A8N32-SLI and P5N32-SLI pictures are now up on Asus Taiwan website

[John Lewis]

See:-

AMD939, A8N32-SLI Deluxe picture and overview

http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=15&l3=226&model=744&modelmenu=1

Intel 775, P5N32-SLI Deluxe picture and overview

http://www.asus.com.tw/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=227&model=745&modelmenu=1

These are first Asus motherboards based on the nForce4 SLI X16
chip-set, with full dual X16 SLI-capable sockets.

Odd socket layouts. Since the SLI X16 is a 2-chip solution for BOTH
AMD and Intel, the PCI/PCIe sockets have been re-arranged.
On the AMD motherboard, note that if you have a dual set of SLI video
cards and you would like them both to be very well-ventilated (e.g:
dual 7800GTX), only the PCI socket in the middle of the 3 PCI sockets
should ever be used for a PCI add-on, most likely a sound-board. For
those really needing 2 PCI (non-e) slots and still wanting good
ventilation for a dual-set of sweaty SLI video cards, the A8N-SLI
Premium ( dual x8 in SLI mode) might be a better bet.

A similar situation exists for the Intel P5N32-SLI, where the only PCI

socket safe to use while still fully ventilating the SLI video
cards is the PCI socket at the end. And this board has only 2 PCI
( non-e) sockets as opposed to the 3 on the AMD board.

However for those not necessarily interested in pure SLI, or who have
SLI cards of modest heat-dissipation ( 6600GT etc), but interested in
the future use of a second true X16 socket ( physics chip ?), either
of these boards might be an interesting investment with an eye to some
future-proofing. Plus the nVidia chip-set has been upgraded to
RAID5...and maybe some other nForce4 chip-set bugs (firewall ?)
have been fixed in the process.......... ?

Some other differences between the AMD and Intel versions:-

The A8N32-SLI has an extra PCI (non-e) slot over the P5N32-SLI;
however it only has a single x4 PCIe slot and no x1 PCIe slots. The
P5N32-SLI has a x4PCIe slot and two x1 PCIE slots.

Four upsides on both boards:-


1. The processor has plenty of room for a very large air-cooled
heat-sink or water-cool plumbing.
2. Totally passive board cooling. However the board requires
mounting vertically in a tower orientation with the heat-fins at
the top for the heat-pipes to work most efficiently. Beware of
tower cases that invert the motherboard !!!
3. The video cards are sited well away from the processor air-flow
4. These boards are fully power-optimized for the dual-core
processors. Note the dual-sets of power-regulators - Asus's
so-called 8-phase power. Certainly will help spread the
power-load and smooth ripples in the case of the sweaty
Intel Dual-core processors...........

No pricing info available as yet. Probably not cheap........

John Lewis
- Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.

 

[Mercury]

thanks.
is it correct that the second x16 slot can also be used for non-graphics
purposes as well?

 

[John Lewis]

Hmmm... looking seriously at an upgrade to A64/939 from AXP/A soon, and
this caught my eye. None of the usual review sites seem to mention it,
or maybe I haven't been looking in the right places.

Brand-new, not yet released...

Original August Asus announcement:-

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=1304

Current latest highest-end 939 motherboard is the
Asus A8N-SLI Premium in terms of its core capabilities
( passive cooling, electronic SLI switching - no 'daughter
board', etc...)

Do you have some
links and/or info on things to avoid or look for in a Socket 939 M/B?

Look for nForce4 chip-set. There are several variants, depending on
need (and motherboard price-point). At this point in time, avoid all
other chip-sets. Also, make sure that the vendor supports the board
with timely BIOS updates. Check that the BIOS supports all CPU
variants --- the A64, FX and X2. Boards not supporting X2 out of the
box ( or via a recent BIOS update ) may have inadequate
power-regulators, or other design problems.

Other than that, your requirements will depend as usual on the
intended use of your machine and the software you wish to run.
For instance if you are an extreme gamer and really want to run Ati's
dual-video limp imitation of SLI called Crossfire ( and have the cash
to buy the low volume master video card ) then you will have to wait
for Crossfire-capable AMD-939 motherboards to be released ( October,
November maybe...) and then be debugged by willing purchasers ( er,
guinea-pigs...)

Google is your research friend. Also, if you are technically savvy,
www.anandtech.com and www.xbitlabs.com are a useful
archive references on motherboards, CPUs and chip-sets.

John Lewis
- Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.

 

[John Lewis]

thanks.
is it correct that the second x16 slot can also be used for non-graphics
purposes as well?

Indeed, of course. When/if X16 compatible cards become available.

See:-

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2493

Full dual x16, a la the future 475 chip-set from Intel. ( early 2006
??) AFAIK, the Intel chip-set will support HD-Audio. A missing
feature from all current nVidia offerings. However, with Creative's
X-Fi just launching, for audio and/or gaming enthusiasts that
is probably a much better path. I wonder when X-Fi will become
available on a x1 or x4 PCIe board ( x16 is a distinct overkill ) ?

John Lewis
- Technology early-birds are flying guinea-pigs.

 

[Joe Mama]

Brand-new, not yet released...

Original August Asus announcement:-

http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=1304

Current latest highest-end 939 motherboard is the
Asus A8N-SLI Premium in terms of its core capabilities
( passive cooling, electronic SLI switching - no 'daughter
board', etc...)

Thanks for that - though I was actually more asking about the NF4
"chipset bugs" that you mentioned. I've really got very close to zero
interest in the whole SLI thing, mostly for financial reasons (it would
seem more cost-effective to have the rest of the system at a higher
standard, and I'm pretty sure a single 7800GTX will do what I need it
to), but also because of seeming lack of support - i.e. not all games
will even take advantage of SLI (again, I haven't *really* looked into
this, but that's the impression I get). I'm pretty sure I've settled on
an ASUS A8N-SLI-Premium for the m/b, but the SLI support will go unused.

Thanks again for the info, though.

Cheers,
-joe.