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reinvent the wheel ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3

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Theocnoob,

You're thread crapping here. These guys have the situation well in hand.
 
I doubt if there is a 300% increase in performance. Everybody knows that AMD has the best price/performance ratio. That's why many people go with AMD over Intel. AMD would not exist if that were not so. Mike is a family man who has to take these things into consideration. There's no need for Intel fan boy trash talk here. If you don't like AMD stay on the Intel CPU forum side.

Apparently providing benches that show SB's superiority in performance per $ and my other comment are thread crapping so I'll have to refrain from any further comments here...
 
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Just a quick question ,, I have two mother boards to go with

1. Asus M4A89GTG PRO/USD3

2.MSI 790FX-GD70

Which one would this forum most likely go with ? Why?

I've always gone AMD as it's just a more upgrade friendly board.
Between the 2, I'd stick with the ASUS ~ as it has the 890 chipset.
... the 790 FX is solid but the 890 has just a couple more bells and whistles.

** As a note on the RAM, the clips on the slots on 1 side are fixed (first time I've notices that) so you'll need to put in the fixed side first ~ then press in the other end until the side clicks into place.
 
I agree with davarei.T he 890 chipset implements the new USB 3 standard, for instance.
 
Thanks !

yes the usb 3 is a good bell , the whistles 890 chipset ,, so that settles it we go with the Asus , my son said if it bombs RMA is always there.
what have i got to be worried about , we have the 790fx as a stand by.
But reading the Asus forum about this board sends tingles up my spine ,,,
look over at the MSI forums there seems to be alot less problems .
i wonder if Asus built this mobo as a first model ? will the Bios updates help smooth this board out ?
these are question's coming from someone that has no clue how to ask a question about the M4A89 .
Your reassurance is very helpful putting my mind at ease ,, reading all the bad got me to buy the 790FX, both seem very capable to meet our need for learning the Bios.

we expect our power supply on march 18th.
as a big laugh i first bought the Rosewill Armor case and the Rosewill green series 630 psu, both have been returned.
the case had problems and the psu scared me also.
i know more now than i did three weeks ago, finding this Forum and the Zalman Forum has been a big plus .
It is very helpful knowing a group of Overclockers exist.

Thanks everybody.
 
But reading the Asus forum about this board sends tingles up my spine ,,,

i wonder if Asus built this mobo as a first model ? will the Bios updates help smooth this board out ?
these are question's coming from someone that has no clue how to ask a question about the M4A89 .
I've only been following along, since trents is doing such a good job!, but I have been keeping up a little with these boards. ASUS had several boards about a year ago that had issues and it turned out most of the problems were BIOS related. Being a long-time ASUS user I was pretty disappointed when the boards first came out but they admitted to the problems, instead of trying to dodge them, and stepped up to resolve the issues. They dug in and re-wrote the BIOS's, from the ground up in many cases, to make things right. Aside from a production problem with the Crosshair I can't recall any big issues with ASUS boards since they got those BIOS's re-written and out the door.

When you get the system together and the OS installed I highly recommend checking the BIOS and updating if needed, even before installing drivers. The ASUS update tool for Windows is what I've been using for years, though I do download and save the BIOS file locally before starting it.

Good luck with your system! I'm sure you and your son will get hours of enjoyment and sharing from it. My grandson turns 11 this year and I expect to lead him down this road soon. :)


PS
And :welcome: to OCF!
 
hey ,

you know addressing the hardware putting it all together is a very simple task , 29 years as a union journeyman carpenter reading building prints following directions is second nature for me , my son is smart, sharp eyes, honor student, honor band first chair trumpet, reads music very well.
what i do not understand is the first steps to starting the pc outside the case , then when do i hook up the dvd to the mother board and all the other steps of installing the video card dvd,,windows 7 dvd , drivers ,, is there a place here i can watch or youtube ?

did i miss something before ?
 
QuietIce ,

those were the answers i have been looking for , i knew there was problems but did now how to express my concern.
ok i install the OS first then ?
we download the update - bios to a thumb drive memory stick is it big enough ? (my son has one 3.73 gb.) ,, we can get a bigger one at the local pc store if needed .

we are very excited doing this as a team.
thank you !
 
hey ,

you know addressing the hardware putting it all together is a very simple task , 29 years as a union journeyman carpenter reading building prints following directions is second nature for me , my son is smart, sharp eyes, honor student, honor band first chair trumpet, reads music very well.
what i do not understand is the first steps to starting the pc outside the case , then when do i hook up the dvd to the mother board and all the other steps of installing the video card dvd,,windows 7 dvd , drivers ,, is there a place here i can watch or youtube ?

did i miss something before ?
The idea with assembly outside the case is to make sure the basics (CPU, board, RAM, PSU, and video) all are working correctly. You don't need a DVD or even an HDD, just enter BIOS and that'll be enough. This has two advantages; 1) If there's a hardware problem, especially something like the motherboard, then it's not such a pain to remove, and 2) If it's working outside the case and you get it in the case and something's wrong then it's probably an installation issue and not a hardware issue. Just make sure the board is sitting on a non-conductive surface - preferably cardboard (motherboard box) or wood. I'm a (very) amateur carpenter but even I know to check the fit before you glue and screw - this is the same principle. ;)

Many people do go ahead with a full system check before installing in the case and some go through the complete OC routine outside the case. That approach is good, too. Just set the HDD and DVD close to the board and hook them up like normal. I have several caseless machines (SETI Crunchers) so having working parts scattered on a table for even years at a time doesn't bother me. I do suggest, if you are going to have it running for long, putting a ~1/2" space under one edge so the back side of the board can breathe. Most modern boards need some circulation on the back side of the board so StackCool can work properly. (StackCool, that's what ASUS calls it, is kind of a heat spreader built into the motherboard.)

The only trick is you'll need to jump the motherboard power button pins manually since you won't have a power switch for it. All that's involved there is using a paper-clip, metal twist-tie, piece of wire, screwdriver, or whatever to momentarily (literally, a second or less) jump/short the pins just like the power switch does. Your motherboard manual will show where the power switch pins are.


BIOS files aren't very big, the ones for my machine are a hair over 1 Mb. I always have a directory on the HDD that I store the motherboard manual's *.pdf file, BIOS files, downloaded install files for motherboard utilities, and other little machine-related things like that - but you can use a thumb drive if you want. :)
 
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ok we are on it , i understand and i have this machine my old loving XP , to down load the BIOS to our thumb drive .
we can move it to our HDD like you have later.
I install windows 7 OS , first, then check bios or just run it in with the thumb drive .
I just bought this mobo , so maybe i will not need the update , how can i tell ? is there a code ?
i can open in bios at start up , F2 ?
This is information I can find on Asus site I believe.
searching there next .

thanks !
 
I'd install the OS first then use CPU-Z to see what version of BIOS you have. You can also use the ASUS update tool if you have the OS installed. I would wait on drivers until you've done the BIOS check/update.

On all the ASUS boards I have you'll hear a beep at start. Just hit "Del" when you hear the beep and that should take you to BIOS after the POST (Power On Self Test). :)
 
ok got it , I will report back soon , our ups man is here normally after 1 pm , ak time.
I'm ordering a Themaltake challenger keyboard and mouse Daniel like's those, but not the one with the red lights.
From EXcaliberPC, so far so good with them , they will send USPS to AK. saves me some cabbage.
 
Assembling the components outside the case is no different than inside the case but has certain advantages as QI said. The only part that is different is the power switch thing which QI explained can be simulated with a screw driver tip shorting across the two pins where the Power Button wire harness connector would normally go. Since I do this frequently I scavenged a power button off an old throw-away PC case for this purpose but a screw driver tip (Phillips) works great. Its just a momentary contact though, an impulse type switch. As far as the bios goes, if you decide to "flash" or update it its a good idea to save the old one to the thumb drive in case the new one is worse (it happens). During the update process you should be given an opportunity to do that. There are several ways to flash. Some boards have a bios line item to do this (I've never done it that way), there is a Windows utility (probably the easiets) and a DOS utility (probably the safest).
 
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Oh, yes. One other important thing I almost forgot. Before installing your OS go into bios and set the hard disk mode to "AHCI". Default is usually "IDE" but "AHCI" takes advantage of the modern hard drive speed technologies and will give better performance. It can be done after OS install by editing the Windows registry but you want to avoid that if you can.
 
It sounded like from one of your recent posts you were looking for primer on where to start and how to proceed, sort of a step by step tutorial. So I offer this. Hope you find it helpful and if I forget anything I hope other members will chime in and fill in the gaps:

1. Install the CPU. Flip up the lock lever on the side of the socket and drop the CPU in, being careful to line up the pin pattern on the CPU with the female counterpart on the socket. It will only fit one way so be careful not to bend pins by forcing it.
2. Install the memory modules, pushing on the exposed ends and not on the heat spreader. First, line the notch on the module's gold pin connector edge up with the notch in the socket. Press firmly until you hear the plastic "keeper" snap into place and positively engage the divot at each end of the memory module. Inspect to make sure this has happened. If you are using two modules put them side by side in the same color sockets so that you will be running in dual channel mode. Install them in the two sockets closest to the CPU.
3. Install the CPU heatsink/fan. If it comes with pre-applied thermal paste just lower it carefully onto the CPU trying to get it centered as good as you can by eyeballing. Clamp it down. If it does not come with pre-applied thermal paste then squeeze a dollup about the size of a BB onto the CPU face, lower the cooler, twist it about 15-20 degrees in back and forth one time, and then clamp it down. Don't try to spread it with your finger. That can leave oil and air bubbles. The clamping pressure should cause the dollup to spread out between the two flat surfaces like water between two glass plates. Connect the cooler fan power cable to the motherboard header pins lableled "CPU". There are others labled "Sys" for the case fans.
4. Connect the PSU power cables to the motherboard, first making sure the PSU is either switched off or not plugged into the wall socket. There are two power cables, a huge 24 pin main connector near the memory slots at the front edge of the board and a smaller 4 or 8 pin 12v auxiliary connector that plugs in somewhere near the CPU socket on the side nearest the input/output (I/O) connectors (mouse, USB, keyboard, etc.) of the motherboard. The auxillary 12v female connector on the motherboard may be a four pin or an 8 pin connector or if an 8 pin it may have tape covering up half the connector. This is to indicate you can use a 4 pin male connector from the PSU if you don't have an 8 pin one. Most new PSUs of any kind of quality will have an 8 pin connector or two 4 pin connectors that can be paired. Don't worry, you can't foul this up. The male and female connectors are "keyed" so that no other connectors will fit.
5. Connect the power leads from the PSU to the hard drive and the DVD drive, being careful to arrange these components so that cables reach everything but the metal housing of the drives don't make contact with the motherboard circuitry.
6. Connect the SATA cables from the two drives to SATA ports on the motherboard. Doesn't really matter which ports on the motherboard you use but you might as well do it orderly and use "0" and "1" or if it starts with 1 use 1 and 2. They are labeled on the board in very small print.
7. Install the video card and connect the power lead from the PSU if your card requires that. Lower end video cards get all their power from the PCIe slot but more potent ones require supplemental power from the PSU. Again, the connectors should be keyed.
8. Connect keyboard, mouse, internet cable, speakers, and monitor cable. Make sure your monitor cable is connected to the video card and not the onboard video. Turn the monitor on.
9. Turn the PSU on. It won't start yet because . . .
10. You need to take a Phillips screwdriver tip and short across the two pins where the front panel power switch wires connect to the motherboard. usually this is pin block is on the corner edge of the board near the SATA ports. Just momentary contact. The computer should start to power up now.
11. As soon as you see post up information start to appear on your monitor screen, press the "Delete" key or whatever key your board uses to enter bios ("Setup"). The post up info will tell you which key to use. Now you will see a bios menus, usually in blue and white.
12. Enter time and date. Using the arrow and tab keys move around in the menus and get an idea of the kind of functions found in each tab. Find the one where you can configure your drives and choose "AHCI" mode for the hard drive. Find the tab that contains choices for your onboard video and disable the onboard video. Find the section that has to do with "boot order" and set your DVD drive to be what the computer boots off first. This is so you can install Windows from the DVD.
13. Insert the Windows install disk in the DVD. Hit the F10 key and "Yes" to save your bios changes. The computer will reboot now and it should start to load the Windows install routine from the DVD drive. Windows install will load some files into the computer's memory and stop when it comes to the point where you need to "partition" and "format" the hard drive.
14. Partition and format the hard drive. Windows will guide you through this. Choose "Quick format" if you are given the choice between full format and quick format. After Windows creates a partition it will format the drive and begin to install the OS on the hard drive.
15. Insert the disc that came with the motherboard and install the "chipset" drivers so that you can connect to the internet, have sound, USB, etc. You may need to reboot the computer to finish this process.
16. Don't install the video card drivers that came with the video card. They are probably out of date. Instead, got to the manufacturer's website to download and install the latest driver.
17. Activate Windows. Turn on "Windows Updates" and commence the long process of updating Windows with the various patches and service packs, etc. You can set the Windows updater to do this automatically but I would do it manually at first so that you are up to date from the beginning. It will ask you to install the Windows "Genuine Advantage" thing to validate that you have a legit copy of Windows.

That should get your started. You may opt to install the components in the case before you install the OS and that wold be okay. Don't forget to snap into the case the little thin metal plate that covers the I/O ports before you install the motherboard.
 
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hello hello Trent :thup:


we got our powersupply at 2pm ak time ,, beautiful PSU, green is good :cool:

We got started putting the disk d., hdd, mobo shield, and PSU right after we got it . Pulled the front panel off a old XP case for the switch.
one quick stop at the pc store for last minute instructions , got home hooked everything up and no screen nothing ???????? swapped out the monitor nothing???????:shrug:
called pc store :blah:, bring the mobo in on monday :rain:....

but wait i'm thinking i have a plan "B" :clap: OverClockers ,, Daniel is looking a bit worried,, not so sure.

so what do i find ?

the most wonderful thing "A List " humm let me see ohhh #4 , 24 pin and !! "8pin"
BINGO we have the screen , jumping for joy , you saved the day
ThanK YoU VerY MucH !!!!!!!!!

You have our deepest gratitude !

more later , im printing out your steps , be back with a progress report thanks man !!
 
hello hello Trent :thup:


we got our powersupply at 2pm ak time ,, beautiful PSU, green is good :cool:

We got started putting the disk d., hdd, mobo shield, and PSU right after we got it . Pulled the front panel off a old XP case for the switch.
one quick stop at the pc store for last minute instructions , got home hooked everything up and no screen nothing ???????? swapped out the monitor nothing???????:shrug:
called pc store :blah:, bring the mobo in on monday :rain:....

but wait i'm thinking i have a plan "B" :clap: OverClockers ,, Daniel is looking a bit worried,, not so sure.

so what do i find ?

the most wonderful thing "A List " humm let me see ohhh #4 , 24 pin and !! "8pin"
BINGO we have the screen , jumping for joy , you saved the day
ThanK YoU VerY MucH !!!!!!!!!

You have our deepest gratitude !

more later , im printing out your steps , be back with a progress report thanks man !!

Mike,

That's very gratifying to read and I'm sure Trents feels the same, he's one of our best! :thup:

By the way, you're not the first one to forget that connection and you won't be the last.
 
hello hello Trent :thup:


we got our powersupply at 2pm ak time ,, beautiful PSU, green is good :cool:

We got started putting the disk d., hdd, mobo shield, and PSU right after we got it . Pulled the front panel off a old XP case for the switch.
one quick stop at the pc store for last minute instructions , got home hooked everything up and no screen nothing ???????? swapped out the monitor nothing???????:shrug:
called pc store :blah:, bring the mobo in on monday :rain:....

but wait i'm thinking i have a plan "B" :clap: OverClockers ,, Daniel is looking a bit worried,, not so sure.

so what do i find ?

the most wonderful thing "A List " humm let me see ohhh #4 , 24 pin and !! "8pin"
BINGO we have the screen , jumping for joy , you saved the day
ThanK YoU VerY MucH !!!!!!!!!

You have our deepest gratitude !

more later , im printing out your steps , be back with a progress report thanks man !!


I went through a whole benching session on dry-ice without one of the 4 pin molex connectors plugged in about 2 months ago. I noticed it when I was taking the pot off the cpu so don't feel bad at all about forgetting it! I've been building my own computer/other computers and overclocking for 10 years now and still made that error.

I'm glad to see you and your son are having a good time building this computer as I know it brought me and my dad very close when he showed me how a pc worked when I was young. Although before you know it, your son will be showing you up like I did to my dad :thup:
 
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