Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Desktop Motherboard Teardown

Form: ATX

OEM: ASUS

ODM: Pegatron (Assumed)

Mobo Name: M3A32-MVP Deluxe

Chipset: AMD AM2+/AM2 Platform

Support latest AMD Phenom ™ Quad-Core Processor

AMD - 215RDA7AKA21FG - Northbridge - (AMD 790FX Series)

AMD - 218S6ECLA21FG - Southbridge - (AMD SB600 Series)

Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Desktop Motherboard Main Image

Overview / Scope

This does not represent a teardown of an entire finished product (desktop system in this case), but rather a 'motherboard-only' analysis of ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe model. The board features an AMD chipset / solution. As part of our extended analysis, this unit is compared side-by-side with an ostensibly similar ASUS motherboard (P5E3 Deluxe) with competing Intel solution.

This is a custom analysis which also applies custom functional areas for a very detailed technical slice of the data. These functional areas are exceptional in their detail and do not represent standard iSuppli functional areas, but are much more detailed and offer much greater resolution in cost analysis.

Selling for prices as low as $150 USD at the time of writing (Most vendors are selling around the $200 USD mark) - 4/24/08.

For the purposes of this analysis, we have made a volume assumption of 87.5K units over the course of the product lifetime.

As a reminder, volume production assumptions are meant primarily to be used for our cost analysis in terms of amortized NRE and tooling costs, especially for custom components specific to the model being analyzed (mechanical components especially), and not necessarily as a market accurate estimate for a specific model. Our estimations are based on iSuppli market research and we derive rational estimates based on overall market shares of the manufacturer in question, as well as the number of products in a given portfolio and the relative popularity of certain lines of products.

Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Desktop Motherboard Cost Analysis

What Is Not Included in our Cost Analysis

The total materials and manufacturing costs reported in this analysis reflect ONLY the direct materials cost (from component vendors and assorted EMS providers), AND manufacturing with basic test. Not included in this analysis are costs above and beyond the material manufacture of the core device itself - cost of intellectual property, royalties and licensing fees (those not already included into the per component price), software, software loading and test, shipping, logistics marketing and other channel costs including not only EMS provider and the OEM's margin, but that of other resellers. Our cost analysis is meant to focus on those costs incurred in the manufacture of the core device and exceptionally in some circumstances the packaging and literature as well.

Manufacturing Notes

Country of Origin

This motherboard is assumed to be produced in China.

Country of origin assumptions relate directly to the associated cost of manufacturing, where calculated by iSuppli. In the cases of 'finished' sub-assemblies (such as power supplies, or Bluetooth modules), we do not calculate internal manufacturing costs, but rather assess the market price of the finished product in which case country of origin assumptions may or may not have a direct effect on pricing.

Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe Desktop Motherboard - Motherboard Top

Design for Manufacturing / Device Complexity

A comparative analysis of both motherboards will be found in the spreadsheet analysis allowing for quick and easy side-by-side comparisons of the two motherboards, and can be examined based on several alternative breakdowns (by functional areas, component family, etc.).

This motherboard - ASUS - M3A32-MVP Deluxe - features a total of 1536 components.

Component counts have a direct bearing on the overall manufacturing cycle times and costs, and also can increase or decrease overall yields and re-work. Our calculations of manufacturing costs factor counts and more qualitative complexities in the design

Note that manual labor has a much smaller effect on auto-insertion assembly lines (for the Main PCB, for example), where manufacturing costs are much more capital equipment intensive and driven by these investment costs.

Design Notes

The ASUS - M3A32-MVP Deluxe is based on a core AMD Northbridge / Southbridge solution. Interestingly, though many of the AMD-based boards we have seen actually feature Nvidia North / Southbridge chipsets which is especially surprising considering AMD's acquisition of ATI. This motherboard is based on the AMD AM2+/AM2 Platform which supports the latest AMD Phenom ™ Quad-Core Processor. The core chips are the AMD - 215RDA7AKA21FG - Northbridge - Graphics AMD 790FX Series and AMD - 218S6ECLA21FG - Southbridge - I/O Controller Hub (AMD SB600 Series).

Major component summaries:

Main PCB

Southbridge / Northbridge

Northbridge - AMD - 215RDA7AKA21FG - Graphics AMD 790FX Series

Southbridge - AMD - 218S6ECLA21FG - I/O Controller Hub (AMD SB600 Series).

I/O & Interface

I/O Controller - iTE - IT8716F-S - LPC Interface & Hardware Monitoring

IEEE1394 Host Controller - LSI - L-FW32207T100-DB - Integrated 1394a-2000 OHCI PHY/Link-Layer

Serial ATA Host Controller - Marvell Technology - 88SE6111-NAA1 - eSATA on-the-go

Serial ATA Host Controller - Marvell Technology - 88SE6121-NAA1

Ethernet Controller - Marvell Technology - 88E8056-NNC1 - PCI Express, Gigabit LAN

Codec - Analog Devices - AD1988BJCPZ - HD Audio SoundMAX, 5 Stereo DAC Pairs & 3 Stereo ADC Pairs, w/ S/PDIF Output & Input

Multiplexer/Demultiplexer - ASMedia Technology - ASM1430 - 8 Channel, 2:1, High Speed

Power Supply

Power Controller - ST Microelectronics - L6740L - Hybrid, for AMD SVID & PVID Processors

WLAN Card

WLAN - Atheros - AR2425 - Single Chip, MAC/Baseband Processor/Radio/PAM, 802.11b/g, 2.4GHz, PCI Express 1.0a Compliant