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Asus P5N32-SLI: Dual x16 - What Dreams Are Made On . . .

 by Gary Key on October 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST
70 Comments | Add A Comment
70 Comments
SLI Gaming Performance

Gaming Performance

Gaming Performance

We benchmarked F.E.A.R. with the newly released NVIDIA 81.85 WHQL driver set, based upon recommendations from NVIDIA about further optimizations for SLI-AA and Dual Core processors that would show marked improvements for the x16 product at higher resolutions over the x8 product line. The Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe indicated an almost 3% gain over the MSI P4N Diamond in the previous 1280x960 benchmark. As the resolutions increased in the standard AT benchmark settings, the ability of the MSI P4N Diamond with its x8 SLI configuration fell behind the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe by upwards of 11% in this application. Once we changed the standard benchmark settings to include 2x AA and 16X AF, the benchmarks ended up favoring the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe by 25% indicating the 81.85 driver set makes a significant impact at these settings. Based upon these results, we can conclude that the additional 8GB/second of bandwidth afforded by the additional 16 PCI Express lanes and the 81.85 driver optimizations allow a great deal of headroom potential at the higher resolutions with today's hardware.

Overclocking Performance

The overclocking performance graphs have been added to the standard benchmark test suite and should allow for a better comparison on the overclocking capabilities of tested boards. For more details on the specific overclocking abilities of this board please refer to the Overclocking and Memory Stress Test section in the Basic Features section.

Overclocking

Overclocking

The front side bus overclocking results were very impressive for the Asus P5N32-SLI Deluxe and exceeded those of the Gigabyte 8N SLI Quad. The FSB results of the Abit NI8 are disappointing but its memory performance actually evens the field in most synthetic benchmarks where it was able to maintain a 1T command rate up to a 770 fsb compared to a 2T command rate for the other nForce 4 boards.

Gaming Performance Disk Controller Performance
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  • Beenthere - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    Why would ANYONE spend the coin to buy an Intel based SLI system when you can buy an AMD system for the same price that will out-perform the Intel system and be upgradable for years???

    The only reason I can see for anyone buying any Intel product at this time is if they are stuck with an Intel system already and they desire to upgrade to a faster chip if they can find one to fit whatever socket Mobo they have. Otherwise I see no logical reason whatsoever for even considering an obsolete, under-performing Intel product.

  • Shintai - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    You ask the wrong question. Why would anyone buy a SLI/CrossFire system at all.

  • bob661 - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    quote:
    You ask the wrong question.
    He can ask any question he wants. There are no wrong questions.
    quote:
    Why would anyone buy a SLI/CrossFire system at all.
    Because one can. :)

  • Ricky Ling - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    I only afraid on the future upgradeability on this board because according to ASUS Support FAQ (as this news has not been revealed on the Internet), this board does not support future Pentium 4 that based on 65nm technology, namely Cedar Mill (Single core replacing Prescott) and Presler (Dual core replacing Smithfield)

    So how is testing done the Presler sample processor cause I thought Anand got holding of 1 Presler sample...Pls double check at the following :
    http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_second_detai...">http://support.asus.com/faq/faq_right_s...P5N32-SL...

    As Presler start hitting OEM already....we need more info on this issue???

  • Gary Key - Sunday, October 30, 2005 - link

    quote:
    As Presler start hitting OEM already....we need more info on this issue???


    The initial information I have from Asus this weekend is the board will support the 65nm CPU range with a bios update and the CPU steppings must be B1 or above.

  • Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    Hello,

    I had already asked for public clarification about this issue from Asus after visiting the website last week. I believe the entire FAQ has not been properly updated as it still states the Pentium 820 will only work in single core mode which is no longer the case with this chipset revision. We have not had an issue testing the Presler or Cedar Mill CPUs with current board designs from different suppliers.

    I will respond once I have further information.

    Thank you.

  • Chuckles - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    How's the clearance on the right-most PCIe x1 slot? It looks like a card put in there would be perilously close to the northbridge heatsink.

  • Gary Key - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    Hi,

    The D-Link DGE-560T PCIe network adaptor card fit fine and it is the longest card I tried in the x1 slot. I would agree if a card had several logic chips placed in the right area on the back of the board then clearance could be an issue with the heatsink. However, the few peripheral PCIe cards that I have fit fine.

  • erwos - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    I wouldn't have minded seeing the difference between bridged SLI and bridgeless SLI on both SLI Dual x16 and SLI Dual x8 motherboards.

    My gut feeling is that nVidia is going to be phasing out the bridge in the near future, if they can get the same performance without it using the PCIe bus.

    -Erwos

  • DigitalFreak - Thursday, October 27, 2005 - link

    "ASUS CPU Lock Free (BIOS setting to unlock multiplier locked CPUs)"

    Does this mean that all multipliers (up and down) are available again?
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