Foxconn A79A-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard

Pros: well I have 2 computer built with this mobo and they are on 24/7 and still going strong

Cons: Hard to find 6 core cpu now in June 2012

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valuable customer,

Thank you for purchasing Foxconn products and taking the time to provide us with valuable feedback. Your business is appreciated.

Best regards,
Foxconn support team

Pros: I've had 6 of these boards running (some for over a year) and have had no problems with any of them. First flash them with the newest BIOS and then they will run AM2+ CPUs up to and including the Phenom X6. All are running Win7-64 and are rock stable. XP-64 runs perfectly too. Some have 4x2GB DIMMs and that works well too, although running 4 DIMMs on any board requires that they be compatible. On 4 of the A79A-S boards I'm running a combination of AMD and NVidia GPUs with no issues.

Cons: Some of the BIOS settings may be a bit cryptic for beginners. There is a lot of BIOS control and that means a certain level of complexity.

Other Thoughts: I've built hundreds of PCs since the days of the 8088 and I can honestly say that this is the best board I've ever worked with. If you have problems search for one of the forums that deal specifically with the A79A-S and I think you'll find peace :)

Pros: good solid board. have had it for a few years now.

Cons: foxconnsupport.com is an utter travesty. On the rare occasion you *ARE* able to get the domain name resolved and the page loaded, you rarely are able to download ANYTHING (BIOS, drivers, manual, etc) and are redirected to a page with a fancy graphic saying the network is busy and to try again later. If, by some small miracle you ARE able to download anything, it never speeds along faster than 30k/s. If they put half the effort into their site's functionality as they did on this graphic it wouldn't be such a spectacular trainwreck and I wouldn't be writing this. EPIC FAIL!!!!!

Other Thoughts: This problem alone has kept me from buying any more Foxconn boards because what good are they if you can't update them???

I've tried this with Firefox, IE, Safari. I've used Google's DNS and that sometimes helps. I've also become quite adept at flushing my DNS cache on CentOS, OS X, and Windows 7 because of this nightmare. By the way, it's been like this for YEARS!!!

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Valued Customer,
We apologize for the experience you had with our website.
Maybe the website station is unstable,we had feedback it to relevant departments and they had fix it.Please try to download it once again.And you can try to the other language station:
Global:http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000401
American:http://www.foxconnchannel.com/en-us/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-gb0000261
And if it can not fix your issue,please contact with us,we will email it to you.
Please contact us directly at Foxconn online contact system(http://www.foxconnsupport.com/inquiry.aspx)
Best Regards
Foxconn Technical Support

Pros: Best AM2+ motherboard I have ever owned great overclocker. I love this board so much I bought 3

and all work perfect running a AMD 955 BE at 4.2ghz for benching and 3.8ghz the rest of the time 24/7 rock solid no crash. wish newegg would sell more.
got new bios update to run the Phenom!! X6 cpu on a over 2 years old board , maybe not the best customer service but that still very good

Cons: none that I ever saw.
well website is slow to load.

Other Thoughts: Foxconn A79A-S
AMD Phenom II 955 BE @ 3.8ghz
2 X ATI Radeon HD 4890 in crossfireX
2 X WD 500gb HD in Raid 0
750watts PC&C PSU
custom water cooling

Pros: product is good but their support is junk.

Cons: As I said, it cant support win7. I always got an unknown devices on the system list. Checked with their tech support and got the reply
"The A79A-S is not designed for win 7,so we have not provided drives fro win 7.And when you install or use win 7 ,there may be some problems.
So,Pls use XP or vista OS."
What a joke!! I would recommend everyone stay way from this junk company!
Our win 7 support products"

Pros: Been running the system on an x2 6000+ without issues for quite a while now. Runs solid!

Cons: none so far.

Other Thoughts: upgrading to Phenom II x6

Pros: if you have more than 4GB of DDR2 ram and just do not want to send $150 or more to get DDR3 (for that small performance upgrade) then this is the mother board for you. I have the new Phenom II X6 1055t installed and it works great. leaving the voltage at stock you can hit 3.6 GHz. this motherboard will also do crossfire (up to four cards) but for me it will be crossfire (two cards) plus a Nvidia for physix (with the Nvidia mod I have had no problems).

Cons: the bios will be out of date (your x6 will probable not work)
you need to be able to get your hand on a older am3 or am2 cpu to do a bios update. then your new 6 core cpu will work. for some this will be the deal breaker.

Pros: Specs look good on Paper and seemed like a good deal

Cons: Doesn't reconize my Phenom 9600 Processor so I had to set it manually. Died after 3 months and tech support is pathetic. Online tech support told me to change this and do that, and if still a problem contact this guy in CA.

Other Thoughts: The guy for the RMA will not return your calls. If you absolulty want this MB buy the Newegg Replacement policy with it. Wish I did.

Pros: Foxconn has released a new BIOS update (first public one in over a year") on their website with allows this board to recognize the new Phenom II X6 processors and the new C3 stepping CPU's as well. Better late than never. My system is still running stable, cool, and fast with this motherboard and I still thing it's one of the best deals out there for a great crossfire x AMD board for those with DDR2 memory.

Cons: None except that when the new AMD Bulldozer chips are released next year, it will require a new AM3 board with DDR3 RAM. Maybe by then, I can find a great deal on a board to replace this one!

Other Thoughts: The new BIOS fixed alot of issues but the multiplier adjustment and CPU core voltage adjustment are quite different than most (HEX for multiplier and core voltage by .024v steps). Does take some getting used to but this board is awesome and will do fine until I take the Bulldozer/DDR3 plunge next year.

AMD Phenom II 720 with Zalman 9700NT cooler
Foxconn A79A-S
4 GB Corsair XMS 2 RAM
Seagate 7200.12 500GB hdd
XFX Radeon HD 4890
Antec 902 case
Corsair 750 TX psu
Windows 7 Home Premium

W.E.I.: CPU-7.0
RAM-7.6
Graphics-7.7, 7.7
Hard Disk-5.9

Pros: None yet

Cons: The board was DOA but like it's layout buying another and RMA this one. Have one unhappy grandson unless he uses mine to play LTOR.
So he bugs me to play on mine.
Hve bought a lot of things from newegg so not worried about replacement. Just had to buy another to avoid the wait.