ASUS M4N98TD EVO Test

[dumo]

Nvidia NForce 980a SLI AM3
Core Unlocker
DDR3 2000(OC)
2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (Dual @ x16 mode)





Single GPU

[dumo]

SLI

[claylomax]

Hey I want to get this board; when I google it I can't find it at any major etailer, I'm in the UK. When was released? Thanks for the benchmarks.

[dumo]

State side got it from Newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-636-_-Product

Idk in EU though, probly call local Asus distro?

[SystemViper]

@ $140 that looks like a sweet deal,,,

[jaydeee]

OMG!
Monster setup...

I guess now these days we may assume that more heatsink more power hehehe!
its heavy heat sink I see here!

[claylomax]

Still no reviews about this board.

[dumo]

Originally Posted by claylomax

Still no reviews about this board.

Not really popular board
I haven't got time to try new bios and no review site that even mention about this board

[shelby92]

Hello to everybody. I would know if one of you can tell me if this motherboard support the technology called Hybrid Power. I want to use the Hybrid Power technology with my MSI 9800GX2. Can I do this? Is there anyone that have already done it? P.S. Sorry for my English, I'm italian.

[shelby92]

Up

[claylomax]

Hi Shelby92, welcome to TPU; don't be sorry, here at TPU we are from different parts of the world. I think this mobo has onboard graphics but not graphics output, which means you could use it for physx with your main graphics card. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[shelby92]

So this means that i can't use the Hybrid Sli In fact I've read that the Hybrid Power can run only connecting the Monitor cable to the Motherboard Video Output. Is this the meaning?

[bacan]

Originally Posted by claylomax

Hi Shelby92, welcome to TPU; don't be sorry, here at TPU we are from different parts of the world. I think this mobo has onboard graphics but not graphics output, which means you could use it for physx with your main graphics card. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes you can do it, you need to enable Hybrid SLI in BIOS and set amount of RAM memory for it.(up to 512MB)
Unfortunately if you have a decent single graphics card, like GTX 260 or higher, it's pretty useless cause the physics scores will be lower than without it.
It's only for the weak graphics setups like gt240, gt220 and similar. I don't know will it work with an ATI card but I presume no one would buy this motherboard to use it with an ATI in the first place.(there are better mobos based on AMD 89x chipsets)

This motherboard uses the latest and greatest (still 3 years old) nforce chipset for AMD and it has a decent voltage regulation but everything else on it is average.
To cut off some expenses Asus didn't put usual VGA/DVI connectors to this board, it also removed the third pci-e x16 slot despite the fact that nforce 980a(780a) is 3-way SLI capable.
(This mobo has only 6 expansion slots, 2 pci-e X16, 2 pci-e X1 and 2 PCI)
So at the end it's integrated graphics is pretty useless.

Still, if you look at it's price, X6 CPU support and overclockability it's a decent solution for running 2-way SLI on AMD system.

[claylomax]

Originally Posted by bacan

Yes you can do it, you need to enable Hybrid SLI in BIOS and set amount of RAM memory for it.(up to 512MB)
Unfortunately if you have a decent single graphics card, like GTX 260 or higher, it's pretty useless cause the physics scores will be lower than without it.
It's only for the weak graphics setups like gt240, gt220 and similar. I don't know will it work with an ATI card but I presume no one would buy this motherboard to use it with an ATI in the first place.(there are better mobos based on AMD 89x chipsets)

This motherboard uses the latest and greatest (still 3 years old) nforce chipset for AMD and it has a decent voltage regulation but everything else on it is average.
To cut off some expenses Asus didn't put usual VGA/DVI connectors to this board, it also removed the third pci-e x16 slot despite the fact that nforce 980a(780a) is 3-way SLI capable.
(This mobo has only 6 expansion slots, 2 pci-e X16, 2 pci-e X1 and 2 PCI)
So at the end it's integrated graphics is pretty useless.

Still, if you look at it's price, X6 CPU support and overclockability it's a decent solution for running 2-way SLI on AMD system.

Right now I think this is the only choice if you want to go SLI with AMD; last year a similar board was released with 3 PCI-E but using DDR2 memory. Anyway mine should be here tomorrow.

[bacan]

There's another nforce 980a mobo with DDR3 support, it's a MSI NF980-GD65 and it is full 3-way SLI capable with fully working integrated graphics.
Still, I didn't take it cause it's more expensive with memory overclocking potential weaker than this ASUS.

[dumo]

With the latest bios board works good for cpu/mem/nb clocking with subzero cooling.

LN2 cooling still buggy with low NB clocking

[shelby92]

The MSI N980-G65 permits the Hybrid Power only since it has got Video Output. If the ASUS had had video output like the MSI the Hybrid power wuolb be possible. But it isn't.

[barr3l rid3r]

nice, and it work w/ x6 CPus?


looks like a good memory overclocker also, maybe better then AMD chipset?

[claylomax]

I'm getting BSOD's every time I turn on my PC with this board. Anybody experiences this?

[legends84]

Originally Posted by claylomax

I'm getting BSOD's every time I turn on my PC with this board. Anybody experiences this?

did you enable the nvidia core calibration? i get the same result when enable the switch on the mobo

[Magikherbs]

Originally Posted by shelby92

So this means that i can't use the Hybrid Sli In fact I've read that the Hybrid Power can run only connecting the Monitor cable to the Motherboard Video Output. Is this the meaning?

its also there if you really need another monitor.

[claylomax]

With the latest bios the board seems fine now.

[Magikherbs]

Originally Posted by claylomax

With the latest bios the board seems fine now.

cool ! Either the bios update fixed it or.. it was the refreshed cmos/reset bios . I always clear the cmos when adding/removing any part. Even if Im just pulling them out to clean them.

[Techtu]

Originally Posted by claylomax

Hey I want to get this board; when I google it I can't find it at any major etailer, I'm in the UK. When was released? Thanks for the benchmarks.

Here you go

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?W...source=froogle

[claylomax]

Originally Posted by Magikherbs

cool ! Either the bios update fixed it or.. it was the refreshed cmos/reset bios . I always clear the cmos when adding/removing any part. Even if Im just pulling them out to clean them.

I tried that, but it was the bios update what fixed the BSOD's.