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Summary

This is a basic preview of this product intended for readers who just want the quick look at the new product.  If you are interested in the full review, with all the technical data and benchmarks that you are used to seeing on PC Perspective, please click on this link to get to that article.

All the way back in August of this year NVIDIA unofficially announced the X16 versions of their X16 nForce4 chipsets for AMD and Intel platforms by partnering with Dell on a new gaming system.  Unfortunately for the media and for gamers in general this did not allow us to get a hold of a motherboard to test and review.  We were simply left with vague statements from NVIDIA and partners that the X16 chipsets were going to be the "ultimate gamer's platform" and the like.  Well now we have a retail motherboard in house from Asus, the A8N32-SLI, and we can finally get at the information we all wanted.

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The A8N32-SLI Deluxe offers pretty much what has become the standard mix of features for a high end motherboard on the market today.  They have included USB 2.0, Firewire, two Gigabit networking connections, SATA 3.0 Gb/s support, SLI support and a good overclocking BIOS.  There is also the external SATA connection that they have supplied on the rear panel as well as both optical and coaxial audio output, though only from an AC'97 audio solution.

The BIOS on the system was very clean and offered a lot of options for the tweaker and overclocker should they wish to delve into that science.

The extras in the box were enough to keep most users busy for a while and to prevent them from having to search around their room for more IDE cables, which is about all we can ask.

Check out the full, detailed review of the A8N32-SLI for more details on these features and the board layout.  Now, let's take a look at a few benchmark results from the board:

The standard benchmarks put the new Asus A8N32-SLI on the same performance level as the previous A8N-SLI Premium and other NF4-based motherboards.  What about the new X16 PCI Express graphics slots?  Do they offer enhanced gaming when in SLI mode?

At very high resolutions with all the details turned on, yes the X16 update to the NF4 SLI chipsets can make a slight difference in gaming performance.  However, where the difference in bandwidth might become more apparent is with features like SLI AA that can be taken advantage of in CPU-limited gaming scenarios.

Current pricing at this time puts the A8N32-SLI motherboard at around $250 from a reputable dealer.  In contrast the A8N-SLI Premium that we compared it to can be found for $175.  While the A8N32-SLI will surely come down in price as its release becomes more wide spread, I would expect it to hover around the $200 mark through Christmas.  Accordingly, I would expect the other Asus A8N boards to float along the same line as the A8N32.

Asus is once again on the front lines of the motherboard market with the first NF4 SLI X16 product to hit e-tailers shelves.  Not only that, but they have built a rock-stable, overclocking friendly, gaming enthusiast's dream motherboard.  It has enough features to keep most anyone happy and though the price might be a little steep, it has the room to grow that older SLI chipset boards may be missing as faster GPUs hit the market.  Because of this, the Asus A8N32-SLI is definitely one of the best AMD boards we have ever seen.

For more detailed information on the layout, features and performance of the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, please check out the full, detailed review on the next page.

Our forums are a great place to find more information, user feedback and helpful assistance for any motherboards, but especially the Asus boards in our Asus motherboard forum. 

Also, if you haven't tried our Product Specs database out yet, I suggest you do so, as it allows you to make some good, yet simple comparisons with the click of a mouse.

Be sure to use our price checking engine to find the best prices on the Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe, and anything else you may want to buy!

Click here for the Detailed Review