ASUS AM2 Motherboard Lineup
Posted by XREX on 13 May 2006 - 08:54 · 15 comments & 17346 views
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(2 replies)
#1 Posted by Beastage on 13 May 2006 - 11:54
- Nice motherboards but where are the CPUs to match?
Does anyone know anything about Intels plan to release a SLi/Crossfire chipset for their core 2 duos? -
#1.1 Posted by MrCobra on 13 May 2006 - 12:21
- I've looked and can't seem to find anything except for everywhere (I've looked) saying to be announced. I hope the AM2 series has a good performance boost by moving to DDR2. The new Conroe is looking mighty tempting.
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#2 Posted by theyarecomingforyou on 13 May 2006 - 12:53
- Wow, the M2N32 looks tiny. That must be the nicest looking motherboard I've ever seen.
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(5 replies)
#3 Posted by weiran on 13 May 2006 - 13:58
- That's a nice looking heatsink arrangement, I just hope it leaves enough room for my big Zalman coolers!
Also, isn't it time to embrace the 20th century and get rid of serial and PS/2 ports? I can't think of anyone who pays this much for a bleeding edge motherboard and still uses a PS/2 mouse or keyboard. Some more USB and firewire ports would be much better. -
#3.1 Posted by Cosmos on 13 May 2006 - 14:07
- I agree with you about the serial and PS/2 ports. If people really need them, I'm sure there are USB devices which allow you to connect old serial devices.
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#3.3 Posted by Rekoil on 13 May 2006 - 15:34
- Personally I still use the PS/2 ports at times. Like when I'm flashing my BIOS with DOS and USB isn't supported.
So I'm glad they are not removing them. But I don't think I've ever used the serial port so I agree with you guys on that one. -
#3.4 Posted by greatestfall on 13 May 2006 - 18:32
- i dislike usb mice with a passion.. so i still use a ps/2 one.
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#3.5 Posted by PeterTHX on 14 May 2006 - 09:11
- isn't it time to embrace the 20th century and get rid of serial and PS/2 ports
Um, those *are* 20th Century interfaces.
I keed, I keed. I know you meant 21st century.
I think it's high time to get rid of these as well. Floppies, PATA, even PCI. Why hasn't anyone come out with some PCI-Express cards I can use? Even that new physics accelerator uses a PCI card. Creative! I have the SoundBlaster X-Fi and I'm really disappointed that I couldn't have gotten an Express version instead.
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#4 Posted by zivan56 on 13 May 2006 - 18:47
- All this motherboard needs is a kitchen sink and it will have everthing...
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(1 reply)
#5 Posted by kronik on 13 May 2006 - 19:08
- seriously guys for a high end board like this one isnt it worthy of a better onboard audio chipset, how come MSI are the only company to use Creative sound Blaster Audigy chipset for their high-end motherboards?
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#5.1 Posted by A10 on 13 May 2006 - 19:44
- Well probably because
1. The chips themselves probably add a good deal of overhead cost to the motherboard not to mention they're freaking huge they'd have to redesign the entire board layout.
2. As much as I like my X-Fi the drivers are still memory hogs and still have bukly control panels.
3. These are all HD codecs or chips which Creative has yet to embrace they still think their EAX technology is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The picture of the board lineup must have some errors as the Via board should have the VT8251 not the 8237A the 8251 has 4 SATA2 ports either they must have entered the wrong name or their must be a shortage of chips or Asus is giving Via the third degree because their name doesn't start with an A or N.
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#6 Posted by Audhumla on 13 May 2006 - 19:33
- Oh, wow. I had no idea that some of these boards would come with 802.11b/g. That's insane. :drool:
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#7 Posted by Daninku on 14 May 2006 - 10:19
- Wow that is a nice mobo, I hope it'd would be approx the same price of the A8N-SLI Premium
hehehe
The spearhead of ASUS's AM2 offerings will be the nForce 590 SLI and Xpress 3200 motherboards, labeled as the M2N32-SLI Deluxe and M2R32-MVP Deluxe respectively. The M2N32-SLI Deluxe features everything you'd expect t find on nForce 590, including dual gigabit LAN ports from the nForce MCP, eight SATA 3.0Gbps (of which one is external SATA) and dual full x16 PCIe graphics interfaces. NVIDIA's LinkBoost technology will also make an appearance on the M2N32-SLI Deluxe, which ASUS's box art claims will automatically overclock the PCIe and MCP HyperTransport link by 25% when a GeForce 7900 or 7950 GPU is inserted into both PCIe x16 interfaces. The M2N32-SLI Deluxe will also come in a workstation version dubbed the M2N32-WS.
The high end M2R32-MVP Deluxe features similar specifications and uses the fabled ATI SB600. The motherboard features dual full x16 PCIe graphics interfaces, dual gigabit LAN and six SATA 3.0Gbps interfaces.
Continuing to work down the line, ASUS will also offer an M2N4-SLI motherboard based on the nForce 4 SLI chipset. Aside from the obvious PCIe lane configuration differences between nForce 4 and nForce 5xx, the M2N4-SLI uses a bog standard AC'97 5.1 channel codec with four SATA 3.0Gbps interfaces. ASUS's M2V will be the only VIA offering from the company at AM2 launch. The M2V, based off the K7T890 Northbridge and 8237A Southbridge, will only feature a single x16 PCIe interface and one SATA 3.0Gbps devices. To round off the low end, ASUS will also offer an nForce 430 motherboard with all the GeForce 6150 trimmings.
ASUS's high end boards feature a new player in the discrete audio market for motherboards: Analog Devices. ASUS first experimented with the ADI's SoundMax digital processor on a few Intel 965 prototypes, but it appears SoundMax will have a permanent home on new high end ASUS offerings going forward. The ADI SoundMax 1988B features 7.1 high definition audio and special optimizations for voice recording. The ASUS M2N SLI offerings come with an array microphone that uses multiple mic heads for a slightly less distorted sound.
Once again, the majority of ASUS's high end offerings will offer 8-phase power in the form of dual 4-phase serial circuits. Some offerings, like the M2N32-SLI Deluxe pictured, will also come with an 802.11b/g WiFi card with an omni-directional antenna. All high end motherboards also come with a fanless heatpipe design.
We don't have prices on these motherboards yet, but expect to see them at your local Fry's or Newegg within the next few weeks!