Customer Reviews

Asus M4A785TD-V Motherboard

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I primarily purchased this board to unlock certain cpu cores. The board pretty much has everything needed for a HTPC with hi-def audio and video through HDMI. I probably should have bought a different model without the on-board video as I am not taking advantage of it. If you pair this board with an ATI HD 3450($20 video card), you can crossfire with the on-board video memory and it actually performs 2x on light gaming for an extra $20.

Reason for 4 stars:

-I did not give this product a full 5 stars due to the documentation. It was not helpful in customizing and setting up the system. Through several days of researching, a couple of people mentioned there was a misprint in the manual for the RAM slots. Stick with the assigned color slots on the board instead of the manual when installing RAM modules.

-I still use a PS/2 keyboard and the numlock LED never shuts off after a complete shutdown. I couldn't find any answers regarding this except that there is power running to the motherboard even if it is shut down. One has to be concerned if it will be damaged during a power surge/outage.

-Not really why I gave it 4 stars but the RAM slots are so close to the CPU. I installed an aftermarket heatsink(Arctic Freezer Pro 64), which was big, and it covered part of the Black RAM slots. I had to install the RAM first before the heatsink. I also put everything on after I mounted the board to the case. It would be best to install everything before mounting it in the case as I didn't have a lot of room.

Overall, I was able to unlock the 4th core on the Phenom II 720 BE with just a couple of settings. I also overclocked my cpu from 2.8-3.2Ghz on stock volts and the board stays cool around 23C due to the heatsinks. I won't be able to crossfire on the PCI-E but I'm happy with my current configuration.

ASUS M4A785TD-V

PII 720 BE unlocked 4th core & OC'd 3.2GHz stock volts

Powercolor HD 4850

Mushkin DDR3 1600 7-7-7-20 1.86v

Corsair TX650W

I bought this for a computer i was building, I paired it with a phenom II x6 1090t and it works great after you download a new bios firmware at first it was only recognizing 4 cores. after the bios update all was well. everything on the bored is working great and that was my biggest fear that something on the board would be doa. but thankfully i got a good motherboard. the main reason i went with this was the HD integrated video card that has an hdmi port. that way it would buy me some time before i needed to get a nice video card.

highly recommended if you want a mother board with an HD video card integrated.

MC

Pros: Asus has made another solid product with this motherboard: it is stylish, functional, and will give you a bang for your buck for the performance. It has everything you need if you are building a budget computer, office computer, or gaming rig.

Cons: The rear I/O panel is of cheap quality and it was difficult to push the motherboard through it, Asus could've put a better quality I/O panel. Furthermore, if you plan to install a higher end video card, it barley fits over one of the heatsinks of the motherboard (they do touch but it doesn't cause any friction or damage). The placement of the SATA sockets are also in a bad position as once again if you plan to use a higher end video card the sockets are very close to the card making it hard to install the SATA wires. I had to manage the cables properly in order for them to fit and not have the SATA wires and video card get in each other's way.

Other Thoughts: First one I received was physically damaged as the hinge on the back of the gray pcie slot was snapped so make sure you inspect your product upon arrival. Amazon was great and processed another shipment for me right away with next day shipping. They didn't even require me to send back the damaged motherboard until after I received the replacement. The replacement board posted on the first try and I have not experienced any BSOD, freezing, or random restarts since I completed my build (over 1 month).

This is a great motherboard that allows you the room and flexability to use a simple system or upgrade. I used the AMD phenom 2 955 quadcore processor and 8 gigs 1333Mhz of RAM. There were no problems in loading the windows 7 operating system.

I got this mb for my rig with an AMD Phenom II X2 550. Was able to unlock 2 cores on the AMD :) and overclocked it by 5% (3.255 Ghz) with stock heatsink and fan. Graphics are great for movies and casual gaming with the onboard HD 4200 GPU.

A surprise, Asus mentions the Southbridge as SB710 for the mb, but mine came with SB750.

Not much more to say....I have built many units and to date this is the best motherboard I have used for the price. There are many more out there, much more expensive with many less features. BOTTOM LINT: BUY THIS ONE!!!

Had to do an upgrade, and discovered to my horror (HORROR!) that everything was now SATA(!)...But...but...I've still got IDE! Thankfully this board is still available, with one precious IDE channel for my two drives. And a pretty decent price to boot!

And so began the Great Upgrade Of 2010. Of course the board works well, has connections for all sorts of peripherals -- internal and external USB, HDMI, onboard video and audio etc. -- everything you'd need for a mid-level computer even in this day and age.

Some notes of interest:

First, documentation is pretty good. The bits that aren't explained involve more advanced BIOS settings, so most users wouldn't be messing with that anyway. That said, would be nice if there was SOME elaboration on those settings.

Second, I was loading this motherboard with the AMD Athlon II X3 440 3.0GHz. Connected it all up, and Windows XP didn't boot -- kept crashing on mup.sys . After a whole lot of debugging, finally discovered that for some reason the motherboard was detecting 4 cores on the CPU, when it in fact has only 3. After setting the CPU Activation to "Manual", and disabling all but Cores 2 and 3, Windows finally booted up fine.

In fact, Windows thinks I've got a Phenom II X4 B40...this apparently can happen according to reviews for the CPU. Maybe when I get round to moving to Windows 7, I can actually use that 4th core...

Third, the motherboard does have some trouble with my Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse. Sometimes the board will reboot when I try to get into the BIOS with this keyboard plugged in. But plugging in a second non-wireless USB keyboard and using this to get into the BIOS did the trick.

So overall I do like the board. But it definitely has a few quirks, as highlighted above.

UPDATE: The ethernet port, which has been disconnecting me from the network about every 2 days finally completely failed. Checked the cable on another machine, re-installed drivers, etc., so it's definitely the on-board NIC. ASUS originally sent me to the "reseller" (Amazon). Amazon sent me back to ASUS. Finally figured out how to warranty it but ASUS wants me to pay shipping and wait two weeks. Hmmm... decided to spend $10 on a NIC card and buy another mobo brand next time.

This was my first computer build and I selected this board for the sideport graphics memory and other features. Tons of plugs and great documentation. No issues at all with the install, which was fairly idiot-proof. I'd buy this board again.

Very slow shipping. Its taking for ever go get here. This is what amazon mean by "free shipment". Never again. I ordered on Nov. 14. My package arrive on Nov. 23 by USPS. The package coming from Lexington, KY. I live in Houston, Tx. It dont take that long for a package to get here. Very, Very Upset. First time using amazon. The item is good, but the free shimpment is terrible. No correct tracking information what so ever. It doesnt give you the correct location. I dont know where my package is right now. All I know it left Lexington, KY. It somewhere in the US. I cant track it.