…สวัสดีครับ สำหรับวันนี้ก็ขอกลับเข้าสู่วิถีแห่งคนหน้าตาดี กับซีพียู AMD กันอีกครั้งนะครับ โดยในบทความ AMD UNLOCKED FX PROCESSOR : World’s first 8 core desktop processor และ AMD FX-8150 Processor Performance Comparison ในคราวที่แล้ว เราก็ได้พูดถึงความสามารถของชิปเซตเรือธงบนมาเธอร์บอร์ดอย่าง 990FX กันไปแล้ว ซึ่งในคราวนี้ผมก็ขอกลับมาพูดถึงชิปเซตน้องเล็กในตระกูล 9-Series Chipsets อย่าง 970 กันบ้างนะครับ โดยมาเธอร์บอร์ดที่ทางเราได้รับมาทำการทดสอบในคราวนี้ ก็จะมากันในแบรนด์ดังอันดับหนึ่งของโลก อย่าง ASUS ที่จะมากันในชื่อรุ่น ASUS M5A97 EVO ก่อนอื่นไปชมรายละเอียดต่างๆโดยรวมกันก่อนนะครับ

สำหรับ AMD FX Platform ถ้าอยากจะเซตกันแบบเข้าชุด หน้าตาดีสุดๆ ก็จะต้องประกอบด้วย AMD FX Processor, AMD 9-Series Motherboard และสุดท้าย AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series Card งานนี้แรงแบบหล่อๆกันอย่างแน่นอนครับ

…จากตารางที่ 1.1 นั้นจะเป็น Model ที่จะทำการเปิดตัวในคราวนี้ทั้งหมดครับ ซึ่งก็แน่นอนว่ารุ่นใหญ่สุดก็คือ FX-8150 ซึ่งจะมี Base Clock หรือ Default Clock ที่ 3.6 GHz แปดหัวแท้เต็มๆ L2 และ L3 ขนาดใหญ่ถึง 8 MB และยังสามารถบู๊ต MHz ขึ้นไปด้วย Turbo Mode ได้อีกสองสเต๊ปตามโหลดที่ใช้งาน ณ ช่วงเวลานั้นๆด้วย ที่น่าสนใจสำหรับผมก็คือ TDP 125W นี่ละครับ ก็ต้องดูกันต่อไป

…ตามด้วยตารางที่ 1.2 ในส่วนของ Chipset นั้นก็จะมีสามเซตหลักๆโดยที่ SouthBridge จะเป็นตัวเดียวกันคือ SB950 ส่วน Chipset หลักก็จะแบ่งเป็น 990FX, 990X และ 970 ซึ่งความแตกต่างของสามตัวนี้หลักๆก็คงจะเป็นในส่วนของ PCI Express Lane นั่นเองครับ ต่อไปเราก้ไปชมรายละเอียดต่างๆเกี่ยวกับมาเธอร์บอร์ด ASUS M5A97 Pro ที่เราจะรีวิวทดสอบกันในวันนี้กันต่อนะครับ

OVERVIEW

Dual Intelligent Processors 2 with DIGI+ VRM

Digital Power Design: The New Standard

The world’s first Dual Intelligent Processors from ASUS pioneered the use of two onboard chips - TPU (TurboV Processing Unit) and EPU (Energy Processing Unit). Its new generation of Dual Intelligent Processors 2 with DIGI+ VRM launches power delivery into a digital standard with a programmable microprocessor that perfectly serves power (SVID) requests from the CPU, eliminating digital-to-analog conversion lag. It’s the most precise power delivery available providing the best in class power efficiency, greater performance, and rock solid stability. With ASUS DIGI+ VRM, users can easily adjust power phase performance and system voltages via diverse settings in the intuitive UEFI interface.

DIGI+ VRM

Herald the Arrival of a New Digital Power Design Era

The new ASUS DIGI+ VRM design upgrades motherboard power delivery to a digital standard. The digital architecture adjusts frequencies dynamically, cutting electromagnetic interference by half to enhance system stability through enabling VRM spread spectrum. System performance can also be customized with specific DRAM power control, including CPU/NB load line calibration for increased voltage range and increased CPU/NB current capability for up to an extra 30% current capacitance. The DIGI+ VRM digital power design empowers users with superior flexibility and perfect precision to ensure optimized performance, extreme system stability, and greater power efficiency.

TPU

The Ultimate Turbo Processor

Unleash your performance with ASUS’ simple onboard switch or AI Suite II utility. The TPU chip offers precise voltage control and advanced monitoring through Auto Tuning and TurboV functions. Auto Tuning offers a user friendly way to automatically optimize the system for fast, yet stable clock speeds, while TurboV enables unlimited freedom to adjust CPU frequencies and ratios for optimized performance in diverse situations.

EPU

Energy Efficiency All Around

Tap into the world’s first real-time PC power saving chip through a simple onboard switch or AI Suite II utility. Get total system-wide energy optimization by automatically detecting current PC loadings and intelligently moderating power consumption. This also reduces fan noise and extends component longevity!

Auto Tuning

Auto System Level Up

Achieve extreme yet stable overclocking results automatically with Auto Tuning! With built-in stability testing, Auto Tuning allows beginners to easily upgrade their CPU performance at no extra cost.

ASUS Exclusive Features

UEFI BIOS (EZ Mode)

Flexible & Easy BIOS Interface

Exclusive to ASUS motherboards, its UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is the first ever mouse-controlled graphical BIOS interface designed with dual selectable modes. It delivers a user-friendly interface that goes beyond traditional keyboard-only BIOS controls to enable more flexible and convenient input with quick scrolling. Users can easily navigate the UEFI BIOS with the smoothness of their operating system. Quick and simple overclocking and setup sharing is facilitated by the F12 hotkey BIOS snapshot feature. The exclusive EZ Mode displays frequently-accessed setup info, while the Advanced Mode is for experienced performance enthusiasts that demand far more intricate system control, including detailed DRAM information.

Exclusive ASUS Interface

• EZ Mode - gives easy access to selectable, optimized system modes, clear system info display and drag and drop boot prioritizing
• Advanced Mode - for experienced performance enthusiasts that demand intricate system settings

AI Suite II

One-stop Access to Innovative ASUS Features

With its user-friendly interface, ASUS AI Suite II consolidates all exclusive ASUS features into one simple-to-use package. It allows users to supervise overclocking, energy management, fan speed, voltage, and sensor readings. This all-in-one software offers diverse and easy to use functions, with no need to switch back and forth between different utilities.

Latest Transfer Technology

SATA 6Gb/s Support

AMD® SB950 Southbridge natively supports next-generation Serial ATA (SATA) storage interface, this motherboard delivers up to 6.0 Gb/s data transfer rates. Additionally, get enhanced scalability, faster data retrieval, double the bandwidth of current bus systems.

USB 3.0 support

Double USB Access, Double Convenience

Experience ultra-fast data transfers at 4.8 Gb/s with USB 3.0–the latest connectivity standard. Built to connect easily with next-generation components and peripherals, USB 3.0 transfers data 10X faster and is also backward compatible with USB 2.0 components.

CPU, Chipset and Graphics features

AMD® AM3+ FX/Phenom™II /Athlon™II /Sempron™ 100 Series Processors

This motherboard supports AMD® AM3+/AM3 multi-core processors with unique L3 cache and delivers better overclocking capabilities with less power consumption. It features dual-channel DDR3 memory support and accelerates data transfer rate up to 4800MT/s via HyperTransport™ 3.0 based system bus. This motherboard also supports AMD® CPUs in the new 32nm manufacturing process.

AMD 970

AMD® 970 Chipset is designed to support up to 4800MT HyperTransport™ 3.0 (HT 3.0) interface speed and PCI Express™ 2.0 x16 graphics. It is optimized with AMD®’s latest AM3+ and multi-core CPUs to provide excellent system performance and overclocking capabilities.

CrossFireX Support

Flexible Multi-GPU solutions, Your Weapon of Choice!

ATI’s CrossFireX™ boosts image quality along with rendering speed, eliminating the need to scale down screen resolution to get high quality images. CrossFireX™ allows higher antialiasing, anisotropic filtering, shading and texture settings. Adjust your display configurations, experiment with the 3D settings, and check the effects with a real-time 3D-rendered previews within ATI Catalyst™ Control Center.

RoHS

GreenASUS and ErP Ready

The motherboard is European Union´s Energy-related Products (ErP) ready, and ErP requires products to meet certain energy efficiency requirements in regards to energy consumptions. This is in line with ASUS vision of creating environment-friendly and energy-efficient products through product design and innovation to reduce carbon footprint of the product and thus mitigate environmental impacts.

M5A97 EVO Product Overview

Other ASUS Features

TurboV

Adjust system performance parameters with just a few clicks away

External SATA

The external SATA port located at the back I/O provides smart setup and hot-plug functions. Easily backup photos, videos and other entertainment contents on external devices.

Q-Design

ASUS Q-Design enhances your DIY experience.

MemOK!

Quickly ensures memory boot compatibility

Fan Xpert

Built-in variety of useful profiles offer flexible controls of fan speed to achieve a quiet and cool environment.

All Solid Capacitor

Uses 100% All High-quality Conductive Polymer Capacitors

Specifications

CPU	AMD AM3+ FX™/Phenom™ II/Athlon™ II/Sempron™ 100 Series Processors Supports AM3+ 32 nm CPU Supports CPU up to 8 cores Supports CPU up to 140 W AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet™ Technology
Chipset	AMD 970/SB950
Memory	4 x DIMM, Max. 32GB, DDR3 2133(O.C.)/1866/1800/1600/1333/1066 Hz ECC, Non-ECC, Un-buffered Memory Dual Channel Memory Architecture * Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for the Memory QVL (Qualified Vendors Lists). * Due to OS limitation, when installing total memory of 4GB capacity or more, Windows® 32-bit operation system may only recognize less than 3GB. Install a 64-bit Windows® OS when you want to install 4GB or more memory on the motherboard. * Due to CPU spec., AMD 100 series CPUs support up to DDR3 1066MHz. With ASUS design, this motherboard can support up to DDR3 1333MHz.
System Bus	Up to 4.8 GT/s HyperTransport™ 3.0
Multi-GPU Support	Supports AMD Quad-GPU CrossFireX™ Technology
Expansion Slots	1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (blue) 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black) 2 x PCIe 2.0 x1 2 x PCI
Storage	AMD SB950 controller : 6 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s), gray Support Raid 0, 1, 5, 10 JMicron® JMB362 controller : 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s port(s), red
LAN	Realtek® 8111E , 1 x Gigabit LAN Controller(s)
Audio	Realtek® ALC 892 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC - Supports : Jack-detection, Multi-streaming, Front Panel Jack-retasking Audio Feature : - Absolute Pitch 192kHz/ 24-bit True BD Lossless Sound - DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC - ASUS Noise Filter - Optical S/PDIF out port(s) at back panel
IEEE 1394	VIA® 6308P controller 2 x IEEE 1394a port(s) (1 at mid-board, 1 at back panel)
USB Ports	ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller : 4 x USB 3.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, blue, 2 at mid-board) AMD SB950 controller : 14 x USB 2.0 port(s) (8 at back panel, black+red, 6 at mid-board)
Overclocking Features	Overclocking Protection : - ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features	ASUS Dual Intelligent Processors 2 with DIGI+ VRM : ASUS TPU : - Auto Tuning - TurboV - TPU switch ASUS EPU : - EPU - EPU switch ASUS Digital Power Design : - Industry leading Digital 6 +2 Phase Power Design - ASUS DIGI+ VRM Utility ASUS Exclusive Features : - MemOK! - AI Suite II - Ai Charger+ - Front Panel USB 3.0 Support - ASUS UEFI BIOS EZ Mode featuring friendly graphics user interface ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution : - Stylish Fanless Design Heat-sink solution - ASUS Fan Xpert ASUS EZ DIY : - ASUS O.C. Profile - ASUS EZ Flash 2 - ASUS MyLogo 2 - Multi-language BIOS ASUS Q-Design : - ASUS Q-LED (CPU, DRAM, VGA, Boot Device LED) - ASUS Q-Slot - ASUS Q-DIMM - ASUS Q-Connector
Back I/O Ports	1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse combo port(s) 2 x eSATA 3Gb/s 1 x IEEE 1394a 1 x LAN (RJ45) port(s) 2 x USB 3.0 8 x USB 2.0 1 x Optical S/PDIF out 6 x Audio jack(s)
Internal I/O Ports	1 x USB 3.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 2 USB 3.0 port(s) (19-pin) 3 x USB 2.0 connector(s) support(s) additional 6 USB 2.0 port(s) 1 x COM port(s) connector(s) 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connector(s) 1 x IEEE 1394a connector(s) 1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (4 -pin) 2 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin, 1 x 3 -pin) 1 x Power Fan connector(s) (1 x 3 -pin) 1 x S/PDIF out header(s) 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector(s) 1 x 8-pin ATX 12V Power connector(s) 1 x Front panel audio connector(s) (AAFP) 1 x System panel(s) (Q-Connector) 1 x MemOK! button(s) 1 x TPU switch(es) 1 x EPU switch(es) 1 x Clear CMOS jumper(s)
Accessories	User’s manual I/O Shield 3 x SATA 6Gb/s cable(s) 1 x Q-connector(s) (2 in 1)
BIOS	32 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.6, ACPI 2.0a, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash 2
Manageability	WfM 2.0, DMI 2.0, WOL by PME, WOR by PME, PXE
Support Disc	Drivers ASUS Utilities ASUS Update Anti-virus software (OEM version)
Form Factor	ATX Form Factor 12 inch x 9.6 inch ( 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm )

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…สเป็คต่างๆมากันแบบหวดเต็มข้อ สวนทางกับราคาค่าตัวจริงๆ แถมทีเด็ดจาก ASUS ที่ดัดแปลงให้ชิปเซต 970 สามารถทำงานในโหมด Crossfire แบบ X16+X4 ได้อีกด้วย เยี่ยม! ต่อไปเราก็ไปชมหน้าตามาเธอร์บอดแบบเต็มๆกันต่อนะครับ

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