To help us provide you with free impartial advice, we may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Learn more

Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 review

Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0
Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £80

The Asus M5A97 EVO 2.0 is a decent motherboard with lots of handy enthusiast features, but it's a little expensive

Specifications

Processor socket: AM3+, Dimensions: 305x244mm, Chipset: AMD 970 + SB950, Memory slots: 4, PCI-E x16 slots: 2, PCI-E x1 slots: 2, PCI slots: 2, USB ports: 8x USB2, 2x USB3, Video outputs: None

eBuyer

The Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 is an AM3+ motherboard that has a lot of features that will be extremely pleasing for those who spend more time with their case side panel off than on.

There are plenty of connection ports although on the back panel you get a measly two USB3 ports and a slightly more generous eight USB connectors, but we really would have preferred a couple more high-speed connectors. Luckily you get capacity for two more USB3 connectors on a mid-board header, which can be connected to your case’s USB3 ports. Also at the rear of the board are two eSATA connectors and, most strangely, a FireWire connector. There’s also a full complement of six 3.5mm audio jacks and an optical audio port.

Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 ports

You get two PCI-E x16 slots, although only the uppermost runs at x16 speeds. The second runs at x4 speeds and, while compatible with AMD CrossFire, it’s unlikely you’ll get particularly impressive performance out of your second card if you install one. If you want a multi-card setup, you should buy a different motherboard.

Also present are two PCI-E x1 slots and two legacy PCI connectors for your older expansion cards. There are six SATA3 connectors, with four facing off to the right and the others sitting on top of the motherboard’s surface facing upwards.

There aren’t any video output ports on the board because AMD FX chips don’t have any onboard graphics chips, making these connectors redundant. There’s room for four DDR3 RAM sticks with a maximum overclocked speed of 2133MHz.

This is board designed for enthusiasts, with several dedicated buttons dotted around the board designed to make fiddling that little bit easier than with a conventional motherboard. The BIOS FlashBack utility is particularly handy if you’re having problems or need to update your board: inserting a USB stick with the BIOS files on it and holding down the button (situated below the PCI slot) automatically flashes the BIOS with the new software, even if you don’t have a processor installed. It’s a niche addition, but we’re sure some will appreciate it.

Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 top down

Also useful is the MemOK button, which lets you check for any faults with your memory. The light flashing in various combinations will let you know if your RAM is faulty or your motherboard simply doesn’t like it. Finally, the DirectKey button switches on your PC and automatically boots into the UEFI BIOS, removing the need for you to hammer the Delete key, as is customary with any BIOS fiddling.

Performance was as expected from our benchmark 4GHz AMD FX-8350 chip: it scored 99 overall and, after being overclocked to 4.7GHz using the easy-to-use one-click overclocking tools in the BIOS, managed an overall score of 129.

The Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 is a capable motherboard with lots of handy features and some capacity for future expansion. It’s pretty expensive compared to the similarly specified MSI 970A-G43, though, so unless you really want the extra buttons, you should buy that instead.

Hardware
Processor socketAM3+
Form factorATX
Dimensions305x244mm
Processor supportAMD FX, Phenom II, Athlon II, Sempron 100
Processor external bus200MHz
ChipsetAMD 970 + SB950
Supported memory typeDDR3
Maximum memory speed2133MHz
Memory slots4
Maximum memory32GB
Motherboard power connectors1x 24-pin ATX, 1x 8-pin 12V
PCI-E x16 slots2
PCI-E x4 slots0
PCI-E x1 slots2
PCI slots2
Motherboard fan headers4
SATA II ports0
SATA III ports6
RAID support0, 1, 5, 10
Wired network ports1x 10/100/1000Mbit/s
Motherboard sound (ports)Realtek HD Audio (6x analogue, optical S/PDIF)
USB ports8x USB2, 2x USB3
USB headers6x USB2, 2x USB3
Video outputsNone
Other portsPS/2
Cables included2x SATA
Motherboard clock adjustmentCPU/RAM
Motherboard voltage adjustmentCPU/RAM/chipset
Buying information
Price including VAT£81
WarrantyOne year RTB
Supplierwww.ebuyer.com
Detailswww.asus.com
Part code90-MIBJJO-G0EAY0MZ

Read more

Reviews