ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 USB 3.0 ATX Motherboard + TuneUp Utilities (1-User) + Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus 2013 (1-User) $95 + Free Shipping

[QUOTE=Varaxis;53055082]My board's "Good Night LED" was set to "Auto".

If click sleep, there won't be any lights on, but I know for sure when I go to turn the system on after a few hours later, the power LED is pulsing (slowly getting brighter, staying bright for a sec, then fading to dark, and repeats).

[QUOTE]

Thanks for looking into this for me. I'm a bit confused, are all LED lights on your case (power and hd) off when you go into sleep mode? You mentioned something bout a pulsing light, what does this refer to?

No lights in sleep mode for a certain period of time after going to sleep. Maybe after going into a "deeper" sleep, after a certain amount of time, I guess that's when the LED starts pulsing, maybe to let you know it's in sleep mode and not shut down.

What's wrong with VIA sound chips? Do they have nothing to compare with the higher end Realtek in this? There are low end Realteks too, that have rather poor SNR.

Quote from Varaxis : No lights in sleep mode for a certain period of time after going to sleep. Maybe after going into a "deeper" sleep, after a certain amount of time, I guess that's when the LED starts pulsing, maybe to let you know it's in sleep mode and not shut down. What's wrong with VIA sound chips? Do they have nothing to compare with the higher end Realtek in this? There are low end Realteks too, that have rather poor SNR.

Ah I gotcha, so after X hours it still pulses in sleep mode. Back in 2003 I had an Asus AMD board with the Via chipset. It was a terrible board I just didn't want to take the chance again. I guess I can take back the Asus and try the Gigabyte if Microcenter will allow me otherwise will just keep my old setup with my C2D for now. I don't game (no SLI needed) but wanted the better processor for video encoding. I also need 6 SATA ports for the 4 HDs and 2 DVD drives I have.

The other thing I noticed with my Asus is that after waking from sleep mode, it takes around 10 seconds to get into the desktop. On my Gigabyte boards it goes instanteously after you press enter.

Got mine the other day. It wasn't shrink wrapped or had any kind of seal. At the same time, it for sure does not look used either. It's just how they package stuff now. Even expensive DSLRs and mid-range point and shoot cameras are not sealed.

Was able to set up my rig tonight. Motherboard works fine even though I initially had concerns with the packaging. I guess, like Dealseaker said, it's normal nowadays.

BTW, got this one for $54.99 - STEAL.