VPN: M5A97
Product ReviewsASUS M5A97 AMD970/SB950 ATX AM3+ DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 SATA3 USB3.0 Audio CrossFireX Motherboard
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69%
25%
6%
0%
0%
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 Rating: Review Date: 10/04/12  |
Cons: AI Suite is not that great
Pros: fast, lots of SATA ports |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/09/12 |
Cons: - No USB 3.0 header on the board (for connecting front USB 3.0)
Pros: - Great for budget builds- works out of the box with FX processors- BIOS is simple and easy to use- Has USB 3.0 on the back as well as 5.1 Optical out Comment:
This was my first mobo for my first build and it worked right away no problems. There was no hassle installing board or it's components. I recommend this for any budget builder or first time builder. |
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Rating: Review Date: 09/01/12 |
Cons: none
Pros: works great, easy to install, good price Comment:
This board was great for my first build. Good price and everything works perfect. |
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Rating: Review Date: 08/02/12 |
Cons: most annoying motherboard beep I have ever heard, awkward size for mounting
Pros: Fast boot, energy saving settings work well, runs cool, good fan control, very easy overclock Comment:
Great motherboard, only problems being that the motherboard beep is annoying and loud in comparison to other asus boards and that the size of the board is awkward. The edge with the ATX power plug sits halfway between the mounts on my case so pushing plugs into it feels like you're flexing the board a lot.Bios is new and interesting. All bridges are fast and the whole board runs cool with the fair sized heat sinks on it.Can't beat this board for the price. It is an inexpensive work horse. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/30/12 |
Cons: Honestly, the only problem is that the color doesn't match my case fans that's it.
Pros: Great motherboard, plenty of space for all my sata hook ups, and the 6gbps makes everything so much faster. Comment:
Good motherboard recommend it for anyone just starting to build your computer. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/14/12 |
Cons: slow UEFI boot, slightly dated chipset - though still relevant to today's builds
Pros: incredible price, logical layout, stability features, much BIOS configurability, brand recognition Comment:
An AM3+ mobo with CrossFireX capability for ~$89 was and still is an incredible deal. TurboV EVO and AI Suite II are quite elegant and rich. Beware that there are no PATA interfaces on this board if you still have to use it for that an optical drive. No issues with performance as expected. |
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Rating: Review Date: 07/11/12 |
Cons: -Requires lots of configuration to properly configure your computer for perfectly smooth performances.
Pros: -Easy to configure.-Mouse pointer in the BIOS.-Easy to update BIOS. Comment:
It is a good motherboard that works really well once configured and I love the mouse pointer in the bios instead of having the DOS interface. Easy to navigate throughout the interface. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/24/12 |
Cons: None
Pros: AsusGood priceGood performance Comment:
I bought it for a friend 2 months ago for his new desktop. It works as expected and has a good value, couldn't go wrong with Asus if you're in need of a decent budget motherboard. |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/11/12 |
Cons: none
Pros: Plenty of USB ports, USB3, lots of SATA ports Comment:
Great mobo for a very good price if you're on a tight budget (and aren't we all!). Bought it together with AMD Bulldozer FX-4100 Quad Core Processor 3.6GHZ and Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5IN SATA3 SandForce SF-2281 SSD. This all combined runs super stable and very quick! |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/07/12 |
Cons: None!
Pros: Friend bought 1 and after using his for 1 hour i fell in love with it, i have always been a ASUS Fan but it made me a even bigger one now :) Comment:
Great MOBO soo many nice features UEFI Bios is one of them, USB 3.0 |
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Rating: Review Date: 06/04/12 |
Cons: Rear plate didn't fit too well with the case (antec 300 mid tower) and MB
Pros: No fuss install, love the click bios! Easy to overclock. Comment:
Very easy to install, everything you need comes with it and the manual was strait forward. Stays nice and cool too. Love the blue! |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/13/12 |
Cons: -none
Pros: -UEFI Bios-USB 3.0-nothing but SATA 3.0 ports-great value Comment:
For this price, it's an incredibly good motherboard. Paired it with a Phenom X4 960T and it runs great for day to day tasks. For the features this board provides combined with a processor and some RAM, makes a great build for the moajority of people for less than what you would need to pay for an Intel-equivalent system. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/11/12 |
Cons: -For some strange reason, BIOS updates can't be run from the OS if it's 64 bit (other manufacturers have a much easier time updating the BIOS. It seems that they want you to use EZ Flash in this case, which is more work.-For some strange reason, didn't work for this motherboard. Tried reattaching them but didn't work; however, when I used the SATA cables provided by this motherboard (it has clips and has an L-shape) it worked on the first go.
Pros: -UEFI Bios is Great-Lots of of USB ports -Great Price Comment:
This is a really great motherboard for the price you're getting it for. It's been stable for the past month, no problems at all. Aside for some quirks in installation and updating the BIOS in 64bit OSs, which I think ASUS should fix their ASUSupdate considering that has been an issue since 2008. |
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Rating: Review Date: 05/02/12 |
Cons: None.
Pros: Matched my build around it. Works great so far. Didn't have to do any firmware updates to get anything to work. Comment:
On auto it sets my RAM 1600 instead of the highest speed(1866) but that was easily fixed by manually setting it myself. Not going to drop an egg for that. Runs my AMD FX8120 just fine. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/25/12 |
Cons: no usb 3.0 slot for front of case
Pros: look great insidegreat colour scheme blue and blacklooks fresh Comment:
I bought this AM3+ socket board and its great works well for amd phenom II x4 965 one thing that sorta made me feel incomplete is that the front usb 3.0 for my CASE on the front is not supported. But no biggy it comes with usb 3.0s |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/14/12 |
Cons: Windows 7 did not automatically detect all drivers. ie. Network drivers, AMD Chipset drivers, and USB 3.0 drivers. Had to use included CD ROM.
Pros: Really easy to install and setup Comment:
Very happy with this board. I loved Asus, been awhile since i've owned a Asus Motherboard, but glad im back! Setup was a breeze, although just had to install some drivers once Windows booted. Next project is to try out the Crossfire and get dual Video Cards in this puppy!NCIX has great deals, picked this up for $80 dollars! Combined with my 6 Core FX 6100 Black Edition and the Corsair Vengence 8GB RAM (also on sale at NCIX) this really kicks!All in all, this is a pretty good gaming machine that didn't hit my wallet very hard.Now time to test some BF3!!! |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/10/12 |
Cons: - none that i can see so far
Pros: - good features- fits my needs Comment:
great motherboard, does everything i need it to. great product, i would recommend this to people who are on a budget. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/08/12 |
Cons: none that I've noticed
Pros: No problems, good overclocking Comment:
like many, I got this on sale with the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, has been very stable thus far, have my CPU overclocked to 3.6 Ghz from 2.8. |
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Rating: Review Date: 04/07/12 |
Cons: No USB 3.0 for front port.
Pros: GUI BIOS, motherboard layout, USB 3.0 Comment:
Got this on sale with the AMD Phenom II X6 1055T. The motherboard has a nice BIOS interface, the price is reasonable, and so far the motherboard have been running fine. Only problem that I encounter is that during each boot-up, my motherboard will take at least 1 minute to 2 minute to read and install my drivers. Probably just my motherboard, so I have to get it RMA. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/12/12 |
Cons: No USB 3.0 motherboard header for cases with front ports
Pros: Very nice looking boardRelatively cheapQuality brand in ASUSUSB 3.0 ports Comment:
Using this with an FX-4100 and G2 Patriot 8GB DDR3 RAM and so far it has been running solid. I trust ASUS and Gigabyte the most for motherboards for their solid capacitors.I'm not overclocking or anything, but for price, all I can really complain about is the lack of a front USB 3.0 header on the motherboard. More and more cases are starting to come with them so that would've been nice.Overall, solid board for the price. |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/09/12 |
Cons: nothing much
Pros: Cheap, good layout. Comment:
Got this with the 8GB ram deal with NCIX, such a good combo :) |
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Rating: Review Date: 03/07/12 |
Cons: layout issues
Pros: price, versatility, great bios Comment:
Don't get me wrong, this is a great board. The only problem I had was trying to install a Freezer Pro cooler. There is just not enough space to squeeze it in next to the ram sinks. I tried installing the ram first, then the cooler, but it still wouldn't fit. I don't know if other coolers would have the same issues, but if you play7 to use a stock cooler, you should be okay. |
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Rating: Review Date: 02/29/12 |
Cons: no IDE port
Pros: works great Comment:
Cheap and works great. No IDE port but not too important. This mb does the job. |
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Rating: Review Date: 02/04/12 |
Cons: none
Pros: Clean looking mobo Comment:
I like this mobo a lot. The only thing is the mounting screws were a little hard to get on, but that was more of my case's fault. |
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Rating: Review Date: 01/13/12 |
Cons: q-fan needs to be revised (it did not work for me)
Pros: robust, asus top quality, not extremely expnsive, good for budget builds Comment:
Overall I am happy with my purchase. I really like this board, especially the click bios. Not many relatively cheap boards have click bios, it's a good change from the usual bios. AM3+, bulldozer support! Hopefully the second generation bulldozer cpus will be better, and hopefully this board will still support them. |
It does the trick. This was an upgrade from an older AM2 board. I like that there are lots of SATA ports, and that they are placed better than my previous board. (on my previous board, they were right where the GPU will cover them) I really like the UEFI BIOS as opposed to the older ones, too. It's very handy to be able to use your mouse while changing settings.