ASUS M4A78-EM vs. ASUS M3A78-EM mobo for HTPC

2432 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by renethx, Jul 22, 2009

rimmi2002

Discussion Starter · Jul 21, 2009

Hi I am looking for a mobo for HTPC build. I already have bought the AMD regor 250 processor. I was looking these two mobos at newegg.

Links.
ASUS M4A78-EM
ASUS M3A78-EM

Asus websites says both mobos support AM3 chips. So is there any advantage to getting the M4A78? w/o the mail in rebate the price difference is only $7. So if its a better board in any ways I'd get the M4A78.Or does anyone any other recc'd for a better mobo in the same price range.

As for memory when it says "DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+/AM3 CPU for one DIMM per channel only" what does one DIMM per channel mean? Is it one memory stick per each dual channel? I guess the bottom line is I want to find out if I were to get AMD Regor 250 chip and one of the above mobos with 1066 memory (which is only $5 more that DDR800 memory) will that work well with this build? Thanks for your help.

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hirent

· #2 · Jul 21, 2009

AFAIK, the M3A78 doesn't support AM3 CPUs.

That is one of the reasons they came out with the M4A78. The whole M4XXX series is re-done from the M3XXX series for AM3 CPU support

Also, with OC you can use 1200 memory with the M4A78.

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rimmi2002

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 22, 2009

ASUS website says M3A78 supports AM3 with a bios update.

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gammite

· #4 · Jul 22, 2009

i have the m3a78-em and it works well with vista. i am waiting to do the w7 upgrade till october. my motto is if it is not broken do not fix it.

besides four MINOR items i have no idea the difference.

1. m4 has 1200 speed ram

2. m4 has AM3 capability out of the box vs. the m3 needs a bios update

3. the sata ports are located in a different spot

4. the ide port is sitting right side up on the m4 instead of on its side like on the m3.

for seven bucks get the m4. but if you are that frugual you a not sacrificing anything by getting the m3, imo.

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renethx

· #5 · Jul 22, 2009

"One DIMM per channel" means you can use only one memory module per channel, so maximum of two DDR2-1066 modules in dual channel mode (normal mode). Precisely speaking, you can use four DDR2-1066 modules in dual channel mode, but they work only as DDR2-800. (This is a limitation of the processor's memory controller.)

You will see a bunch of 785G chipset mbs in a month.

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