Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16 - What Dreams Are Made On . . .
by Gary Key on October 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
The revised nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset now fully supports the dual core Pentium D processors in both stock and overclocked conditions. There were no issues with this board recognizing the two cores and four logical processors that are created with the Hyperthreading feature on this EE processor during testing. However, dual core really makes a difference in certain multi-tasking scenarios, as was demonstrated in the dual core performance preview. If you are interested in how the various chipsets perform in a real world multitasking setup, please take another look at that review.
The board’s memory was operated at 3-2-2-8-1T for the benchmarking suites and previous boards have been retested at this configuration and DDR2-667. This will be our standard test setting unless otherwise noted or the board fails to run at this speed. We also found that certain benchmarks scored better without Hyper Threading enabled, but in fairness, we felt that it was best to show consistent scores with this feature enabled as it is the main selling point of this processor model.
The revised nForce4 SLI Intel Edition chipset now fully supports the dual core Pentium D processors in both stock and overclocked conditions. There were no issues with this board recognizing the two cores and four logical processors that are created with the Hyperthreading feature on this EE processor during testing. However, dual core really makes a difference in certain multi-tasking scenarios, as was demonstrated in the dual core performance preview. If you are interested in how the various chipsets perform in a real world multitasking setup, please take another look at that review.
The board’s memory was operated at 3-2-2-8-1T for the benchmarking suites and previous boards have been retested at this configuration and DDR2-667. This will be our standard test setting unless otherwise noted or the board fails to run at this speed. We also found that certain benchmarks scored better without Hyper Threading enabled, but in fairness, we felt that it was best to show consistent scores with this feature enabled as it is the main selling point of this processor model.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | Intel Pentium EE 840 (3.2GHz, 800FSB, Dual-Core, HT enabled, 2x1MB L2) utilized for all tests Intel Pentium 820 (2.8GHz) for dual core verification |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB Corsair CM2X512A-5400UL revision 1.3 Settings- DDR2-667 as noted at (CL3-2-2-8-1T) |
| Hard Drive(s): | 2 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM SATA (16MB Buffer), 1 x Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300R0 300GB 7200 RPM IDE (16MB Buffer) |
| System Platform Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce4 SLI Intel Edition 6.82 |
| Video Cards: | 1 x XFX 7800GTX OC (PCI Express) for all tests 2 x MSI 7800GTX (PCI Express) for SLI Verification |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA nForce 78.01 for all tests; 81.85 for special results tests |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 |
| Motherboards: | Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal MSI P4N Diamond Abit NI8 SLI Gigabyte 8N SLI Quad Royal |
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Beenthere - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Why would ANYONE spend the coin to buy an Intel based SLI system when you can buy an AMD system for the same price that will out-perform the Intel system and be upgradable for years???The only reason I can see for anyone buying any Intel product at this time is if they are stuck with an Intel system already and they desire to upgrade to a faster chip if they can find one to fit whatever socket Mobo they have. Otherwise I see no logical reason whatsoever for even considering an obsolete, under-performing Intel product.
Shintai - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
You ask the wrong question. Why would anyone buy a SLI/CrossFire system at all.bob661 - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
He can ask any question he wants. There are no wrong questions.Because one can. :)Ricky Ling - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
I only afraid on the future upgradeability on this board because according to ASUS Support FAQ (as this news has not been revealed on the Internet), this board does not support future Pentium 4 that based on 65nm technology, namely Cedar Mill (Single core replacing Prescott) and Presler (Dual core replacing Smithfield)So how is testing done the Presler sample processor cause I thought Anand got holding of 1 Presler sample...Pls double check at the following :
http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_second_detai...">http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_s...P5N32-SL...
As Presler start hitting OEM already....we need more info on this issue???
Gary Key - Sunday, October 30, 2005 - link
The initial information I have from Asus this weekend is the board will support the 65nm CPU range with a bios update and the CPU steppings must be B1 or above.
Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Hello,I had already asked for public clarification about this issue from Asus after visiting the website last week. I believe the entire FAQ has not been properly updated as it still states the Pentium 820 will only work in single core mode which is no longer the case with this chipset revision. We have not had an issue testing the Presler or Cedar Mill CPUs with current board designs from different suppliers.
I will respond once I have further information.
Thank you.
Chuckles - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
How's the clearance on the right-most PCIe x1 slot? It looks like a card put in there would be perilously close to the northbridge heatsink.Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
Hi,The D-Link DGE-560T PCIe network adaptor card fit fine and it is the longest card I tried in the x1 slot. I would agree if a card had several logic chips placed in the right area on the back of the board then clearance could be an issue with the heatsink. However, the few peripheral PCIe cards that I have fit fine.
erwos - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
I wouldn't have minded seeing the difference between bridged SLI and bridgeless SLI on both SLI Dual x16 and SLI Dual x8 motherboards.My gut feeling is that nVidia is going to be phasing out the bridge in the near future, if they can get the same performance without it using the PCIe bus.
-Erwos
DigitalFreak - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link
"ASUS CPU Lock Free (BIOS setting to unlock multiplier locked CPUs)"Does this mean that all multipliers (up and down) are available again?