Introduction

Prior to the launch of the new Sandy Bridge-E platform, we have to work our way through the AMD based boards we received. Today we're looking at the ASUS M5A97 Evo and this is one of the more interesting boards we've looked at due to the fact it carries with it a price tag of only $119 US.

With support for the new FX series of AMD processors along with being part of the new 900 series chipsets, this could be a really great option for people who want to get in on the AMD FX fun without breaking the bank. This looks to be very much a board that represents what the AMD platform is all about with some strong features and a really aggressive price tag.

The first thing we need to do, though, is check out the package to see what's going on in that department. Once we've done that we'll start to move closer into the motherboard itself to see just what the ASUS M5A97 Evo offers.

From there it's time to move into the BIOS to see what's happening in that department before we see just what kind of overclocking potential the board can give us on our FX-8150. It's at that point we then get into the benchmark side of things to see just what kind of performance the board can give us with the thing we're probably most looking out for being how it compares against the more expensive 990FX options that we've looked at over the past few weeks.

The Package

Looking at the box, we haven't got anything too out of the ordinary. We've got the model on the front, mention that it supports the new AM3+ processors and some of the main features. Turning over, we've got a picture of the board, some of the main specifications and an explanation on some of the main features that are on offer.

Moving inside the box, we've got a fairly simple bundle going on with our manual, driver CD, three SATA cables, Ez Connector headers and our I/O back plate. Nothing much at all going on, but considering the price point of the board, it doesn't come as a surprise.