Crosshair III or M4A79T Deluxe

[pbmaster]

Hey guys. I'm redoing my system in few weeks for my birthday. Getting a new mobo, CPU, and RAM. I already got my RAM kit, this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227324

I also plan on getting the Phenom II 955 but I'm not sure which board would be best out of those two, especially considering they are only $10 different. I most likely won't be doing a multi-card setup, but if I did I wouldn't do more than 2 so the more PCI-E slots on the M4 doesn't really matter to me. This computer will be used for gaming mostly, with internet surfing and occasional video and audio editing/encoding. Thanks!

 

[ShadowFold]

Crosshair III. Seriously the best board I've ever used. The bios is amazing, the sound card it comes with is great and the overclocking capabilities are just as amazing. It also looks freakin sweet at night when all the lights are off.

 

[pbmaster]

Lights are always a plus lol. I just didn't know what to do cause I've seen some people swear by the M4, but at the same time you and a few others are 'ing the Crosshair. I will definitely be doing some OC'ing once I get a new cooler. The good ol' Zalman 9500 is getting a bit date, know what I mean? This will be the biggest upgrade I've done in a while and I just want to make sure I get the best of what I can for what I'll be doing.

 

[ShadowFold]

Go for the S1284EE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023&Tpk=HDT-S1284EE
I've been using mine for about a year now, my 720 never sees anything past 64c at 1.5v.

 

[pbmaster]

Nice, I was actually thinking of going with the Xigmatek Dark Knight cooler, or the Zalman 9900...if I can find it on a good day when it isn't $80..I refuse to pay that much for a cooler, that's more than my RAM cost!

 

[aCid888*]

Ditch the Zalman coolers, they don't perform as well as they should do with a quad or as good as the Xiggy as a whole.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

Xiggy DK with another XLF orange blade/white LED fan; $45


I like the look of the Crosshair III but seems expensive for nothing as with most ROG branded things (as usual, Asus) and it only offers 2 PCI-e lanes.

The M4A79T D is $10 cheaper and offers just the same clocking ability (who cares if you have a BE) but comes with 4 PCI-e lanes...pretty much a folders dream and it still has the same build quality as the C III.

I always have found that any ROG branded product is expensive for nothing...it offers less for your money due to having less PCI-e lanes and being $10 more...yes, you will have a quality board but does the Deluxe already not offer all you need plus more?


Open box Deluxe:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363R

 

[trt740]

Crosshair III very good board

 

[pbmaster]

Thanks for the help acid, but I already said the number of PCI-E lanes isn't a big selling point for me. That is the Xigmatek cooler I was looking at though. To be honest, this Zalman never impressed me for the price. I mean it cooled better than my stock cooler, but not $60 better.

 

[aCid888*]

If the number of PCI-e lanes doesn't matter to you maybe the extra money will....the Open Box M4A is a good buy and knowing Newegg will come with all its original accessories.

I'd just sooner have a board with more lanes and just as many features for $10 less brand new than the Crosshair is....$10 can be used for other things and the ROG logo isn't that attractive anyway.

 

[mav2000]

If you ask me I would go with the msi gd70. I had the crosshair for a short while, but even after setting in with the latest bios, I had a lot of issues getting it to OC. The MSI just made it a lot easier. I dont know what it was. Otherwise one of the best boards in terms of quality of components. The v drop and droop was barely there on the crosshair. If the bios stability improves it will be the best board out there.

 

[pbmaster]

Again, thanks for the help, but my choices are either of the two listed. I'm not very fond of MSI boards either, especially after all the problems our shop has had with them.

 

[aCid888*]

Looks like you may have already made your mind up and just need some reassurance its the right thing....order the Crosshair already.

 

[pbmaster]

No, I haven't actually. I'm just wondering what's the best for me, apart from the more PCI-E lanes cause that won't do any good for me.

 

[mav2000]

Then go for the crosshair, its the better board and you do get a lot of bang for the buck. The only thing it has less of is PCIE lanes, and I think two would be more than enough for most people. I think it will take a little time to get the bios sorted out, but max of a month or so.

 

[From_Nowhere]

After reading some reviews online on AM3 790FX boards I would say that the M4A79T Deluxe would be the better buy. Paying extra for a ROG Logo, and sound card isn't worth it to me (might be for you).

 

[pbmaster]

No, I'm no audiophile. For the longest time I was using an ancient Soundblaster, but the Vista support was shoddy so I had to ditch it. I was gonna get the Crosshair for sure when they had the combo deals, but all those went away and I was deeply saddened. Could have saved like $60

 

[aCid888*]

I like the board cooling on the Deluxe more than the ROG styled cooling...I'm a sucker for copper.

 

[devguy]

I ordered the m4a79 Deluxe open box from new egg (the DDR2 version) and it runs great, but no accessories, so keep that in mind. My qualms with this board are few, but VDroop is clearly present in it. Not bad mind you, but after 1.5 VCore, it shows up (however, I don't plan any 24/7 over 1.5V on my chips). Also, a weird thing is that one of the two right angled sata ports on the motherboard doesn't allow you to boot the device connected to it when running in an AHCI configuration (yeah I know, wtf?) It's actually documented too, but if you want IDE mode or RAID mode, it isn't a problem (or just use a different port).

The one really big issue to me is the lack of a pcie 1x port at the top of the first 16x lane (most ASUS AMD boards are like this). Now, with two dual slot coolers, I block nearly all the slots I need, and don't have that one at the top. I know that with 4 8x pcie lanes running simultaneously, there isn't many extra lanes, but I'm sure they could've done something.

 

[Tweak-2-]

personally i'm a formula III freak ,, just because of the cool ROG station they have for sale for it ,, sadly they did need to remove alot to be able to make it a rog board with oc to a post , if you take a picture of the m4a79T and RoG you will see similaraties , the m4a79T has no pci Express x1 for ageia cards , sound cards ect ,, ROG has 3 one reserved for the pci X 1 sound card , they are both good for OCing your cpu ,, but mhz for performance gain is stronger on the m4a79T but 3d performance is bettere in on of the ROG slots ,, but there are only 2 and m4a79T has 4,, you will see they ballance one another quite alot ,, 4 cpu overclocking the best board is the m4a79T the 7.0 Ghz phenom record was set with it , personally it comes down to what you like aswell ,, the boards are very similar , just that the one has less fan support and the other more , one has 2x pci X 16 and 2x pci x 1 were the other has 4x pci X 16 and no pci 1 ,, like i said the crisshair is actually the m4a79T base ,, check the caps ,, most are in similar spots ,, but if you want performance look at this

 

[Tweak-2-]

serious ?? here check

the 8+2 pahse is in identical posts , the 2 cpu caps under is are identical , the ITe chips are in the same post , the SB 750 chips sidentical areas , the bios battery isa quite similar spots , there are 2 identical ceramic caps between the north bridge and dimm slots , jumber setup next to the start and stop and the start and stop are quite similar post . your chip next to the SB is in a identical post on both . the IDE connector lenth from jumper pins and start button are identical alot of stuff has been removed for the ROG chip at the bottom of the board , to support the ROG oc Station ,, so the board is a item with the station ,, actually the board seems like a m4a79T platform with alot missing but a ROG chip,, i would still buy it thou ,, i mean damin , its ROG

 

[werez]

I would go with the MSI GD70 ....
Between Crosshair III and M4A79T Deluxe i would pick the Crosshair III . Why ? looks sexy ... don`t chase reviews , you will eventually find out the two boards perform the same
I had a tough time picking between ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe/HDMI and ASUS Crosshair II Formula . Picked CII because of the better bundle and color scheme , i guess ...

 

[Tweak-2-]

haha yeah but i atleast hope you like the info

 

[1Kurgan1]

http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/11223-3dmark.gif

That has to be the worse review chart I have ever seen. They use 2 top end Asus boards, then a 790GX from MSI instead of the GD-70. Then they give a 4870x2 to only the M4A so obviously that crushed the other 2 at Vantage. Then to top it off they used different CPU OC clocks on every board...

 

[boomstik360]

Go for the S1284EE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023&Tpk=HDT-S1284EE
I've been using mine for about a year now, my 720 never sees anything past 64c at 1.5v.

I see this is an old post but that is some pretty bad tempts. I have my buddies 720BE at 4ghz 1.5vcore with an s1283 and it tops out at 55C in a warm room 100% load.

 

[pantherx12]

I bought the Asus board personally, would of got the other one if it was a different colour.

Although my new PSU is bright red so I guess none of it will match anyways haha.