Introduction and Specifications

Asus is one of the first to get a CrossFire ready motherboard out on the market; and this one should fit in the mainstream budget quite well…

Introduction

Asus continues to be on the forefront of technology when it comes to motherboards and their latest offering, the A8R-MVP is a prime example.  The board is based on the ATI XPress 200 CrossFire Edition north bridge chipset, previewed back in May and finally launched in September.  Since the release of the chipset, the only board available (though in limited quantities) has been the DFI RDX200 CF-DR.  Since there are so few CrossFire video cards available, the demand for boards based on this chipset has been pretty dismal, but when the X1000 series of Master cards finally emerges, boards like the A8R-MVP will be flying off the shelves.

Specifications (from Asus.com)

CPU
Socket 939 for AMD® Athlon 64 FX/ Athlon 64 X2/ Athlon 64/ Sempron
AMD64 architecture enables simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit computing
AMD Cool ‘n’ Quiet!™ Technology
AMD HyperTransport Technology
Chipset
ATI Radeon® Xpress 200 CrossFire
Front Side Bus
2000/1600 MT/s
Memory
4 x DIMM, max. 4GB, DDR 400/333/266, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory
Dual Channel Memory Architecture
Expansion Slots
2 x PCI Express x16 slot for discrete graphics card
1 x PCI Express x1
3 x PCI
CrossFire
Support ATI CrossFire graphics cards (both at x8 mode)
Storage/RAID
ULi M1575 South Bridge:
‧2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33
‧4 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s with RAID 0, 1, 1+0, 5, and JBOD support
Audio
ADI AD1986A SoundMAX 6-channel CODEC
S/PDIF out on back I/O port
LAN
Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit LAN Controller, featuring AI NET2
IEEE 1394a
TI 1394 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports
USB
Max. 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports
Overclocking Features
ASUS PEG Link
AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner)
Precision Tweaker:
– vDIMM: 8-step DRAM voltage control
– vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.025 increment
– SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection): allowing FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment
ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall)
Special Features
ASUS MyLogo
CrashFree BIOS 2
ASUS Q-Fan
ASUS EZ Flash
Back Panel I/O Ports
1 x Parallel
1 x Serial
1 x IEEE1394a
1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output
1 x PS/2 Keyboard
1 x PS/2 Mouse
1 x 6-Channel High Definition Audio I/O
1 x RJ45
4 x USB 2.0/1.1
Internal I/O Connectors
2 x USB 2.0 connector supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports
1 x IEEE1394a connectors
4 x SATA 3.0Gb/s connector
2 x IDE connector
1 x Floppy disk drive connector
1 x GAME/MIDI connector
CPU/ Chassis/ Power FAN connectors
4-pin ASUS EZ Plug connector
24-pin ATX Power connector
4-pin ATX 12V Power connector
Chassis Intrusion
CD/ AUX audio in connector
Front panel High Definition Audio connector
System panel connector
BIOS
4Mb Flash ROM, AMI BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0
Manageability
WfM 2.0,DMI 2.0,WOL by PME,WOR by PME, Chassis Intrusion, PXE and RPL
Support CD
Drivers
ASUS PC Probe 2
ASUS LiveUpdate Utility
Anti-virus software (OEM version)
Accessories
User’s manual
2 x Serial ATA cable
1 x Serial ATA power cable (For two devices)
1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable
1 x MVP-Switch card
1 x IEEE1394 port module
1 x 2-port USB2.0 / Game module
IDE cable
FDD cable
I/O shield
Board Size / Form Factor
ATX Form Factor, 12″x 9.6″(30.5cm x 24.5cm)

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