Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe: NVIDIA Dual x16 for the Athlon 64
by Wesley Fink on November 6, 2005 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Test Setup
*Samsung TCCD from OCZ and other Memory manufacturers is currently binned into several speed grades. Our test memory would be equivalent to current OCZ PC4800.
Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 (current equivalent OCZ PC4800) which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-7 timing in all benchmarks.
We tested the Asus A8N32-SLI using both single and SLI MSI NVIDIA 7800GTX with NVIDIA video driver 81.85. Once we discovered the improved performance, we also ran a full retest of graphics and gaming benchmarks on the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR for comparison. Resolutions in standard benchmarks were 1280x1024x32 unless otherwise noted. Some standard tests like 3DMarks and Aquamark set standard tests automatically to 1024x768 to force a consistent comparison. Gaming benchmarks were run at 1600x1200 with 4x Anti-Aliasing and 8x Anisotropic Filtering enabled wherever possible. SLI game benchmarks were also run with 4xAA and 8xAF where possible.
Results for the Asus A8N32-SLI are in red, while results for the retest of the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR are color-coded orange. Results for the other boards are in blue. Other board tests used the 6800 Ultra for testing unless otherwise noted and are included for reference.
We added Quake 4, F.E.A.R., and Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory to game benchmarks in this review. Asus targets the A8N32-SLI at the gamer, and these recent games should provide a better picture of the Asus performance in the latest games. We will be adding Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 2 benchmarks in future reviews. The benchmarks that we have been testing for these two games are not completely reliable for both single-video and SLI testing, so they were not usable in a review that compares SLI performance. As we find solutions to these issues, we will benchmark with these new games.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4GHz) Socket 939 |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2* (Equivalent to current OCZ OC4800) |
| Hard Drive(s): | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM SATA (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers: | NVIDIA 6.82 Platform NVIDIA 6.70/6.66 Platform ATI Catalyst Platform 5.10 |
| Video Cards: | MSI NVIDIA 7800GTX NVIDIA 6800 Ultra ATI X850XT Crossfire |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA 81.85 Release ATI Catalyst 5.10 NVIDIA nForce 78.01 |
| Operating System(s): | Windows XP Professional SP2 Direct X 9.0c |
| Motherboards: | Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe DFI LANParty UT RDX200 (ATI RD480) ATI Crossfire AMD Reference Board SiS 756 Reference Board ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 (ULi M1695/1567) Sapphire A9RX480 (ATI) Jetway 939GT4-SLI-G (nForce4) ULi AP9567A (M1695/M1567) DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR (nForce4) DFI LANParty UT nF4 Ultra-D (nForce4) MSI K8N Neo4/SLI Platinum (nForce4) |
Tests used OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 (current equivalent OCZ PC4800) which uses Samsung TCCD chips. All memory ran at 2-2-2-7 timing in all benchmarks.
We tested the Asus A8N32-SLI using both single and SLI MSI NVIDIA 7800GTX with NVIDIA video driver 81.85. Once we discovered the improved performance, we also ran a full retest of graphics and gaming benchmarks on the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR for comparison. Resolutions in standard benchmarks were 1280x1024x32 unless otherwise noted. Some standard tests like 3DMarks and Aquamark set standard tests automatically to 1024x768 to force a consistent comparison. Gaming benchmarks were run at 1600x1200 with 4x Anti-Aliasing and 8x Anisotropic Filtering enabled wherever possible. SLI game benchmarks were also run with 4xAA and 8xAF where possible.
Results for the Asus A8N32-SLI are in red, while results for the retest of the DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR are color-coded orange. Results for the other boards are in blue. Other board tests used the 6800 Ultra for testing unless otherwise noted and are included for reference.
We added Quake 4, F.E.A.R., and Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory to game benchmarks in this review. Asus targets the A8N32-SLI at the gamer, and these recent games should provide a better picture of the Asus performance in the latest games. We will be adding Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 2 benchmarks in future reviews. The benchmarks that we have been testing for these two games are not completely reliable for both single-video and SLI testing, so they were not usable in a review that compares SLI performance. As we find solutions to these issues, we will benchmark with these new games.
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Wesley Fink - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
I can't help on the Lian-Li question as I don't have a similar setup, but I am familiar with the upside-down mounting some top-end cases are providing. Our test setup runs the board flat, without the advantage of "heat-rising" and we had no issues. It's a good question for Asus engineering or the Forums.As for the slots, check my comments above. With 2 single slot 7800GTX we could still mount 3 PCI and an x4 PCIe - though 2 of the PCI will block video fan exhaust if they are too tall. With double-slot (and worst case) one PCI is usable and one x4 PCIe.
lopri - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
Wesley,Could you please comment on the heatpipe's efficiency for this board? This is a real concern for people with Lian-Li V1000, or any case that houses the motherboard upside-down. I had a problem with A8N-SLI Premium board's heatpipe in my case, and I really, really want to know.
Thank you very much. This review is fantastic.
lop
dunce - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
What about using this board in a reverse ATX case? Like that Antec P180 or Silverstone TJ06? This a new trend in ATX cases to improve video card and CPU cooling by flipping the ATX mother board upside down. From what I know about heatpipe cooling the water boils, heat rises with the gases and cools at the “radiator fins” . Right? On this Asus board in a “normal” ATX case this would work great but in a reverse ATX the radiator fins will be at the bottom of the heat pipe exchange and rendered ineffective. Correct?Paul
Live - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
Antec P180 does not flip the Motherboard. It places the PSU in a separate chamber below the board. The orientation of the board is still standard tough.For cases that does put the motherboard upside down the effectiveness of the heat pipes are decreased.
Aquila76 - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
That's what happened with the A8N-SLI Premium in 'BTX mount' cases like the Lian-Li, etc., I'm sure it happens on this board as well.deeltje - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
In the new cases it won't work, well, it works but the chipsets get insainly HOT!I ordered the V1000 but changed to the PC6070B Plus very quick :)
BTW, any USA shops that has this board in stock and ship abroad???? Anyone???
trooper11 - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
One thing that has been bugging me about this board is the pci-e/pci layout. I was suprised you guys didnt cover that when you talked about the layout of the board.I do want to use SLI on this, but I have to be able to use all 3 pci slots and the single pci-e x4 slot all at the same. now the video card i was going to start with is the EVGA 7800GTX KO with the sheathed cooler. now the way the layout looks to me, that would be impossible.
Did anyone check if the other slots are still useable when using SLI?
Wesley Fink - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
Our test rig uses two MSI 7800GTX in SLI mode. They are single slot cards. I was able to install 3 PCI network cards and a PCIe network card in the x4 PCIe slot. They would all fit, but the cards closest to the 7800GTX cards do mostly block the fans on the video cards. With double-slot video cards one PCI and the x4 PCIe would be all that are usable for expansion.Asus will be introducing a single-slot dual-GPU 7800 card in the near future, but that might mean SLI in a single x16 slot which is bakc to dual x8. We do know the Gigabyte 3D1 dual-GPU cards work on the Asus, DFI, and Gigabyte SLI boards - all 3 have the BIOS hooks to drive a single-slot dual-GPU.
deeltje - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
I've been waiting for this board for over 2 weeks now and it still isn't available anywhere in europe.So i would love to get this board shipped from USA to The Netherlands (where i live).
Does anyone know a good USA Computershop that has these boards in stock and accept Mastercard payments!?!?!?!?
I don't care about the shippingcosts, as long as they can ship FAST :)
Zebo - Friday, November 4, 2005 - link
with single card - your chart says DFI is 8x1 - and performance seems to bear that out. OTOH, in narrative below that chart, you say both are running 16x1 and DFI still takes a whoopin.