room and hooked up to the telly, but at least I can get it all set up and tested.

OK well, back later, much, MUCH later...!!!

Start ripping down the house

[kazgirl]

Well 4am here now and I finally got everything all finished up, the old PC is now ready and waiting for the new mobo, the old mobo has now been fitted into a new case, the old HTPC has been stripped down and is ready for a new HDD and OS and can then be put in the bedroom as a HTPC there..

And the the new HTPC is up and running albeit without its wi-fi as yet... just connected up to the monitor that my main PC normally uses....

Hope the CityLink courier arrives early tomorrow (well today now) so that I can get it all done and get some sleep...LOL.

[soundood]

i know the feeling all too well Kazgirl, i had 7 hours straight of waterblock fitting fun yesterday, draining loop, tube OD isnt correct, trying workarounds, finding one that takes ages to do, but is the only option.......and on and on

i am knackered this morning, didnt realise how tired i would be, maybe i should have stopped for something to eat other than crisps and lemonade

anyway, glad to hear its went well so far, sometimes its easier to work on 3 or 4 rigs at the same time rather than just do them by themselves, you get a better picture of whats going on.

although it does take more time, and with your graveyard shift you know exactly what i mean.

but hey, if your anything like me, (or most other peeps on here) you couldnt have gone to bed knowing you had lots of yummy ripping rigs apart to do.

good luck with the final fix, and look forward to your results

[Daveburt714]

I'm surprised to see the 3.1Ghz - 3.19Ghz limits with you guys though, as I've had 3146Mhz (203 X 15.5) out of my 9950 on my current SB600 M3A32-MVP, so I hope that isn't as much as it will do, and that I gain something from SB750 and ACC, especially after the hassle I've had to get one.

Hey Kaz, Hope you got your board today and everything went well at the Hospital...

If you were getting 3.15 out of your 9950 on an SB600 using a 64bit OS you probably have a much better chip than I do. Hopefully you'll get better clocks!

I ran a test for you tonight, and I bumped the HTRef up one, so it's actually a little over 3.2Ghz (3.19 just sounded weak.. ).....

Here's a 10 pass Linpack run at 3.2 on XP64:
CLICKABLE:


As you can see, it passed (woohoo)! I circled a couple things on the SS. One is the NBvid @ 1.35v, I've cranked it all the way up to 1.425 for short periods but could never get better than 2.4, and I really don't like running high v's on the NB, so 2.277 at reasonable volts is acceptable to me...

The second is CPUvcore. It's actually set @ 1.425. Under load the board does overvolt by ~.07v's, it actually overvolts a little at idle but that's OK..

The third thing is Temps. I'm on high quality AIR and I still hit 60c during that run. If your on H2O you may not have that problem with the CPU, but I did the finger test on the chokes during the run and they were pretty damn hot...

I'm probably not Xtreme enough for XS, but I've already popped one board and I need this one to last me awhile...

FWIW, this is my favorite board so far. I rank them like this as far as OC potential goes (they were all OK at stock speeds):
Gigabyte DS5 (POS)
Asus M3A78-T (Bad, but with early Bios/not sure it's gotten any better)
Gigabyte S2H (OK but weak PWM section and flaky BIOS flashes)
MSI K9A2 (Very good/solid PWM section)
MSI DKA780GX (Excellent/weak PWM section/stay under 1.45 Vcore)
Asus M3A79-T (ROCKS/ Best so far!)

Geez, I spend too much money on this hobby... But it's cheaper than cars!!

[Venomous]

Hey guys, not trying to hijack the thread or anything, but i recently got this motherboard a few weeks ago. Have Vista 64 installed and it works fine except a few issues that keep driving me up the wall, and i would like to install XP on it.

This is where the problem starts, i have no floppy drive, have no access to one, and really don't want to buy one. I have 2x raptors in raid 0 so i need drivers for the XP install. I've used Nlite to slipstream the drivers into a XP disk, I have tried the one's supplied on the DVD, updated Asus drivers, AMDs drivers, Foxconn's driver, and Gigabytes drivers and none of them have detected my harddrives at the XP installation screen. Am i missing something? I've never had issues like this before with installing raid drivers threw Nlite.

[soundood]

do you have the correct settings in the bios?

like setting it to RAID instead if IDE? or something

[Venomous]

Yeah i have the correct settings, i installed raid perfectly fine in 32 and 64 bit vista, so i know the raid settings are correct because i haven't changed anything in the BIOS

[Jazzman]

Yeah i have the correct settings, i installed raid perfectly fine in 32 and 64 bit vista, so i know the raid settings are correct because i haven't changed anything in the BIOS

I would update to the 0602 bios. Here is a fix in the bios notes:

Fixed HDD device Boot priority will refresh when change HDD device.

[XRogerX]

Iknow this is way off topic but i hope Kazgirl is ok and got her board and i hope there wasnt no problem that came up, still waiting for her to come bk to see what she has to say about the board

[Venomous]

Even after the BIOS update, still cannot install XP

[RASTAVIPER]

Even after the BIOS update, still cannot install XP

You should consider buying a floppy.
It costs nothing and it helps for fast dealing with such stupid things (like drivers) that can cause a lot of troubles.
And then if you don't want it, just unplug it!

[MadDias]

Even after the BIOS update, still cannot install XP

i had the same problem.. i even connected a floppy to my m3a79-t, just to find out that the drivers on the cd are corrupted.
download the "amd ahci" drivers from the asus website and slipstream them to ur windowsxp cd. i used xp-iso-builder and it worked for me.

[cdnbum88]

I opened a new thread the other day but no updates... http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=208227

Looking for recommendations for NB cooling - air or liquid options.

Also, have not looked closely, but can you remove just the NB cooler and leave the mosfet and SB or is that copper unit one unit?

If you want to respond here cool...otherwise to the separate link as to not clutter this one up.

[kazgirl]

Hi guys...

Well I've been a bit busy for a while had a few personal things to take care of...

The mobo arrived as promised by Scan, and I even got it all installed into the case the same day. But didn't have time to try to install the OS until today.

Well I fianlly got the OS installed this afternoon.

I've been running into a couple of little oddities with this board compared to the M3A32-MVP.

I've flashed to the latest BIOS 0602, and have installed Vista and all updates, etc...

My temps are great, I'm just testing high voltage temps at the moment and have set VCore to 1.475v and CPU @ 3.2Ghz,

Idle is showing 36C on the CPU (IHS) with Cores showing 37C (C'n'Q disabled of course)
Load is 44C CPU (IHS) and 46C on the Cores.

The oddities I've been having are that whenever I try to amke any changes to voltages in the BIOS for CPU-NB Voltage, NB Voltage, HT Voltage, CPU VDDA etc, then the system fails to POST needing a CLR CMOS via the jumper, which is a real pain as I have to remove one of the 4850's each time to get at the jumper cap, if I keep doing this I'm usre I'll end up wearing off the gold on the X-Fire connector tabs, with all the putting on and taking off of the Crossfire Bridges...

Anyway, the other thing I notic4ed is that whenever I do a BIOS change or whenever there is a failed POST the fans on the 4850's jump to full speed and stay there, but when I usually POST OK the fans will jump to full speed upon switching on but then after a moment (like 1 sec or 2) the fans will go to normal speed, and the POST will continue, which is leading me to think there's something flakey about the Power arrangements in the BIOS for the POST procedure.

Anyway, I'm in the process of trying to figure it out, by gradually making cahnges one by one as a proess of elimination to try and rule out the cause of this littel problem.....

So far I've ruled out the following:

CPU Voltage changes - I've changed this incrementally up to 1.475v POST succeeds for each increment
DDR Voltage - This is set at 2.1v for my G.Skill RAM to run at DDR2-1066, this is fine as well.
CPU Multi - 12.5 up to 16 all OK
NB Multi - 10, 11, 12 all OK with NB Voltage at auto.

I'm pretty sure it may have something to do with either the HT voltage, or the CPU VDDA Voltage, settings that is causing it to fail to POST.

I currently am at

CPU @ 3.2Ghz and 1.475V
NB @ 2.4Ghz and (Stock Volts)
HT@ 2.0Ghz (Stock Volts)
RAM @ DDR2-1066 (2.1v)
ACC @ Auto

Pretty much everything else is on Auto settings at the moment, CPU TWeak, Auto Express, etc..etc.

I'm kind of hoping to get this little glitch ironed out soon, so that I can see what's what....

If anyone else has any idea what could be causing it or knows for sure that a particular setting being changed causes a POST failure let me know and I'll try it out to see, in the meantime, I'm oging to carry on with my process of eliminatin technique, one change at a time in the BIOS to see if I can narrow it down to a particular setting.....

It might even just be with this BIOS, I'm not sure, the first thing I did was to flash the latest BIOS so obviously havn't tried any the earlier BIOS'.

OK well hopefully back soon with an update...

[Jazzman]

I suggest that you set ACC to +4 for all cores to start. I think you may have a flakey core that needs a specific ACC setting. Also, turn off cpu tweak in the bios. This will reduce core heat and maybe give you a minor bump in stability.

My gpu fan also starts high at boot and then drops. Must be a power management issue with the bios, I am on 0602.

Glad you are back Kas, we missed you!

[demonkevy666]

I suggest that you set ACC to +4 for all cores to start. I think you may have a flakey core that needs a specific ACC setting. Also, turn off cpu tweak in the bios. This will reduce core heat and maybe give you a minor bump in stability.

My gpu fan also starts high at boot and then drops. Must be a power management issue with the bios, I am on 0602.

Glad you are back Kas, we missed you!

there a few other things like AMd secure machine with cpu tweak on was giving me idle of 46C lol

I have one 3870 that was doing that on fan thing but it was stay lock at 100% fan on 302 bios but 403 is fine for me haven't bothered to update again.

[soundood]

Hi guys...
The oddities I've been having are that whenever I try to amke any changes to voltages in the BIOS for CPU-NB Voltage, NB Voltage, HT Voltage, CPU VDDA etc, then the system fails to POST needing a CLR CMOS via the jumper, which is a real pain as I have to remove one of the 4850's each time to get at the jumper cap,

have you got some spare power buttons/cables and reset button/cables from another rig? use them and connect them up,use three, then just twist the wires together for 'normal' and clear' cmos

Anyway, the other thing I notic4ed is that whenever I do a BIOS change or whenever there is a failed POST the fans on the 4850's jump to full speed and stay there, but when I usually POST OK the fans will jump to full speed upon switching on but then after a moment (like 1 sec or 2) the fans will go to normal speed, and the POST will continue, which is leading me to think there's something flakey about the Power arrangements in the BIOS for the POST procedure.

this is normal, my GTX260 does this on my AX78 (before watercooling this week)