ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe WiFi Edition

great work fron Bindi again.

Hmm, I think bit was biggin this board up a lil too much. Imo, it's a good board (don't get me wrong) but its positioning is horrible. Not to mention the tight space around the CPU area.

If you flavor a better designed board but are willing to sacrifice the extra 4 phase power, then the Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe is by far the better choice ;)

great review.
a typo??? on the first page you said "and three PCI expansion slots" but dose't it only have two?

Originally Posted by teamtd11
great review.
a typo??? on the first page you said "and three PCI expansion slots" but dose't it only have two?

Exactly.

Two full-bandwidth PCI-Express x16 slots with SLI support, one PCI-Express x4 slot and three PCI expansion slots;

Actually, the board pictured is DIFFERENT from the one I reviewed:

http://www.richardswinburne.net/NA/M2N32-SLI.jpg

Thank you for pointing that out! Most strange!!

The positioning is fine, just a bit abnormal. Unless you REALLY REALLY need that extra SATA port. The extra 4 phase power is WELL worth it unless you absoultely have to use a MAHOOSIVE cooler, but most large coolers are heatpiped anyway and raise above the board a good few centemeters so it shouldnt ever be a problem. Even if it is close, it doesnt matter if they touch. Most coolers fall within the CPU surround guidelines so itll never be a problem, even the largest AMD heatpipe coolers fitted.

EDIT: OK this is totally totally nuts, but it appears the Wifi edition has the x1 slot but the non-Wifi edition has a PCI slot. The two aren't clearly dis-similar. I'd personally say go for the non-wifi edition cause 3 PCI slots are definately worth it. This is the first time Ive ever experienced an optional inclusion actually changing the board layout when the optional item doesnt have anything to do with the change in the board. It makes no sense.

We've actually got both boards in the labs and I needed to photograph the WiFi Edition (as that was the one that Rich tested originally). It was my fault for assuming that the two boards had the same array of expansion slots - I sent Rich one of the two non-WiFi Edition boards we have, so that the pictures could be done in the studio.

http://staff.bit-tech.net/tim/m2n32-wifi.jpg

I also worked on the overclocking and stability side of the article this week, too.

You see, the board on the right still has the Wifi plug (in blue) above the 4pin 12v plug. It's strange, there should be no reason to change between the PCI and PCIe slot, it's not something you expect.

Originally Posted by koola
Hmm, I think bit was biggin this board up a lil too much. Imo, it's a good board (don't get me wrong) but its positioning is horrible. Not to mention the tight space around the CPU area.

If you flavor a better designed board but are willing to sacrifice the extra 4 phase power, then the Asus M2N-SLi Deluxe is by far the better choice ;)

The 8-phase PWM helps with voltage regulation (and thus overclocking) and nForce 570 SLI isn't meant to be as overclockable as nForce 590 SLI (the latter is cherry picked silicon). We will be reviewing some 570 SLI mobos this month to find out whether the myth is true or not.

it would be great if the sata conectors were on the side of the bord rotated 90 degrees.
and it has only one pata conector.....hmmm....so you can connect 6 sata harddrives and 2 optical drives, or mount a pata drive sacrificing one of the optical ones.

or input you need to purchase the optional card that plugs into the onboard header

if i want to use the microfone i have to purchase a optional card?

Originally Posted by Tim S
The 8-phase PWM helps with voltage regulation (and thus overclocking) and nForce 570 SLI isn't meant to be as overclockable as nForce 590 SLI (the latter is cherry picked silicon). We will be reviewing some 570 SLI mobos this month to find out whether the myth is true or not.

Good stuff. It will be interesting to see some comparisons between the two chipsets.

I have some questions if you don't mind...

1. Does the integrated Wi-Fi card support WPA2 encryption?

2. What's the point in AI Nap, when that's what we have Microsoft Windows for?

3. How the heck did you manage to run some games in full HDR, with 4xAA, at a high resolution of 1600x1200, on an Nvidia 7900GTX, with a magnificent frame rate of 107.5? I though that current Nvidia cards aren't able to run games with AA and HDR both on at the same time, at a high resolution and acceptable frame rates... Unless the games in test uses that 'special approach' to beat the restraint.

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
You see, the board on the right still has the Wifi plug (in blue) above the 4pin 12v plug. It's strange, there should be no reason to change between the PCI and PCIe slot, it's not something you expect.

So if the pins are still there on the non-WiFi board, could it be possible to get the WiFi card some other way (ASUS releasing separately later, or something along those lines), and put it on the non-WiFi edition, giving you the 3 PCI and the integrated Wireless?

is it me or this cooling solution is being used allot?

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/NewTech/2006_motherboard_newtech/tech_20060605_features-6quad.htm

MidnightDragon:
Possibly! But it'll probably be the same as getting the S/PDIF input PCI connector which Asus says "is avaliable for purchase separately" but I've never seen extras like that avaliable in shops.

Want something even more confusing? My box SAYS Wireless Edition! So you don't know WHAT you're buying now.

DXR: P// harddisks are "non existent" in terms of use in these modern motherboards. ICH8 produced by Intel has NO parallel ports currently. You are forced to upgrade to SATA, just like you're forced into PCIe graphics.
As for microphone, no, that's on the back I/O panel but if you want S/PDIF In, then you'll have to find the card.. somewhere. I suppose they sell it in Taiwan.
As for cooling: Yep, because it works and when you get THAT MUCH power regs, instead of ducting the heat into the mobo like they used to do you have to dissipate it elsewhere now.

EK:
1) Can't say for sure if the Wifi card supports WPA2, I havent got the manual for it but you can try downloading the manual from the Asus website.
2) No idea, I had the same reasoning.
3) HL2 engine uses partial precision HDR not FP16 blend. This means you can enable HDR on the ATI x800 series which doesnt have the FP16 blend function as well.

Originally Posted by EK-MDi
3. How the heck did you manage to run some games in full HDR, with 4xAA, at a high resolution of 1600x1200, on an Nvidia 7900GTX, with a magnificent frame rate of 107.5? I though that current Nvidia cards aren't able to run games with AA and HDR both on at the same time, at a high resolution and acceptable frame rates... Unless the games in test uses that 'special approach' to beat the restraint.

Source allows HDR+AA on all video cards. ;)

Here is the WiFi card specs:

http://www.bit-tech.net/content_images/asus_m2n32-sli_deluxe_wifi/wifi-specs.jpg

HTH ;)

Awesome review ;)

I've read that the Foxconn was a better overclocker than the Asus M2N32, but I believe that the Asus beats the Foxconn in overclocking.

I've got a question - do 570 chipsets support dual x16 lanes in SLi? Because that is what I thought was a major advantage between the 570 chipset and the 590 (besides the other stuff).

Also another question, can the wireless connection on the Asus be used for high end gaming?
Like say if you play BF2 wirelessly with the Asus board, will you get low ping?
I'm still confused on this subject b/c I want to play online games wirelessly with my router, but I'm afraid I'll get low ping. Like will I need a T1 connection to play wirelessly, or will I need to wait for 802.11n?

Ugg so confused

I've personally used the wireless connection on the board, and gamed on it for some time. The pings were fine - I game over WiFi at home, too.

The main difference between the 570 SLI and 590 SLI is the number of PCI-E lanes available. Each PCI-Express x16 interconnect only has 8 lanes when using SLI mode on the 570 SLI. You can read more about the differences here: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/05/23/nvidia_nforce_5/1.html

;)

Originally Posted by Tim S
Source allows HDR+AA on all video cards. ;)

Here is the WiFi card specs:

http://www.bit-tech.net/content_images/asus_m2n32-sli_deluxe_wifi/wifi-specs.jpg

HTH ;)

OK thanks. So judging by that, it does support WPA2 ;).

How is the audio quality compared to the previous ACL/97??

AC97? HD Audio is faaaar better. You even get options of "on the fly" DTS encoding = win win.

Originally Posted by Bindibadgi
AC97? HD Audio is faaaar better. You even get options of "on the fly" DTS encoding = win win.

Do you know the statiscs on it? I was wondering if it was 24-bit 192/khz and all that good stuff. It be nice if it had X-ram

Are any of the ASUS 590 boards non-WiFi? All the ASUS 590's I've found for sale stateside are the WiFi edition, so looks like I won't be getting the extra PCI slot :(

Seems like the ones with 3 PCI slots are all 570's over here.

pci slots will be extinct soon like the previous ide interface for hard drives that was substituted by sata.

i realy think they should think a little better when designing the layout of these boards, this way the amount of free PCI slots would be bigger for use with the x-fi sound card and an agea phisics card.

I love the mobo and the specs i could look at this motherboard all day :D im a huge asus and amd fan but i have to wait to see this conroe !

great review thnx (y)

Originally Posted by Tim S
I've personally used the wireless connection on the board, and gamed on it for some time. The pings were fine - I game over WiFi at home, too.

The main difference between the 570 SLI and 590 SLI is the number of PCI-E lanes available. Each PCI-Express x16 interconnect only has 8 lanes when using SLI mode on the 570 SLI. You can read more about the differences here: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/05/23/nvidia_nforce_5/1.html

;)

Ahh thanks for answering my questions. I thought I would have to wait for the wireless n standard to game wirelessly. Also, taking a look at that link ;)