Gigabyte AM3+ AMD DDR3 1333 760G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Motherboard

I am a PC technician by career, so I have a lot of experience with various motherboards and system equipment. This is by far my favorite motherboard for low/mid builds, and I will use it faithfully in my builds until it becomes outdated. I initially ordered this Gigabyte motherboard to use in my personal PC build along with the FX-4300 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 ti, and I have been continuously pleased with this reliable and easy-to-use product. The motherboard has operated seamlessly through several hardware changes, two OS reloads, and a complete system transfer to a new PC case.Hardware:This motherboard is extremely durable and doesn't bend easily. I have swapped out several different GPUs, RAM sticks, and CPUs, and even moved the motherboard to a new PC case, and there isn't a hint of wear or tear on the motherboard. The ports on the motherboard are fairly standard, with 2 USB 3.0 ports, 4 USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, DVI, and VGA. I haven't experienced any issues with ports becoming loose or unresponsive.BIOS:the BIOS of this motherboard is very intuitive and easy to navigate. The BIOS accurately displays the temp of the CPU, and there are a multitude of useful features that will come in handy for overclockers and control enthusiasts.Software:The chipset installed seamlessly from the CD and I haven't experienced compatibility issues in regards to USB devices or internal hardware. Plug-and-play compliant devices are able to properly retrieve drivers, with the exception of using an Xbox 360 Controller through a USB 3.0 port. I have not had an opportunity to test other controllers, but the Xbox 360 Controller will not work through the USB 3.0 ports on this motherboard.Utilities:This motherboard has tons of useful features, especially if you're interested in overclocking or maintaining control over temperatures or clock speeds. There are health utilities in the BIOS which are useful for keeping track of hardware health (I haven't had any components fail, so I don't know how accurate these readings are), and even cautionary utilities that will alert you if the CPU or other components are getting too hot. When using programs such as HWMonitor or Speedfan, there are 3 unlabeled temperatures pertaining to motherboard components that always display as too warm or hot. I have not been able to find any information about these 3components, so the readings are either false or irrelevant. These unknown temps are not necessarily cause for concern, but it's worth mentioning anyways.BREAKDOWNPros: Intuitive BIOS, useful utilities, and durable design.Cons: Potential USB 3.0 device identification issues, unlabeled temperatures in 3rd-party sensor programs.I have been pleasantly surprised with this motherboard, and would recommend it for almost any build. It worksflawlessly for my personal gaming/media build, and its low cost and ease-of-use make it a reasonable choice for gamers, enthusiasts, seasoned builders, and even those who are new at building PCs. You'll be hard pressed to find a better motherboard in this price range.

Everyone can read product specs on their own so I'm not going ramble on and on with tech details. And if you're concerned at all with a few negative comments you may see scattered on Amazon, also check the reviews on Tiger and Newegg which tend to have more tech savvy reviews. You'll find plenty of good reviews there.Okay, my comments on this board. This mobo has a very solid feel to it. A quick visual inspection shows the quality you'd expect from Gigabyte. I bought it to pair with the AMD3+ FX-6100 processor and 8Gb of Corsair memory. Also, I installed Ubuntu 12.10 which I'm surprised to say I love. Enough tech.It was absolutely the easiest board I've ever installed. It's well marked and everything in my opinion is in an easily accessed place. The cpu/heatsink mount works smoothly and makes a really snug fit without feeling like you're going to snap something off. It was great having an old faithful IDE header so I could use my two favorite optical drives I've been using for years. It was also good to know there's connections for so many device types, should I need them. And yes, it's true, the SATA is 2, not 3. And I do not care. Seriously, if SATA2 is a deal breaker for you, it's pretty unlikely you'll be shopping this mobo in the first place. AND if you do a little reading and research you'll know that almost nothing on the market right now fully utilizes the ability of a SATA2 hard drive, much less a SATA3 so you folks that act so indignant about this board only having SATA2 should take a deep breath, have a cup of tea, and stop terrifying the people who are reading reviews.One reviewer referred to this mobo as "old". It's not. It's for folks like myself who need to move up from what they're using but still need support for some legacy devices. It's still in production and a good seller.One reviewer referred to it as "pricey". Pricey??? It's about $55 after the rebate. You can hardly buy two sticks of memory for that.If you're a gamer then you probably don't need this board. I don't know for sure because I am not a gamer.If you want a fast, solid, quality board that supports a variety of old and new devices at a bargain price, this is it.One last thing. Moving to the computer I built with this board from my old dual core is astonishing. Opening, saving, closing, editing any file of any size seems instantaneous. It's nothing but stars for me.

I have been having problems with windows 7 not coming out of sleep mode I have had many techs look at it with no solution they tried everything. I put this badboy in and about an hour later it was up and running. I couldn't get the Computer to power up at first (thought I had a bad Board) but after a little research I found that if you unplug the power cord and hold the power button for one minute, The Computer fired right up. I did have to reinstall windows 7 (Always backup before a major install). The Instructions are clear and If you can't figure them out You shouldn't be doing it yourself. As for the noise issue I have only one complaint. the CPU smart fan control in the PC health settings does not seem to work. It is enabled yet the fan runs at full speed constantly. The board at 30 degrees (C) even after hours of use, I just wish I could slow the fan down so that I would be more quiet. I will just move the pc under the desk instead of on top and I will get the same result. Definately not a deal breaker. As for performance all the drivers installed properly and the New RAm And Graphics cards have had no problems. Windows experience ratings have increased across the board which I think is due to a more efficient board than what I had (an old POS). As for those gremlins that were causing me problems with start up, sleep and shut down, this board seems to have run them off. Overall you can't beet this board for the Price.I believe that I have figured out the fan noise problem. If you are running system and CPU fans that have a three pin connector then the fan control function of the board will not work. I am ordering four Pin fans for the system which should correct the problem.