Gigabyte GA-MA78G-DS3H vs. GA-MA78GM-S2H vs. Asus M3A-H/HDMI

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 11:47 pm

I'm considering one of the above mentioned motherboards.

I lean towards GA-MA78G-DS3H due to ATX, firewire and a proven fan control - I believe it's the same, as on the GA-MA78GM-S2H, as tested by SPCR.

Though, I dont like the 8 watt when off-power, measured by SPCR. Du you guys get the same readings? There've been 2-3 BIOS updates, since the SPCR review, so things might have changed.

Do some of you have experience with the Asus? The NB/SB coolers seems to be better... And how about the fan-controller and stability?

As far as I can judge by the SPCR threads on GA-MA78-DS2H, it's quite stable, and the bugs should be sorted out?

I found this link, to Gigabyte GA-MA78-DS2H reviews, if someone's interested.

Thanks.

NX3 · Post by **NX3** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:19 am

My Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H pulls about 2watts in standby so not sure how SPCR got 8 watts. Thats with 2 x 1gb DDR2 800, AMD 4000+ x2, 160gb WD HD 7200rp, Radeon 3450, Pioneer dvd writer, a few fans.

Licaon · Post by **Licaon** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:58 am

Motherboard for X2 4850e

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 10:54 am

NX3 wrote:My Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H pulls about 2watts in standby so not sure how SPCR got 8 watts. Thats with 2 x 1gb DDR2 800, AMD 4000+ x2, 160gb WD HD 7200rp, Radeon 3450, Pioneer dvd writer, a few fans.

Cool

Thanks a lot, a Gigabyte board it'll be for me

mr. poopyhead · Post by **mr. poopyhead** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:04 pm

does anyone have experience with the gigabye 780G boards? how do they handle S3 sleep mode?

i'm looking to upgrade my HTPC...

thanks.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:33 pm

mr. poopyhead wrote:does anyone have experience with the gigabye 780G boards? how do they handle S3 sleep mode?

They go to sleep just fine, though I did have some problems with wake-on-USB under XPSP2. Under Vista that worked OK though.

lowteckh · Post by **lowteckh** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:36 am

I am still not sure what to make of the Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H (matx). So far it has run decent, but mine has a bios bug/corruption where I can't update the bios (probably because I tried using Gigabyte's @bios to update; DO NOT USE IT!!). The NB spouts an enormous amount of thermals which raises ambient temperatures; something you don't want to do when there could be a video card right next to it (4850 for me, can't even overclock it because of the excess heat). The board also does not offer undervolting/clocking.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 11:13 pm

lowteckh wrote:The board also does not offer undervolting/clocking.

Huh? Sounds like you've got a duff board then. Mine undervolts/underclocks rather nicely from the BIOS.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:39 am

nutball wrote:
lowteckh wrote:The board also does not offer undervolting/clocking.
Huh? Sounds like you've got a duff board then. Mine undervolts/underclocks rather nicely from the BIOS.

The board only allows undervolting of the CPU in the BIOS. DDR and others are only above spec.

Also, if you're using an discrete GPU the onboard GPU should be disabled and not generating much heat at all.

Licaon · Post by **Licaon** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:34 pm

my notes on this board:
-nice small fully featured
-you can have others like it from ASRock and ECS

-the cooler gets pretty hot

-fan control is ONLY automatic, you can't limit it say like 50% max or something, but it can be by voltage or PWM
-the BIOS can be updated if you unzip/unrar that EXE file and put the big 1Mb file on a USB stick -> reboot -> enter BIOS -> enter QFLASH -> select file from the USB stick
-the Linux k8temp sensor outputs wrong temperatures, needs a 20 or 30 degrees offset

ido · Post by **ido** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:24 am

Licaon, I see you are using Linux with this board, which driver do you use for the IGP? Do you recommend this board for a Linux based system?

Sorry for the hijacking Thomas!

Licaon · Post by **Licaon** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 3:11 pm

ido wrote:Licaon, I see you are using Linux with this board, which driver do you use for the IGP? Do you recommend this board for a Linux based system?

i guess i'll be using fglrx ( the closed one ) until the F/OSS one gets the 3D part up and running ( keep an eye on Phoronix.com )

for now, i have my Gainward nVidia 8600GT + ASUS Xonar DX inside this system until my MSI K9A2 CF-F motherboard returns from the service, hopefully that would be next week

Greg F. · Post by **Greg F.** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:03 pm

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?optio ... 5&Itemid=1

At this time I believe I would wait for the 790GX chipset. However, I do understand that perhaps if you do not intend to game there is no purpose in waiting. Other than to have the most up to date chipset, of course.