Conclusion

Overall		+	-
The ASUS M5A99X Evo performed rather good performance, in fact it could even keep up with a Crosshair IV Extreme. With a neat design and considerable advantages like AM3+ socket, native SLI compatibility, front panel  USB3, a digital power design as well as support for both AM3 and AM3+ processor generation, it offers a great mix.		- Performance - Design - Overclocking - BIOS
Layout		+	-
The ASUS M5A99X Evo comes with a neat design although the southbridge cooler looks quite cheap. The board offers the possibility to setup CrossFire or SLI at 8x / 8x. Furthermore it also comes with USB3 and SATA3. You can find six SATA3 and four USB 3.0 port whereas two can be found on the back panel and another two for the front panel of your case. ASUS leaves two free between the first and the second PCIe x16 to allow both graphics card an efficient cooling. Last but not least this board comes with an exchangable BIOS.		- Free space between the two main PCIe 16x - USB3 / SATA3 - Removable BIOS Chip	- Look of the southbridge cooler
Performance		+	-
The M5A99X Evo outperforms every other motherboard we've tested so far, no matter if you're looking at 2D or 3D benchmarks. Only the memory benchmarks as well as Crysis showed some difficulties. Otherwise the M5A99X Evo is able to compete at the same level as the high end Crosshair IV Extreme.		- 3D Performance - 2D Performance	- Memotry Latency
Overclocking		+	-
For its price this board offers nice overclocking capabilities. We've been able to reach a CPU frequecy close to the one achieved with the high end Crosshair IV Extreme. In fact 4'300 MHz are 300 MHz more than the previous generation from this motherboard family was able to achieve. Overclocking the bus was alost a lot of fun therefore we hit 335 MHz which is quite decent.		- 335 MHz BustaktReference Clock - Voltages - BIOS - Asus TurboV Evo	- ASUS TPU / Auto Overclocking of the memory
Recommendation		+	-
Generally we can recommend the ASUS M5A99X Evo for a gaming, an overclocking or a very well performing office PC. If you're the kind of person looking for good overall performance and/or good overclocking capabilities at a very attractive price point, then the ASUS M5A99X Evo will be a very good choice.		- PC-Enthusiasts - Overclockers - Office PC

the ASUS M5A99X Evo can be bought at Digitec for CHF 157.- (est. EUR 121.-)

Rating

Page 1 - ASUS M5A99X Evo	Page 8 - SiSoft Sandra 2
Page 2 - Specifications	Page 9 - SuperPi/WPrime
Page 3 - Presentaion/Layout/I/O/Bundle	Page 10 - Games
Page 4 - BIOS	Page 11 - Asus AI Suite II / TurboV Evo Overclocking
Page 5 - Test Setup	Page 12 - Temperatures
Page 6 - FutureMark	Page 13 - Overclocking
Page 7 - SiSoft Sandra 1	Page 14 - Conclusion

Discuss this article in the forums

Author :Christian Ney, c.ney@ocaholic.ch Copy edited and translated : Christian Ney, c.ney@ocaholic.ch & Marc Buechel, m.buechel@ocaholic.ch