Busting into the BIOS
Asus can usually be relied upon to load a BIOS up with more than enough tweaking and overclocking options, and the M4A79T and M4N82 are perfect examples of why. The boards have nearly identical BIOS layouts and options, as if Asus has a block of code it cuts and pastes into the BIOS of every new mobo.

Asus M4A79T Deluxe Asus M4N82 Deluxe
Clock speeds Base: 200-600MHz in 1MHz increments
DRAM: 800,1066,1333,1600MHz
PCIe: 100-150MHz in 1MHz increments
CPU/NB: 800-3600MHz in 200MHz increments
HT: 200-2600MHz in 200MHz increments 		Base: 200-600MHz in 1MHz increments
DRAM: 667,800,1066MHz
PCIe: 100-200MHz in 1MHz increments
CPU/NB: 800-3600MHz in 200MHz increments
HT: 200-2600MHz in 200MHz increments
Multipliers CPU: 8X-35X in 0.5X increments CPU: 8X-35X in 0.5X increments
Voltages CPU: 0.8-1.7V in 0.0125V increments
CPU NB: 0.8-1.55V in 0.0125V increments
 CPU VDDA: 2.5-2.8V in 0.1V increments
DRAM: 1.5-2.5V in 0.02V increments
HT: 1.2-1.5V in 0.02V increments
NB: 1.1-1.4V in 0.02V increments
NB 1.8: 1.8-2.0V in 0.2V increments
SB: 1.2-1.35V in 0.15V increments 		CPU: 0.8-1.75V in 0.0125V increments
CPU NB: 0.8-1.55V in 0.0125V increments
 CPU VDDA: 2.5-2.8V in 0.1V increments
DRAM: 1.8-2.5V in 0.02V increments
HT: 1.2-1.5V in 0.02V increments
NB: 1.1-1.4V in 0.02V increments
nForce 200: 1.2-1.5V in 0.01V increments
Monitoring Voltage, fan status, and temperature Voltage, fan status, and temperature
Fan speed control CPU, system CPU, system

Prospective Phenom II overclockers are best off turning up the multiplier on an unlocked Black Edition processor. However, these boards also offer plenty of control over base clock speeds for those whose CPUs have locked upper multipliers. It's possible to adjust the CPU north bridge, HyperTransport, and PCI Express clocks, as well.


Overclockers will also want to pay attention to the voltage options available on each board. The M4N82 offers a slightly higher CPU voltage ceiling, but the M4A79T's 1.7V is more than enough juice to get you into trouble. Otherwise, the boards' voltage ranges are nearly identical. You can even key in voltages manually rather than having to select them from a long list. This convenient capability also makes its way into the BIOS's base and PCIe clock controls.


The M4N82 has built-in multipliers to take DDR2 memory up to 1066MHz, while the M4A79T is equipped to bring DDR3 all the way up to 1600MHz. Both BIOSes are loaded with timing options, including command rate controls.


Asus does a pretty good job with overclocking and memory tweaking options, but it could stand to pay more attention to automatic fan speed controls. The BIOSes allow users to choose between silent, optimal, and performance fan speed profiles for the CPU and system fan headers. The CPU fan can also be switched between three- and four-pin modes. However, there's no way to define fan voltages manually or to target CPU or system temperatures.


Although having eight configuration profiles available in the BIOS is probably overkill, it's nice that Asus provides support for different configurations. You'll want to save a stable config at stock speeds before dabbling in overclocking or more extensive tweaking.

Specifics on specifications
As usual, we've consolidated vital motherboard specifications in a handy chart. There isn't much to see here that we haven't already discussed.

Asus M4A79T Deluxe Asus M4N82 Deluxe
CPU support Socket AM3-based Athlon, Phenom processors Socket AM2/3-based Athlon, Phenom processors
Chipset AMD 790FX/SB750 Nvidia nForce 980a SLI/nForce 200
Interconnect PCI Express 2.0 (2GB/s) NA
Expansion slots 4 PCI Express x16
2 32-bit/33MHz PCI 		3 PCI Express x16
1 PCI Express x1
2 32-bit/33MHz PCI
Memory 4 240-pin DIMM sockets
Maximum of 8GB of DDR3-800/1066/133/1600 SDRAM 		4 240-pin DIMM sockets
Maximum of 16GB of DDR2-667/800/1066 SDRAM
Storage I/O Floppy disk
1 channel ATA/133
5 channels 300MB/s Serial ATA with RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 support 		Floppy disk
1 channel ATA/133
5 channels 300MB/s Serial ATA with RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 support
Audio 8-channel HD audio via Realtek ALC1200 codec 8-channel HD audio via Realtek ALC1200 codec
Ports 1 PS/2 keyboard
1 PS/2 mouse
1 eSATA
6 USB 2.0 with headers for 6 more
1 RJ45 10/100/1000 via Realtek RTL8112
1 1394a Firewire via VIA VT6315N with header for 1 more

 1 analog front out
 1 analog bass/center out
1 analog rear out
1 analog surround out
1 analog line in
1 analog mic in
1 digital S/PDIF out (TOS-Link)
 1 digital S/PDIF out (coaxial) 		1 PS/2 keyboard
1 PS/2 mouse
1 eSATA
6 USB 2.0 with headers for 6 more
1 RJ45 10/100/1000 via Realtek RTL8211CL
1 1394a Firewire via VIA VT6315N with header for 1 more

 1 analog front out
 1 analog bass/center out
1 analog rear out
1 analog surround out
1 analog line in
1 analog mic in
1 digital S/PDIF out (TOS-Link)
 1 digital S/PDIF out (coaxial)