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| Part Number | M4N72-E |
| Manufacturer | ASUS |
| Chipset | NVIDIA nForce 750a |
| North Bridge | nForce 750a |
| Socket | Socket AM2+, Socket AM3 |
| Memory speed | 1066/800/667/533 |
| Processor Types | Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core/Athlon 64/ Sempron/Phenom/Phenom II |
| Number of CPUs | 1 |
| HT Speed | Up to 5200MT/second |
| Memory Type | DDR2 |
| Memory Channels | Double |
| Maximum Memory | 16GB |
| External Graphics | PCI Express x16 x2 |
| IGP | NVIDIA GeForce 8200 for Hybrid SLI only |
| South Bridge | NVIDIA nForce 750a |
| Audio | 8-channel |
| IDE | 133/100/66 |
| SCSI | None |
| SATA | 3.0 GB/s |
| RAID | 0, 1, 0+1, 5, 10 |
| LAN | 10/100/1000 4 LAN Ports |
| Firewire | IEEE 1394a |
| USB | USB 2.0 |
| BIOS | AMI |
| Form Factor | ATX |
The NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI chipset was released in 2008 for the AMD AM2+ platform. AMD CPUs based upon the AM3 platform may be used in AM2+ motherboards, but the reverse is not true due to the missing support for DDR3 and two extra pins. That's one of the benefits on the AMD platform while Intel CPUs force the changing of the motherboard every year it seems like, the AMD platform allows backwards compatibility for the most part.
The M4N72-E motherboard has at its heart the nForce 750a SLI NorthBridge. This NB supports SLI which means that you can use two NVIDIA graphics cards in tandem to improve performance in games and applications that support them. The chipset only supports 22 PCI Express lanes so when two cards are installed the two PCI Express x16 slots operate in x8 x8 mode. In any event the performance loss from going from x16 to x8 isn't worth writing home about.
The M4N72-E has support for DDR2-1200MHz memory when overclocked. As the memory controller on AMD platforms is on the CPU and not the chipset, the maximum memory supported when not overclocked is DDR2-1066MHz memory when an AM2+ or AM3 CPU is installed on the motherboard. As noted the AM3 CPU can be installed on an AM2+ motherboard if the BIOS are flashed to support the CPU. The M4N72-E supports DDR2 memory only.
The M4N72-E has an 8-phase power design meaning that it can deliver high power efficiency and great overclocking ability. There's also an additional 2 (or 1) phase power dedicated to the integrated memory/HT controller. The M4N72-E has Anti-Surge protection, allowing safe operation without worry from power surges. The Energy Processing Unit saves power by using the low power settings of the AM2+/AM3 CPU to save energy. AI Nap puts the system in minimum power mode.
