ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO and M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 Motherboards Review

A Closer Look at the M4A785TD-V EVO - Page 2


Moving right along, we see that firewire support is provided by the VIA VT6308P located close to the SB710 heatsink. Oh, did we mention that the M4A785TD-V included firewire support? This is definitely not a feature we expect to see with budget priced boards, so we’re happy that ASUS decided to include this. One firewire port can be found on the rear I/O panel, as well as an on-board header for internal connections.

Audio is provided by a VIA “Vinyl” VT1708S 8-channel CODEC. It is not surprising that the EVOs don’t utilize the very common Realtek brand audio CODECs. ASUS generally sticks with ADI or in this case, VIA for audio features. This isn’t really a pro or a con, but just an observation that buyers should be aware of. The VT1708S is comparable in features and specification to mid-range Realtek CODECs that we’d expect to find on a board in this price range. One nice feature is SPDIF digital output on the rear I/O panel for those with higher end DACs and amps. A full list of specifications on the VT1708S can be found at VIA’s website. VIA Vinyl VT1708/A - VIA Technologies, Inc.


On the LAN front, the M4A785TD-V utilizes the Realtek RTL8112L PHY. Unfortunately – or fortunately for some – this seems to be a pretty new PHY from Realtek and is not listed on their site yet. From what we can tell, it is more or less the same as the RTL8111 series, which is a simple 10/100/1000Mbps controller – pretty standard stuff here. Let’s move along.


We see that ASUS opted to use the popular ITE IT8712F-S I/O controller. This controller is responsible for hardware monitoring, fan speed management and other related tasks. Being a common model, third party applications such as “Hardware Monitor” by CPUID recognize this I/O controller without issue.

For those curious, clock generation is provided by an ICS 9LPRS485CGLF chip.


On the rear I/O panel, we have a spread of ports not resembling that of a budget board. Here we’ve got six USB 2.0 ports, LAN, Firewire, eSATA, audio jacks and even an optical digital audio output. On the video side of things, we find not only DVI and VGA but also HDMI.


Case header connections are in the usual south east corner of the board. We should note that the M4A785TD-V included a removable BIOS chip. If BIOS corruption occurs, it should be possible to replace the chip and avoid having to replace the entire board. Unfortunately, there aren’t any convenience power/reset switches or buttons on the EVO boards. You’ll find just the basic pin-outs we’re afraid.


We were pleased to see that ASUS didn’t skimp on the backplate. Nothing is worse than seeing those cheap plastic models that bend easily and offer very little support. This metal backplate is standard fare on higher end models and we’re happy to see it on the M4A785TD-V. Heatsinks are secured using push-pins – not screws – but we can’t really complain at this price point. From a clearance perspective, we didn’t find any pins, capacitors or other components that would interfere with aftermarket heatsink installation.