Test setup

CPU: Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition @ 3.2ghz
RAM: 4gb Corsair DDR3
HDD: 250gb WD 7200rpm SATA HDD
Optical drive: LG Bluray/HDDVD Multidrive
CPU cooler: Coolermaster Hyper TX3
PSU: Hiper Type-R 580w
GPU: Gainward GTX260


M4A89GTD PRO/USB3.

Installation

Installation was very easy. I've used many AMD systems in the past and since the advent of Socket 939 have always liked their retention system. The install took place on a bench so the combination of the boards size plus its decent layout helped. This meant that the whole build was complete in no more than 10 minutes.

Overclocking

Overclocking with AMD and some of the current boards is a little hit and miss in my experience but i can definitely say that this isn't the case with the M4A89GTD PRO/USB3. It was very straight forward and made all the more simple by the inbuilt Turbo Key II switch that i mentioned earlier in the review. This allows the M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 to essentially decide on the best 'stable' overclock.

With the Phenom II X2 555 in place the board instantly pushed the chip from its default clock of 3.2ghz all the way to 3.712ghz.

I benched and tested this to find that the system was indeed stable.

I then decided to see if i could push further so entered the M4A89GTD PRO/USB3's bios and simply nudged the FSB up to 250mhz (with the chips 16x multiplier this should return a 4ghz clockspeed), whilst there i also pushed the DDR3's speed to just over its rated 1600mhz speed. Since it was running slacker timings i figured it should be able to manage this easily.

Despite this simple approach to the overclock i found it booted and worked like a charm. It may need to be tweaked but at this clock i suffered no system stability issues and all tests completed without a hitch.

Having successfully managed a 4ghz clock with the chip i tried the boards other clever feature. The onboard Core Unlocker offers users the opportunity to try to unlock dormant cores within their beloved dual and tri-core cpu's.

Apologies in advance for the history lesson...

Most of the early dual and tri-core chips were simply the natural product of failed quad core product lines where poor yields had led to non functioning cores. These chips were therefore sold as dual and tri-cores since there extra cores were either faulty or non functional. Fortunately for us yeilds are much better these days whilst demand for the lower core (cheaper) models has continued meaning these good quads are still used as dual and tri-cores. Consequently boards like the M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 we have here have the ability to unlock these dormant cores and essentially upgrade our lowly chip to a fully fledged quad core.

Now onto the 'magic' switch! Chip in, switch on and power her up... lo and behold i now have a 3.2ghz quad core at my disposal. It was a simple as that!!!


Switches flicked and LED's on - we're in business!

Testing seemed to suggest it was stable too so i rebooted and tried my luck with the Turbo Key II - the result was a stable 3.456ghz quad core.

Amazing since for that i had done absolutely nothing in the bios - i'd simply flicked two switches!


Impressive temperatures - especially with the clocked and unlocked quad core.

Sound

The ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3’s PWM fan control was excellent just like the last batch of ASUS boards i've tested. It barely throttled up during very high load which was nice to see - it simply worked hard enough to maintain decent temperatures. The boards passive design further lends itself to quiet running although some may wonder if it does enough to keep the board cool - i can confirm that despite the lack of fans the boards heatsinks never became more that warm to the touch. The warmest component was the southbridge heatsink but it never got close to being too hot to touch.