The Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard Review

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 1 x PCI Express x4 1 x PCI Express x1 2 x PCI 2.2
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 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI? MCP built-in dual Gigabit MAC with external Marvell PHY * Support Teaming and fail-over functions * Support TCP/IP Acceleration
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: * ASUS AI NOS? (Non-delay Overclocking System) * AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner) * AI Clock Skew * ASUS PEG Link – automatically performance tuning for graphics cards * ASUS O.C. Profile: overclocking configuration-sharing tool Precision Tweaker: * vDIMM: 25-step DRAM voltage control * vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment * PCIe x16 Frequency: allowing PCIe x16 frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increment * SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection): allowing FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment Overclocking Protection: * ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall) ASUS AI Booster Utility Adjustable FSB/DDR2 ratio. Fixed PCI/PCIe frequencies.