Thread: Asus M4A785TD-v evo

AMD has taken onboard graphics Performance to the next level with the 785G chipset, which features the brand new HD 4200 onboard GPU. The ASUS M4A785TD-V Evo is one of the first premium motherboards built around this chipset. It supports the entire range of socket AM3 Phenom II processors and can take up to 16 GB of DDR3 memory. The most interesting part of the board is the chipset's integrated GPU with 128 MB of discrete DDR3 video memory. The HD 4200 is the first DirectX 1O.1-capable IGP and it has native support for decoding H.264, VC-l and MPEG-2 video formats. This means you can enjoy Blu-ray movies and full HD videos without spending money on a powerful processor and graphics card. The rear panel sports an HDMI output as well as an optical 51 PDIF jack for hooking up your PC to a home~theater receiver. In addition to these, Asus has also included D-sub and DVI video outputs, an eSATA port, six USB ports, a FireWire port, and jacks for 7.1-channel audio.

The chipset features the new SB710 southbridge, which offers five SATA ports and one IDE port for connecting up to two PATA devices. The board offers a host of expansion slots-two PCle 2.0 x16 slots, three PCI slots and a PCle xl slot. The two PCle 2.0 slots support CrossFire, but note that the second slot operates only at a crippled x4 speed.

The layout of the M4A785TD-V Evo is top notch. The components are well spread out and the headers and ports are placed at the edge of the board for easy access. The board has all-solid capacitors and lO-phase power design for the processor. We tested it with the Phenom II X2 550 and 4 GB of DDR3 memory. The HD 4200 IGP isn't groundbreaking in terms of gaming performance-you'll get up to 15 fps at 1280x1024 with low settings and no antialiasing in most games. However you can add a cheap AMD graphics card such as the Radeon HD 3450 and set it up in Hybrid Crossfire mode for significant improvements.