Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16 - What Dreams Are Made On . . .
by Gary Key on October 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
ASUS P5N32-SLI Deluxe: Features
Asus did an excellent job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors. The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules can be changed with a full size video card in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors standard ATX case design and the power cable management is very good. Asus places the eight-pin 12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area, but out of the way of any aftermarket cooling solutions.
The nForce4 SATA II ports are located conveniently below the primary IDE connector and feature the new clamp and latch design. Asus did not include the new cable designs in their accessory kit, which greatly enhance the security of the SATA connections. When cables are attached to the top SATA II ports with a 7800GTX installed in the second PCI Express x16 slot, there is a tight fit. I would highly recommend installing the cables before the video card.
The nForce4 USB connectors and TI 1394a Firewire connectors are located below the battery and the adaptor connectors are a tight fit when utilizing the bottom PCI slot. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located next to the BIOS chip and below the SATA II connectors that proved to be inconvenient at times.
In between the two x16 PCI Express slots is the PCI Express x4 slot along with one of the PCI Express x1 slots. The 4-pin 12V EZ plug is also located in this area and has the capability of creating cable clutter when utilized with an SLI setup. However, the full two slot spacing in between the x16 PCI Express slots leaves ample room for upgrading the cooling solutions on a pair of SLI cards. This additional room also provides better air-flow management and allowed our 7800GTX SLI configuration to run up to 4c cooler based upon the NVIDIA control panel temperature utility when compared to other motherboards in the same case and ambient conditions.
The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets along with the MOFSETs are passively cooled with an excellent copper heat pipe system that does not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system kept the chipsets cool enough that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests.
The only oddity in the area is the red Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector located right above the first PCI Express x1 slot. The location of this connector is not ideal, but is required due to the second Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector being located on the back I/O panel.
Asus did an excellent job with the color coordination of the various peripheral slots and connectors. The DIMM module slots' color coordination is correct for dual channel setup. The memory modules can be changed with a full size video card in the first PCI Express x16 slot. The power plug placement favors standard ATX case design and the power cable management is very good. Asus places the eight-pin 12V auxiliary power connector at the top of the CPU socket area, but out of the way of any aftermarket cooling solutions.
The nForce4 SATA II ports are located conveniently below the primary IDE connector and feature the new clamp and latch design. Asus did not include the new cable designs in their accessory kit, which greatly enhance the security of the SATA connections. When cables are attached to the top SATA II ports with a 7800GTX installed in the second PCI Express x16 slot, there is a tight fit. I would highly recommend installing the cables before the video card.
The nForce4 USB connectors and TI 1394a Firewire connectors are located below the battery and the adaptor connectors are a tight fit when utilizing the bottom PCI slot. The CMOS reset is a traditional jumper design located next to the BIOS chip and below the SATA II connectors that proved to be inconvenient at times.
In between the two x16 PCI Express slots is the PCI Express x4 slot along with one of the PCI Express x1 slots. The 4-pin 12V EZ plug is also located in this area and has the capability of creating cable clutter when utilized with an SLI setup. However, the full two slot spacing in between the x16 PCI Express slots leaves ample room for upgrading the cooling solutions on a pair of SLI cards. This additional room also provides better air-flow management and allowed our 7800GTX SLI configuration to run up to 4c cooler based upon the NVIDIA control panel temperature utility when compared to other motherboards in the same case and ambient conditions.
The Northbridge and Southbridge chipsets along with the MOFSETs are passively cooled with an excellent copper heat pipe system that does not interfere with any installed peripherals. In fact, this system kept the chipsets cool enough that additional chipset voltage was not a factor in our overclocking tests.
The only oddity in the area is the red Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector located right above the first PCI Express x1 slot. The location of this connector is not ideal, but is required due to the second Silicon Image 3132 SATA II connector being located on the back I/O panel.
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scottyfree111 - Friday, December 16, 2005 - link
Gary, I got one of the first production runs of this board and I smelled something burning on the first post. I got it to work, but mobo temps were 46-48C. my friend got the same board a few weeks later in an almost identical setup (P43.46EE, dual Quadro FX-3400's, PC P&C 850 PSU) and got 28C mobo, and 29C (idle on the CPUw/Zalman 9500 cooler). So I RMA'd it, and am hoping for similar results. It should be back any day now and I'm hoping they replaced it. Asus forums list many unhappy campers having all sorts of Bios issues. Which Bios are you using now(212 maybe?) Also, I was disappointed that there are only 5 internal sata ports since I use 9 hard drives. I've been looking into using a Sil Image 5X1 port multiplier with a 4 bay esata enclosure from either Addonics or Cool Drives to get a RAID 0X4 on the Sil 3132 with my 4 WD740 Raptors for video capture/editing. Do you know anything about setting up an esata RAID? ThanksMadAd - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
Thanks for the reply Gary, dont bust a gut though, 1920x1440 is really good enough :)Im just welcoming the recognition that people do use high res to do normal things like play games on (shock horror).
Ive always found it strange that Anandtech reports on so much cutting edge hardware in the cpu, mobo and video areas, the bread and butter of a good review site, but seemed to ignore people with high end monitors in test results - at least you are putting that right now, thank you again.
MadAd - Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - link
Hooray! a reviewer that benchmarks games up to high end video resolutions! Thank you thank you!!My own resolution of 1920x1200 wasnt mentioned but I got the picture from what you did cover, thank you again- The other Anand reviewers seem to think theres no life after 1600x1200. (but there is :¬) )
Nice one
Gary Key - Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - link
Hi,The review results will depend upon the monitor's capability during testing (several of my monitor's only go to 1600x1200 or 1280x1024). Also, please realize that a large majority of readers have 19" LCDs that only support up to 1280x1024. This is why we standardized on this resolution recently. However, we will start providing higher resolution benchmarks depending upon the hardware being reviewed (performance oriented boards) and time allowances. This is based upon the fact that the next step up for most buyers will be the 1600x1200 ~ 1920x1200 capable monitors.
The higher end monitor's I have for testing do not support the 1920x1200 format. They support the 1920x1440 and up resolutions. However, that should change in the next month or so hopefully. ;-)
I appreciate the comments and hopefully we can get you and others some 1920x1200 benchmarks in the near future.
Thanks!
H0witzer - Saturday, October 29, 2005 - link
As the owner of a P5ND2-SLI-Deluxe I have to say the C19 chipset gets WAY too hot. Not to mention the horrible stability of the BIOS. There has been Many complaints from ASUS owners about these issues. Another issue as of late has been power supplies blowing. I personally experience a 3 day old 500W Aspire power supply blowing, and after flashing the BIOS the entire system dying.I wonder about the stability of the NVIDIA chipset and how it will hold up in the long run. I would have liked to see a comparison against the P5WD2-Premium.
Gary Key - Saturday, October 29, 2005 - link
I have read some of the horror stories about the P5ND2-SLI-Deluxe and agree about the thermal issues among others with the A2 stepping of the C19. The A3 and up steppings are better in this regard and the new board layout is significantly more robust than the P5ND2 series. I believe Asus realized their errors from several product releases lately (I went to Intel boards after an earlier issue with Asus) and are in the process of correcting them. This board has restored my faith in their new product lineup. This bios we tested with (0047) has been wonderful from both a stability and performance viewpoint. I personally use OCZ or PC Power and Cooling power supplies and have never had an issue with any board, good or bad. I did not have the P5WD2 to test against but I do have the P5LD2 now. :->H0witzer - Sunday, October 30, 2005 - link
Hey Gary,Thanks for taking the time to write back. Based on your article and statements here I am going to contact my online retailer who is processing my RMA and tell them to just issue a credit and I will purchase the P5N32-SLI instead. Don't worry i won't hold you responsible for my decision :-)
I just figured it couldn't be any worse than the last board. Hopefully they fixed the things that were issues with the P5ND2-SLI Deluxe.
One last question, when will this be available, have you heard anything yet? All the online retailers are saying Pre-Order.
Gary Key - Sunday, October 30, 2005 - link
Good Day,I bought a couple of boards from NewEgg last week but I noticed this morning they are out of them. I will send them a message and see when their next batch is in. When you receive the board please email me and we can discuss specifics on the board and bios. I really think you will be pleased with this board. If not, please post your issues. I would appreciate another viewpoint or opinion on the board.
H0witzer - Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - link
Hi Gary,Any word on why the boards all disapeared? Seems that No one has them anymore.
Gary Key - Wednesday, November 2, 2005 - link
Good Day,We spoke with Asus tonight. The second production run of boards was slightly delayed due to a couple of minor hardware changes on the board that should not affect performance. They changed resistors in a couple of areas apparently. However, Asus will provide us a new board for testing to ensure results are indicative of the review board results. The next production run of boards should arrive within 7 business days according to our sources. I will post an update to the article if there are any changes with this new release.
Thanks....