Pros and Cons M5A97

[bob4933]

Enough of the "m5a97" is a valiant board crap. Its not. Its a cheap board designed for low TDP solutions on stock systems. Its NOT a "good" board, and certainly not a board meant for overclocking. At stock, it SHOULD be fine. Overclocking is asking for trouble.

I agree it's not the greatest board but I've read alot of people with great claims.. Although that doesn't make it fact. I'm at 4.42 steady and cool at 3.85v in prime it gets warm during the midst intensive tests 71 socket and 60 package temp.. But during most phases of the test it's running 45 - 50package and 55-60 socket and in real life usage 15-30c

The question isn't "can it", the question is "for how long". Its a 4 phase motherboard with modest components. Im assuming you have the M5a97 R2.0?

Its rated for 140w. The 8300 stock is 95w, @ 4.2ghz (and im not sure what the 3.85v is for tbh) and lets say, 1.3v just to be safe... youre at 151w of power. Thats already over the board rating, but conservatively enough. Now lets bump it 4.6 and 1.4v. That takes your system to 180w. Thats well over the board rating without "doing much".

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Enough of the "m5a97" is a valiant board crap. Its not. Its a cheap board designed for low TDP solutions on stock systems. Its NOT a "good" board, and certainly not a board meant for overclocking. At stock, it SHOULD be fine. Overclocking is asking for trouble.





The question isn't "can it", the question is "for how long". Its a 4 phase motherboard with modest components. Im assuming you have the M5a97 R2.0?

Its rated for 140w. The 8300 stock is 95w, @ 4.2ghz (and im not sure what the 3.85v is for tbh) and lets say, 1.3v just to be safe... youre at 151w of power. Thats already over the board rating, but conservatively enough. Now lets bump it 4.6 and 1.4v. That takes your system to 180w. Thats well over the board rating without "doing much".

I beg to differ this post with extreme prejudice!

Firstly, it's an Asus board. Best lower end board you can buy.

2ndly, I've overclocked numerous processors on a lesser board, the little brother M5A78L-M LX plus.

Ran 980BE Phenom II 4.4ghz daily. Overclocked that one under LN2 to some 6375mhz.

Ran FX-8300 5ghz daily custom loop, and that same cpu and board to 7685mhz.

FX-4300 Daily at 5ghz, also took this cpu to 7284mhz LN2.... again same board.

Now if you ever need any proofage, I'd be glad to produce it.

You have no idea how many people said I couldn't get 2.0v out of it..... boy they where wrong!

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Enough of the "m5a97" is a valiant board crap. Its not. Its a cheap board designed for low TDP solutions on stock systems. Its NOT a "good" board, and certainly not a board meant for overclocking. At stock, it SHOULD be fine. Overclocking is asking for trouble.





The question isn't "can it", the question is "for how long". Its a 4 phase motherboard with modest components. Im assuming you have the M5a97 R2.0?

Its rated for 140w. The 8300 stock is 95w, @ 4.2ghz (and im not sure what the 3.85v is for tbh) and lets say, 1.3v just to be safe... youre at 151w of power. Thats already over the board rating, but conservatively enough. Now lets bump it 4.6 and 1.4v. That takes your system to 180w. Thats well over the board rating without "doing much".

Considering that myself, and other have reliably used the M5A97 (non-LE, cause that one really sucks...) for YEARS with a mild overclock, I'd say it's a bit better than you give it credit. Yes, if you try and Moon shot on it, it will let the blue smoke outta the blue smoke container. No I generally don't recommend the board as an 8 core overclocking board. Yes Asus does advertise and provide the applications for easier overclocking, therefore Asus feels it can be overclocked on (you know, the manufacturer, who haves a pony in this race... After all they ultimately need to deal with upset customers...).

Considering I ran, and many others, have run Phenom II's near 4ghz (IIRC, my 955 was roughly at 3.8ghz, with about 1.4 vcore, and considering that CPU starts at 125W....) for years on this board design, I think you are a) being a bit too harsh about the board, and b) getting a bit offensive about it...

4.5ghz on an 8xxx is a bit high for that board, yes, but it's not like the guy is pushing 5ghz. He has been recommended to cool the mosfets and told his board isn't the strongest. He even admitted to wanting to buy the M5A99X (which is *gasp* not an 8 phase design, but should easily handle an 8-core around 4.5, if not more...).

Bottom line: it's not the best board, nor one we generally recommend to people, but as long as the OP doesn't try to get crazy with it, it's a decent enough board.

 

[bob4933]

I beg to differ this post with extreme prejudice!

Firstly, it's an Asus board. Best lower end board you can buy.

2ndly, I've overclocked numerous processors on a lesser board, the little brother M5A78L-M LX plus.

Ran 980BE Phenom II 4.4ghz daily. Overclocked that one under LN2 to some 6375mhz.

Ran FX-8300 5ghz daily custom loop, and that same cpu and board to 7685mhz.

FX-4300 Daily at 5ghz, also took this cpu to 7284mhz LN2.... again same board.

Now if you ever need any proofage, I'd be glad to produce it.

You have no idea how many people said I couldn't get 2.0v out of it..... boy they where wrong!

Ok. I can show you plenty of people online that have bricked these boards very quickly. Its a 4 phase board with modest features. The way you're talking, its the poor mans CHV... Its NOT a board meant for extreme overclocking. We've had this discussion before anyway. Don't really care if the one or two people have 'success'. To what end? The risk-reward ratio just isnt there with this thing.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Ok. I can show you plenty of people online that have bricked these boards very quickly. Its a 4 phase board with modest features. The way you're talking, its the poor mans CHV... Its NOT a board meant for extreme overclocking. We've had this discussion before anyway. Don't really care if the one or two people have 'success'. To what end? The risk-reward ratio just isnt there with this thing.

LOL he said poor man's board.

Here's the deal with it. I've owned 2 of the same model. OC both under LN2 and daily use before and after.

Paid 50$ for each. That's 100$.

However, I've bricked 250 and 300$ boards just as fast. For example, Gigabyte 990FXA UD7 lasted me all of ONE processor. It wasn't cheap. Not many people had the pleasure of having one. Took one LN2 run. However the reviewer I got the board from damaged the socket physically. I repaired it, but it died a horrible death any ways.

Killed numerous other expensive motherboards. M3A32 MVP wifi Deluxe. Killed M4A79T Deluxe. M3N32 Deluxe. 790FX Biostop lasted all of one cpu. RMA'd MSI 890 board 3 times with my brother.

Just because a board has limited power, doesn't mean it CANT because just Bob said so. I've done my fair share of overclocking on a vary large variety of motherboards including the all hailed Saborkitty, Formula-z and plenty of DFI motherboards as well. AsRock has paid a visit on Intel platforms here, wasn't fond of the board myself......

But my point is if it CANT overclock, why is it set up with features to do so?

ALSO, if one where to not have as much money as your fatly lined pockets maybe, who's to tell him not to overclock and have some fun experimenting?

So he bricks a cheap board. Doesn't cost much to loose something that isn't worth much. I've lost hundreds..... nah thousands of dollars through the years from overclocking. That's a risk you take with ANY fkn hardware.

Hopefully you get the point? It doesn't matter how much you push how bad the board is for overclocking. People want to try and have fun.

instead of discourage, try to encourage and assist the best you can with what they have brah. It's only the right thing to do.

 

[bob4933]

Easy to recommend things when its not your money. Im simply advising he err's on the side of caution based on the many people that have borked this exact motherboard "overclocking" the fx 8000's.

Im glad you had a good one. Good for you.

I do have one question. If its so good, why'd you bother getting the Crosshair? I mean, this board can handle 5+ ghz and 7.5ghz + ln2 all day right? Why would you even bother "upgrading"? Just seems like a waste of time and money by your accounts.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

Easy to recommend things when its not your money. Im simply advising he err's on the side of caution based on the many people that have borked this exact motherboard "overclocking" the fx 8000's.

Im glad you had a good one. Good for you.

I do have one question. If its so good, why'd you bother getting the Crosshair? I mean, this board can handle 5+ ghz and 7.5ghz + ln2 all day right? Why would you even bother "upgrading"? Just seems like a waste of time and money by your accounts.

There's so many ways to bash you here....

You talk about "not your moneys" but yet suggest people to spend money on another motherboard.

A good ONE? No man, I've had quite a few good ones.

Why did I bother getting all these different motherboards up to and including a Crosshair Formula-Z top of the line board to overclock my de-lidded FX-9590?

It's called experience. not just something I read.

Everyone should take caution. Not just with lower end boards. I see you are cautious with yours. Only running a mere 4.7ghz on that super Intel processor. And you don't even need a Sabortooth to overclock it. And probably never had the satisfaction of running ANY processor past 6ghz let alone 5.0ghz I'm willing to bet.

Get some experience. Try overclocking a low end board. Then try to blow it up. Then come report with some actual data vs hearsay.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

These boards we are talking about are in fact viable options for an 8300. Run stock? Sure! Overclock? Yeah it can be done but one has to make sure the VRMs are cooled well.

Bottom line, if the OP cannot afford a higher end board like a Sabertooth, the lower end options from ASUS are viable.

They beat the hell out of similar priced Gigabyte boards lemme tell ya!

 

[Kenrou]

Got a M5A97 EVO R2.0 for wife last year and it's been running a fx-4300 4.9ghz 1.37v (has an 80mm on the VRM's) with zero issues, even handled my old 8370 at 4.4ghz perfectly fine for a couple weeks although i was really stressing her 212 evo very solid board for the $70 it cost

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Guys, let's stop this now. This is just dumping on the OP's thread. He came here looking for some help, and for the last page, all we have done is fight amongst ourselves. The OP has mentioned he would like to get a better board, but he does want to play with overclocking on his current board. Let's help him and not tell him what he already knows: his board isn't the best and shouldn't be pushed super hard. For the many years I have been here, these kinds of questions are normal, and we should be known as a very friendly community. There are other forums were it is commonplace, and accepted to generally be a jerk but this has never been one of those...

 

[Kenrou]

Arguing aside the advice was keep it for now, put a fan on the VRM's, see how far she goes SAFELY, knowing full well the board wasn't made for wild overclocks (so if it bites the dust he was warned). If he isn't happy with it, get a better one, a Saber if possible or a m5a99x.

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Got a M5A97 EVO R2.0 for wife last year and it's been running a fx-4300 4.9ghz 1.37v (has an 80mm on the VRM's) with zero issues, even handled my old 8370 at 4.4ghz perfectly fine for a couple weeks although i was really stressing her 212 evo very solid board for the $70 it cost

The EVO is a different beast Kenrou, the non-evo boards are not 6+2 VRM...

The EVO boards are more akin to the M5A99X.

 

[Kenrou]

I know but the advice still stands and it's the best you're gonna get short of "replace that"

 

[Bluefalcon13]

Even so, the M5A97 (Vanilla, R1.0 or R2.0) is a solid budget board, even for moderate overclock. Looking at the tdp of where I should've been with my 955BE I had, that board is a tank if it is merely rated at 125W TDP, and not underrated.

 

[caddi daddi]

my M5a97 R2.0 was a beast of a board with a 965 @4.0, for that chip I would say it's one of the best, plenty of power for it, great feature set, good looking board, the bios was proper for pushing Deneb.
when I chucked in a four core fx and started to lean on it pretty heavy, the wheels fell right off that wagon.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

It's about having fun and gaining some performance.

You can do both with 4+1 VRMs.

I've done it multiple times. Pure excitement!!

My wifes current rig. Not running LN2 at these speeds. More like 4.2ghz which is more than plenty for her needage.

Right?? Cheap processor there. only 4 cores. Nothing expensive. I paid less for this mobo and CPU than I did for either my FX-9590 or Sabortooth motherboard and simply had a freeking BLAST!!!

http://valid.canardpc.com/xs6dpk On Asus M5A78L-M LX PLUS



- - - Updated - - -

Thanks to Johan for this separate thread here. Good idea.

 

[trents]

The m5a97 has a pretty good VRM heat sink on it for the class of board. I would certainly add a spot fan to that and also to the underside of the socket area if I was going to be overclocking the FX CPU.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

The m5a97 has a pretty good VRM heat sink on it for the class of board. I would certainly add a spot fan to that and also to the underside of the socket area if I was going to be overclocking the FX CPU.

Funny you mention that....

With 8 VRMs, the accumulated heat is greater than 4 VRMs.

So add a fan to any motherboard you'd overclock FX with eh?

 

[trents]

No, I didn't say that. Not all 4+1 power phase boards are created equal. I have experience with the m5a97 and it seems to be hardier than a lot boards in the same class.

 

[caddi daddi]

many times, more than one.... man they do make some heat.