Intel Motherboard | AMD Motherboard

The AMD 785G chipset that lies at the heart of the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO is an update to the AMD 780G that launched early in 2008 where the AMD 785G is a relatively minor update of 780G. The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard supports AMD Socket AM3 multi-core processors with unique L3 cache and delivers better overclocking capabilities with less power consumption and AMD CPUs in the 45nm manufacturing process. It features up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 1333 memory support and accelerates data transfer rate up to 5200MT/s via HyperTransport 3.0 based system bus. The layout of this AMD mainboard clearly has areas where it could be improved, such as the IDE port that's angled into the board and low down on the PCB will make getting a cable neatly to the optical drives almost impossible. Then, there are the 4-pin power connector right at the top of the board nestled by the heatsinks. Outside of a case this is easy to use, but when in a built system it will sit right under the PSU or case roof, proving it almost impossible to unclip. Finally, there's the five SATA ports that are just lumped together, despite the fact there's enough space to stick them at 90 degrees along the board edge. With these negatives out the way, the rest of the design deserves credit, like the headers for front panel audio and USB sit at the bottom of the board and are easy to identify, the DDR3 slots are well above the PCI-Express slot. The passive coolers on the power regulation hardware, Northbridge and Southbridge look superb. They are swoopy blue aluminium items that look the part and, more importantly, they do a good job. ASUS has found the space for three PCI slots as well as COM1 and LPT headers but you don't get a floppy. ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard also has three PCI slots, but there are still x16, x4 and x1 slots available for PCI-Express cards. The rear I/O panel of this AMD motherboard is packed out with tons of connectors including six USB 2.0, one eSATA, one 6-pin Firewire, a RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet socket, PS2 keyboard, optical S/PDIF out, HDMI, DVI, d-sub, and six 3.5mm audio jacks providing the 7.1 channel surround sound as well as microphone and line inputs. While there's certainly enough for most of us, be aware of the AMD 785G chipset limitation where you cannot use both DVI and HDMI digital outputs simultaneously. ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard has a little plastic header that you connect the case lights and buttons to the header, then plug the header on the board. It's a little thing, but a real timesaver. Without the CPU-Northbridge multiplier adjustment in the BIOS, you're limited in the amount of HyperTransport overclocking available. The bottom line is that the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO is really a very good motherboard at the right price, but just drops short in our expectations of an outright recommendation.

Check the latest AMD motherboards price list:
	:	ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO - Motherboard - ATX - 785G (BU1850)
	:	ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO ATX AMD Motherboard

Labels: AMD, ASUS

ASUS Rampage III Extreme is one of X48-based Intel motherboards which is the latest offering from ASUS marketed towards the performance user or overclocking enthusiast. The ASUS Rampage III Extreme is a work of art. Following the standard red and black ASUS ROG design, the heatsinks certainly are incredible. The area surrounding the CPU socket even has the caps in a nice triangular pattern and there are holes for both 1366 coolers and 775 coolers. So, you can bring your old cooler along when you upgrade, and for the extreme overclockers who have a LN2 pot custom designed, to be able to use that instead of getting a new one fabricated is a boon. The LN2 switch of this ASUS mainboard will helps recover the processor from the frozen state that can occur when you've been using exotic cooling for too long. ASUS Rampage III Extreme mainboard has a couple of fantastic things. Firstly the ProbeIt which allows you to accurately check the current voltages using a multimeter. Above those are four dip switches for turning on and off the PCI-E lanes. These dip switches allow you to diagnose PCI Express problems without removing all your cards or, even worse, draining your loop. All PCI-E expansion ports of this Intel Mainboard are very nicely spaced out and it's good to see the old PCI-E x1 that used to be at the top of every expansion port layout has been eliminated. The more airflow the better and as PCI-E x1 never took off it's nice to see it has gone. The rear IO panel of the ASUS Rampage III Extreme has all the things just like another high-end Intel motherboards, such as PS2, CMOS reset, USB 2 ports, USB3 ports, LAN, Firewire, eSATA, Audio and the ROG Connect. As we'd expect from any ASUS product, the accessories included are bountiful. We have the user guide and CD, the IO shield, a ROG Connect cable and the Bluetooth ROG Connect should you have a Bluetooth PDA to hand. A full selection of connectors is included, like standard SATA cables and USB header, a Crossfire, SLI and hard Tri-SLI bridge. ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard also have the connectors for ProbeIt and the front-panel block. An additional heatsink and 40mm fan for the Northbridge, should you require additional cooling. It's nice to see ASUS have kept the design similar to the board rather than use an off-the-shelf part that doesn't match. In fact only one thing was slightly nigglesome. Given that this will be the new flagship ASUS motherboard, only having two SATA 6Gbps ports is disappointing. Considering how long you're likely to have this Intel board in your possession ASUS really should have given us more. The ASUS Rampage III Extreme motherboard can also clearly handle the new six core Gulftown processor from Intel as well.

Check the latest price of Intel motherboards for sale:
	:	ASUS Rampage III Extreme Republic of Gamers Intel X58 Motherboard
	:	ASUS Rampage III Extreme ATX Intel Motherboard

Labels: ASUS, Intel