14 DAY TRIAL // ASUS, one of the world's leading vendors of computer platforms and hardware components, has recently announced an update to its portfolio of AMD-based motherboards, with the introduction of the new Absolute Pitch series of mobos. According to the Taiwanese motherboard maker, the new series has been designed to incorporate three audio technologies, meant to deliver a rich sound experience. The new boards boast DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC, ENVY HD and BD 192/24 technologies to deliver the rich audio experience that users demand from an HTPC system.
With the release of the new series, ASUS has introduced two new motherboards, the M4A785G HTPC/RC and the M4A785G HTPC, both of which have been designed to take advantage of the latest AMD 785G/SB710 chipset. The main difference between the two boards is that the first bundles a remote control, while the second comes as a standard HTPC motherboard with no remote. Aside from that, the two are designed to provide users with the performance of the integrated Radeon HD 4200 graphics chipset and support for DDR2 memory technology.
The two boards can support AM2/AM2+ and the latest AM3 Phenom II processors, coupled with dual-channel DDR2 memory with up to 16GB of capacity. The integrated graphics can deliver support for Hybrid CrossFireX, Full HD 1080p and DirectX 10.1 graphics. The backpanel includes HDMI, DVI and RGB outputs, for a complete range of connectivity options for the user's HTPC setup. There are also five SATA ports with RAID 0,1 and 10, one external SATA and one PATA controller for up to two devices.
Among some of the features that are included in the Absolute Pitch Hi-Fi series of motherboards, the Taiwanese company has highlighted the 10-channel HD audio, support for Blu-ray 192kHz/ 24-bit audio, the DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC technology and the optical S/PDIF available at the back I/O.