Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus - bit-tech.net Forums

Bindibadgi · 6th Feb 2007, 14:56

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...li_plus/1.html

DougEdey · 6th Feb 2007, 15:06

Nice board. One thing though, with the memory benchmarks, the close grouping on the X axis makes the chart ugly.,

Mother-Goose · 6th Feb 2007, 15:11

Good if you cant afford the striker but some of the features that are missing are a shame. That said, it is not an enthusiast's board. Nice review, good pics too :P

WhiskeyAlpha · 6th Feb 2007, 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mother-Gooser

Good if you cant afford the striker but some of the features that are missing are a shame. That said, it is not an enthusiast's board. Nice review, good pics too :P

Really? Solid state capacitors, dual 16x PCI-E lanes, with an additional 8x PCI-E, and overclocking bordering on the Striker Extreme.

I think it'd be fairer to say it is a more affordable enthusiast's board.

Tim S · 6th Feb 2007, 15:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougEdey

One thing though, with the memory benchmarks, the close grouping on the X axis makes the chart ugly.,

It's a bug with the current autographer we use... it's being fixed soon.

Mankz · 6th Feb 2007, 15:40

Nice review, and great photography as allways.

Anywho, will we be seeing a review of the Asus P5N-E (that 650i board that Highland3r has) soonish ?? Looks like it does all this board does for about half the price, and it has the added bonus of loosing those blasted heatpipes.

kenco_uk · 6th Feb 2007, 15:55

My deity, it's tempting. Muuust resiiist. Why not have eight sata ports, though?

Btw, there's two spelling mistakes and a couple of grammatical errors

trig · 6th Feb 2007, 16:22

im retarded, i know...but what are the main differences between 650 and 680? i get confused...

rupbert · 6th Feb 2007, 16:23

I note the points missing from the Asus P5B Deluxe (Unlinked memory/CPU Bus), however it seems to have more useful features for less money (eSATA etc), and I would say a better board layout as well specifically the IDE connector...

So is there any real reason to go for this over the P5B Deluxe?

[USRF]Obiwan · 6th Feb 2007, 16:42

I find the 150 dollar price difference for a few leds and a 1x16 lcd and some copper tubing disturbing...

Bindibadgi · 6th Feb 2007, 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by rupbert

I note the points missing from the Asus P5B Deluxe (Unlinked memory/CPU Bus), however it seems to have more useful features for less money (eSATA etc), and I would say a better board layout as well specifically the IDE connector...

So is there any real reason to go for this over the P5B Deluxe?

proper SLI

Three x16 slots

All solid state caps

Unlinked memory, with more dividers.

Techno-Dann · 6th Feb 2007, 17:40

Quote:

...paired with an AMD nForce 590 SLI MCP southbridge.

I wasn't aware that AMD made the nForce 590 SB... (And the same mistake is made on the front page blurb, too)

Tim S · 6th Feb 2007, 17:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Techno-Dann

I wasn't aware that AMD made the nForce 590 SB... (And the same mistake is made on the front page blurb, too)

It's the AMD edition of the 590 SLI MCP

zr_ox · 6th Feb 2007, 18:13

Nice review Tim, I have been hitting F5 button at work for the last 8 hours

The board does seem to be very good value for money when compared to the Striker, although it just does not seem to be a thoroughbred. I was all set to go out and buy this today but now I'm not sure. The fact that it failed your stability tests so quickly gives me cause for concern. As does the fact that the heat coming from the northbridge is so substantial

What do you think about removing the heat pipes for the mosfets and northbridge, add some passive heat sinks to the mosfets whilst actively cooling the northbridge?

Given that you have a stable eVGA motherboard in the Alienware machine, and have tested the Striker given the price difference which would you buy?

rupbert · 6th Feb 2007, 18:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi

proper SLI

Three x16 slots

All solid state caps

Unlinked memory, with more dividers.

Fair enough.

pendragon · 6th Feb 2007, 18:17

im a little surprised you rated the board as high as you did.. it sounds like from the crashing in Prime95 it might not be such a stable board :-/ ... I mean, its supposed to support Core2Quad right? ...and Quadcores are supposed to be awesome for multitasking,correct? ...so wouldnt a board that has trouble with multitasking not be a board that you would want to buy if you ever plan on upgrading to quadcore?

Tulatin · 6th Feb 2007, 18:56

It'll stabilize over time - my P5B does the same thing.

The one issue that bugs me is that it REALLY wouldn't have been SO hard for ASUS to give us users another 2/4 USB ports on the back panel along with an E-Sata or 2. This is still a $300 board here, and it's off putting to get midrange packages with high end (but not extreme) prices.

Bindibadgi · 6th Feb 2007, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by pendragon

im a little surprised you rated the board as high as you did.. it sounds like from the crashing in Prime95 it might not be such a stable board :-/ ... I mean, its supposed to support Core2Quad right? ...and Quadcores are supposed to be awesome for multitasking,correct? ...so wouldnt a board that has trouble with multitasking not be a board that you would want to buy if you ever plan on upgrading to quadcore?

True, but it ran two lots of prime95 and I could do other things just fine. It's only when you try to run a game as well it decides to not like Prime and continue the game. We had no problem with multithreaded apps or video encoding which were very intensive. The level of multitasking is something people currently very rarely do. The stress test we perform is more than manufacturers tend to do themselves.

It's also still using the first revision BIOS, which is good considering first revisions of other boards we've seen.

airchie · 6th Feb 2007, 19:47

After my main PC (in my sig) just started playing silly buggers for no reason, I suspect the mobo is b0rked.
So I was considering getting a 680i mobo to replace and hopefully return the aw9d-max.

What to get though?
This board? P5B-Dlx? abit IN9?

What I really want is good overclocking, 3 USB headers on the board and if poss, a northbridge I can remove and watercool instead of these bloody heatpipes that every 680i board seems to have.

Anything that fits the bill?

If not, what's the best 680i board to get (preferably not too expensive) and I'll just do some ducting from the rear case fan to the heatpipe'd heatsink.

zr_ox · 6th Feb 2007, 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by airchie

What I really want is good overclocking, 3 USB headers on the board and if poss, a northbridge I can remove and watercool instead of these bloody heatpipes that every 680i board seems to have.

Anything that fits the bill?

I have been Googling since reading this review and it seems like the best option given features and value is the eVGA 680i. Given the amount of heat the Northbridges are giving off, especially when OCing you could slap the new DD 680i block on it. The Southbridge runs cool so a passive heatsink should suffice.

6th Feb 2007, 14:56	#1
Bindibadgi Richard Swinburne bit-tech Staff Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Omnipwntent Posts: 28,247	Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...li_plus/1.html __________________ Made you look, made you stare, made you clicked this in your underwear! Den of Geek!

6th Feb 2007, 15:06	#2
DougEdey I pwn all your storage Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Southampton Posts: 13,933	Nice board. One thing though, with the memory benchmarks, the close grouping on the X axis makes the chart ugly., __________________ Burnout: Paradise Stats!XBL: DougEdey Bindi PSN ID: DougEdey Twitter

6th Feb 2007, 15:11	#3
Mother-Goose Tories ftw! Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: England - Surrey Posts: 3,750	Good if you cant afford the striker but some of the features that are missing are a shame. That said, it is not an enthusiast's board. Nice review, good pics too :P __________________ Goose Q6600, Striker Extreme, 4GB 6400C4 Dominator DHX, Raptor X, 2x400GB spinpoints, BFG 8800GTX OC, Stacker 830 Evo, HX620, Nova T 500, Freezer 7 Pro

6th Feb 2007, 15:55	#7
kenco_uk I feel your presents. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Bourne, Lincolnshire, UK Posts: 6,297	My deity, it's tempting. Muuust resiiist. Why not have eight sata ports, though? Btw, there's two spelling mistakes and a couple of grammatical errors __________________ MSI X58M - i7 920 4Ghz - 6GB Corsair - GTX260 648/2520 ::: Vote for bit-tech T - theevilelephant - "it sounded like bouncing around on a pogo stick, screaming in chinese while occasionally throwing a cat at a door."

6th Feb 2007, 16:22	#8
trig sweet sweet hangin joben Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: cardboard box outside of sears Posts: 1,638	im retarded, i know...but what are the main differences between 650 and 680? i get confused... __________________ I love me some me e8400 @ 4.45 ghz..ac freezer 7..2 gigs patriot extreme 1150 mhz..abit ip35-pro..xfx 4770 with asus top bios @ 926 core/1077 memory..antec p182b..corsair hx620..seagate 500 gb 32mb cache THE best site ever...1600 signatures under the same avatar...time for a new one

6th Feb 2007, 16:23	#9
rupbert Hypermodder Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 799	I note the points missing from the Asus P5B Deluxe (Unlinked memory/CPU Bus), however it seems to have more useful features for less money (eSATA etc), and I would say a better board layout as well specifically the IDE connector... So is there any real reason to go for this over the P5B Deluxe?

6th Feb 2007, 16:42	#10
[USRF]Obiwan Ultramodder Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Netherlands Posts: 1,218	I find the 150 dollar price difference for a few leds and a 1x16 lcd and some copper tubing disturbing... __________________ Mascleta: "The most accurate simulation of thunder, humans can simulate..." The answer is 42, so... whats the question again? If you know what 'Peek' and 'Poke' represents, then you are probably as old as me.

6th Feb 2007, 18:13	#14
zr_ox Whooolapoook Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Stalking Orco Posts: 1,117	Nice review Tim, I have been hitting F5 button at work for the last 8 hours The board does seem to be very good value for money when compared to the Striker, although it just does not seem to be a thoroughbred. I was all set to go out and buy this today but now I'm not sure. The fact that it failed your stability tests so quickly gives me cause for concern. As does the fact that the heat coming from the northbridge is so substantial What do you think about removing the heat pipes for the mosfets and northbridge, add some passive heat sinks to the mosfets whilst actively cooling the northbridge? Given that you have a stable eVGA motherboard in the Alienware machine, and have tested the Striker given the price difference which would you buy? __________________ 0ptimizm :PC under review

6th Feb 2007, 18:17	#16
pendragon I pickle they Join Date: May 2004 Location: Massachusetts,usa Posts: 630	im a little surprised you rated the board as high as you did.. it sounds like from the crashing in Prime95 it might not be such a stable board :-/ ... I mean, its supposed to support Core2Quad right? ...and Quadcores are supposed to be awesome for multitasking,correct? ...so wouldnt a board that has trouble with multitasking not be a board that you would want to buy if you ever plan on upgrading to quadcore?

6th Feb 2007, 18:56	#17
Tulatin The Froggy Poster Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 2,941	It'll stabilize over time - my P5B does the same thing. The one issue that bugs me is that it REALLY wouldn't have been SO hard for ASUS to give us users another 2/4 USB ports on the back panel along with an E-Sata or 2. This is still a $300 board here, and it's off putting to get midrange packages with high end (but not extreme) prices. __________________ Desky E8400 @ 4.0 1.42v; P5K-E WiFi; 4x1 Kingmax Mars 1066 @ 1129 CAS 5; 2x [TOO CHEAP TO SPONSOR] 4850 @ 675/1050; Enermax Liberty; WCing in a CM690