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We recently looked at one of Asus' high end M4A90GTD Pro/USB3 motherboards that impressed us with its extensive feature set and strong performance. The only drawback of this board was the high price which put it out into the ‘deeper wallet' category. So we were excited when Asus offered us a lower-end board that is a little more wallet friendly while retaining a good feature-set.
Today we have Asus' M4A87TD/USB3.0 motherboard in our labs which is designed for those with a mid range budget. And, with Sandy Bridge setups being well priced, we can only really see low to mid-range users opting for AMD setups, so this board will probably sell better than its higher end brother.
Specification
| CPU | AMD Socket AM3 ;Phenom™II /Athlon™II /Sempron™ 100 Series Processors AMD 140W CPU Support AMD Cool ‘n' Quiet™ Technology Supports 45nm CPU |
| Chipset | AMD 870 / SB850 |
| System Bus |
Up to 5200 MT/s ; HyperTransport™ 3.0 interface |
| Memory | 4 x DIMM, Max. 16 GB, DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1600/1333/1066 ECC,Non-ECC,Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel memory architecture * DDR3 Memory Ultra Low Voltage support ** Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity ***Due to CPU spec., AMD 100 and 200 series CPUs support up to DDR3 **** Refer to www.asus.com for the memory QVL (Qualified Vendors |
| Expansion Slots |
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16
1 x PCIe 2.0 x4 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1 3 x PCI |
| Storage | SB850 Chipset
6 xSATA 6.0 Gb/s ports Support RAID 0,1,5,10 JMicron® 1 xUltraDMA 133/100 for up to 2 PATA devices |
| LAN | Realtek® 8111E Gigabit LAN controller featuring AI NET2 |
| Audio | VIA VT1818 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC
– Supports 192kHz/ 24bit BD Lossless Sound – Supports Jack-Detection, Multi-Streaming, and Front Panel – Optical S/PDIF Out port at back I/O – ASUS Noise Filter |
| USB | NEC USB 3.0 controller
– 2 x USB 3.0 ports (Blue, at back panel) AMD® SB850 – 12 x USB 2.0 ports (6 ports at mid-board, 6 ports at back panel) |
| ASUS Unique Features |
ASUS Xtreme Design
ASUS Hybrid Processor – TurboV EVO – Turbo Unlocker, TurboV, Turbo Key, CPU Level UP ASUS Hybrid Switch – Core Unlocker ASUS Hybrid OS — Express Gate ASUS Power Solutions – ASUS EPU ASUS Exclusive – MemOK! ASUS Quiet Thermal – ASUS Fanless Design: Heat sink solution – ASUS Fan Xpert ASUS EZ DIY – ASUS O.C. Profile – ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 – ASUS EZ Flash 2 – ASUS MyLogo 2 – Multi-language BIOS |
| Overclocking Features |
Precision Tweaker 2:
– vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.003125V increment – vDDNB: Adjustable CPU NB voltage at 0.003125V increment – vNB: Adjustable North Bridge voltage at 0.00625V increment – vHT bus: Adjustable PCH voltage at 0.00625V increment – vDRAM Bus: Adjustable DRAM voltage at 0.00625V increment SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) – Internal Base Clock tuning from 100MHz up to 600MHz at 1MHz increment – PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 150MHz at 1MHz Overclocking Protection: – ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall) |
| Back Panel I/O Ports |
1 x S/PDIF Out (Optical)
1 x LAN(RJ45) port 8 -Channel Audio I/O 1 x PS/2 Keyboard (Purple) 1 x PS/2 Mouse (Green) 2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (Blue) 6 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports |
| Internal I/O Connectors |
3 x USB connectors support additional 6 USB ports
1 x IDE connector 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors 1 x CPU Fan connector 1 x Chassis Fan connector (3-pin) 1 x Power Fan connector 1 x S/PDIF Out Header 1 x Core Unlocker Switch 1 x MemOK! Button Front panel audio connector 1 x COM connector 1 x Clear CMOS jumper 24-pin ATX Power connector 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector System Panel |
| BIOS | 8 Mb Flash ROM , SPI, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.5, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2, ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3 |
| Manageability | WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME,PXE |
| Accessories | 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100 cable
2 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s cables 1 x Serial ATA 6.0Gb/s cables 1 x IO Shield 2 in 1 Q-connector (USB, System panel; Retail version only) User's manual |
| Support Disc |
Drivers
Anti-virus software (OEM version) ASUS Utilities ASUS Update |
| Form Factor |
ATX Form Factor
12 inch x 8.4 inch ( 30.5 cm x 21.3 cm ) |
Asus supply the M4A87TD/USB3 in a green motherboard box which should provide plenty of protection for the board in transit. The front of the box is littered with various logos which advertise a number of the boards' features and turning the box over reveals a more detailed breakdown of these features and the boards' specification.
The included bundle contains everything we could ask for from a board at this price point. It consists of three SATA cables, a selection of manuals, a software CD, an IDE cable and Asus' Q-Connector. The Q-Connector enables easy installation of the front panel buttons and indicator lights as we can plug all these devices into the connector outside the case before they are all inserted together into the board.
What a stunning price. I know a lot of people never use dual graphics solutions so this is more than ideal.
Good feature set and great price, always buy asus boards meself.
Asus and MSI make the best mobos on the market, bar none
The only downside is the sata ports pointing upwards. bad design decision in 2011, even on a budget board.
Very solid looking board, shame about the sata design, thats rather unusual for asus even on a budget model.
Great stuff. ideal for a low cost performance system.
Finally, a motherboard most people can afford !
have this board SATA 3.0 ?