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

Asus M4A785TD-V EVO & M4A785TD-M EVO AM3 Motherboards Review

Manufacturer's Part Number: M4A785TD-V EVO and M4A785TD-M EVO
Price: Approximately $110 CDN or Click Here
Manufacturer's Product Page: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.



Despite the success and popularity of Intel’s new P55 platform and i5 and i7 processors, buyers continue to keep a keen eye on the green team. Let’s face it – not everyone needs all of the processing horsepower that the i7 has on tap and even fewer are willing to pay for it. Although many of our enthusiast readers may scoff at that statement, it can’t be denied that the overwhelming majority of PC users fall into the “budget” bucket. As the struggling economy continues to drag it’s feet, buyers are more and more weary of what they are spending their hard earned loonies on - and AMD has certainly taken notice.

It is no secret that the Phenom II can’t really compete with Intel’s high end offerings, but AMD has recently taken quite a handle on budget market. Instead of competing in the performance department, they have instead focused their attention on value. With their very low priced Athlon II series processors, affordable quad-cores have never been more within reach to the average consumer. At around the $100 mark, they may not be as quick as Phenom II clock-for-clock, but they still bring a fair bit of multi-threaded power to the table and provide a solid computing experience.

As great as $100 quad core processors are, they need to have a fitting platform to match. What good is a $100 processor if it has to be stuck in a $200 motherboard? AMD has undoubtedly invested a great deal in their integrated platforms, and no one can dispute the success of the 790GX/SB750. Although the 790GX was an integrated platform – a great one too - it was still more of a mid-range platform with quite a few PCI-Express lanes and a slightly higher price tag to go along. AMD has trimmed down and updated the platform to further increase it’s value proposition and make the platform a perfect mate for their new Athlon II series. Enter AMD’s new 785G/SB710 chipset with integrated Radeon 4200 series graphics – AMD’s latest integrated socket AM3 chipset platform.

Today we’ll be taking a look at a pair of new boards from ASUS based on the 785G/SB710 chipset combination dubbed the “M4A785TD-V EVO” and the “M4A785TD-M EVO”. Both boards are outfitted very similarly, but the “V” model is a full-ATX form factor, while the “M” is a more compact mATX model. Both are priced very competitively given their rather generous suite of features in the $100 range. How about a $100 board to match with a $100 quad? It makes a lot of sense to us!

Without further ado, let’s see just how much bang the EVO “V” and EVO “M” bring to the table.