Sorry if this seemed like a bit of a ramble If anyone wonders where all my enthusiasm for a small system has come from, I stumbled across the following website & felt inspired
![asus m4a88t m sound card issue asus m4a88t m sound card issue](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1MGS8XsvrK1Rjy0Feq6ATmVXar/Second-hand-Free-shipping-100-original-for-for-asus-M4A88T-M-LE-AM3-DDR3-Desktop-Boards.jpg)
However, obviously, a standard board means that upgrading the CPU would be much easier. Budget-wise, the embedded CPU seems to be the way to go. The main issue I'm trying to decide upon is whether to go for a motherboard with an embedded CPU or not. I guess I could see if an actual Xbox wireless adaptor can work with a standard computer (after all, it connects via USB) which would give me an option when it comes to selecting my motherboard. Whether to replicate a mock Xbox wireless adaptor is something I haven't decided yet, or I could hide a wireless antenna under a mock Xbox HDD cover. I'm tempted to try & keep the Xbox back panel looking "stock" so that would necessitate a wireless keyboard & mouse. The main issue I could foresee would be the power requirements although I'm hopeful of somehow tweaking the Xbox's power input - I haven't actually opened the Xbox yet to see how the power gets to the board. I figure I could use the DVD drive already in the case, I have a spare HDD or two knocking about that I could use. I would start with an initial 2Gb RAM, most likely upgrading at some point. I was thinking of using an Atom dual core CPU board (perhaps this one) :
#Asus m4a88t m sound card issue Pc
Yes, it's not much of a leap between a games console and a PC which would lessen any element of surprise but I think it still has a slightly curious "woah!" factor. Having (unwittingly) bought a modded (original style) Xbox 360 - unwittingly as the item description made no mention of having the optical drive replaced - which has subsequently died gives me a decent sized alternative. I still want to build a "surprise" system though - ie put a fully functional computer inside something that you wouldn't necessarily associate with a working desktop PC - so this leads me to another option.
![asus m4a88t m sound card issue asus m4a88t m sound card issue](https://www.asus.com/media/global/products/sNulGeJFLdRKG3Wv/P_setting_fff_1_90_end_600.png)
Having toyed with the idea of gutting a "boombox" stereo player and building a mini-ITX powered system inside that casing, I have decided against that - mainly due to the fact that even using the mini-ITX form factor boards it would be a very tight squeeze.
![asus m4a88t m sound card issue asus m4a88t m sound card issue](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51LC2ibSv2L.jpg)
Works great and most of the components are over four years old now (except for the motherboard, second and third hard drives, GFX card, case, DVD burner) Monitor: SAMSUNG 941BW Black 19" 4ms (GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor - also four years old, recently got one dead pixel in the lower center, but it's been doing fine other than that. Optical: LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner w/ SecurDisc Tech Black SATA, and a regular OEM IDE dvd burner (it's ok LG is much better though)Ĭase: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Speakers: Logitech X-230 32 watts RMS 2.1 Black Speaker System Sound: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card HDDs: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM, Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA, Western Digital Elements 1.5TB External Hard Drive video card cooling: ZALMAN VF1000 2 Ball VGA Cooler GFX: XFX PVT88PYHE4 GeForce 8800GT Extreme 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Not OC'd now with new MB.ĬPU Fan: ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink On my old MB it was oc'd to 2.7 with a Zalman cooler. Mobo: ASUS P5QL/EPU LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel MotherboardĬPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 65W - Old, but solid. PSU: XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W - been running almost always on for over four years now.
![asus m4a88t m sound card issue asus m4a88t m sound card issue](https://sm.pcmag.com/t/pcmag_au/photo/p/pci-expres/pci-express-slots_ywh6.1024.jpg)
it's running just fine, has been for years too. KitGuru says: A compact board that is reasonably well featured and good value for money.I built my desktop. This makes it quite good value for money but we feel it is worth the small amount extra for the USB3 version which can be purchased for £68 at Ebuyer as it will help to future proof your machine. You can buy the M4A88T-M for a shade over £57 at Ebuyer. But the automatic 10% overclock option in the BIOS yielded and impressive performance boost compared to stock settings.
#Asus m4a88t m sound card issue software
It provides a reasonable amount of overclocking headroom, despite lacking the software functionality that was present with the other two boards we looked at recently. The lack of these two features isn't likely to cause issue for many users, though, as USB3.0 adoption rates are still quite low and those using hard drives rather than high performance SSDs won't notice much of a performance difference.īeing a Micro-ATX motherboard, the M4A88T-M is perfect for an HTPC or compact system. Without these we can't really say that it's a great board – just a good board. The Asus M4A88T-M motherboard is a reasonably well featured board for the price but we would have definitely given it a higher overall rating if it supported USB3.0 and SATA 6Gbps.