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stuart
Reply on 10/6/2008,3:51:14 AM     Post#1 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008

Ive recently purchased an A79A-S motherboard to accompany a 2.5GHz 9850BE Phemon, a Sapphire 4850 Radeon, and 4Gb (2x2Gb) 1066MHz Corsair Dominator memory.

This board is proving to be an absolute headache.  Amongst the problems are:

  • Memory: If any of the performance options are chosen, the system will freeze before even completing POST.  If a 1066MHz memory bus is chosen or the option to use EPP data is enabled, the system fails to POST.  All components of the system are specd to work at 1066MHz, and the memory has been tested successfully in a different machine, but the A79A-S will only run at 800MHz.
  • HD Audio: Whilst the HD Audio works correctly under Linux, under Windows XP SP2 or SP3, the system locks on startup if the Foxconn (1.96) or Realtek (2.05) drivers are installed.  With the HD Audio option disabled in the BIOS or without the drivers installed, everything is fine - but I get no sound!
  • USB: Using a standard USB keyboard (a Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro) whilst works correctly on every other machine Ive used, on this board it will fail to initialise approximately one boot in 4.  Unplugging and replugging the device doesnt help.  This happens under both Windows and Linux, suggesting an underlying hardware issue.
  • ACPI: For no good reason I can fathom, Foxconn are still shipping a BIOS with broken DSDT tables:  Running the ACPI tables through Intels standard "iasl" ACPI compiler results in 177 errors and 8 warnings!  Every other system Ive tried has successfully passed this test cleanly.  Might this explain the USB (and even Audio) issues?
I hope someone from Foxconn is reading this, and can suggest if I'm doing something wrong - because right now Im hugely disappointed with the quality of this board, and I will be returning it if no fixes present themselves soon.  Some I can live with, but non-working Audio and USB is a killer :(

P.S. Apostrophes removed - this forum cant seem to accept them...


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PeterUK
Reply on 10/6/2008,7:03:05 AM     Post#2 
Posts 542
Joined: 3/29/2007

Have you installed the AMD Chipset driver?

BIOS update here if that helps:

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/support/downloads.aspx?ProductModel=A79A-S&TypeID=en-us0000003




Case: Cooler Master WaveMaster
MB: FOXCONN P9657AA-8EKRS2H
BIOS: 638F1P51
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz + Coolermaster GeminII + 2 x Zalman ZM-F3 Running @ 299 x 10 @ 3GHz?
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
RAM: 2GB Dual Channel @ 750MHz
1GB KVR800D2N5/1G Kingston
1GB 240DR1G868,NB,B35L Micron Major
VGA: PNY 8800GT 512MB
HDD: Dual Intel ICH8R RAID 5
3 x ST380811AS 160GB RAID 5
Silverstone SST-CFP51S
3 x ST3320620AS 640GB RAID 5
CD/DVD: Optiarc AD7170 eSATA to SATA
OS: XP Professional SP3

638F1P39 lets me set CPU clock @300 (higher is unstable) CPU-Z shows core speed @ 2999MHz ???

638F1P51 only lets me set CPU clock @299 but CPU-Z show core speed @ 3000MHz ???
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stuart
Reply on 10/6/2008,8:30:27 AM     Post#3 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008

Yes, Im using the latest BIOS, the one you mention, and have all of the necessary drivers installed, including the AMD Chipset driver from the CD supplied with the motherboard.

The Device Manager view under Windows shows everything detected and installed correctly, there are no exclamation marks.

When HD Audio is disabled, the Audio devices dont show up and when it is enabled Windows freezes during boot so its not possible to check.

My one thought is that the HDMI Audio driver from the HD48xx Radeon graphics card is somehow interfering with the HD Audio drivers, but surely this is a common configuration.  It also wouldnt explain anything related to the Memory or USB issues.


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PeterUK
Reply on 10/6/2008,1:49:31 PM     Post#4 
Posts 542
Joined: 3/29/2007
 You say it works in Linux so something must be interfering could you try uninstallin HDMI Audio driver to see?

As for your memory not running at 1066MHz have you increased the voltage to it?




Case: Cooler Master WaveMaster
MB: FOXCONN P9657AA-8EKRS2H
BIOS: 638F1P51
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz + Coolermaster GeminII + 2 x Zalman ZM-F3 Running @ 299 x 10 @ 3GHz?
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
RAM: 2GB Dual Channel @ 750MHz
1GB KVR800D2N5/1G Kingston
1GB 240DR1G868,NB,B35L Micron Major
VGA: PNY 8800GT 512MB
HDD: Dual Intel ICH8R RAID 5
3 x ST380811AS 160GB RAID 5
Silverstone SST-CFP51S
3 x ST3320620AS 640GB RAID 5
CD/DVD: Optiarc AD7170 eSATA to SATA
OS: XP Professional SP3

638F1P39 lets me set CPU clock @300 (higher is unstable) CPU-Z shows core speed @ 2999MHz ???

638F1P51 only lets me set CPU clock @299 but CPU-Z show core speed @ 3000MHz ???
Quote Top 
stuart
Reply on 10/7/2008,12:01:39 PM     Post#5 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008
I've disabled the Radeon HDMI driver (e.g. the driver is still installed, but marked as Disabled in Device Manager - which presumably is sufficient) and the system still freezes on Windows boot.

Corsair state that their memory is designed to run at 2.1v(!), but even at this voltage, the system fails to POST with any of the memory performance options set except for "Power Down" set to "Channel", which does allow the system to start.

There's talk of Phenom/790FX/SB750 having issues with multiple 1066MHz DIMMs in single channel here:

http://forums.amd.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=12&threadid=100918&enterthread=y&STARTPAGE=1

... but this isn't substantiated. ASUS are certainly making a lot of the overclocking potential of their board.

To elaborate on the USB issues, approximately 1 boot in 4, none of my USB peripherals work. In these cases, unplugging and replugging devices doesn't even restore power to them. This happens under both Windows and Linux, and Linux reports 'Bus reset failed' and 'Device failed to accept address' errors - but exactly the same hardware works perfectly on 5 other systems. I've tried with and without a Belkin Switch2 USB/DVI/Audio KVM - and there have been cases where switching to the A79A-S kills the connected USB peripherals, whilst switching to the other connected machine wakes them and they work without issues. Switching the connections to reverse which computer is connected to which set of leads doesn't change this behaviour. I repeat that this is not an isolated incident and has happened multiple times, and that it happens with different peripheral combinations with or without the KVM.

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stuart
Reply on 10/7/2008,12:06:19 PM     Post#6 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008
Good grief - the "Reply" and "Fast Reply" boxes now seem to eat carriage returns, and I can't delete posts.

Ill try again with proper formatting...

And, on the subject of problems with the support forum, *please* could someone fix the issue of not being able to use single quotes?!

(Also, anything within angle-brackets seems to be removed too...)

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stuart
Reply on 10/7/2008,12:07:03 PM     Post#7 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008
Strange - using single quotes: 'test' now seems to work...

Looks as if my wish was granted on that one. Now, about that motherboard :)

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stuart
Reply on 10/7/2008,12:23:34 PM     Post#8 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008
... and now I cant even edit the above post without getting a "Server error in "/" Application." error. Possibly some of the machines in the cluster serving this site and misconfigured or broken?

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stuart
Reply on 10/9/2008,3:12:11 AM     Post#9 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008

Hmm - yesterday I installed the trial of Windows Server 2008 to see whether the Vista kernel is also affected, and this also froze on launching the Audio subsystem.

This morning, however, I unplugged all additional peripherals (HD Audio Front Panel Connector, Speaker, Firewire header, USB header, additional SATA drives, Floppy drive) from the board, cleared the CMOS, and tried again - and the audio now worked!

(Note that I've already tried CMOS resets and unplugging the HD Audio connector individually under Windows XP, and this didn't change anything)

This evening I'm going to try plugging each device in one at a time to see if anything brings the problem back again.

(I'm still having problems with USB devices not working after a reboot on occasion, and well as several times where after rebooting or reseting the system has failed to POST, freezing at a blank screen.  There are definite gremlins here still...)


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PeterUK
Reply on 10/9/2008,5:03:51 AM     Post#10 
Posts 542
Joined: 3/29/2007
QUOTE( stuart 10/9/2008 3:12:11 AM )

Hmm - yesterday I installed the trial of Windows Server 2008 to see whether the Vista kernel is also affected, and this also froze on launching the Audio subsystem.

This morning, however, I unplugged all additional peripherals (HD Audio Front Panel Connector, Speaker, Firewire header, USB header, additional SATA drives, Floppy drive) from the board, cleared the CMOS, and tried again - and the audio now worked!

(Note that I've already tried CMOS resets and unplugging the HD Audio connector individually under Windows XP, and this didn't change anything)

This evening I'm going to try plugging each device in one at a time to see if anything brings the problem back again.

(I'm still having problems with USB devices not working after a reboot on occasion, and well as several times where after rebooting or reseting the system has failed to POST, freezing at a blank screen.  There are definite gremlins here still...)


 Its likely that HD Audio Front Panel Connector causing your problem as you need to have a Azalia connector not AC'97.

As for the USB thing you could try disabling the BIOS EHCI Hand-off which is not needed since XP SP2. Also could be down to your PSU as you want a PSU that could power devices even with your PC is powered off.




Case: Cooler Master WaveMaster
MB: FOXCONN P9657AA-8EKRS2H
BIOS: 638F1P51
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz + Coolermaster GeminII + 2 x Zalman ZM-F3 Running @ 299 x 10 @ 3GHz?
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
RAM: 2GB Dual Channel @ 750MHz
1GB KVR800D2N5/1G Kingston
1GB 240DR1G868,NB,B35L Micron Major
VGA: PNY 8800GT 512MB
HDD: Dual Intel ICH8R RAID 5
3 x ST380811AS 160GB RAID 5
Silverstone SST-CFP51S
3 x ST3320620AS 640GB RAID 5
CD/DVD: Optiarc AD7170 eSATA to SATA
OS: XP Professional SP3

638F1P39 lets me set CPU clock @300 (higher is unstable) CPU-Z shows core speed @ 2999MHz ???

638F1P51 only lets me set CPU clock @299 but CPU-Z show core speed @ 3000MHz ???
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stuart
Reply on 10/9/2008,6:00:24 AM     Post#11 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008
The front-panel connector has both AC'97 and HD connectors, and I'm definitely using the HD one (plus, when I tried disconnecting this with XPSP2/3 it alone make no difference).

I've tried the EHCI hand-off in both states, and USB problems persist regardless.

I'm not sure how a PSU providing power when the system is off helps - but I believe that all ATX-compliant PSUs do this for (at least) WoL/WoR purposes. I have a new 650W BeQuiet modular PSU, if that's any help.

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PeterUK
Reply on 10/9/2008,3:13:22 PM     Post#12 
Posts 542
Joined: 3/29/2007
QUOTE( stuart 10/9/2008 6:00:24 AM )
The front-panel connector has both AC'97 and HD connectors, and I'm definitely using the HD one (plus, when I tried disconnecting this with XPSP2/3 it alone make no difference).

I've tried the EHCI hand-off in both states, and USB problems persist regardless.

I'm not sure how a PSU providing power when the system is off helps - but I believe that all ATX-compliant PSUs do this for (at least) WoL/WoR purposes. I have a new 650W BeQuiet modular PSU, if that's any help.


Have you tried going to windows update for the Audio drives? Realtek now have 2.06 out...its like they never stop updating them....

Have you tried changing USB ports?




Case: Cooler Master WaveMaster
MB: FOXCONN P9657AA-8EKRS2H
BIOS: 638F1P51
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz + Coolermaster GeminII + 2 x Zalman ZM-F3 Running @ 299 x 10 @ 3GHz?
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower 650W
RAM: 2GB Dual Channel @ 750MHz
1GB KVR800D2N5/1G Kingston
1GB 240DR1G868,NB,B35L Micron Major
VGA: PNY 8800GT 512MB
HDD: Dual Intel ICH8R RAID 5
3 x ST380811AS 160GB RAID 5
Silverstone SST-CFP51S
3 x ST3320620AS 640GB RAID 5
CD/DVD: Optiarc AD7170 eSATA to SATA
OS: XP Professional SP3

638F1P39 lets me set CPU clock @300 (higher is unstable) CPU-Z shows core speed @ 2999MHz ???

638F1P51 only lets me set CPU clock @299 but CPU-Z show core speed @ 3000MHz ???
Quote Top 
stuart
Reply on 10/9/2008,11:59:20 PM     Post#13 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008
I've tried the 1.96 and 2.05 drivers (which were the latest when I checked the day before yesterday!), but not 2.06...

Yes - all on-board USB ports seem similarly affected. I'll try one of the ports on the front-panel next time it happens to see whether that works or not.

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keithlm
Reply on 10/13/2008,9:16:08 PM     Post#14 
Posts 4
Joined: 10/13/2008
Stuart -- The ONLY issue you listed that I have seen is the fact that it won't read the memory timings using the EPP memory speeds. If you want DDR2-1066 you have to manually set the timing, memory speed, and voltage. If you try to use the "optimized" bios setting for the memory, so supposedly it will read the EPP, it won't POST. I've not had any of the other problems you mention.

====================

BUT I have seen the following:

The CPU fan speed is always on FULL. (I.e., NOISY.) This is with a Zalman 9700 cooler which only has the 3 connector fan not the 4 connector fan... perhaps a 4 connector fan would work?)

ALSO: The HT speed can not be changed in bios. (Up or down.) This makes it so that the the NB can not be lowered to a speed less than 2.0Ghz or 1.8Ghz depending on your CPU's default. Actually it CAN be lowered in the bios but since the NB can never be lower than the HT speed to 2.0Ghz since the NB speed can't be lower than the HT speed. OFTEN you need to decrease the NB and/or HT to get better stability for a higher overclock.)

My 9850 is a "bad" one that must be lowered to 1.8Ghz for the NB/HT to run on another motherboard I own. Luckily on this MB it runs stable at the default 2.0Ghz speed. Otherwise this 2.0Ghz NB speed problem would be messing me up. (I reported it but Foxconn doesn't seem to consider it a "bug" but rather a missing feature.)


AND NOT REALLY A PROBLEM BUT A FYI: The top and bottom PCIe slots #1 and #4 if you only count the x16 slots are the ones they want you to use for x16 are too far apart for a normal crossfire bridge. And if you use #2 or #3 x16 slots then the PCIe x16 pair (1,2 & 3,4) will both drop to x8 speed. This is a pain because my aftermarket video card cooler covers the x1 slot so I have to use the x16 slot so I have to use the 2nd PCIe x16 slot for my x1 hardware raid card. And I use the 3rd for the second video card. So my x16 slots are running at x8.

This is not really a "bug" but I'd have to find an extra long Crossfire bridge AND also a different third party VGA cooler to be able to use the x1 slot and #1/#4 x16 slots for crossfire. Since neither are likely to happen I'll have to be happy with x8. (And I should have just bought a cheaper GX motherboard since I don't benefit from the x16 speeds on this one.) (When I reported this as a problem they didn't seem to understand that long crossfire bridges are not easy to find AND that I wouldn't abandon my hardware based RAID card for their onboard software raid. There does not seem to be a PHYSICAL or ELECTRICAL reason I can't be running slot #1 and #3 in Crossfire at x16 and the #2 x16 slot in x1 mode.)

SADLY the PCIe x16 speed issue and the NB 2.0Ghz speed issue could both be fixed in an BIOS update. But that will probably never happen.


MB: Foxconn A79A-S
BIOS: F06
CPU: Phenom II 940
Memory: Mushkin DDR2-1066 2x2Gb
VGA: 2x 4850
PSU: PC&C 750
HDD: 2x 150 RaptorX on Rocketraid 3120 Raid0
OS: Vista 32/64, Linux, FreeBSD
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stuart
Reply on 10/14/2008,5:58:31 AM     Post#15 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008

Hi Keith,

Thanks for the reply.  My problems are that even if I do tune the voltages, speed, etc. manually, I still can't get the system to POST above 800MHz memory.  Additionally, using AMD's OverDrive utility in Windows results in a maximum CPU frequency of 207MHz, up from 200MHz - not very impressive.

I've solved the audio problem - if "NP NB-SB VC1 Traffic Support" is enabled under 'Advanced Chipset Features' -> 'NB-SB Port Features' then all versions of Windows (and I've tested XP SP2, XP SP3, Vista SP1, and Windows Server 2008) will hard-lock on startup.

Other problems include that if an application or OS has locked a (SATA?) optical drive, then a reboot doesn't unlock the drive.  Worse, with a locked drive pressing the reset switch will take down the system but it will not come back - it has to be powered down before the BIOS will re-initialise.  This may be a design fault with the drives themselves (thought I doubt it - they're Samsung, so not uncomon) - but even if this is the case then the BIOS should work around the problem.

Finally, if the IDE options are used to set the on-board controller to "Legacy IDE" mode, then the system will lock-up with code 0078 on-screen after displaying "Auto-Detecting Secondary Slave device..ATAPI DVD" (or very similar) before it's possible to enter the BIOS.  This means that in this situation, a CMOS reset is the only means of recovery.

The USB problems I reported have also been seen by other people, and reviewers - so this is a definite issue with this board:

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU1Myw2LCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

I'm totally fed up with this abomination of a mainboard - it's clearly either broken or not finished, and Foxconn's support service is almost entirely unresponsive.  As soon as the Asus M3A79-T Deluxe is available again, I'm going to buy one of those as a replacement, and this board gets binned - and suffice to say I'll be recommending against any use of Foxconn products from this point onwards.


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TechOnCall
Reply on 3/26/2009,1:04:11 PM     Post#16 
Posts 8
Joined: 3/26/2009

Dose any one know what's going on with the lack BIOS updates for the A79A-S ?

In AMD OverDrive (2.1.6) I'm not able to use ACC as it is grayed out... using BIOS P07.

Thanks,

Gary




Dragon: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
AMD Phenom II X3 720BE
4GB Crucial Ballistic DDR3 PC3-10600
ATI Radeon HD4850 Toxic OC by Sapphire
WD640GB Black HDD, DVD 22X LiteON
Zalman CNPS9700 CPU Cooler
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W
SilverStone TEMJIN SST-TJ02SW case
LG L203WTX 20.1 LCD monitor
O/S Dual-Boot WinXP Pro and Vista Ultimate 64-bit
MB: A79A-S
BIOS: P07
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stuart
Reply on 3/27/2009,4:37:21 AM     Post#17 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008

The recent BIOS update which added Phenom II support also finally allows memory to run at 1066MHz without requiring a Beta BIOS.  That only took what, only 6 months?

The board is still utterly unreliable in terms of USB devices: I've found a Bluetooth adapter I have which works perfectly in every machine I've used it in, and often works with the Foxconn board too.  However, every 4 boots or so - and only with this Bluetooth adapter installed - the Foxconn board will hard-lock when starting Linux 2.6 or Windows Vista.  Once this happens, removing the adapter doesn't help.  Resetting the system doesn't help.  It takes a complete power-cycle to clear whatever's gone wrong.

(I seem to remember that I encountered this issue before when still running Windows XP, and that Windows XP was able to boot.  Very odd...)

In addition, USB devices of all types plugged in to any port still frequently fail to register at boot and suddenly disappear whilst the machine is powered on, and a reset is required to get them back - no amount of plugging and unplugging in any port helps.

I honestly don't know whether the blame for this should be laid with Foxconn or with Phoenix/AMI (or back with Foxconn for choosing them as a BIOS provider)... but I sincerely believe that this board isn't suitable for the purpose for which it was sold.

I'm now eyeing the Gigabyte MA790XT-UD4P on the basis of being (i) not from Foxconn, and (ii) one of the few (only?) 790FX boards which doesn't have a Phoenix/AMI BIOS.

... or I might just sidestep all of these problems and incompatibilities and save-up for a Mac Pro <sigh>

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TechOnCall
Reply on 3/28/2009,5:29:26 PM     Post#18 
Posts 8
Joined: 3/26/2009

Hi Stuart,

I know what you mean about the A79A-S M/B. I've had issues with mine since I bought it 8/22/2008. I have called, e-mailed, and written to Foxconn about many an issue and I guess they just don't care about AMD M/B's, but when you look at the Intel side their always posting updates for those boards. I had one tech tell me "why don't you just get an Intel M/B".

As for the updates on the BIOS side of things again its' up to each mft. to write the code for each board, so all I can do is wait and hope they decide to post a good BIOS for this board. I'll have the last say in this matter though.... I WILL NEVER BUY FOXCONN AGAIN !

I have a new Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P board and I like it very much... see my signature.

Best- Tech




Dragon: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
AMD Phenom II X3 720BE
4GB Crucial Ballistic DDR3 PC3-10600
ATI Radeon HD4850 Toxic OC by Sapphire
WD640GB Black HDD, DVD 22X LiteON
Zalman CNPS9700 CPU Cooler
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W
SilverStone TEMJIN SST-TJ02SW case
LG L203WTX 20.1 LCD monitor
O/S Dual-Boot WinXP Pro and Vista Ultimate 64-bit
MB: A79A-S
BIOS: P07
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stuart
Reply on 3/29/2009,1:59:23 AM     Post#19 
Posts 12
Joined: 10/6/2008

Ah - that's the board I meant!

I don't suppose you've ever tried to boot Linux (even from a LiveCD?) on the Gigabyte board?

I've been looking for someone to send me (srcshelton@gmail.com) the output from the 'dmesg' command, to see whether the many issues with the Foxconn board are common amongst all SB750 boards (and therefore likely an AMD chipset issue) or unique to the A79A-S (and therefore a Foxconn/AMI problem)...



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TechOnCall
Reply on 3/29/2009,1:24:58 PM     Post#20 
Posts 8
Joined: 3/26/2009
Hi Stuart, I have not used Linux so I'm not much help. It's not common with all SB750 chipsets... I have to other M/B's and they don't have this issue. Sorry- Tech


Dragon: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P
AMD Phenom II X3 720BE
4GB Crucial Ballistic DDR3 PC3-10600
ATI Radeon HD4850 Toxic OC by Sapphire
WD640GB Black HDD, DVD 22X LiteON
Zalman CNPS9700 CPU Cooler
PC Power & Cooling S61EPS 610W
SilverStone TEMJIN SST-TJ02SW case
LG L203WTX 20.1 LCD monitor
O/S Dual-Boot WinXP Pro and Vista Ultimate 64-bit
MB: A79A-S
BIOS: P07
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