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Asus A8N32-SLI nForce4 SLI X16 Motherboard Review

AI Lifestyle A8N32-SLI Deluxe Desktop Motherboard - nVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 Chipset - Socket PGA-939 (1 x Processor Support - 4 GB - Floppy Controller, Serial ATA/300, Ultra ATA/133 ATA-7 - 2 x PCIe x16 Slot)
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Author: Ryan Shrout

Date: November 11, 2005

Subject: Motherboards

Manufacturer: Asus

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Introduction and Specifications

Introduction

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.

Of course, we are also going to go through our entire motherboard testing suite so we can guage how well implemented the chipset is on Asus' board. Below is the list of specs from Asus' website, and its quite a long one...

Specifications (from Asus.com)

CPU	Socket 939 for AMDÂ® Athlon™ 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 / Sempron™ processor AMD Cool 'n' Quiet™ Technology * Refer to www.asus.com for AMD CPU support list
Chipset	NVIDIA nForce™4 SLI X16 (NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 / NVIDIA nForce4 SLI)
Front Side Bus	2000 / 1600 MT/s
Memory	Dual channel memory architecture 4 x DIMM, max. 4GB, DDR 400 / 333 / 266, ECC, non-ECC, un-buffered memory * Refer to www.asus.com or user manual for "Memory QVL (Qualify Vendor List)
Expansion Slots	2 x PCI-E x16 with SLI™ support at full x16, x16 mode 1 x PCI-E x4 (Support PCI-E x4 or PCI-E x1 card) 3 x PCI 2.2
SLI	Support two identical SLI-ready graphics cards (both x16 mode) ASUS EZ Plug ASUS two-slot thermal design ASUS Soft SLI Bridge ASUS PEG Link for dual PCI Express graphics cards
Storage/RAID	NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 Southbridge supports - 2 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33 - 4 x Serial ATA 3 Gb/s - NV RAID: RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD on Serial ATA drives Silicon Image 3132 SATA controller supports - 1 x Internal Serial ATA 3 Gb/s hard disk - 1 x External Serial ATA hard disk (SATA On-the-Go) - Support RAID 0, 1
LAN	Dual Gigabit LAN MarvellÂ® 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit LAN controller NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 Southbridge built-in Gigabit MAC with external Marvell 88E1111 PHY supports: - NV Firewall - NV RIS (Remote Installation Service) - NV ActiveArmor - AI NET
Wireless LAN	*Wireless edition only 54 Mbps IEEE 802.11g and backwards compatible with 11 Mbps IEEE 802.11b - Software Access point mode (under Windows 2000, XP, 2003) - Client mode - Ad-Hoc mode - One-touch wizard - Wake on Wireless LAN - Bundle an external antenna
Audio	RealtekÂ® ALC850 8-channel CODEC Universal Audio Jack Audio Sensing and Enumeration Technology Coaxial / Optical S/PDIF out ports on back I/O
IEEE 1394	TIÂ® 1394a controller supports: - 2 x IEEE 1394a connectors at midboard
USB	10 x USB 2.0/1.1
ASUS AI Life Features	Stack Cool 2 SATA on the Go (External SATA on back I/O port)
Overclocking Features	Intelligent overclocking tools: - AI NOS™ (Non-delay Overclocking System) - AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner) - ASUS PEG Link - Automatically performance tuning for single/dual graphics cards Precision Tweaker: - vDIMM: 8-step DRAM voltage control - vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection) - FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment - Memory tuning from 400MHz up to 800MHz - PCI Express frequency tuning from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increment Overclocking Protection: - ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features	ASUS 8-Phase Power Design ASUS Fanless Design ASUS AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner) ASUS AI NET2 ASUS C.P.R. (CPU Parameter Recall) ASUS MyLogo2 ASUS Q-Fan2
Back Panel I/O Ports	1 x PS/2 Keyboard 1 x PS/2 Mouse 1 x Parallel 1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial + Optical) 1 x External SATA 2 x RJ45 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 1 x Wireless LAN antenna jack 1 x Wireless LAN activity LED 8-Channel Audio I/O
Internal I/O Connectors	6 x USB 2.0/1.1 1 x Floppy disk drive connector 2 x IDE connector 5 x SATA connectors 1 x CPU / 2 x Chassis / 2 x Chipset / 1 x Power Fan connectors 1 x GAME / MIDI connector 2 x IEEE1394a connector 1 x COM connector Front panel audio connector Chassis Intrusion connector CD / AUX audio in 24-pin ATX Power connector 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector 4-pin EZ Plug power connector
BIOS	8 Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3, Multi-language BIOS, ASUS EZ Flash, ASUS CrashFree BIOS2
Manageability	WfM 2.0, DMI 2.0, WOL by PME, WOR by PME, PXE, RPL
Accessories	SLI bridge connector UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable IDE cable FDD cable SATA cables SATA power cables USB2.0 / Game port module COM port module IEEE1394 port module I/O Shield InterVideo WinDVD Suite (OEM version) User's manual Optional Fan (for Water-Cooling or Passive-Cooling only)
Support CD	Drivers ASUS PC Probe II ASUS Update ASUS AI Booster NV RIS (Remote Installation Service) application NV Firewall NV RAID Anti-virus software (OEM version)
Form Factor	ATX Form Factor, 12'x 9.6' (30.5cm x 24.5cm)

PC Perspective

Asus A8N32-SLI nForce4 SLI X16 Motherboard Review

Introduction and Specifications

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