Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16 - What Dreams Are Made On . . .
by Gary Key on October 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe: Features
Asus did an excellent job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors. The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules can be changed with a full size video card in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors standard ATX case design and the power cable management is very good. Asus places the eight-pin 12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area, but out of the way of any aftermarket cooling solutions.
The nForce4 SATA II ports are located conveniently below the primary IDE connector and feature the new clamp and latch design. Asus did not include the new cable designs in their accessory kit, which greatly enhance the security of the SATA connections. When cables are attached to the top SATA II ports with a 7800GTX installed in the second PCI Express x16 slot, there is a tight fit. I would highly recommend installing the cables before the video card.
The nForce4 USB connectors and TI 1394a Firewire connectors are located below the battery and the adaptor connectors are a tight fit when utilizing the bottom PCI slot. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located next to the BIOS chip and below the SATA II connectors that proved to be inconvenient at times.
In between the two x16 PCI Express slots is the PCI Express x4 slot along with one of the PCI Express x1 slots. The 4-pin 12V EZ plug is also located in this area and has the capability of creating cable clutter when utilized with an SLI setup. However, the full two slot spacing in between the x16 PCI Express slots leaves ample room for upgrading the cooling solutions on a pair of SLI cards. This additional room also provides better air-flow management and allowed our 7800GTX SLI configuration to run up to 4c cooler based upon the NVIDIA control panel temperature utility when compared to other motherboards in the same case and ambient conditions.
The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets along with the MOFSETs are passively cooled with an excellent copper heat pipe system that does not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system kept the chipsets cool enough that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests.
The only oddity in the area is the red Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector located right above the first PCI Express x1 slot. The location of this connector is not ideal, but is required due to the second Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector being located on the back I/O panel.
Asus did an excellent job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors. The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules can be changed with a full size video card in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors standard ATX case design and the power cable management is very good. Asus places the eight-pin 12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area, but out of the way of any aftermarket cooling solutions.
The nForce4 SATA II ports are located conveniently below the primary IDE connector and feature the new clamp and latch design. Asus did not include the new cable designs in their accessory kit, which greatly enhance the security of the SATA connections. When cables are attached to the top SATA II ports with a 7800GTX installed in the second PCI Express x16 slot, there is a tight fit. I would highly recommend installing the cables before the video card.
The nForce4 USB connectors and TI 1394a Firewire connectors are located below the battery and the adaptor connectors are a tight fit when utilizing the bottom PCI slot. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located next to the BIOS chip and below the SATA II connectors that proved to be inconvenient at times.
In between the two x16 PCI Express slots is the PCI Express x4 slot along with one of the PCI Express x1 slots. The 4-pin 12V EZ plug is also located in this area and has the capability of creating cable clutter when utilized with an SLI setup. However, the full two slot spacing in between the x16 PCI Express slots leaves ample room for upgrading the cooling solutions on a pair of SLI cards. This additional room also provides better air-flow management and allowed our 7800GTX SLI configuration to run up to 4c cooler based upon the NVIDIA control panel temperature utility when compared to other motherboards in the same case and ambient conditions.
The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets along with the MOFSETs are passively cooled with an excellent copper heat pipe system that does not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system kept the chipsets cool enough that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests.
The only oddity in the area is the red Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector located right above the first PCI Express x1 slot. The location of this connector is not ideal, but is required due to the second Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector being located on the back I/O panel.
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Wesley Fink - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Those accustomed to looking at AMD Athlon64 Performance Scores are used to seeing numbers almost the same across motherboards because the memory controller is on the CPU. The Intel Memory Controller is in the chipset and performance varies much more depending on the chipset and the quality of the motherboard design.That is one reason we often test Latency in Intel MB tests. If you look at the Latency test results in this review you will see a fairly wide variation across the tested chipsets and motherboards for the Intel CPU. Athlon64 Latency tests would all be virtually the same with the memory controller a part of the processor.
toyota - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
how can motherboards make that much difference in gaming?? in the Doom3 benchmarks they range from 63 to 95 fps! i dont understand benchmarks like that and nobody else ever makes a comment. am i missing something?Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Good Day.....I revised the article statement about the Doom3 scores. I left it out on the final copy by mistake. We are still investigating the differences as an upcoming article from Randi on another nF4 Intel SLI board has scores higher than the numbers I have reported by a fair margin again. In fact, I will be testing the Abit board once it arrives with an disk image from my previous tests.
Due to the memory controller not being on the CPU (current Athlon64 family design) the Intel based motherboard design makes a great deal of difference not only from a chipset choice but also from how well a board manufacturer designs and implements the supporting components and bios.
Thank you.
xsilver - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
the 63fps is on another chipset, the chipset affects memory, hdd performance directly and everything else indirectly..the 95fps actually looks like an anomaly -- and AT member will have to confirm that (SLI setup in the NI8?)
so in fact the numbers are actually 75.3-79.4fps which is an acceptable range for the same chipset
many people forget the mobo is the heart of the system, it pays to get a good one :)
TransientBen - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Mixing philosophy, classical literature and computer hardware reviews? Gotta love it. Though it's difficult to not get caught up in the philosophy and then question, "Is it worth $200 for a motherboard or a plane ticket to a new place?"There is so little time, afterall.
Always been a big Asus fan. Have one of the first (original slot a) Athlon boards still up and running after all these years - rock solid - and, more recently, a Z33A laptop that's blown me away with it's quality. I look forward to the inclusion of many of these features on future AMD boards.
noac - Saturday, November 12, 2005 - link
Hi, Im reading my manual and it says:DIMM_A1 (yellow), DIMM_A2 (black), DIMM_B1 (yellow), DIMM_B2 (black).
Channel A = DIMM_A1 and DIMM_A2
Channel B = DIMM_B1 and DIMM_B2
For dual-channel configuration, the total size of memory module(s) intalled per channel must be the same (DIMM_A1 + DIMM_A2, DIMM_B1 + DIMM_B2).
Anandtech:
Asus did an excellent job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors. The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup.
My question which way is it? Im I getting the manual wrong? How to I palce my two mems for dualchannel?
Gary Key - Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - link
Email me if you have any issues or further questions please.Gary Key - Wednesday, November 16, 2005 - link
Sorry about the late reply...You place the memory in the two yellow DIMM slots for dual channel.
Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Depends on the time and place in my book. :-> However, considering where I could go for $200 at this point in time I will take the board. I also believe Dickens is queued up for the next article.
I had been concerned about Asus the past couple of releases as I honestly thought Intel had passed them on the high end side (useable features, stability, throw in Abit for performance) with their 925x and 955x boards until this gem landed on my doorstep.
I think the AMD version of this board should be equally adept and we should find out shortly. ;->
xsilver - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
I can see asus and the other mobo companies making this refresh right after/before christmas and then obviously another refresh for M2 socket