apvm

I know this thread is old but I just got this motherboard yesterday to pair it with a Phenom II X2 545, flashed to latest bios and yes it can unlock cores and overclock too...very stable board if you ask me....among the trio....this one....Gigabyte MA770T and MSI 770-C45...(I have dealt with all three), they are about the same, it is between Gigabyte and Asus for the top spot.

The main reasons are MSI 770-C45 is not offically 140W certified and build feature is not as solid as the other two...ie 2 oz copper, 8+1 phase etc. Nonetheless it is the best choice for budget build...ie pair it with Athlon II X2, X4 and Phenom II X2 cpu, you can't go wrong with 770-C45

Asus has the most clearance between cpu and 1st DIMM slot...I have a Kingwin Direct pipe tower heatsink +fan and it will block 2 DIMM slots on both MSI and Gigabyte but it only block 1 DIMM slot on the Asus. Odd thing is it has a parallel port while they cut 1 PS/2 port ie only 1 P/S port for the keyboard, also no floppy controller...imo why the parallel port, I can understand the floppy controller but why parallel port instead of firewire or two additional USB port? The Crossfire is marketing imo, who is going to do x8 crossfire on a budget board? Forgot to mention it has esata port at back while the other two has none.

Gigabyte on the other hand has firewire but the bad point is its NB heatsink, push it and it'll move.

Since Gigabyte and Asus are priced very close and both are good solid board, it come down to if you need esata get the Asus but if you want firewire get the Gigabyte. If money is tight and don't need esata or firewire get the MSI.