Asus M3N72-D or M4N72-E

[Stephince]

So here i am looking at motherboards and i've found:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...A-RAID-ATX-VGA

and:

http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=...21&modelmenu=1

The only differences i can spot are slight layout changes and the ability of the M4 to take DDR2 1200 (which i've never even seen). There is a £30ish difference between the 2. Am i missing something?

[Stephince]

Any thoughts on the £30-£40 price difference? I've spotted the max memory capacity is different but i'm not sure i'll be needing 16GB any time soon.

[Stephince]

I guess they are so similar nobody knows

[arthurleung]

From just looking at the spec, the M4N72-E have better power circuit. I suppose that is the primary differences between a cheap and expensive motherboard.

[TAKTAK]

M3N72-D has HDMI out

M4N72-E has better see above post ^^

[Infinite]

http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=...71&modelmenu=1

This is for easier comparison.

Main points:

The M4 is AM3
M4 has 8+1 phase power design vs M3 4+1
M3 has on board GFX and coupled with a nVidia graphics card can give you Hybrid SLi: http://www.nvidia.com/object/hybrid_sli_desktop.html
M4 has anti-surge protection
M4 has some superior OC features

TBH, if i had to chose, id probably get the M3 since features are practially the same bar the Hybrid SLi which to me is the deal breaker if i was getting a nVidia graphics card. Im guessing it is the cheaper one aswell.

[Stephince]

Thanks for spotting those other differences

As far as hybrid sli goes, isn't that limited to a very few GPU's (old 8000 series) for the graphics and a slightly wider selection for hybrid power? I'm not convinced it's a feature that's really getting any up to date live from Nvidia.

I will be updating my GPU soon and probably to a GTX 275 (unless i wait to see what 40nm production processes bring)