The well-known Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS has many interesting products on the computer motherboard market. A world-famous brand is able to attract attention with affordable cost and high quality. In this article, the reader will get acquainted with the Asus M4A77TD motherboard, designed to build a gaming platform. The review and technical characteristics of the device will allow users to better find out an interesting novelty that appeared on the domestic market.
Product positioning
Officially, the manufacturer has placed its product in the budget segment. Many fans called this solution logical in their reviews, since the device was created using a cheap AMD 770 chip. But the form factor of the Asus M4A77TD motherboard relates the product to a gaming niche.
The great potential of the device can be judged by two PCIex16 buses that support CrossFire mode, as well as by slots for installing fast RAM. In addition, the motherboard is equipped with all the necessary interfaces for building a multimedia platform, both for home and professional use.
First meeting
Asus M4A77TD motherboard comes in a huge box and has a great package. Many users, having seen all the necessary interface cables, were pleasantly surprised, because not every manufacturer can afford such a luxury.
The second pleasant moment for all owners was the presence of solid-state capacitors on the system board . Although the manufacturer did not completely abandon the electrolytic cells, however, the processor’s power system has modern capacities that are not afraid of overheating.
The only thing that the company’s technologists did not worry about was the strength of the PCB in the motherboard. A huge ATX device can easily be damaged when installed in a chassis, or when a processor or expansion cards are installed. There are few options here - you need to carefully connect.
The official representative in Russia
The Asus M4A77TD motherboard has a manual in Russian. This is great news, both for overclockers and ordinary users who want to customize the system to their needs. The manual describes in detail the algorithm for installing and connecting the motherboard to the system unit - the owner of the device must strictly follow the manufacturer's recommendations in order to avoid physical damage to the PCB.
Do not neglect the instructions in the process of connecting expansion cards. The fact is that this product does not have protection against improper connection of USB ports - after reversing the polarity on the board, many owners can burn wearable memory modules without the possibility of recovery.
Basic parameters
The main feature for which the Asus M4A77TD motherboard is purchased by users is the specifications. There is something to be surprised even for demanding customers. The fact is that the device supports the simultaneous operation of 8 hard drives that can be connected via different interfaces (SATA, IDE and PCIex1). In fact, the motherboard unites several generations of hard drives released over two decades.
As for the processors, there are some complications - the manufacturer provided support only for the AM3 socket (Phenom II / Athlon II / Sempron). The only plus here is the heat pack, which is limited to 160 watts. All owners of the device were lucky with RAM - the dual-channel DDR3 bus has 4 connectors, allows you to install 64 GB of RAM and supports fast DDR3-1800 (OC) modules.
Expansion cards
I am glad that the manufacturer thought of placing the PCIex1 slot over the south bridge. When installing a video card, the port for connecting an SSD-drive will not be blocked by the cooling system, as is the case with competitors. There are also three PCI slots on the Asus M4A77TD motherboard. Their characteristics are identical, and there is no way to configure bandwidth in the BIOS. But, as practice shows, this is no longer important, since when installing a video adapter, the PCI slots are blocked by the cooler of the video adapter. As a result, it is not clear for what purpose the manufacturer installed these interfaces on the board.
Two PCIex16 slots support CrossFire mode, however, here everything is not as good as many game lovers would like. The upper slot is capable of operating in the “x16” mode, but the lower one is limited by the “x4” data rate. A frivolous approach to the buyer, because it is precisely this factor that affects the system performance in gaming applications.
No limits
The future owner will also like the assortment of ports provided by the manufacturer with his Asus M4A77TD product. The instruction manual assures the user that any peripherals can be connected to a personal computer. The combined PS / 2 interface supports mouse and keyboard operation, the COM port allows you to connect multimedia devices, and the LPT port allows you to connect office equipment. There are also modern USB and e-SATA connectors. An integrated network board and 8-channel sound complement the motherboard with functionality.
It is clear that the manufacturer took care of the video system, providing the platform with two PCIex16 slots, but there is no integrated video controller on the board. But the device is positioned by ASUS in a budget class. Yes, the IEEE 1394 interface is not very popular in Russia, however, speaking of the full support of all peripherals, the manufacturer had to install this connector on the motherboard.
Features of the electrical circuit
The advantages of the Asus M4A77TD motherboard include a smart power supply system that not only copes with powerful components, but also can save power in idle mode. The enthusiast can not worry about overheating the system during overclocking of the processor and memory modules - the intelligent system perfectly balances the load.
But the negative feedback deserves processor power stabilizer. The fact is that power is supplied to it via a 4-pin ATX12V connector. The large power dissipation of the processor (140-160 watts) and one power line can lead to a fire of a 12-volt line coming from the power supply if the wire has a small cross section. Naturally, the user will need a proprietary power supply unit that supports the corresponding load on the ATX12V line for proper operation.
Finally
The motherboard Asus M4A77TD, along with the advantages, there are a number of disadvantages that you can’t just ignore the owner. Accordingly, potential buyers have many questions to the manufacturer regarding shortcomings regarding problems when building a gaming platform based on this motherboard. True, all claims are unfounded, because the product was initially positioned in a budget class, and you can’t count on its potential.