Legit Motherboard Reviews
The Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard Review
| Manufacturer: | ASUS |
| Product: | Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard |
| Date: | Mon, Oct 02, 2006 - 12:00 AM |
| Written By: | Jason Petermann - |
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The Intro and Specs
Asus has typically been a company that has come out with boards very quickly after the launch of a new socket or chipset. They have also been very popular with the enthusiast crowd, and for good reason. Asus has a reputation of producing quality motherboards that perform very well and also excel in the area of overclocking. Those combinations make Asus a company that many are loyal too, and that many do not mind paying a higher price for. In fewer words, let's just say that there are good reasons that Asus has a large following.
For the AM2 socket, Asus has several different chipsets available in many different bundles, so everyone looking for a boards should be able to find what they are looking for, no matter the budget or feature set.
The board we are looking at today is the M2N32-SLI Wireless Edition. This board is geared toward enthusiasts and overclockers that are also looking for a board with all the bells and whistles, as it sports the Nvidia nForce 590 SLI MCP chipset. Does this board have what you are looking for? Is it a great overclocker or not? We will answer these questions and more as we look at the M2N32-SLI. In addition to looking at the board we will benchmark it against the VIA based Asrock AM2V890-VSTA and the ATI powered MSI K9A Platinum to see how general performance is on three different chipsets that consumers can purchase for us on their AM2 platforms.
CPU | Support AMD® Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2/Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Sempron AMD Cool 'n' Quiet? Technology AMD64 architecture enables simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit computing AMD Live!? Ready |
Chipset | NVIDIA nForce® 590 SLI? MCP NVIDIA LinkBoost? Technology |
Memory | Dual channel memory architecture 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2-800/667/533, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory |
Expansion Slots | 2 x PCI Express x16 slot with NVIDIA® SLI? technology support, at full x16, x16 speed |
SLI | Support two identical NVIDIA SLI-Ready graphics cards (both at x16 mode) ASUS two-slot thermal design ASUS PEG Link |
Storage | NVIDIA nForce® 590 SLI? MCP supports: * 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66/33 * 6 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s * NVIDIA MediaShield? RAID supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD span cross Serial ATA drives Silicon Image® 3132 SATA controller supports * 1 x Internal Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s * 1 x External Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s port on back I/O (SATA On-the-Go) * Support RAID 0, 1, and JBOD |
LAN | Dual Gigabit LAN controllers support NVIDIA DualNet® technology |
Audio | ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out on back I/O port Support DTS® Connect function |
Wireless LAN | WiFi-AP Solo? USB wireless module supports IEEE802.11b/g |
IEEE 1394a | TI 1394 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports |
USB | Wireless Edition: max. 8 USB2.0/1.1 ports |
Special Features | ASUS EZ DIY: * Q-Connector * ASUS CrashFree BIOS3 * ASUS EZ Flash2 ASUS Music Alarm ASUS MyLogo3 |
Back Panel I/O Ports | 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port 1 x PS/2 Mouses 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output 1 x External SATA 2 x LAN (RJ45) port 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports 1 x IEEE 1394a port 1 x WiFi-g? antenna jack (Wireless Edition only) 1 x COM port 8-channel Audio ports |
Internal I/O Connectors | Wireless Edition: 2 x USB 2.0 connectors supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports 1 x Floppy disk drive connector 1 x IDE connector for two devices 7 x SATA connectors 1 x CPU / 4 x Chassis / 1x Chipset / 1 x Power Fan connectors 1 x IEEE1394a connector 1 x Parallel connector 1 x S/PDIF output connector 1 x ADH connector Chassis Intrusion connector Front Panel Audio connector CD audio in 24-pin ATX Power connector 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector System panel connector |
BIOS | 8Mb Flash ROM, AWARD BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3 |
Manageability | WOL by PME, WOR by PME, Chasis Intrusion, PXE |
Accessories | 1 x SLI bridge 1 x ASUS Array Mic 1 x ASUS Optional Fan 1 x ASUS Q-Connector Kit (USB, 1394, system panel; Retail version only) 1 x wireless antenna (Wireless Edition only) 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable 1 x Floppy disk drive cable 6 x SATA cables 3 x SATA power cable for 6 devices 1 x 2-port USB2.0 module 1 x IEEE1394a module 1 x I/O Shield InterVideo® Media Launcher (OEM version only) User's manual |
Support CD | Drivers ASUS WiFi-AP Solo? Wizard (Wireless Edition only) ASUS PC Probe II ASUS Update ASUS AI Booster NVIDIA MediaShield? RAID Anti-virus software (OEM version) |
Form Factor | ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm) |
Front Side Bus | 2000/1600 MT/s |
Overclocking Features | Intelligent overclocking tools: Precision Tweaker: Overclocking Protection: |
Next Page - The Layout
| Review Index |
|
Page 1 - The Intro and Specs
Page 2 - The Layout Page 3 - The Bundle Page 4 - The Bios Page 5 - The Test Setup Page 6 - The Tests: Overall System Performance - World Bench 5 Page 7 - The Tests: Overall System Performance - World Bench 5 Continued Page 8 - The Tests: Overall System Performance and Memory Bandwidth Page 9 - The Tests: 3D and Gaming Performance Page 10 - The Tests: Overclocking Page 11 - The Conclusion |
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