Legit Reviews

Christmas Looms close and I'm looking to go to a better board than my ASUS M2N-E,

Here's the two I have been looking at:

ASUS M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard, nForce 590 SLI MCP Chipset, Supports AMD AM2 CPUs

Features: Support AMD Socket AM2. NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP. NVIDIA LinkBoost Technology. 2 x PCI Express x16 slot with NVIDIA SLI support, at full x16, x16 speed. Dual-channel DDR2 800/667/533. ASUS 8-Phase Power Design. TPM Support. AMD Live! Ready. ScreenDUO. AI Remote. Bundled ASUS Array Mic.

Specification: CPU: Support AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64/ Sempron. AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology. AMD64 architecture enables simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit computing. AMD Live! Ready. Chipset: NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP. NVIDIA LinkBoost Technology. Front Side Bus: 2000 / 1600 MT/s. Memory Dual channel memory architecture. 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2-800/667/533, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory. Expansion Slots: 2 x PCI Express x16 slot with NVIDIA SLI technology. support, at full x16, x16 speed. 1 x PCI Express x4. 1 x PCI Express x1. 2 x PCI 2.2. Scalable Link Interface (SLI): Support two identical NVIDIA SLI-Ready graphics cards (both at x16 mode). Storage NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP supports: 1 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66 / 33. 6 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s. NVIDIA MediaShield RAID supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD span cross Serial ATA drives. Silicon Image 3132 SATA controller supports: 1 x Internal Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s. 1 x External Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s port on back I/O (SATA On-the-Go). Support RAID 0, 1, and JBOD. LAN: Dual Gigabit LAN controllers support NVIDIA DualNet technology NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP built-in dual Gigabit MAC with external Marvell PHY. Support Teaming and fail-over functions. Support TCP/IP Acceleration. Audio: ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC. Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking. Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out on back I/O port. IEEE 1394a: TI 1394 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports. USB: 8 x USB2.0 ports (4 ports at mid-board, 4 ports at back panel). ASUS AI Lifestyle Features: ASUS AI Lifestyle Vista Edition Features: ScreenDUO. AI Remote. TPM Support (The module is purchased separately). AP Trigger. ASUS ScreenDUO, AI Remote and TPM can run both Windows Vista and XP. ASUS Quiet Thermal Solution: ASUS AI Gear. ASUS AI Nap. ASUS 8-Phase Power Design. ASUS Fanless Design: Heat-pipe solution & Stack Cool 2. ASUS Q-Fan 2. ASUS Optional Fan for Water-cooling or Passive-Cooling only. ASUS Crystal Sound: ASUS Noise Filter. ASUS Array Mic. ASUS EZ DIY: ASUS Q-Connector. ASUS CrashFree BIOS 3. ASUS EZ Flash 2. Other Features: ASUS MyLogo3. Overclocking Features: Intelligent overclocking tools: ASUS AI NOS (Non-delay Overclocking System). AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner). AI Clock Skew. ASUS O.C. Profile: overclocking configuration-sharing tool. "Precision Tweaker: vDIMM: 25-step DRAM voltage control. vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125V increment. SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection): allowing FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment. PCIe x16 Frequency: allowing PCIe x16 frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increment". Overclocking Protection: ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall). ASUS AI Booster Utility. Adjustable FSB/DDR2 ratio. Fixed PCI/PCIe frequencies. Back Panel I/O Ports: 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port. 1 x PS/2 Mouses. 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output. 1 x External SATA. 2 x LAN (RJ45) port. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports. 1 x IEEE 1394a port. 1 x COM port. 8-channel Audio ports. Internal I/O Connectors: 2 x USB 2.0 connectors supports additional 4 USB 2.0 ports. 1 x Floppy disk drive connector. 1 x IDE connector for two devices. 7 x SATA connectors. 1 x CPU / 4 x Chassis / 1x Chipset / 1 x Power Fan connectors. 1 x IEEE1394a connector. 1 x Parallel connector. 1 x S/PDIF output connector. 1 x TPM connector. Chassis Intrusion connector. Front Panel Audio connector. CD audio in. 24-pin ATX Power connector. 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector. System panel connector. BIOS: 8Mb AWARD BIOS, PnP, DMI2.0, WfM2.0, SM BIOS 2.3. Manageability: WOL by PME, WOR by PME, Chasis Intrusion, PXE Accessories: 1 x SLI bridge. 1 x ASUS Array Mic. 1 x ASUS Optional Fan. 1 x ASUS Q-Connector Kit (USB, 1394, system panel; Retail version only). 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable. 1 x Floppy disk drive cable. 6 x SATA cables. 3 x SATA power cable for 6 devices. 1 x 2-port USB2.0 module. 1 x IEEE1394a module. ScreenDUO (Vista Edition for Retail version only). AI Remote (Vista Edition for Retail version only). 1 x I/O Shield. User's manual. Support CD: Drivers. ASUS PC Probe II. ASUS Update. ASUS AI Suite. NVIDIA MediaShield RAID. Anti-virus software (OEM version). Form Factor: ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6" (30.5cm x 24.5cm).

ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe AMD Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard, NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI, Dual DDR2 800, SATA RAID, w/ Dual Gigabit LAN & 1394a


The M2N32-SLI Deluxe supports dual PCI Express x16 slots running at full speed to liberate graphics cards from the narrow bandwidth platform of x8 speed only. With ASUS innovative AI Lifestyle features, such as AI Gear, 8-Phase Power Design, Stack Cool2 and special designed heat-pipe, the M2N32-SLI Deluxe brings you quiet and peaceful computing. Together with extreme over-clocking capability, you can easily enjoy faster graphics performance and higher video quality today, and be ready for the even more demanding tasks of tomorrow! P/N: 90-MIB041-G0AAY.

Features: Support AMD Socket AM2. NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP. NVIDIA LinkBoost Technology. 2 x PCI Express x16 slot with NVIDIA SLI support, at full x16, x16 speed. Dual-channel DDR2 800/667/533. ASUS 8-Phase Power Design. AMD Live! Ready. Bundled ASUS Array Mic.

Specifications: CPU: Support AMD Socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2/Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64/Sempron. AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology. AMD64 architecture enables simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit computing. AMD Live! Ready. Chipset: NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP. NVIDIA LinkBoost Technology. Memory: Dual channel memory architecture. 4 x DIMM, max. 8GB, DDR2-800/667/533, ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memory. Expansion Slots: 2 x PCI Express x16 slot with NVIDIA SLI technology support, at full x16, x16 speed. 1 x PCI Express x4. 1 x PCI Express x1. 2 x PCI 2.2. SLI: Support two identical NVIDIA SLI-Ready graphics cards (both at x16 mode). ASUS two-slot thermal design. ASUS PEG Link. Storage: NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP supports: 1 x Ultra DMA 133/100/66/33. 6 x Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s. NVIDIA MediaShield RAID supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 5 and JBOD span cross Serial ATA drives. Silicon Image 3132 SATA controller supports: 1 x Internal Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s. 1 x External Serial ATA 3.0Gb/s port on back I/O (SATA On-the-Go). Support RAID 0, 1, and JBOD. LAN: Dual Gigabit LAN controllers support NVIDIA DualNet technology. NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP built-in dual Gigabit MAC with external Marvell PHY. Support Teaming and fail-over functions. Support TCP/IP Acceleration. Audio: ADI 1988B 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC. Support Jack-Sensing, Enumeration, Multi-streaming and Jack-Retasking. Coaxial, Optical S/PDIF out on back I/O port. Support DTS Connect function. IEEE 1394a: TI 1394 controller supports 2 x 1394a ports. ASUS AI Life Features: AI Nap. AI Gear. Advanced Thermal Design: ASUS Fanless Design: Heat-pipe Thermal solution. Stack Cool2. ASUS 8-Phase Power Design. ASUS Crystal Sound: ASUS Array Mic, Noise Filter. Back Panel I/O Ports: 1 x PS/2 Keyboard port. 1 x PS/2 Mouses. 1 x Optical + 1 x Coaxial S/PDIF Output. 1 x External SATA. 2 x LAN (RJ45) port. 4 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports. 1 x IEEE 1394a port. 1 x COM port. 8-channel Audio ports. Internal I/O Connectors: 1 x Floppy disk drive connector. 1 x IDE connector for two devices. 7 x SATA connectors. 1 x CPU / 4 x Chassis / 1x Chipset / 1 x Power Fan connectors. 1 x IEEE1394a connector. 1 x Parallel connector. 1 x S/PDIF output connector. 1 x ADH connector. Chassis Intrusion connector. Front Panel Audio connector. CD audio in. 24-pin ATX Power connector. 4-pin ATX 12V Power connector. System panel connector. Accessories: 1 x SLI bridge. 1 x ASUS Array Mic. 1 x ASUS Optional Fan. 1 x ASUS Q-Connector Kit (USB, 1394, system panel; Retail version only). 1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66 cable. 1 x Floppy disk drive cable. 6 x SATA cables. 3 x SATA power cable for 6 devices. 1 x 2-port USB2.0 module. 1 x IEEE1394a module. 1 x I/O Shield. User's manual. Form Factor: ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm). Front Side Bus: 2000/1600 MT/s.

Wondering which would be best all around, open to suggestions of other boards. Budget runs about 200 to 225 (I can stretch it a lil)
The old m2n-e will be getting a dual core 3800 and sold to some unworthy customer lol.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Methious, You chose 2 great boards from ASUS!
There are 2 optional choices to those boards, they are the ASUS M2N32-SLI Wireless Edition and the CrossHair!

The Wireless Edition can be found for less than $180 delivered. If you're wireless in your home this would be a great choice!
M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition

The CrossHair is a bit more expensive but is still close to the extended price range at $235 and $242 delivered! I have the CrossHair and would recommend it to anyone going with the AMD AM2 series!
CrossHair

Wait for the new AMD chipset, it's only a week away from now.

I also have an Asus Crosshair....LOVE IT!

As far as the waiting game...I don't play it. You wait and wait, then the release is delayed, so you wait some more, then it comes out and is over the MSRP, so you wait for the price to drop....SCREW that! Get what you want now! Most times, that choice won't haunt you, or be life and death.

ibleet wrote:As far as the waiting game...I don't play it. You wait and wait, then the release is delayed, so you wait some more, then it comes out and is over the MSRP, so you wait for the price to drop....SCREW that! Get what you want now! Most times, that choice won't haunt you, or be life and death.

Some models are already released.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... e=Gigabyte
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... cture=ASUS
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... e=Gigabyte

I'm probably not going to wait on the new chip sets, with my luck i'd get one with a fault, I know it's gonna be a 590 chip set, with 2 pcie 16 at full 16x, in case I want dual video, one thing i'm having trouble resolving is my pcie X-fi sound card, any board I pick has to have an available pcie 1x (or better) open with 2 video cards installed. I'm hearing a lot of people saying with 2 video installed the other pcie slots aren't accessible.

It's kind of a pain but i'm picking a MOBO, a Power Supply (600w or above, reliable, been searching for 3 days now lol), and SLI video card (probably the 8800 GT)

One of which will be for Christmas, and the other two financed by selling a HP dual core 3800 amd, that's nicely equipped for a non-power user.

For Power supplies I'm looking at:

Black OCZ StealthXStream 600W ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V Computer Power Supply OCZ600SXS, Active PFC, Support SLI and SATA
Black Ultra X-Finity 600-Watt Computer Power Supply ULT31848, EPS 12V & ATX 12V 2.2, FlexForce Cables, SLI Ready, SATA, Dual Rail Technology

Though I am leaning toward springing a few more denaro and going modular (probably a waste cause i'm going to have to use every cable (cd/rw, dvd/rw,4 sata HD, cold cathode kit, dual 120 mm thermaltake fans, floppy, etc all stuffed into Sidewinder 2 mid tower case, I have an Antec full tower but it's not as pretty)

For Mobo: (possibly the wireless edition)
ASUS M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard, nForce 590 SLI MCP Chipset, Supports AMD AM2 CPUs
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe AMD Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard, NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI, Dual DDR2 800, SATA RAID, w/ Dual Gigabit LAN & 1394a

Then at first a single 8800gt (cause I will have pressed my luck far enough with the better half)

I've come into a 38" gateway crt I'm going to play with lol.

After all that it might not be the optimal system but champagne tastes and beer budgets you do the best ya can.

laters

Your choice of the 8800GT is great...obviously.

Is there a reason you are not considering the following 2 items?

Asus Crosshair Mobo - PCIEx4 slot blocked by the PCIEx16?
Corsair HX620w PSU - modular

I'm just curious. It seems that they would both meet your needs.

Actually I looked at that MOBO, and really the only thing I didn't like was the ata 100 controller, most of my systems eventually the parts get stripped out one piece at a time and resold to customers. That usually means a pata HD, and the ata 100 controller won't provide as fast a performance as the ata 133 on the other two boards. Plus this board has 6 Sata, the other 2 have 7 Sata, right now I have 5 sata in use, and going to a sata cd/rw leaves me one free sata. Other than that it's a great board, just seems like putting an ATA 100 controller on a thoroughbred is like dragging an anchor behind a race car. I guess with Sata prices down as much as they are it really wouldn't be an issue. It just peeves me off when they save a dollar using an after market controller on a high end board. Asus makes great boards but at $240 give or take; give me the ata 133.

I am considering the Corsair Power Supply, after a long string of great luck with $50 and under power supplies I'm afraid my luck may be running out, I lost a power supply a month or so back, after a lightning storm, when the machine was off (and plugged into an APC UPS), I replaced it with a SolyTech 550. My voltage is now up to 393V recommended and I'm looking at going to the 8800gt. Thought it might be a good idea to kick it to 650 (or higher). I just have a hard time coming off of $150. Personality fault I guess lol. Probably going to keep the SolyTech for a backup for my desktop.

Finally no the pci/pcie setup on that board would be ideal, they have a pcie 1x above the first pcie 16x that would work for my pcie 1x, X-Fi sound card.

I'm also looking at this board because of it's compatibility with my current needs, and expandability for the new phenom processors.

ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe AMD ATX Motherboard, AMD 790FX Chipset, Supports AMD Socket AM2+/AM2 Multi-core Processors, ATI CrossFireX, Dual DDR2 1066, w/ PCIe Gigabit LAN.

It's supposed to release soon, and release price is $229.99 with quad core support, and 4 pcie 16 slots, 4 x PCIe x16 with ATI CrossFireX support, @ dual x16; tripple x16 / x8 / x8; or quad x8 modes. I'm not much for ATI cards though.

ibleet wrote:Your choice of the 8800GT is great...obviously.

Is there a reason you are not considering the following 2 items?

Asus Crosshair Mobo - PCIEx4 slot blocked by the PCIEx16?
Corsair HX620w PSU - modular

I'm just curious. It seems that they would both meet your needs.

Methious wrote:Other than that it's a great board, just seems like putting an ATA 100 controller on a thoroughbred is like dragging an anchor behind a race car.

I love this analogy, but its just a tad exaggerated.

I personally don't use the IDE/PATA connector, so it wasn't an issue for me. Either way, you have some good choices there.

I have no issue whatsoever dropping $150 for a good quality PSU. I was taught from day 1 that the most important part of any build is a good PSU. That is one area that I refuse to compromise.

NPS, I'm not much of a fan of ATI cards either.

Thanks for the response.

Yea I love how they say 133 MB a second. In burst mode, if all the code is in the 8MB cache, the wind is coming out of the north, and the rooster is crowing on the fence.

I still use the pata connectors cause most of my customers give a hoot as long as they can internet, email, office etc. The ones that do want to run a quality machine want to do it on a shoe string and have little to no concept of running PCIE video as opposed to built in video, or a nice sound card over a sound chip. Then when you try to explain it to them their eyes go all glassy and they nod so as to appear to understand.

That usually happens right before they download all that "free stuff" from the web and I have to reload their machines cause they have junked them up so much it's easier to reload than correct.

Over time I've been breaking away from Pata on my desktop, All I have left is a pata cd/rw I use to save wear and tear on my DVD light scribe. Next time a customer needs a black cd/rw I'll replace it with a sata cd/rw.

Thanks for the input

why buy a 590 chipset and pair it with an 8800 GT??? That is flat out a bad move in all honesty...

The AMD 770, 790X and 790FX are already available and the official launch is next week. It's not a waiting game or anything like that. A GeForce 8800 GT is PCI Express 2.0... An NVIDIA 590SLI chipset is is PCIe 1.0 if i remember correctly... If you read this article: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/591/1/ you should have seen the following line:

The GeForce 8800 GT will be known as the first desktop card on the market to support PCI Express 2.0, but the Radeon HD 3800 series was just a couple weeks behind. Current games have pushed the PCI Express 1.1 to its limits with high frame buffer demands, so PCI Express 2.0 was developed and launched. PCI Express 2.0 increases the bus data rate from 8GB per second to 16GB per second, so it actually doubles the bandwidth on this critical PC graphics interconnect. The PCI Express 2.0 specification is key for moving data quickly as the system RAM needs to be accessed to get data for large textures or vertex caches and as a result gaming performance has increased on platforms that have a PCI Express 2.0 motherboard and graphics card by as much as 22% from the testing that we have seen. Many of our readers might remember a few years ago when the industry moved AGP 4X to AGP 8X and how it didn’t really do anything in terms of performance. Well, this time around it actually does! A number of PCI Express 2.0 supporting chipsets are available on the market today, so if you have an Intel P35 or X38 Express chipset on your motherboard it’s highly likely you have PCI Express 2.0 and didn’t even know it. AMD’s upcoming 7-Series consists of the 770, 790X and 790FX chipsets and all support at least one PCI Express 2.0 support slot.

You're going to hurt performance if you get a new model card and an old model motherboard... Don't believe me? AMD and NVIDIA have done a ton of testing and both have shown and proved PCIe 2.0 is a big step up..
If you're going PCIe 2.0 on the graphics card then be sure to get a board that supports it as it makes more than a 10% difference in some games as you can see with just a single card...

I noticed the pcie 2.0 difference early this morning, which sent me into a frenzy of hardware searching, I appreciate your input greatly! Time and again Ive found Legit Reviews revising my opinions on hardware for the better. This is actually the first time I've done extensive research before giving in to technolust. I't not often I try to migrate operating systems while seeking performance. You and this site have helped tremendously. It's rare to find a site that reviews and maintains their enthusiasm for the fun side of computing!

We try our best