Hi all,

Just gotten this board from Asus SG, again, many thanks for them to loan it to me for a ride.

OK, let's make the intro short & sweet. As we all knew (from the mini review of Asus M5A99X EVO), EVO series is sorta entry level for enthusiasts. For AMD 970 series, Asus produced 3 models namely M5A97 (or what I call vanilla for being d simplest), M5A97 PRO (slightly better than "vanilla" model) & M5A97 EVO (the best among the 3, but lower if compared to TUF & ROG series).

Details of the board can be viewed HERE.

This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 10:41 AM

Gallery

What come with the box

The box


The back of d box w/ detailed description of features...


A quick glance @ specifications


The bundle stuff, no bling-bling nor lacked of necessity...



Detailed board layout

General view


Black socket for AM3+ CPU support


6+2 digital power phase


4 layers pcb design


Continue next post...

This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 11:18 AM

Easy slot in DIMM for easy ram modules installation


Improved design of pci-E x16 slot lock for ease of installation/removal of cards


PCI & pci-E slots arrangement...


On-board cooler @ NB & PWM, no heatpipe like d big brother in M5A99X EVO, hmmm...


Quick check @ PWM cooler, thermal pad making proper contact...


Simple yet efficient SB cooler


The "unofficial" twin CPU fan headers...


This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 10:47 AM

Unique features

DIGI+ VRM + EPU processor, precise power delivery & energy saving...


TPU processor, the ultimate tweaking tools for overclockers


The button & switches..


The Input/Output

SATA 6G ports


Convenient front USB 3.0 header


USB 2.0 & Com1 headers


Front audio panel & firewire header


Back I/O ports


This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 11:19 AM

Figures

Let's see what the board is capable off in term of figures shall we? Again, I apologize for missing out the I/O tests as I don't have any USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s device with me. Since the chip used is a locked chip (1055T), so I don't really expect kick ass results, but still, I must say what being achieved are decent enough. I'll let the pictures do the talking then...

Below are the details of the test bed:

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T @ 3.9GHz (13 x 300)
Prolimatech Megashadow @ push-pull (Artic F12)
Asus M5A97 EVO (BIOS 0402)
4 GB Team Xtreme DDR3 1600 LV CL7 running 1600MHz @ 7-7-7-21-28 1T (in all benchmark)
2 x Sapphire 5830 Extreme @ [875MHz (core) / 1200MHz (memory)]
Seasonic X-850
Windows 7 Ultimate (x64)

Synthetic benchmarks

Sisoftware Sandra CPU benchmark


AIDA64 Extreme Edition Memory benchmark



Cinebench 11.5


This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 11:10 AM

3D

3DMark 11


CAPCOM Street Fighter IV benchmark


CAPCOM Resident Evil 5 benchmark



Quick stability tests

WPrime 1024


HyperPi 32M


This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 11:12 AM

Product highlights

Why Asus some of you might ask, especially when other manufacturers are selling their products (same product line) @ lower price. Well, I can't comment on the pricing but I can give you my thoughts why it's worthy to spend some extra ca$$$h on Asus.

Dual Intelligent Processors 2 with DIGI+ VRM



In general, DIGI+ PWM provides precise power delivery while EPU controls power consumption according to system load. In my humble opinion, TPU is one of the selling points of Asus motherboards. It offers users the freedom to tweak voltages & CPU clock in windows environment (via TurboV) as well as Auto Tuning - automated yet stable overclocking tool. The best part is, all these features (& others) are integrated as AI Suite II for simple navigation, let's take a look into it, shall we?

TurboV & Auto Tuning:



TurboV - My personal favorite tool, it gives control to all kind of voltage adjustments & CPU clock control (HTT & multiplier) ON THE FLY. This is extremely useful when one is tweaking his overclocked setup. Some might say this can be done by AMD OverDrive (AOD) or other manufacturers have their own version of TurboV, but I can safely say TurboV is the most bugless & stable tweaking tool for AMD & Asus motherboard users. From observation, Asus also gives the most precise voltage control, which mean the smallest increment in voltage adjustment - usually can only be found on higher/highest end models. Best part is, even lower end models from 970 based motherboards also supported by TurboV.

Auto Tuning - the automatic tuning feature which enables users to enjoy effortless overclocking experience without compromising stability. Performance boost is just one click away!


DIGI+ VRM:

LLCs - I'm pretty sure some of us are familiar with term "Load Line Calibration" or LLC in short. Controls over LLC give users the options to choose between higher system performance & better thermal solution.

Current Capability - higher values offers wider power range & extend overclocking frequencies range at the same time.

CPU Voltage Frequency, CPU Power Phase Control & CPU Power Duty Control - This is where the DIGI+ VRM processor does its jobs. In short, these controls let users choose between stability, efficiency & better thermal solution vs performance. Hmmmm... Flexibilities at your fingertip...


EPU:

EPU provides controls over power consumption which enable users to select different profiles according to their computing needs. Current CPU Power would be useful for those who would want to monitor current drew by the CPU, a welcome feature I must say!

This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 10:55 AM

Others useful tools integrated with AI Suite II

Fan Xpert:


Fan Xpert offers flexibility of having a system with quite vs better thermal solutions. Ability to control speed adjustments of different fan (on different components namely CPU/Power/Chasis) according to temperature is a plus for those who are noise conscious.

Probe II:

Existing voltage, temperature & fan speed can be all monitor in Probe II. Not only that, it provides threshold setting should something goes "abnormal". When threshold is reached, alert will be triggered. abnormality will then be reported in the alert log as well..

Sensor Recorder:

Ever wonder to record Temperature, Voltage & fan speed change on different CPU load? Look no further than this awesome tool - Sensor Recorder. With it, users can monitor & even record all the changes (one at a time) on different "occasions".

AI Charger+

frustrated with slow charging time? With new AI Charger+ (via USB 3.0 ports), users can enjoy up to 3 times faster charging time of their iPod, iPhone or iPad.

UEFI BIOS

Industry 1st mouse-controlled graphical BIOS interface, available in 2 mode: EZ Mode - user friendly & Advance Mode - for those who know what they are doing. What really delighted me is the ability to capture screenshot in BIOS (be it EZ or Advance mode), now users can share their advance settings without d need of using camera/manually key in the template. A whole new experience in BIOS.

This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 10:56 AM

Conclusion

Being lowest end among 900 series from AMD might give people the thought that 970 chipset based boards can hardly match the performance of its bigger brothers, namely 990x & the "enthusiasts must have" 990fx boards. With the performance & features offered by Asus M5A97 EVO, I don't feel that there's a huge gap between the two (970 & 990x) at all.

Apart from lesser pci-E lanes, lacked of 2 eSATA ports & support for SLi, M5A97 EVO has almost everything an M5A99X EVO can offer - on paper. Awesome UEFI BIOS experience, Dual intelligent processors in DIGI+ VRM/EPU & TPU for precise power delivery/energy saving & hassle free overclock, the almighty AI Suite IIand plenty of welcome improved features (front placement of USB 3 header, easy slot in DIMM slots & etc) do make M5A97 EVO one of the best (if not the best) 970 boards available locally.

How about any short coming one mite ask. OK, if there's one area which I think can be improved, that would be ram overclockability. Don't get me wrong, overclock mileage on this board is decent (considering a locked chip - 1055T is used in this review), but somehow I feel that ram oc was easier on M5A99X EVO. But again, different set of ram was used & most importantly, different chip (IMC in particular) might affect the mileage on ram so these could be what holding me back in ram oc. another personal rant (I know it's the same as previous mini review, pls bear with me ) is the arrangement of the expansion slots which is less ideal for X-Fire plus pci-E (x1) sound card setup...

Again, I'd like to thank ASUS SG for their generosity to loan me the board for a quick review. I hope some of you, especially who are targeting budget platform will find this useful when making decision on which board to choose.

This post has been edited by ah_khoo: Aug 5 2011, 01:35 PM

seems like iz time for me to dump away my M4A77TD-PRO n get 1 of tis.....

nice review.. really love to get this board..

sadly this board is still not available in malaysia market..

thx for d kind words guys... for availability u guys can actually check with ASUS_MY...