New build.

[Electric Bill]

I'm building an Asus M4A88T-M to replace the ASRock 880G Pro3 that was my movie server/bedroom computer. After owning 6 or 7 ASRock boards I've come to the conclusion that they are going the way of Abit, Epox, DFI and Soyo to name a few.
Apparently they have no one that can compile a UEFI BIOS correctly. I've been struggling with the ASRock for about 14 months - won't boot unless my TV is off or switched to another source, couldn't even see the BIOS until the latest version and then I could only see 1/4 of the screen at a time, HDMI sound died after a couple of months and so did the onboard sound a few days ago. Then just before I lost the sound it started losing hard drives in the BIOS, Windows 7 and Ubuntu. I reflashed the BIOS to no avail.

This is my first Asus and so far so good. As you can see it passed the drives test. Kinda looks like a milking machine at a dairy.

I tested everything with a Linux live DVD and all the drives were recognized. Now it's time to put it in the case, partition the 250GB drive and install Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I ran out of SATA headers so I'll have to stick to 8.25TB.
I went with the 880 because that's the last AMD mobo with onboard video.

Specs:
AMD X2 555 BE Callisto
8GB Kingston HyperX KHX16C9B1RK2/8
SeaSonic S12II 620 Bronze PSU
250GB Seagate ST3250820ASl for os(s)
4 - Samsung F4 HD204UI SATA hard drives
LG GH24NS50 SATA DVD burner
Antec 300 tower

Bill

[Electric Bill]

So I got to thinking that since they're both 880G boards I should be able to use the Windows 7 Ult 64 that was on the os drive. Ubuntu was also on that drive but that's never a problem so I tried it. Had to swap out LAN drivers and dump the USB 3.0 drivers since the Asus dosen't have them but everything went well. Upping the RAM from 4GB (2x2) plus the slight differences in the mobo components did force me to reactivate Windows but it did it automatically - no phone call.
Everything is in the Antec case so I'm good to go. I have the power management set up so the storage drives shut down after 10 min. The computer only draws 54W while its idling so it's like leaving a table lamp on.

Bill

[uddarts]

hey eb,

nice as usual!


ud

[Electric Bill]

Thanks ud. Good to see that you and a few other mods are still here.

Too bad about ASRock though. I suspect that we'll see another Taiwan Stock Exchange crash & burn scenario soon. Cooking the books seems to be quite popular over there.

The new rig went into the case and online last night. I'm watching Tower Heist right now.
Here's a pic of the case. Not my best work especially with the ATX12v cable running up the middle. The ASRock had an 8 pin connector and I used a cable extension but I didn't have one for the 4 pin connector on the Asus. Can't use the 8 pin cause there's a capacitor in the way plus - I was anxious to get it up and running.



Bill

[3dfxrain]

I've had lots of Asus motherboards, I think I've had six of them at home, I still own four, most of any motherboard brand.

[JoshMST]

Nice little build. I would have been tempted to splurge and get a FM2 based CPU for improved video/graphics perf. Also those A85X based boards have 8 SATA 6 connectors... But still a nice little build.

[Electric Bill]

I recenbtly priced out an FM2 board for a friend:
GIGABYTE GA-F2A75M-D3H FM2 - $85
A6-5400K Trinity 3.6GHz - $75
Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) -$40
That totals $200 + shipping.

My board and RAM was $121 shipped.
Since it's my bedroom computer I don't think I'd notice the difference in graphics. Then there's the fact that I'm somewhat broke right now.
8 SATA ports would have been nice though.

Bill

[PandaZ3]

Well I just ordered a ASRock 990FX Fatal1ty. I loved their ULI boards. Maybe I'll get lucky

[THOMAS LYNN]

Havent had any problems with asrock yet,just built a 880gm-le-fx with a dual core regor 3.2,for a friend, he loves it.has all the legacy hookups for his old stuff.mine rocks the 8 core and the deneb 6