Monday, May 24, 2010

M4a77TD audio review: VT1708S High Definition sound card

Built into the ASUS M4a77TD motherboard is a 8 channel sound card using a VIA chipset (VT1708S).  It supports up to 8 speakers, microphone, and line in.

Audio playback is nice an clean, with zero background hiss/hum while music is playing back. Due to aggressive power saving mechanisms (the VT1708S is also meant to be used in laptops), if no sounds play for a couple minutes it shuts off power to the speakers, resulting in a loud hum/hiss. This is fixed immediately by playing some music, adjusting the mixer volume, etc, but is super annoying.  There is an easy work-around, however: use the Windows volume control (sndvol32.exe) to mix in just a little bit of sound from MIC or Line In to the output. The sound card doesn't check to see if any actual sound is playing on Line in/MIC, but assumes that there could be and shuts off power saving. I could only figure out how to do this with the Windows Volume control - the VIA mixer (HD Audio Dec) doesn't seem to expose this functionality (edit: it does - click the button below the volume slider to un-mute, and the white arrow at the lower right to show line in, etc.).

The VIA mixer/control panel is ugly, but usable. It attempts to look cool by visually modeling itself on a stereo, but just manages to look clunky and reduce usability. It does allow you to control the sound card's built in equalizer, which might be useful if you don't have a stereo and just plug the output into a cheap set of PC speakers.

It also offers a set of customizable hot keys to increase/decrease volume, or mute, in case your keyboard doesn't have that built in.

Meanwhile, the software takes ~14MB of RAM, and 32MB on disk. What a hog. SndVol32, in comparison, uses just 3.5MB. And keep in mind Microsoft isn't exactly known for efficient coding.


Recording ability is miserable. The MIC amplifier (even with "MIC BOOST" turned on) is way too weak, even when using a reasonably good quality $25 radio shack hand held mic. The frequency response isn't too good as well. The high frequencies are quite attenuated, even when recording a painfully loud, high pitched bell. The sound card does better recording from itself - if you set the audio input to stereo mix, and max the volume of every knob you can find (output and input) then you can get 45% of the dynamic range possible with a 16 bit recording. Which is to say, still not very good, but usable in a pinch. The frequency response appears to be fine in this mode - the recording is quiet, but not distorted.

You wouldn't buy this MB expecting to set up a home studio, obviously. But it is not too much to expect that your MB would be good enough to use with Skype. This does not seem to be the case. Very disappointing.

You might think that you could just slap in any old PCI sound card to rectify this problem - like an old Sound Blaster Live, but keep in mind that the PCI slots all use shared IRQs, so pick your sound card with care (the sound blaster live does not work in this MB).

Thursday, May 20, 2010

(in) compatibility with the M4A77TD motherboard

To date, I have found the following hardware to be incompatible with the M4A77TD.

All PCI slots use shared IRQs, which means some older add in cards do not work:
  1.  Sound Blaster Live
  2. Paradise Ultra 66 IDE controller
The BIOS only supports a subset of the known methods to make a CD bootable, which means the following disks cannot be used:
  1. Windows XP SP3 slip-streamed (The slip-streaming was done at work, so I don't know exactly how they did it - but the disk boot just fine in every other computer I've tried it in).  Note that a regular WinXPSP3 CD (from MSDN) works fine.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

More IDE hard drives for the M4A77TD

The M4a77TD only supports two IDE devices. I had planned to extend that significantly with an old Paradise66 IDE PCI card, but it turns out that card is not compatible with the motherboard - I suspect because all of the PCI slots use shared IRQs. What a pain. A cheap alternative can be found at DealExtreme who sells a IDE drive to SATA plug adapter for only $4.17, with shipping and handling. Yes, you loose one SATA port, but with 6 ports, I'm not crying too hard.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

ASUS M4A77TD review: included software: PC Probe 2

PC Probe is an optional install that reports various details about your computer's configuration, and realtime stats such as temperature.

The configuration details include things like what version your BIOS is, and what add-on peripherals are installed. The realtime stats are more interesting - MB temperature, fan speed, voltages.

PC Probe can display this information in a set of small always on top windows that are 110x400 pixels when all grouped together. The visual presentation emphasizes style over readability, however, with a fake LED font.

PC Probe can also be set to raise an alarm if any of the values go outside of safe operating range. For this, and the real-time stats display, you will loose about 10MB of RAM, and another 13MB of page file.

M4A77TD BIOS 2007 released 4-22-2010

A new bios is out, ver 2007, and I am currently testing it. It seems to work well, and, in particular, has better support for my Crucial DDR3 1333 (previously, under bios 306, the MB was unstable unless the RAM ran at 1066).

ASUS M4A77TD Specs: straight from ASUS.com

Because ASUS decided to make a 100% Google incompatible website:

Specifications

CPUAMD Socket AM3 ;Phenom™II /Athlon™II /Sempron™ 100 Series Processors
AMD 140W CPU Support
AMD Cool 'n' Quiet™ 2.0 Technology (by CPU type)
Support 45nm CPU
*Refer to www.asus.com for the AMD CPU support list
ChipsetAMD 770/SB710
System BusUp to 5200 MT/s ; HyperTransport™ 3.0 interface
Memory 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 1800(O.C.)/1600(O.C.)/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory
Dual Channel memory architecture
*AMD AM3 100 and 200 series CPU support up to DDR3 1066MHz.
**Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Install a 64-bit WindowsWindows® OS when you want to install 4GB or more memory on the motherboard. Please refer to www.asus.com or user manual for Memory QVL.
Expansion Slots 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16
2 x PCIe x1
3 x PCI
Storage SB710 Chipset
1 xUltraDMA 133/100
6 xSATA 3 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,10,JBOD
LAN RTL8112L PCIe Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2
Audio VT1708S High Definition Audio 8-Channel CODEC
- Supports Jack-detect and Multistreaming teconologies, and Front Panel Jack-Retasking
- Optical S/PDIF Out ports at back I/O
USB 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel)
ASUS Unique Features - ASUS EPU-4 Engine
- ASUS Express Gate
- ASUS Turbo Key
- ASUS Q-Fan
- ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3
- ASUS EZ Flash 2
- ASUS MyLogo 2
- ASUS AI NET 2
Overclocking FeaturesIntelligent overclocking tools
- ASUS Turbo Key
SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection)
- FSB tuning from 200 MHz up to 550MHz at 1MHz increment
- PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz increment
Overclocking Protection
- ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features 100% All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors
Back Panel I/O Ports 1 x PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse Combo port
1 x S/PDIF Out (Optical)
1 x LAN(RJ45) port
1 x COM port
1 x LPT
6 x USB 2.0/1.1
8-channel Audio port
Internal I/O Connectors 3 x USB connectors supports additional 6 USB 2.0 ports
1 x IDE connector
6 x SATA connectors
1 x S/PDIF Out connector
1 x CPU / 1 x Chassis Fan connectors
1 x System Panel connector
1 x High Definition Front panel audio connector
1 x 24-pin EATX power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
BIOS 8 Mb Flash ROM AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI v2.0, WfM2.0, ACPI v2.0a, SMBIOS 2.5
AccessoriesUser's manual
1 x I/O Shield
1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
2 x SATA cable(s)
Support DiscDrivers
ASUS PC Probe II
Express Gate
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
ASUS Update
Form Factor ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 8.4 inch ( 30.5 cm x 21.3 cm )

Friday, May 14, 2010

How to install the AHCI/RAID drivers for the M4A77TD/AMD south bridge sb710 under WinXP

The AHCI drivers allow you to use your SATA drives in AHCI or RAID mode, as opposed to legacy IDE mode. 

Finding the AHCI drivers is a real pain, as they are stored in the "ASUS Make AMD RAID/AHCI Driver Disk" zip file on the ASUS download site for the M4A77TD. You can also get the same exact drivers from
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?driver=Integrated/xp32-chipset, under "Raid Driver".

Since there is no floppy drive controller, it is particularly hard to use this "make disk" tool so that the driver can be loaded during install. There's probably a way using a USB thumb drive, but I haven't attempted it.  It's much easier, but still rather obscure, to add this driver after you have installed (which means your main hard drive must be in IDE mode).

First, extract the files and save the WINXP/x86 folder to your desktop. Then open the Windows Device Manager (under the hardware tab of System Properties). Scroll down to the Unrecognized PCI device with a big question mark, and the proceed to update its driver (why couldn't they at least give it a more descriptive name??).

Tell windows to use the INF file from the WINXP/x86 folder on your desktop. You'll need to tell it that it's a RAID driver, or it won't recognize that you've found the right file. Ever so annoyingly, Windows also offers the option to "install", when you right click on the ahcix86.inf file in the x86 folder, but trust me, this does nothing. When you've actually installed the driver, the hard drives will immediately become available.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

bios, forum, manual, etc

http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=M4A77TD

Updating the bios & the Error Occurred While Erasing Blocks message

Updating your BIOS is easy, in theory. Download the latest ROM from ASUS, put it on a USB thumb drive, insert, and turn on. The EZ-Flash 2 utility is built in, and knows how to read FAT32 disks, USB, or otherwise. You may, however, get the following message after loading the ROM, and confirming that you would like to update:

Error Occurred While Erasing Blocks

Sounds bad, eh? Indeed, but as it turns out, if your ROM file has more than 8 letters in its name, this error can show up even if your BIOS is fine. Of course, ASUS tends to name their files with >8 letter names all the time, so you can arrive at this through no fault of your own. Just rename the file & reboot (you have to reboot, or you still get the message). 

I have to say, this level of quality control does not inspire. Especially, since if you search around you'll see that this problem has been popping up for at least the last year.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

M4A77TD Review first impressions - layout and install

The motherboard comes with 2 SATA cables, 1 ATA cable, a thin backplate, and a thin manual. The motherboard has 6 USB sockets built in, and 3 additional pinouts on the motherboard where you can connect external USB panels (purchased separately), each providing 2 USB sockets. 

Somewhat annoyingly, the box is completely unsealed, so there's no way to make 100% sure you didn't buy somebody's unmarked return. The cables are sealed, however, so you can try to infer from that.

Inserting the motherboard into the case I found two small faults. First, the backplate was made with 'fingers' that press against the IO connectors on the MB, as is typical. These fingers, however, were really 'extended', such that a significant amount of pressure was required to get the MB to slide into place so it could be screwed down. I had to remove the MB twice and bend the fingers back a bit before I could get it screwed down, and even then I needed a second set of hands to apply lateral pressure while I fastened the screws. Annoying, but it was dealt with in a couple minutes. The other notable is that while the M4A77TD claims to be a full ATX, it doesn't quite extend far enough, so one side of the MB is left hanging - the part where the RAM and a few of the HD connectors are. This means that the MB flexes a bit more than necessary when inserting those items. It's not hard to imagine a few MBs get broken during this stage of the install. I put a temporary brace behind the MB to prevent flexing.  Otherwise, installation was easy.

The layout is generally good. I miss the floppy connector, but then I'm a legacy kinda guy: part of the reason I bought this was the serial port (For winlirc). The top PCI slot is right next to the 16x PCIe slot, but both can be used at the same time so long as your video card isn't one of those double wide varieties with a giant cooler. All of the on-board cooling is passive, so there are no fans to make noise or fail.

The BIOS reset jumper is somewhat poorly located, just below the 3rd pci slot, and thus blocked if you use that slot.  Because it's in a cramped spot, it can also be hard to tell if you have the jumper on the right 2 of 3 pins to clear CMOS. Trying to unlock cores generally led to needing to reset CMOS in order to be able to boot again, so I speak from experience!

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Price watch: Cheapest source for the M4A77TD

As of 5/6/2010, the cheapest online source for the M4A77TD is Tiger Direct, at $85 + S&H ($2) - $8 when you using Bing Cashback. This is especially true for those of us who live in California, since Tiger Direct doesn't charge sales tax there. If you don't like Bing cashback, and don't live in CA, then Buy.com has it for $85, with free S&H.

Tiger Direct is where I ordered my M4A77TD from, along with a CPU and RAM. While I liked the price, I'm rather disappointed with how carefully packaged it was - there was some rolled up paper stuffed in the box to keep things from rattling, but other than that there was nothing to protect the items from damage during shipping. The CPU, for instance, was smack up against the side of the box, and because AMD has a little transparent plastic window so you can see the CPU, the only protection the CPU had was 1/4th of an inch of cardboard, and 1/16th of an inch of plastic. Pitiful. Luckily, it all worked, at least for now.

ASUS M4A77TD AM3 770 ATX AMD Motherboard outside review summary

A good AMD motherboard should have at least  the following features: 4 DIMM slots and an AM3 socket. This ASUS M4A77TD motherboard meets those requirements. Other notable specs:

6 SATA, 0 eSATA.
1 PS/2 port
1 COM port
6 USB
No onboard video.
Express Gate - Instant on Linux distro.
Turbo Key (a blast from the past!) use the power button to cycle over-clocking features on or off.
6-core CPU support.
Core unlocking.

There aren't any mainstream reviews of this board.

This blogger has a short post for the PRO version which doesn't say much more than you can learn from reading the specs.Note: I'm discussing the non-PRO version here, which has 1 more SATA, one less eSATA, and no crossfire support.

Newegg has 103 customer reviews.

  • 3 people flat out couldn't get it to work at all;
  • 1 had problems getting windows installed
  • 1 had stability problems 
  • 1 had a failure within first week of use. 
  • 3 people complained about the sound card, but didn't explain why (not Linux users). 2 more said Linux support for the sound card was difficult - they had to make sure they used the latest ALSA drivers. 
  • several people marked their reviews down an 'egg' because it supports legacy ports (COM/PS2, parallel). What idiots. This highlights the problem with trusting newegg reviews. 
The rest of the reviews were positive - a much higher percentage than most MBs sold by newegg.