The Asus M4A785-M uses the AMD Socket AM2+ CPU socket. Any compatible AMD CPU will have the same socket entry. It uses the aging DDR2 memory type, with maximum speeds of up to 1066 MHz, and 4 DDR2 slots allowing for a maximum total of 16 GB RAM. DDR2 memory is exceptionally out of date, and considering how cheap DDR3 RAM is, using a motherboard with only DDR2 compatibility in a modern system build would be a very bad idea.

Released on 01 Aug 2009, the Asus M4A785-M is now over 11 years old, which means it is extremely out of date and is based on very aged technologies. This motherboard will be dwarfed in performance by its modern counterparts, and will likely have very little support from Asus.

The Micro-ATX Asus M4A785-M should fit into all ATX cases, but its smaller size allows you to downsize your system build as a whole. Its size comes at the cost of features, so there are likely to be far fewer connections and expansion options available than in a larger motherboard.

The Asus M4A785-M has 6 SATA 2.0 hard drive slots. These allow for data speeds of up to 3GB/s. SATA 2.0 is a very common standard, and despite the emergence of SATA 3.0 - whose potential is difficult to reach currently - SATA 2.0 remains a viable option.

The Asus M4A785-M supports onboard graphics. This allows for integrated graphics when paired with a compatible CPU that supports them. Integrated graphics are a cheap alternative to using a graphics card, but should be avoided when frequently using modern applications or games that require intense graphical processing. There are 1 PCIe x16 slots on this motherboard. This means it is perfectly capable of accommodating the latest graphics cards, although it is important to try and use a graphics card with the same graphics card interface of PCIe v2.x, as anything below will not reach the motherboard's potential, and anything above will have its performance slashed to the bandwidth maximum of the Asus M4A785-M's PCIe v2.x. The Asus M4A785-M does not support multiple graphics cards via Nvidia SLI or AMD Crossfire.

The Asus M4A785-M has 9 USB 2.0 slots but no USB 3.0 slots. While USB 3.0 slots are so far by no means necessary, and with a plethora of USB 2.0 peripherals to choose from, the USB functionality on this motherboard should be fine. If planning on building a new system, a motherboard with USB 3.0 is likely to have a longer life cycle, however.