The Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard Review

The Tests: 3D and Gaming Performance

3DMark05

3DMark05 is best suited for the latest generation of DirectX 9.0 graphics cards. It is the first benchmark to require a DirectX9.0 compliant hardware with support for Pixel Shaders 2.0 or higher! By combining high quality 3D tests, CPU tests, feature tests, image quality tools, and much more, 3DMark05 is a premium benchmark for evaluating the latest generation of gaming hardware.

3DMark06

3DMark06 is the latest version in the popular 3DMark series, including advanced SM2.0 and HDR/SM3.0 Shader graphics tests and now including single, multiple core and multiple processor CPU tests as part of the 3DMark score!

All three of our boardsscore essentially the same on the 3dMark benches, showing us that there is little difference in the three chipsets represented here.

AquaMark3

AquaMark3 is a powerful tool to determine reliable information about the gaming performance of a computer system. All settings for this test were left at default.

For some reason or another, the Asus board did not fair as well on the Aquamark testing. It comes in last in both the graphics and CPU tests in this benchmark. The MSI, with the ATI chipset pulls ahead on both of these tests.

Doom 3

Doom 3 is a great choice for system benchmarking because of its built in time demo. For this test, we used Time Demo 1 with resolution set to 1280×1024, using 4x AA and 16x AF, with the rest of the settings being default.

The Asus, with the Nvidia chipset seems to like DOOM 3 very much, as it leads the pack here by a full 3 fps.

Far Cry

Far Cry is another super popular FPS title that seriously taxes your systems graphics. HardwareOC developed this specialized benchmarking utility that automatically runs the test twice and averages out the score. V 1.41 was used here, with a resolution of 1024×768 and detail levels set to high.

The story is not quite the same as we look at FarCry. We see the ATI take the lead, with the Via chipset right behind. The Asus with its Nvidia chipset finds itself in third, although the difference between the three certainly in very close.

F.E.A.R

First Encounter Assault Recon or F.E.A.R. Anyone who has played this game knows that it brings any computer to it’s knees. Fantastic visuals, this is one of the most advanced graphic engines we have seen. If you haven’t played this game you should really check it out. Both graphics and machine settings were on “Maximum” in the F.E.A.R. performance menu. Settings were at 4xAA and 16xAF.

Here again we see the Asus come in with the lead, although only by one fps over the MSI and its ATI chipset. The Asrock with its Via chipset comes in last here, a full 3 fps behind the Nvidia chipset equiped Asus board.